Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/143



without these there would be danger in leniency. But there is no justice without love.”

The Judge drove out fear from his Court, and hate and brutality; for awe, he substituted confidence and affection. How did he do this ? By coming down off the bench to the boy. Since the boy was the centre of interest, the Judge subordinated his own “dignity” and the whole machinery of the Court and even the “stolen property,” to win back the prisoner at the bar. The good of the boy, obviously paramount in the mind of the Court, was made paramount in the mind of the boy, who was led to feel that every- body cared about him, that everything done was done for him in his interest. “Of course,” he ' says, “the Law is important, but the vital thing is the relationship established with the child. The case from the boy’s standpoint must be under- stood.” Each case, the Judge means. He seeks to get for himself a personal, sympathetic under- standing of each separate case. There are no hard and fast rules. No fixed routine will do the work. The Judge didn’t turn away hate, quiet fear, and dry tears by any “methods.” When a child is brought weeping or scowling before him, Ben Lindsey is dragged off that bench by his heartstrings, and when he sits on a stool beside the boy in trouble, or goes for a walk with him.