Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/230

 myself.”

There was silence when Leo sat down. The boys looked at the commissioner. He was still a moment, then he went on without answering the boy. He referred to Peter L. Palmer’s injunction. It was the Judge’s turn.

“The issuance of that injunction was without sense or precedent,” said Judge Lindsey. “And it didn’t tie your hands. You could have brought your cases to my Court. In this tribunal you will find the whole power of the Court on the side of the law.”

The newspapers all turned “yellow” with this story, and that settled the matter for the time being. The tip was passed that the police couldn’t “stand for wine-rooms where young girls went for a while.”

The Judge went on walking and talking with the children, and he listened, too, and the things they suffered kept his feelings aroused, while their wisdom “put him wise.” It was appalling, what these children knew.

“Huh, business men! They steal, too!” said a cynical little thief one day when the Judge held out to him the prospect of growing up to be a “respected business man,” if only he would stop stealing. “Don’t the street railway swipe fran- chises ? And the gas company and them, don’t they steal ’em ? Guess I can read. And