The boys hurried away to the hall; and they found that the court had opened, and that the room was well filled with people. Nat edged his way along through the crowd until he found himself directly in front of the table where the justice sat. Sure enough, there the two young prisoners were, Harry and Tom, looking as if they were half frightened out of their wits. How Nat pitied them! It seemed strange to him that men could deal thus with boys so small. He listened to the examination, of witnesses with great emotion, and watched Harry and Tom so closely that he could read their very thoughts. He knew just how badly they felt, and that if they could get clear this time, they never would be caught in such wrong-doing again.
"Were you present at the exhibition?" inquired the justice of one of the witnesses.
"I was," he answered.
"Did the prisoners disturb the exercise?"
"They did."
"How do you know that Harry and Tom were the boys?"
"Because I went out to send them away, and found them on the piazza."
"Did you speak to them, and call them by name, so that you could not be mistaken?"
"I did, and they responded to their names."
"Then you can swear that these two boys, the prisoners, disturbed the meeting?"
"Yes, I am positive of it."
Two or three other witnesses were examined, when the justice said,
"It appears to be a clear case, boys, that you are guilty of the charges alleged against you. You are very young to begin to disturb the public peace. Even if it was nothing but thoughtlessness, boys are getting to be so rude, that it is high time some check was put upon their mischief.
Now, boys, have you any thing to say for yourselves?"
Harry and Tom were more frightened than ever, and Nat could see them struggle to keep from crying outright.
"Have you any one to speak for you?" asked the justice.
Nat could withstand it no longer, and he stepped forward, with his cap in his hand, his bright eyes beaming with sympathy for the prisoners, and said,
"Please, sir, I will speak for them, if you are willing," and without waiting for the justice to reply, he proceeded:
"Harry and Tom would never do the like again. They knew it was wrong for them to disturb the exhibition, but they didn"t think. They _will_ think next time. I know they feel sorry now for what they have done, and will try to be good boys hereafter. Can you not try them, if they will promise? This is the first time they have done so, and they will promise, I know they will (turning to the boys), won"t you, Tom?"
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The boys both nodded a.s.sent, and the justice looked pleased, astonished, and not a little puzzled. It was really a scene for the artist, Nat standing before the court with cap in hand, and his pantaloons torn in the play of the afternoon, his heart so moved with pity for the juvenile offenders that he almost forgot where he was, making a touching plea for the boys, as if their destiny depended upon his own exertions. The hall was so still that the fall of a pin might be heard while Nat was pleading the case. Everybody was taken by surprise. They could hardly believe their senses.
"Their brother," answered one man, in reply to the inquiry, "Who is that lad?" He did not know himself, but he thought that possibly a brother might plead thus for them.
The justice was not long in deciding the case, after such a plea. He simply reprimanded the two boys, gave them some wholesome counsel, and discharged them, much to the gratification of Nat, and many others.
"That was the youngest lawyer I ever heard plead a case," said Mr.
Payson, after the court adjourned.
"The most impudent one, _I_ think," replied Mr. Sayles, to whom the remark was addressed. "If I had been in the place of the justice, I would have kicked him out of the hall. Little upstart! to come in there, and presume to speak in behalf of two reckless boys!"
"You misjudge the boy entirely, Mr. Sayles. There is nothing of the "upstart" about Nat. He is a good boy, a good scholar, and very amiable indeed. The neighbors will all tell you so. It was his sincere pity for the boys that led him to plead for them. He did not mean to conceal their guilt, but he thought, as _I_ do, that such small boys better be reproved and tried again, before they suffer the penalty of the law."
"I hope it is so," replied Mr. S.
"I _know_ it is so," continued Mr. P. "Nat is very kind and sympathizing, and he cannot endure to see a dog abused. It might seem bold and unmannerly for him to address the court as he did, but Nat is not such a boy. He is very mannerly for one of his age, and nothing but his deep pity for Harry and Tom induced him to speak. The act has elevated him considerably in my estimation, though I thought well of him before."
Mr. Payson took the right view of the matter. In addition to his sympathy for his school-fellows, Nat felt that it was hardly right to take those little boys before a court for the offence charged, since they were not vagrants, and were not known as bad boys. If Ben and Sam Drake had been there instead of Harry and Tom, he would not have volunteered a plea to save them from the clutches of the law. But he felt that it was dealing too severely with them, and this emboldened him, so that when he witnessed the distress of the boys, and saw them try to conceal their emotions, his heart overflowed with pity for them, and forced him to speak.
If we knew nothing more of Nat, this single act would lead us to antic.i.p.ate that, in later life, he would espouse the cause of the oppressed in every land, and lift his voice and use his pen in defence of human rights. At the age of ten or twelve years, John Howard, the philanthropist, was not distinguished above the ma.s.s of boys around him, except for the kindness of his heart, and boyish deeds of benevolence.
It was so with Wilberforce, whose efforts in the cause of British emanc.i.p.ation gave him a world-wide fame. Every form of suffering, misfortune, or injustice, touched his young heart, and called forth some expression of tender interest. Carefully he would lay off his shoes at the door of a sick chamber, and often divide a small coin, received as a present, between his own wants and some poor child or man he chanced to meet. And Buxton, whose self-sacrificing spirit in behalf of suffering humanity is everywhere known, was early observed by his mother to sympathize with the down-trodden and unfortunate, and she sought to nurture and develop this feeling as a hopeful element of character.
When his fame was at its zenith, he wrote to his mother, "I constantly feel, especially in action and exertion for others, the effects of principles early implanted by you in my mind."
CHAPTER IV.
THE WILD CHERRIES
Nat, Charlie, and Frank planned a pleasure excursion one Sat.u.r.day afternoon, when cherries were in their prime. They did not even think of the cherries, however, when they planned the trip. They thought more of the fields and forests through which they proposed to go. But just at this point one of their a.s.sociates came up, and said,
"Let us go over beyond Capt. Pratt"s and get some cherries. There is a large tree there, and it hangs full."
"Yes; and have the owner in your hair," answered Charlie.
"No, no," replied John, the name of the boy who made the proposition.
"They are _wild_ cherries, a half a mile from any house, and of course the owner considers them common property. I have got cherries there a number of times."
"That is no evidence you didn"t steal them," said Nat, half laughing.
"If you do no worse stealing than that," answered John, "you will not be sent to jail this week."
It was therefore agreed, that the cherry-tree should be visited, even if they allowed the cherries to remain unmolested. Without further discussion they proceeded to execute their purpose, and lost no time in finding the famous tree. John"s glowing description of the crop had caused their mouths to water long before they came in sight of them.
"John is hoaxing us," said Nat, smiling, before they were half way there. "I don"t believe as good cherries as he tells about ever grow wild."
"Wait and see," responded John. "If you won"t believe _me_, I guess you will your eyes. Wild or not wild, I hardly think you will keep your hands off, when you have a peak at them."
"I tell you what it is, Nat," said Frank, "if it should turn out that the cherries are tame, you might not get off so easy as Harry and Tom did for disturbing the exhibition."
"I shouldn"t deserve to," answered Nat.
The conversation kept up briskly as the boys crossed the fields and scaled the walls and fences. At length they came in sight of the tree, standing apart from any garden, nursery, or orchard, a full half mile from the nearest house.
"There it is," said John, pointing to it. "If that is not a wild cherry-tree, then _no_ tree is wild."
"I should think it would be as wild as the beasts, so far from any house," added Frank.