And it ought to be the pride of every district to make its school as good as possible.

31. Swiss Schools.-The common schools of Switzerland are among the best in the world. The people are eager that they shall be so, and take great interest in them all the time. What is going on in the school is matter of common talk in a Swiss district, which the people find quite as interesting as the weather or politics. This constant intelligent interest, of course, is a great help to the teachers and a great encouragement to the pupils. It would be a good thing if we took as much interest in our schools.

CHAPTER XIII

Judge and Jury

1. If a citizen is accused of breaking the law, he is liable to be put in prison, or otherwise punished, as the law may direct. But by the Constitution of the United States, and by those of the several states, no one can be punished as a criminal unless he has been duly tried in a court of justice and found guilty. In order to see how such a trial is conducted, and what it means, we have supposed one John Doe to be accused of a crime and to be brought before the court. Let us imagine ourselves spectators at the trial.

2. The Trial of John Doe for Burglary. John Doe has been arrested by a deputy sheriff on the charge of burglary. One of his neighbors woke one morning to find that the dining-room window had been broken open in the night and that the silver spoons had been stolen. Getting into a house in this way at night in order to steal is what the law calls burglary. John Doe is a shiftless fellow, who was seen hanging around the day after trying to sell some silver spoons to a pawnbroker. The spoons he claimed to have found in a small parcel by the roadside, but as this story was doubted, Doe was arrested and put in jail. The county attorney * made inquiries and became convinced that the burglar was, in fact, no other than John Doe. In a few days there was held at the county seat a meeting of what is

* Called in some states "district attorney"; in some, "state attorney."

known as the grand jury. This is a group of men, not more than twenty-four nor less than twelve in number, selected from the citizens for the purpose of seeing whether the laws have been broken by anybody. The county attorney told the grand jury his reasons for believing that Doe was a burglar. These reasons seemed to the jury to be good ones, and so they voted that John Doe should be tried on the charge of stealing the spoons-of committing burglary. The vote of the grand jury was written out on paper and duly signed. This paper is called an indictment, and Doe was now said to be indicted for burglary. So he was kept in jail until he should be tried.

3. But the fact that the grand jury had indicted him by no means made it sure that he really had stolen the spoons. It merely meant that the public accusers, the grand jury, thought it probable that he was guilty. But to decide whether he was or not, must be left to a very different body of men acting in a very different way. So we see that the grand jury does not decide the question of guilt or innocence; it merely decides whether, on the whole, it is worth while to keep an accused man in jail until he can be tried and the real facts found out. In other words, the grand jury are, as we have said, the public accusers. In our country no one can be kept long in jail or tried on a charge of breaking the laws unless a grand jury have voted to indict him.

4. We have said that Doe had to be tried in order to decide whether he was guilty or not. Let us look into the room in which the trial is going on, and we shall see at once what we mean by trying a man.

5. In the county court-house are many offices and rooms. One of these is the court-room, and it is full of people. It is a rather large room, with a high ceiling. At one end is a desk on a raised platform. Behind this desk sits a gentleman who is evidently presiding. No one speaks without addressing him, and everybody promptly obeys when he gives any directions. If there is any difference of opinion about what the law means he decides it. Whoever speaks to him does not call him by name; they say, "Your honor." This gentleman is the judge. He has been elected by the people, or else appointed by the governor of the state. Some states have one way and some another. The judge's term of office is several years, in some states for life. A person selected as judge is usually a lawyer, and he ought to be a good one. Besides that, he should be a very upright man, fair and just to everybody, incapable of being frightened or flattered or bribed. There is no more honorable place in the whole government than that of a judge, and a person who holds that place is treated with great respect.

6. On another raised platform, at the left of the judge, are twelve men sitting in chairs. They differ very much one from another. Evidently none of them are lawyers. Some are farmers, some are merchants, some are mechanics. This is the jury. They are not appointed, as is the judge, for a long term. Their names have been drawn by lot from a list of citizens in the county, and they are to serve for a single term of the court (a few weeks), or perhaps merely for one trial. These twelve men have left their business and are obliged to give their whole time