The web of the law reaches so far that there are very few who have not in some way been touched by its meshes. One infallible proof as to the real nature of crime and the character of the criminal is open to almost everyone who wishes to observe. Few men are so poor and outcast as to have no friends. The victims who cluster around the corridors and entrances of our jails are as pitiable as those who dwell inside. To those friends who know him the criminal is a man, a man for whom they will sacrifice time, money, sometimes honor and even life. If it is nothing but a poor wife, or a helpless child who has known the kind heart of a husband or a father, these are there to prove that the wretch is not a monster, but a man—these are the ones who knew him, who saw his life, who touched him on the human side, the side that shows the real true kinship of man. Judges, lawyers, clergymen, physicians, all classes of men readily come forward and tell of the virtues of the criminal whom they know, they tell of the extenuating circumstances that led to his act, or they show that, in spite of these, they understand the worth of the man. The criminal is always the man we do not know or the man we hate—the man we see through the bitterness of our hearts. Let one but really love his fellow and he knows full well that he is not a criminal. He sees his pulsing heart, he knows his weak flesh, his aspiring soul, his hopes, his struggles, his disappointments, his triumphs and his failings, and he loves the man for all of these. CHAPTER XV THE MACHINERY OF JUSTICE