chapter 16 gem heard me he thrusts his head around the connecting door as he came to my bed Atticus his light flashed on we stayed where we were until it went off we heard him turn over and we waited until he was still again Jem took me to his room and put me in bed beside him try to go to sleep he said it'll be all over after tomorrow maybe we had come in quietly so as not to wake aunty Atticus killed the engine in the driveway and coasted to the car house we went in the back door into our rooms without a word I was very tired and was drifting into sleep when the memory of Atticus calmly folding his newspaper and pushing back his hat became Atticus standing in the middle of an empty waiting street pushing up his glasses the full meaning of the night's events hit me and I began crying Jem was awfully nice about it for once he didn't remind me that people nearly 9 years old didn't do things like that everybody's appetite was delicate this morning except gems he ate his way through three eggs Atticus watched and Frank admiration aunt Alexandra sipped coffee and radiated waves of disapproval children who slipped out at night were a disgrace to the family Atticus said he was right glad his disgraces had come along but auntie said nonsense mr. Underwood was there all the time you know it's a funny thing about Braxton said Atticus he despises Negroes won't have one near him the local opinion local opinion held mr. Underwood to be an intense profane little man whose father in a faith fit of humour christened Braxton Bragg a name mr. Underwood had done his past to live down Atticus said naming people after Confederate generals made slow steady drinkers Calpurnia was serving aunt Alexandra more coffee and she shook her head at what I thought was a pleading winning look you're still too little she said I'll tell you when you ain't I said it might help my stomach all right she said and got a cut from the sideboard she poured one tablespoon of coffee into it and filled the cup to the brim milk I thanked her by sticking out my tongue in it and looked up to catch auntie's warning frown but she was frowning at Atticus she waited until Calpurnia was in the kitchen then she said don't talk like that in front of them talk like what in front of whom he asked like that in front of Calpurnia you said Braxton Underwood despises Negroes right in front of her well I'm sure Cowell knows it everybody in Maycomb knows it I was beginning to notice a subtle change in my father these days that came out when he talked with you and Alexandra it was a quiet digging in never outright irritation there was a faint starchiness in his voice when he said anything fit to say at the tables fit to say in front of Calpurnia she knows what she means to this family I don't think it's a good habit Atticus it encourages them you know how they talk among themselves everything that happens in this town's out to the quarters before sundown my father put down his knife I don't know any love any law that says they can't talk maybe if we didn't give them so much to talk about they'd be quiet why don't you drink your coffee Scout I was playing in it with the spoon I thought mr. Cunningham was a friend of ours you told me a long time ago he was he still is but last night he wanted to hurt you Atticus placed his fork beside his knife and pushed his plate aside mr. Cunningham is basically a good man he said he just has his blind spots along with the rest of us Jem spoke don't call that a blind spot he too killed you last night when he first went there he might have hurt me a little Atticus conceited but son you'll understand folks a little better when you're older a mobs always made up of people no matter what mr. Cunningham was part of a mob last night but he was still a man every mob in every little southern town is always made up of people you know doesn't say much for them does it I'll say not said Jem so it took an eight-year-old child to bring him to their senses didn't it so Atticus that proves something that a gang of wild animals can be stopped simply because they're still human hmm maybe we need a police force of children you children last night made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute that was enough well I hope gem would understand folks a little better when he was older I wouldn't first day Walter comes back to school be his last I affirmed you will not touch him Atticus said flatly I don't want either of you bearing a grudge about this thing no matter what happens you see don't you sit at aunt Alexandra what comes of things like this don't say I haven't told you Atticus said he'd never say that pushed out his chair and got up there's a day ahead so excuse me Jem I don't want you in Scout downtown today please as Atticus departed dill came bounding down the hall into the dining room it's all over town this morning he announced all about how we held off a hundred folks with our bare hands and Alexandra stared him to silence it was not a hundred folks she said and nobody held anybody off it was just a nest of those Cunningham's drunk-and-disorderly Oh auntie that's just Dill's