Nothing in the world could replace home influence, the
parents' teaching and example--nothing! And this poor boy, now
threatened with imprisonment, had a mother. He had a mother. Did the
Court appreciate the import of those words? Did they realize what it
meant to shatter that hallowed bond, to deprive the parent of her
offspring's help and consolation--the child of its mother's fostering
care? Let them consider the lives of all t hose great men of the past
who were known to have had mothers--Themistocles, Dante, Virgil, Peter
the Hermit and Madame de Maintenon--why had they achieved distinction in
the world? What was the secret of their greatness? A mother's
affectionate guidance in youth. They had not been torn, as children,
from her loving arms.
A good many people were already sobbing. But the orator had noticed
that something was wrong. He consulted a small scrap of paper and then
continued in the same conversational tones as before.
He had no mother. He was an orphan. An orphan! Did the Court realize
what it meant? No, he dared not ask them to picture to themselves all
that was implied in that bitter word.
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