chapter 23 I wish Bob Ewell wouldn't chew tobacco was all out of kiss thought about it according to miss Stephanie Crawford however Atticus was leaving the post office when Mr Ewell approached him cursed him spat on him and threatened to kill him miss Stephanie who by the time she had told it twice was there and had seen it all passing by from the jitney jungle she was miss Stephanie said Atticus didn't bat and I just took out his handkerchief and wiped his face and stood there and let mr. you we'll call him names wild horses could not bring her to repeat Mr Ewell was a veteran of an obscure war that plus Atticus's peacefully peaceful reaction probably prompted him to inquire too proud to fight you love and bastard miss Stephanie said Atticus said no too old put his hands in his pockets and strolled on miss Stephanie said you had to hand it to Atticus Finch he could be right dry sometimes Jem and I didn't think it entertaining after all though I said he was the deadest shot in the country one time he could you know he wouldn't carry a gun scout he ain't even got one said Jem you know he didn't even have one down at the jail that night he told me having a gun around an invitation to somebody to shoot you this is different I said we can ask him to borrow one we did and he said nonsense Dale was of the opinion that an appeal to Atticus his better nature might work after all we would starve if Mr Ewell killed him besides be besides be raised exclusively by aunt Alexandra and we all knew the first thing she'd do before Atticus was under the ground good would be to fire Calpurnia Jem said it might work if I cried in front of it being young and a girl that didn't work either but then but when he noticed us dragging around the neighborhood not eating taking little interest in our normal pursuits Atticus discovered how deeply frightened we were he tempted Jem with a new football magazine one night when he saw Jem flipped the pages and toss it aside he said what's bothering you son Jem came to the point mr. Ewell what has happened nothing's happened we're scared for you and we think you ought to do some about it Atticus smiled wryly do what put him under a peace bond when a man says he's gonna get you looks like he means it he meant it when he said it said Atticus Jem see if you can stand in Bob eul's shoes a minute I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial if he had any any to begin with the man had to have some kind of comeback his kind always does so spitting in my face and threatening me saved melee you will one extra beating that's something I'll gladly take he had to take it out on somebody and I'd rather it be me than that house full of children out there you understand Jem nodded aunt Alexandra entered the room as Atticus was saying we don't have anything to fear from Bob Ewell he got it all out of his system that morning I wouldn't be so sure of that Atticus she said his kind of do anything to pay off a grudge you know how those people are what on earth could you will do to me sister something furtive and Alexander said you may count on that nobody has much chance to be furtive in Maycomb Atticus answered after that we were not afraid summer was melting away and we made the most of it Atticus assured us that nothing would happen to Tom Robinson until the higher court reviewed his case and that Tom had a good chance of going free or at least of having a new trial he was at Enfield prison farm seventy miles away in Chester County I asked Atticus if Tom's wife and children were allowed to visit him but Atticus said no if he loses his appeal I asked one evening what'll happen to him he'll go to the chair said Atticus unless the governor commutes his sentence not time to worry yet scout we've got a good chance Jem was sprawled on the sofa reading Popular Mechanics he looked up it ain't right he didn't kill anybody even if he was guilty he didn't take anybody's life you know rapes a capital offense in Alabama said Atticus yes sir but the jury didn't have to give him death if they wanted to they could have gave him 20 years given said Atticus Tom Robinson's a colored man Jem no jury in this part of the world is going to say we think you're guilty but not very on a charge like that it was either a straight acquittal or nothing Jem was shaking his head I know it's not right but I can't figure out what's wrong maybe rape shouldn't be a capital offense Atticus dropped his newspaper beside his chair he said he didn't have any quarrel with the rape stat statuette statute none whatever but he did have deep misgivings when the state asked for and the jury gave a death penalty on purely circumstantial evidence he glanced at me so I was listening and made it easier I mean before a man is sentenced to death for murder say there should be one or two eyewitnesses someone should be able to say yes I was there and saw him pull the trigger but lots of folks have been hung hanged on circumstantial evidence that Jem I know and lots of them probably deserved it too but in the absence of eyewitnesses