George Barr McCutcheon

“ I heard him say it, Judge," cried Frank, his heart now beating with a fright which strove to overpower the truth that struggled to his indignant lips.
"Take him from the room, sheriff! I never heard of such impudence," cried the outraged judge. "I never did in all my life."
"But I'm a witness," stammered Frank, a surly resentment taking possession of him. He was looking at the court manfully.
"That's enough, sir! Is it possible that you do not know enough to observe order in a court room? Where do you come from? ”

“ Young man, you have committed an indiscretion which cannot be overlooked; you have insulted this court; you have outraged this bench of justice. In sheer amazement I realize that you are almost a man and not a child, as one might suspect from your rashness, from your utter indifference to the consequences which you must certainly have known would be the result of your outburst. ”

“ Convinced that he was creating an unusual stir among the old and staid lawyers, the straight-laced bailiffs, and the habitual hangers-on, he took a seat at one of the broad tables and assumed that posture of importance attained only by extreme youth.
By his side was another youth, not over sixteen, fair, ruddy-cheeked, and comely. It may seem strangely coincident that, on the day Edward Gray first entered the court room as a full-fledged attorney, his younger brother should be there as a witness—a witness in a case wherein a man was being tried for forgery. ”

“ He said——"
"Silence!" shouted the astonished court, and two bailiffs hurried toward the dissenter threateningly. His brother half started from his chair with the shock he had received, his cheek flushing and then blanching, as if a sort of terror had seized upon his heart.
"I ask to have this young man ejected from the court room," cried the state's attorney, sputtering in amazement. The sergeant of police looked guiltily defiant, the prisoner's face lit up, and a whole room full of people strained their necks to see the owner of the disturbing voice. ”

“ But he assumed, he acted all three with the desperation of an unpractised intelligence; he distressed himself with the wish that he could be seen for all he was worth, that he could display in himself all that had taken others a lifetime to achieve—ability. Such is youth. ”