Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) -- Fiction
for clothes," spending self without stint, joyfully, unknowing of
self-pity, for the making of right into might, for the making of a
patch of human weeds into a garden of goodness. Only, I would put on
record the fact that each man's reward was not the hero's crown of
laurel leaves, but the crown that their great prototype wore upon the
Cross.
Eleanor could not understand why she had been formally notified to
attend the coroner's inquest till the drift of the questions began to
indicate that this investigation like many another was not an
investigation to _find out_ but an investigation to _hush up_, not a
following of the clues of evidence but a deliberate attempt to throw
pursuit off on false clues. In fact, there were many things about that
inquest which Eleanor could not fathom. Why, for instance was the
local district attorney not present? Why had the Smelter Coking
Company a special pleader present? Why was the great Federal
Government not represented by an attorney of equal ability, instead of
this downy-lipped silent and incredibly ignorant youth? Why was the
first session of the inquest adjourned till the burial of her father?
Why did the sheriff act as a mentor at the ear of the chief coroner?
Why did the justice of the peace acting as coroner listen to all
suggestions from the Smelter Company's attorney and the Sheriff, and
reject all suggestions from her father's friends? Why was the
stenographer instructed to erase some evidence and preserve other?
What was the ground of discrimination? If you doubt whether these
things are ever done, dear reader; then, peruse with close scrutiny the
first criminal trial that comes under your notice; and see if you think
that the term of the Old Dispensation 'wresting the judgment' has
become obsolete? You don't suppose those long-whiskered old patriarchs
openly took the bribe in hand and right before the claimants, tucked
the loose shekels into the wide phalacteries of holy skirts--do you?
Yet, there were certain features of that inquest which awakened strange
hope in her breast. It was held in the county court room; and the
crowd gathering to listen and hear somehow gave her a different
impression from the unwashed rabble that usually infests public courts
to feast on the carrion of criminal proceedings. Men predominated, of
course; but they were decent men, men of standing, not idlers and
blacklegs. As she passed up the aisle with Matthews and Mrs. Williams
to the front row of chairs where the news editor and Wayland and
Brydges and the youth from Washington were already seated, she heard a
man's voice say, "They've gone too far this time, by Jingo! It will
take more than wind-jamming to win next fall's elections with this
against them."
"You bet there's an awakening," returned another voice.
"The-dyed-in-the-woollies don't realize yet; but they will waken up
after election day!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account