She went on to tell how she had attended the trial of three pacifist
clergymen a week or two previously. How atrocious that Christians in
a Christian country should be sent to prison for trying to repeat
the words of Christ! "I was so indignant," declared Mrs. Godd, "that
I wrote a letter to the judge. My husband said I would be committing
contempt of court by writing to a judge during the trial, but I
answered that my contempt for that court was beyond anything I could
put into writing. Wait--"
And Mrs. Godd rose gravely from her chair and went over to a desk by
the wall, and got a copy of the letter. "I'll read it to you," she
said, and Peter listened to a manifesto of Olympian Bolshevism--
To His Honor:
As I entered the sanctuary, I gazed upward to the stained glass
dome, upon which were inscribed four words: Peace. Justice. Truth.
Law--and I felt hopeful. Before me were men who had violated no
constitutional right, who had not the slightest criminal tendency,
who, were opposed to violence of every kind.
The trial proceeded. I looked again at the beautiful stained glass
dome, and whispered to myself those majestic-sounding words: "Peace.
Justice. Truth. Law." I listened to the prosecutors; the Law in
their hands was a hard, sharp, cruel blade, seeking insistently,
relentlessly for a weak spot in the armor of its victims.
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