Both Pearson and Johnson had grown to manhood in their
midst, and until this time no taint of suspicion had ever been urged
against them. No thought of wrong-doing had ever attached to them, and
no shadow had dimmed the luster of their fair fame. Now all was changed,
and the irreproachable reputations of days gone by were shattered.
Debased and self-convicted, they stood before the bar of justice, to
answer for their crimes. Instead of being the objects of admiration,
they were now receiving the well-merited scorn of those who had been
their friends and neighbors. Scarcely past their majorities, and just
stepping over the threshold of life, the future bright with promises and
fruitful of golden experiences, they had recklessly thrown all to the
winds, and now stood before their former friends with the brand of the
felon upon their brows. No sadder spectacle could have been presented,
and certainly none more full of warning to the careless youths who
thronged the court-room, than the presence of the aged parents of these
young men on the day of the hearing. Their cup of bitterness and sorrow
was indeed full, and as they raised their tear-stained eyes to their
children, there was not one present whose heart did not throb in
sympathy for their misfortunes.
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