Josef did not know The corners of the street are free to all, Or free to none, where newsboys stood and sold, And kept their stands, or rather where the powers That kept the great conspiracy of the press Controlled the stands, and to prevent the _Star_ From gaining foot-hold. Not upon this corner Nor on that corner, any corner in short Shall newsboys sell the _Star_. But Josef felt, Being a boy, indifferent to the rules, Well founded, true or false, that all the corners Were free to all, and for his daring, strength Had been selected, picked to sell the _Star_, And break the ground, gain place upon the stands. He had been warned from corners, chased and boxed By heavy fists from corners more than once Before the day they felled him. On that day A monster bully, once a pugilist, Came on him selling the _Star_ and knocked him down, Kicked in his ribs and broke a leg and cracked His little skull. And so they took him home To Widow Fortelka and the sisters, brothers, Whose bread he earned. And there he lay and moaned, And when he sat up had a little cough, Was short of breath. And on this foggy day When Widow Fortelka reads in the _Times_ That Lowell, the editor, is dead, he sits With feet wrapped in a quilt and gets his breath With open mouth, his face is brightly flushed; A fetid sweetness fills the air of the room That from his open mouth comes. Josef lingers A few weeks yet--he has tuberculosis. And so his mother looks at him, resolves To call this day on William Rummler, see If Lowell's death has changed the state of things; And if the legal mind will not relent Now that the mind that fed it lies in death. It's true enough, she thinks, I was dismissed, And sent away for good, but never mind. It can't be true this pugilist went farther Than the authority of his hiring, that's The talk this lawyer gave her, used a word She could not keep in mind--the lawyer said _Respondeat superior_ in this case Was not in point--and if it could be proved This pugilist was hired by the _Times_, No one could prove the _Times_ had hired him To beat a boy, commit a crime. Well, then "What was he hired for?" the widow asked. And then she talked with newsboys, and they said The papers had their sluggers, all of them, Even the _Star_, and that was just a move In getting circulation, keeping it. And all these sluggers watched the stands and drove The newsboys selling _Stars_ away. No matter, She could not argue with this lawyer Rummler, Who said: "You must excuse me, go away, I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do."