Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/163



and he’s doing well. I’ll read you what he says about himself and his new job.”

And he reads the letter, which is full of details roughly set in a general feeling of encouragement and self-confidence.

“Fine, isn’t it!” the Judge says. “Kid Dawson had a mighty hard time with himself for , awhile, but you can see he’s got his hand on his throttle now. Well, let’s see. The last time, I talked about snitching, didn’t I ? To-day I’m going to talk about * ditching. ’ ” And he is off on the address, with which he opens court. His topics are always interesting to boys, for he handles his subjects boy-fashion. “Snitchinm” the favourite theme, deals with the difference between “snitching,” which is telling orTanother boy to hurt him; and “snitching on the square,” which is intended to help the other fellow. “ Ditch- ing” is another popular subject. “To ditch” a thing is to throw it away; and the Judge, starting oft with stories of boys who have ditched their commitment papers, proceeds to tell about others who, “like Kid Dawson out there in Oregon,” have “ditched” their bad habits and “got strong.”

I heard him on Arbor Day speak on trees; how they grew, some straight, some crooked. There’s always a moral in these talks, but the Judge makes it plain and blunt; he doesn’t “rub it in.”