Way said Jim he signaled us to follow him you all stay in the yard today she said as we made our way to the front porch it was like Saturday people from the south end of the county passed our house in a leisurely but steady stream mister Dollfuss raymond lurched by on his thoroughbred don't see how he stays in the saddle murmur Jem how can you stand to get drunk for 8:00 in the morning a wagon load of ladies rattled past us they were caught in Sun bonnets and dresses with long sleeves a bearded man in a wool hat drove them yonder some Mennonites Jem said to dill they don't have buttons they live deep in the woods did most of their trading across the river and rarely came to make home dill was interested they've all got blue eyes Jem explained and the men can't shave after they marry their wives like for him to tickle him with their beards mr. X Phillips rode by on a mule and waved to us he's a funny man said Jem X is his name not his initial he was in court one time and they asked him his name he said Billups clerk asked him to spell and he said X asked him again and he said X they kept at it till he wrote X on a sheet of paper and held it up for everybody to see they asked him where he got his name and he said that's the way his folks signed him up when he was born as the county went by us Jem gave dill the histories and general attitudes of the more prominent figures mr. 10 saw Jones voted the straight prohibition ticket Miss Emily Davis dipped snuff in private mr. Byron Waller could play the violin mr. Jake Slade was cutting his third set of teeth a wagon load of unusually stern-faced citizens appeared when they pointed to Miss Maudie atkinson's yard ablaze with summer flowers miss Maddie herself came out on the porch there was not thing about Miss Maudie on her porch she was far she was too far away for us to see her features clearly but we could always catch her mood by the way she stood she was now standing arms akimbo her shoulders dropping a little her head cocked to one side her glasses winking in the sunlight we knew she wore a grin of the uttermost wickedness the driver of the wagon slowed down his mules and a shrill voice woman called out he that cometh in Vanity departeth in darkness Miss Maudie answered a merry heart maketh the cheerful countenance I guess that the foot washers thought that the devil was quoting scripture for his own purposes as the driver speeded his mules why they objected to miss Mattie's yard was a mystery heightened in my mind because for someone who spent all the daylight hours outdoors miss Mattie's command of Scripture was formidable you going to court this morning asked Jem we had strolled over I am NOT she said I have no business with the court this morning aren't you going down to watch Asda I am NOT it's morbid watching a poor devil on trial for his life look at all those folks it's like a Roman carnival they have to try him in public Miss Maudie I said wouldn't be right if they didn't I'm quite aware of that she said just because it's like I don't have to go do I miss Stephanie Crawford came by she wore a hat and gloves um she said look at all those folks you'd think William Jennings Bryan was speaking and where are you going Stephanie enquired miss Marty to the jitney jungle miss mati said she'd never seen miss Stephanie go to the jitney jungle in a hat in her life well said miss Stephanie I thought we might just look in at the courthouse to see what Atticus is up to better be careful he doesn't hand you a subpoena we asked miss marty to elucidate she said miss Stephanie seemed to know so much about the case she might as well be called on to testify we held off until noon when Atticus came home to dinner and said they'd spent the morning picking the jury after dinner we stopped by for dill and went to town it was a gala occasion there was no room at the public hitching rail for another animal mules and wagons were parked under every available tree the courthouse square was covered with picnic parties sitting on newspapers washing down biscuit and syrup with warm milk from fruit jars some people were not on cold chicken and cold fried pork chops the more affluent chased their food with drugstore coca-cola and bulb shaped soda glasses greasy faced children popped the whip through the crowd and babies lunched on their mothers breasts in a far corner of the square the Negroes sat quietly in the Sun dining on sardines crackers and the more vivid flavors of knee-high Cola mr. Dollfuss raymond sat with them gem said dill he's drinking out of a sack mr. mr. Dolphus Raymond seemed to be so doing - yellow drugstore straws ran from his mouth to the depths of a brown paper bag ain't ever seen anybody do that murmured dill how does he keep what's in it in it Jim giggled he's got a coca-cola bottle full of whiskey in there that so it's not to upset the ladies you'll see him sip it all afternoon he'll step out for a while and fill it back up why is he sitting with the folks always does he likes them better and he likes us I reckon lives by himself way down near the county line he's got a colored woman and all sorts of mix