there's always a doubt sometimes only the shadow of a doubt the law says reasonable doubt but I think a defendant's entitled to the shadow of a doubt there's always the possibility no matter how improbable that he's innocent then it all goes back to the jury then we ought to do away with juries Jem was adamant Atticus tried hard not to smile but couldn't help it you're rather hard on us son I think maybe there might be a better way change the law change it so that only judges have the power of fixing the penalty in capital cases then go up to Montgomery and change the law you'd be surprised how hard that would be I won't live to see the law change and if you live to see it you'll be an old man this was not good enough for Jem no sir they ought to do away with juries he wasn't guilty in the first place and they said he was if you had been on that jury son and 11 other boys like you Tom would be a free man said Atticus so far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process those are 12 reasonable men in everyday life Tom's jury but you saw something come between them and reason you saw the same thing that night in front of the jail when that crew went away they didn't go as reasonable men they went because we there there's something in our world that makes men lose their heads they couldn't be fair if they tried in our courts when it's a white man's word against a black man's the white man always wins they're ugly but those are the facts of life doesn't make it right said gem stolidly he beat his fists softly on his knee you keep just can't convict a man on evidence like that you can't you couldn't but they could and did the older you grow the more of it you'll see the only place where a man ought to get a square deal is in the courtroom be he any color of the rainbow but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box as you grow older you'll see white men cheap black men every day of your life but let me tell you something and don't you forget it whenever a white man does that to a black man no matter who he is how rich he is or how fine a family he comes from that white man is trash Atticus was speaking so quietly his last word crashed on her ears he looked up and his face was vehement there's nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who will take advantage of a Negros ignorant don't fool yourselves it's all adding up and one of these days we're gonna pay the bill for it I hope it's not in your children's time Jem was scratching his head suddenly his eyes widened Atticus he said why don't people like us and Miss Maudie ever sit on juries you never see anybody from make home on a jury they all come from out in the woods Atticus leaned back in his rocking chair for some reason he looked pleased with Jem I was wondering when that had occurred to you he said there are lots of reasons for one thing Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she's a woman you mean women in Alabama can't I was indignant I do I guess it's to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom's besides Atticus grinned I doubt if we'd ever get a complete case tried ladies be interrupting to ask questions Jem and I laughed Miss Maudie on a jury would be impressive I thought of old mrs. DuBose and her wheelchair stop that rapping John Taylor I want to ask this man something perhaps our forefathers were wise Atticus was saying with people like us that's our share of the bill we generally get the juries we deserve our stout make home citizens aren't interested in the first place in the second place they're afraid then they're afraid why us Jem well what if say mr. link DS had to decide the amount of damages to award say Miss Maudie when Miss major miss Rachel ran ran over her with a car link wouldn't like the thought of losing either lady's business of his store would he so he tells Judge Taylor that he can't serve on the jury because he doesn't have anybody to keep the store for him while he's gone so judge Taylor excuses him sometimes he excuses him roughly what it'd make him think either one of them would stop trading with him I asked Jem said Miss Rachel would Miss Maudie wouldn't but a jury's vote secret Atticus our father chuckled you've many more miles to go son a jury's vote supposed to be secret serving on a jury forces a man to make up his mind and declare himself about something men don't like to do that sometimes it's unpleasant chop Tom's cherry short made up its mind in a hurry Jem muttered Atticus his fingers went to his watch pocket no it didn't he said more to himself than to us that was the one thing that made me think well this may be the shadow of a beginning the jury took a few hours and an inevitable verdict maybe but usually it takes him just a few minutes this time he broke off and looked at us you might like to know that there was one fellow who took considerable wearing down in the beginning he was raring for an outright acquittal coup Jem was astonished Atticus his eyes twinkled it's not for me to say but I'll tell you this much he was one of