"
"But, Mr. Bartram, I'm not used to talkin' to lawyers. I never talked
to any but once, you know, an' then I don't think they had very much
respect for what I said. I wasn't in a fix where anybody could have any
respect for me."
"This hasn't anything to do with those times, Sam," said the lawyer. "A
friend of yours, who is a friend of mine, has told me that you talked
very straightforward and honestly on this subject a few nights ago.
That's more than I have been able to find anybody do in this town in a
long time. I don't mind saying to you that, according to what the
people who are the most prominent in the church say, I'm a pretty hard
character. Therefore whatever you have to say you needn't be afraid to
put very plainly. I simply want to know about myself; that's all."
"Mr. Bartram," said the cobbler, "as I've already said, you had a good
deal better talked to somebody else. But, seem' you've come to me, I've
only this to say to you, an' I hope you can make somethin' out of it,
because I give you my word I've made more out of it than ever I did out
of anythin' else on the face of the earth. I went to jail for stealin'.
I hadn't ever been an honest man in my life. The only reason I hadn't
been in jail all my life was that I hadn't been caught. At last I was
caught, an' I was sent up, an' I don't mind sayin' that I think my
sentence was mighty light, considerin' all the heavy mischief that I'd
done durin' my life.
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