BIG men are not always just or generous, and many times the small boy
is a sufferer at their hands. Sometimes the big man is cross because
he has eaten too much dinner--the small boy will understand now how
uncomfortable he feels--and as he is too big to cry he vents his ill
humor, many times, on the first small boy who comes in his way. Now,
you know that some people think that if you eat too much meat you will
become savage, and, as this man who was unjust to the small boy was a
butcher, perhaps he had eaten so much meat that he had become in part a
savage. In one of the police-courts up-town, in New York, one morning,
not long since, a very small boy in knickerbockers, appeared. He had a
dilapidated cap in one hand and a green cotton bag in the other. Behind
him came a big policeman with a grin on his face. When the boy found
himself in the court-room he hesitated and looked as if he would like
to retreat, but as he half-turned and saw the grin on his escort's
face, he shut his lips tighter and meandered up to the desk.
"Please, sir, are you the judge?" he asked, in a voice that had a queer
little quiver in it.
"I am, my boy; what can I do for you?" asked the Justice, as he looked
wonderingly down at the mite before him.
"If you please, sir, I'm Johnny Moore. I'm seven years old, and I live
in One Hundred and Twenty-third street, near the avenue, and the only
good place to play miggles on is in front of a lot near our house,
where the ground is smooth; but a butcher on the corner," and here his
voice grew steady and his cheeks flushed, "that hasn't any more right
to the place than we have, keeps his wagon standing there, and this
morning we were playing miggles there, and he drove us away, and took
six of mine, and threw them away off over the fence into the lot, and I
went to the police station, and they laughed at me, and told me to come
here and tell you about it."
The big policeman and the spectators began to laugh boisterously,
and the complainant at the bar trembled so violently with mingled
indignation and fright that the marbles in his little green bag rattled
together.
The Justice, however, rapped sharply on the desk, and quickly brought
everybody to dead silence. "You did perfectly right, my boy," said he
gravely, "to come here and tell me about it. You have as much right
to your six marbles as the richest man in this city has to his bank
account. If every American citizen had as much regard for their rights
as you show there would be far less crime. And you, sir," he added,
turning to the big policeman, who now looked as solemn as a funeral,
"you go with this little man to that butcher and make him pay for those
marbles, or else arrest him and bring him here."
You see this boy knew that his rights had been interfered with, and
he went to the one having authority to redress his wrongs. He did
not throw stones or say naughty words, but in a manly, dignified way
demanded his rights.--_Selected._