chill him show you some of them if we see him he doesn't look like trash said dill he's not he owns all one side of the riverbank down there and he's from a real old family to boot then why does he do like that that's just his way said gem they say he never got over his weddin he was supposed to marry one of the suspender ladies I think they were gonna have a huge weddin but they didn't after the rehearsal the bride went upstairs and blew her head off shotgun she pulled the trigger with her toes did they ever know why no said Jem nobody ever knew what quite why but mr. Dollfuss they said it was because she found out about his coloured woman he reckoned he could keep her and get married too he'd been sort of drunk ever since you know though he's real good to those chillin Jem I asked what's a mixed child half white half coloured you've seen him scout you know that red kinky hadded one that delivers for the drugstore he's half white they're real sad sad how come they don't belong anywhere colored folks won't have them because they're half white white folks won't have them because they're colored so they're just in betweens don't belong anywhere but mr. Dolphus now they say he's shipped two of his up north they don't mind him up north yonder is one of them a small boy clutching a Negro woman's hand walked towards us he looked all Negro to me he was rich chocolate with flaring nostrils and beautiful teeth sometimes he would skip happily and the negro woman tugged his hand to make him stop Jem waited until they passed us that's one of the little ones he said how can you tell us Jem he looked black to me you can't sometimes not unless you know who they are but he's half Raymond all right but how can you tell I asked I told you Scout you just have to know who they are well how do you know we ain't Negroes Uncle Jack Finch says we really don't know he says as far as he can trace back the finches we ain't but for all he knows we might have come straight out of Ethiopia during during the Old Testament well if we came out during the Old Testament it's too long ago to matter that's what I thought said Jim but around here once you have a drop of Negro blood that makes you all black Hey look some invisible signal had made the lunch errs on the square rise and scatter bits of newspaper cellophane and wrapping paper children came to mothers babies were cradle cradled on hips as men in sweat-stained hats collected their families and herded them through the courthouse doors in the far corner of the square the Negroes and mr. Dolphus raymond stood up and dusted their breeches there were few women and children among them which seemed to dispel the holiday mood they waited patiently at the doors behind the white families let's go in said dill now we better wait till they get in Atticus might not look like it if he sees us at Jem the McComb County Courthouse was faintly reminiscent of Arlington and one respect the concrete pillars supported its South roof supporting its South roof were too heavy for their late burden the pillars were all that remained standing when the original courthouse burned in 1856 another courthouse was built around them it is better to say built in spite of them but for the South porch the McComb County Courthouse was early Victorian presenting an unoffensive Vista when seen from the north from the other side however Greek Revival columns clashed with a big 19th century clock tower housing a rusty unreliable instrument a view indicating a people determined to preserve every physical scrap of the past to reach the courtroom on the second floor one passed sundry sunless countless cubby holes the tax assessor the county collector the County Clerk the County solicitor the circuit clerk the judge of probate lived in cool dim Hutch's it smelled of decaying record books mingled with old damp cement and stale urine it was necessary to turn on the lights in the daytime there was always a film of dust on the rough floorboards the inhabitants of these offices were creatures of their environment little gray faced men they seemed untouched by wind or Sun we knew there was a crowd but we had not bargained for the multitudes in the first floor hallway I got separated from Jem and dill but made my way toward the wall by the stairwell knowing Jem would come for me eventually I found myself in the middle of the idlers club and made myself as unobtrusive as possible this was a group of white-shirted khaki trousers suspended old men who had spent their lives doing nothing and passed their twilight days doing same on pine benches under the live oaks of the square attentive critics of courthouse business Atticus said they knew as much as much law as the chief judge says from years of long observation normally they were the courts only spectators and today they seemed resentful of the interruption of their comfortable routine when they spoke their voices sounded casually important the conversation was about my father jinks he knows what he's doing one said oh now I wouldn't say that said another Atticus Finch is a deep reader a mighty deep reader he reads all right that's all