your old sarum friends one of the Cunningham's Jem yelped one of I didn't recognize any of them you're joking he looked at Atticus from the corners of his eyes one of their connections on a hunch I didn't strike him just on a hunch could have but I didn't golly Moses Jim said reverently one minute they're trying to kill him and the next they're trying to turn him loose I'll never understand those folks as long as I live Atticus said you just had to know him he said the Cunningham's hadn't taken anything from or off of anybody since they migrated to the new world he said the other thing about them was once you earned their respect they were for you tooth and nail Atticus said he had a feeling nothing more than a suspicion that they left the jail that night with considerable respect for the finches then too he said it took a thunderbolt plus another Cunningham to make one of them change his mind if we'd had to of that crowd we'd have had a hung jury Jem said slowly you mean you actually put on the jury a man who wanted to kill you the night before how could you take such a risk Atticus how could you when you analyze that there was little risk there's no difference between one man who's going to convince convict and another man who's going to convict is there there's a faint difference between a man who's going to convict and a man who's a little disturbed in his mind isn't there he was the only uncertainty on the whole list what Ken was that man to mr. Walter Cunningham I asked Atticus Rose stretched and yond it was not even our bedtime but we knew he wanted a chance to read his newspaper he picked it up folded it and tapped my head let's see now he droned to himself I've got a double first cousin how can that be two sisters married two brothers that's all I'll tell you you figure it out i tortured myself and decided that if I married Jem and dill had a sister whom he married our children would be double first cousins g-man daddy Jem I said when Atticus was gone they're funny folks do you hear that auntie aunt Alexandra was hooking a rug and not watching us but she was listening she sat in her chair with her work basket beside it her rug spread across her lap why ladies hooked woollen rugs on boiling nights never became clear to me I heard it she said I remembered the distant disastrous occasion when I rushed to young Walter Cunningham's defense now I was glad I'd done it soon school starts I'm gonna ask Walter home to dinner I planned having forgotten my private resolve to beat him up the next time I saw him he can stay over sometimes after school - Atticus could drive him back to Old Sarum maybe he could spend the night with us sometime ok gem we'll see about that and Alexandra said a declaration that with her was always a threat never a promise surprised I turned to her why not auntie they're good folks she looked at me over her sewing glasses Jean Louise there is no doubt in my mind that they're good folks but they're not our kind of folks Jem says she means they're yappy Scout what's a Yap Oh tacky they like fiddling and things like that well I do too don't be silly Jean Louise today and Alexandre the thing is you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines you can put him in chute shoes in a new suit but he'll never be like Jem besides there's a drinking streak in that family a mile wide Finch women aren't interested in that sort of people auntie said Jem she ain't 9:00 yet she may as well learn it now and Alexander had spoken I was reminded vividly of the last time she had put her foot down I never knew why it was when I absorbed with plans to visit Calpurnia's house I was curious interested I wanted to be her company to see how she lived who her friends were I might as well have wanted to see the other side of the Moon this time the tactics were different but aunt Alexandra's aim was the same perhaps this is why she had come to live with us to help us choose our friends I would hold her off as long as I could if they're good folks then why can't I be nice to Walter I didn't say not to be nice to him you should be friendly and polite to him you should be gracious to everybody dear but you don't have to invite him home what if he was kin to us auntie the fact is that he is not kin to us but if he were my answer would be the same auntie Jem spoke up Atticus says you can choose your friends but you sure can't choose your family and they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge or not and it makes you look right silly when you don't that's your father all over again said aunt Alexandra and I still say that she and Louise will not invite Walter Cunningham to this house if he were her double first cousin once-removed he would still not be received in this house unless he comes to see Atticus on business now that is that she had said indeed not but this time she would give her reasons but I want to play with Walter auntie why can't I she took off her glasses and stared at me I'll tell you why she said because he is trash that's why you can't play with him I'll not