Article January 9, 1904 Issue

Serving on a Jury

W. D. MC CRACKAN.

I find that Christian Science is a help to me in the proper discharge of my duties as a citizen. The call to be in the world, but not of it, involves the conscientious performance of public duties, such as voting, paying taxes, serving on juries, etc. A recent experience as a juror has proved to me that the greater insight into the workings of the human mind which Christian Science brings us has enabled me to become a better public servant, to be less easily deceived by appearances, and to detect fundamental motives more readily.

I have been deeply impressed with the tone of kindliness which has pervaded the court where I have been serving. On the first day of the term, the judge, in a speech full of courtesy and benevolence, expressed his desire to lighten the work of the jurors as much as lay in his power. He thereupon proposed a method of apportioning the time which he had never before tried and which was intended to make the work of attendance much easier for us. On the following day we were asked as a body to vote on this proposition, and the plan of the judge was unanimously adopted. This care for our comfort characterized the whole term and indicated the mental attitude which prevailed in the court room.

Among the prisoners brought to the bar were people of many nationalities and races, representing the heterogeneous population of a metropolitan city sent into court to receive sentence or acquittal. It was possible to read on the faces of the prisoners fear expressing itself in various physical manifestations, but the essential unity of man was only emphasized by these outward appearances. There were many confessions of guilt, there was much sorrow and contrition' the court room became the abode where divine compassion was pre-eminently in place. The greater the misery at the bar, the more evident was the true sense of compassion on the bench.

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