he does the club snickered let me tell you something now Billy a third said you know the court appointed him to defend this yeah but Atticus aims to defend him that's what I don't like about it this was news news that put a different light on things Atticus had to whether he wanted to or not I thought it odd that he hadn't said anything to us about it we could have used it many times in defending him and ourselves he had to that's why he was doing it equalled fewer fights and less fussing but did that explain the town's attitude the court appointed Atticus to defend him Atticus aims to defend him that's what they didn't like about it it was confusing the Negroes having waited for the white people to go upstairs began to come in whoa now just a minute said a club member holding up his walking stick don't start just don't start them there just don't start up them their stairs yet awhile the club began its stiff jointed climb and ran into Dylan Jam on their way down looking for me they squeezed past and gem called scout come on there ain't a seed left we'll have to stand up look there now he said irritably as the black people surged upstairs the old man ahead of them would take most of the standing room we were out of luck and it was all my fault Jem informed me we stood miserably by the wall can't you all get in Reverend Sykes was looking down at us black hat in hand hey Reverend said Jem na Scout here messed us up well let's see what we can do Reverend Sykes edged his way upstairs in a few moments he was back there's not a seat downstairs do you all reckon it'll be all right if you all come to the balcony with me gosh yes said Jem happily we sped ahead of Reverend Sykes to the courtroom floor there we went up a covered staircase and waited at the door Reverend Sykes came puffing behind us and steered us gently through the black people in the balcony for Negros rose and gave us their front-row seats the coloured balcony ran along three walls of the courtroom like a second-story veranda and from it we could see everything the jury sat to the left under long windows sunburned lanky they seemed to be all farmers but this was natural towns folk rarely sat on juries they were either struck or could excused one or two of the jury looked vaguely like dressed up Cunningham's at this stage they sat straight and alert the circuit solicitor at another man Atticus and Tom Robinson sat at tables with their backs to us there was a brown book and some yellow tablets on the solicitors table Atticus's was bare just inside the railing that divided the spectators from the court the witnesses sat on cowhide bottom chairs their backs were to us Judge Taylor was on the bench looking like a sleepy old shark his pilot fish writing rapidly below in front of him judge Taylor looked like most judges I'd ever seen amiable white-haired slightly ready faced he was a man who ran his court with alarming informality he sometimes propped his feet up he often cleaned his fingernails with his pocketknife in long equity hearings especially after dinner he gave the impression of dozing an impression dispelled forever when a lawyer once deliberately pushed a pile of books to the floor in a desperate effort to wake him up without opening his eyes Judge Taylor murmured mr. Whitley do that again and it'll cost you $100 he was a man learned in the law and although he seemed to take his job casually in reality he kept a firm grip on any proceedings that came before him only once was Judge Taylor ever seen at a dead standstill in open court and the Cunningham stopped him old sarum there stamping grounds was populated by two family separate and apart in the beginning but unfortunately bearing the same name the Cunningham's married the coning hams until the spelling of the names was academic academic until a Cunningham disputed a Coningham over land titles and took to the law during a controversy of this character James Cunningham testified that his mother spelled it Cunningham on deeds and things but she was really a Coningham she was an uncertain speller a seldom reader and was given to looking far away sometimes when she sat on the front gallery in the evening after nine hours of listening to the eccentricity zuv old serums and habitants judge Taylor threw the case out of court when asked upon what grounds judge Taylor said Sham practice connivance and declare he hoped to God the little the litigants were satisfied satisfied by each having had that public say they were that was all they had wanted in the first place Judge Taylor had one interesting habit he permitted smoking in the courtroom but he did not himself indulge sometimes if one was lucky one had the of watching him put a long dry cigar into his mouth and munch it slowly up bit by bit the dead cigar would disappear to reappear some hours later as a flat slick mess its essence extracted and mingling with Judge Taylor's digestive juices I once asked Atticus how mrs. Taylor stood to kiss him but Atticus said they didn't kiss much the witness stand was to the right of Judge Taylor and when we got to our seats mr. Hecht ate was already on it