eeling of resentment at court procedure grows. It
is not the judge any longer who is keeping and delaying them. The
witnesses appear like fools it is true, but the lawyers make them act
more foolishly than need be. Why does the judge make such absurd
rulings? The law must be an unreasonable thing and the judge evidently
knows a great deal about it. Why can't the witnesses tell what they
know? The most tiresome parts are when the lawyers begin arguing
about the testimony. One side wants the witness to tell something and
the other side does not. The judge keeps still and lets the lawyers go
on talking as though it were something important, perhaps he can not
help it. The lawyers or the judge can not have much to do. The judge
it is true is paid to listen, but the lawyers must be pretty hard up
when they will go on talking in that way. No juryman would stay here
wasting his time during business hours, and afterwards there are the
newspapers, supper, and taking the family to the movies, all of which
is far more sensible.

"Say, it's like a vaudeville show to see those two go on," thinks the
juryman. "You couldn't beat it if you put it in an act. Georgie Cohan
or Joe Weber could make their fortunes if they only hired the lawyers
as actors or came into court for their material."

Occasionally the judge calls the lawyers up to his desk and together
they talk over something which the jury can not hear. The jury look
as though they did not care. If they want to talk some more--well, let
them. Perhaps they are planning some game, and the jury will wait
until their turn comes. In the jury-room they can show them what's
what; that is where they know their chance is coming. Even if the
judge is only trying to find out something about the case, that is a
sensible thing to do. Why don't the lawyers come over and talk to the
jury like that? In a few minutes they could ask them some questions
that would settle the whole matter.

The strange part is when a witness has said something and told how he
or she feels about the whole case, which is exactly what the jury want
to know, one of the lawyers jumps up and says he moves to strike that
part all out and the judge strikes out. The lawyer having scored a
hit, then says:

"I ask your Honor to instruct the jury to disregard the testimony just
given."

"Gentlemen," says the judge, "the evidence just given has been ruled
out by the court and is not relevant to the issue, and I must instr