have you around him picking up his habits and learning Lord knows what you're enough of a problem to your father as it is I don't know what I would have done but gem stopped me he caught me by the shoulders put his arm around me and led me sobbing in fury to his bedroom Atticus hurt us and poked his head around the door it's all right sir Jim said gruffly it's not anything Atticus went away have a chew Scout Jem dug into his pocket and extracted a tootsie roll it took a few minutes to work the candy into a comfortable wad inside my jaw Jem was rearranging the objects on his dresser his hair stuck up behind and down in front and I wondered if it would ever look like a man's maybe if he shaved it off and started over his hair would grow back neatly in place his eyebrows were becoming heavier and I noticed a new slimness about his body he was growing taller when he looked around he must have thought I would start crying again for he said show you something if you won't tell anybody I said what he unbuttoned his shirt Grint grinning shyly well what well you can't see it well no well it's hair where there right there he had been a comfort to me so I said it looked lovely but I didn't see anything it's real nice Jem under my arms - he said going out for football next year Scout don't let aunty aggravate you it seemed only yesterday that he was telling me not to aggravate auntie you know she's not used to girls said Jem leastways not girls like you she's trying to make you a lady can't you take up sewing or something hell no she doesn't like me that's all there is to it and I don't care it was her calling Walter Cunningham crash that got me going Jim not what she said about me being a problem to Atticus we got that all straight one time I asked him if I was a problem and he said not much of one at most one that he could always figure out and not to worry my head a second about bothering him no I was Walter that boy's not trash gem he ain't like the ules Jam kicked off his shoes and swung his feet to his bed he propped himself against a pillow and switched on the reading light you know something Scout I've got it all figured out now I've thought about it a lot lately and I've got it figured out there's four kinds of folks in the world there's the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors there's the kind like the Cunningham's out in the woods the kind like the Ewell's down at the dump and the Negroes what about the Chinese and the Cajuns down yonder in Baldwin County I mean in Maycomb County the thing about it is our kind of folks don't like the Cunningham's the Cunningham's don't like the ules and the ules hate and despise the colored folks I told gem if that was so then why didn't Tom Cherie made up of folks like the Cunningham's a quit Tom to spite the ules Jim waved my question away as being infantile you know he said I've seen Atticus pat his foot when there's fiddling on the radio and he loves pot liquor better than any man I ever saw then what makes us like the Cunningham's I said I can't see why auntie no let me finish it does but we're still different somehow Atticus said one time the reason auntie's so hipped on the family is because all we've gots background and not a dime to our names well Jem I don't know Atticus told me one time that most of this old family stuffs foolishness because everybody's families just as old as everybody else's I said did that include the colored folks and Englishmen and he said yes background doesn't mean old family said Jem I think it's how long your family's been reading and writing Scout I've studied this real hard and that's the only reason I can think of somewhere along the finches were in Egypt one of them must have learned to hieroglyphic or to and he taught his boy jem laughed imagine aunty being proud her great granddaddy could read and write ladies pick funny things to be proud of well I'm glad he could or who'd it's hot Atticus in them and if Atticus couldn't read you would need be in a fix I don't think that's what background is Jem well then how do you explain why the Cunningham's are different mr. Walter can hardly signed his name I've seen him we've just been reading and right and longer than they have know everybody's got to learn nobody's born knowing that Walters as smart as he can be he just gets held back sometimes because he has to stay out and help his daddy nothing's wrong with him no Jem I think there's just one kind of folks folks Jem turned around and punched his pillow when he settled back his face was cloudy he was going into one of his declines and I grew weary his brows came together his mouth became a thin line he was silent for a while too that's what I thought too he said at last when I was your age if there's just one kind of folks why can't they get along with each other if they're all liked why do they go out of their way to despise each other Scout I think I'm beginning to understand something I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in his house all this time it's because he wants to stay inside