at a cheap folding table. Ida, Charles, and Mike Maycomb, with their Italian-suited attorney, sat at afolding table opposite of them. With its dinginess and cheap furniture, the room looked like anapproximation of a courtroom for a high school production of Inherit the Wind.
The entrance of Judge Sanders failed to fill Lily with hope. Despite the fact that he wassupposedly the official property of the McGilly family, the judge’s dour expression did not inspireconfidence. Stooped and scowling, he looked as ancient and stodgy as some of the living fossils on the
Judge Sanders croaked at the Maycombs’ attorney to make his opening remarks. Stephen J.
Hamilton stood before the judge, wearing a suit that probably cost more than the sum total of all theclothing Lily had bought in her life. His artfully woven hair, his bronze skin — everything about him saidbig-shot, big-city lawyer. Lily hoped that Judge Sanders wasn’t impressed by flashy appearances.
“Your honor,” Hamilton began, “I am here to speak today about the value of a child. Those of usin this courtroom who are parents know the joy of holding a new baby for the first time, and any goodparent will tell you that a child is more precious than diamonds, more valuable than gold.” Lily watchedthe gold and diamond ring glint on his right hand. “The value of a happy child, a loved child, a childraised by strict but loving parents in a morally sound home, is immeasurable. These children are worthmore than their weight in diamonds and gold. These children are our country’s most valuable resource,for in their tiny hands, is our future.
“But,” Hamilton said, letting his tone grow somber. “What about the other children? Childrenraised in morally unfit homes? Children without a real mother and father to love them, to discipline them,to teach them right from wrong? What about these children’s future? And how will these children affectour future? Will they grow up to be criminals, drug users, moral degenerates—all because of the lack of asuitable family environment?
“Today we are here to determine the future of one child. The child in question, Mimi Maycomb, isnot yet two years old, still innocent, still reasonably untouched despite the circumstances into which shewas born.
“Children don’t ask to be born, after all. But some children are lucky. They are born to a motherand father who are married in the eyes of God and the state, a mother and father who have the spiritual,moral, and financial capability to properly care for them.” He stopped to sip from a paper cup of water,