ed
Officer 4434 under his breath.

There were cases of a different caliber. Yet Burke could see in them
what Balzac called "social coordination."

Now a middle-aged woman, with hair unkempt, and hat awry, maudlin tears
in her swollen eyes, and swaying as she held the rail, looked shiftily
up into the magistrate's immobile face.

"You've been drunk again, Mrs. Rafferty? This is twice during the last
fortnight that I've had you here."

"Yis, yer honor, an me wid two foine girls left home. Oh, Saint Mary
protect me, an' oi'm a (hic) bad woman. Yer honor, it's the fault of
me old man, Pat. (Hic) Oi'm _not_ a bad woman, yer honor."

The magistrate was kind as he spoke.

"And what does Pat do?"

"He beats me, yer honor (hic), until Oi sneak out to the family
intrance at the corner fer a quiet nip ter fergit it. An' the girls,
they've been supportin' me (hic), an' payin the rint, an' buyin' the
vittles, an' (hic) it's a dog's life they lead, wid all their work.
When they go out wid dacint young min (hic), Pat cusses the young min,
an' beats the girls whin they come home (hic)."

Here the woman broke down, sobbing, while the attendant kept her from
swaying and falling.

"There, there, Mrs. Rafferty. I'll suspend sentence this time. But
don't let it happen another time. You have Pat arrested and I'll teach
him something about treating you right."

"My God, yer honor (hic), the worst of it is it's me two girls--they
ain't got no home, but a drunken din, the next thing I knows they'll be
arristed (hic) and brought up before ye like these other poor divvels.
Yer honor, it's drunken Pats and min like him that's bringin' these
poor girls here--it ain't the cops an' the sports (hic), yer honor."

The woman staggered as the magistrate quietly signaled the attendant to
lead her through the gate, and up the aisle of the court to the outer
door.

As she passed by the spectators, two or three richly dressed young
women giggled and nudged the dapper youths with whom they were sitting.

"Silence!" cried the magistrate tersely. "This is not a cabaret show.
I don't want any seeing-New-York parties here. Sergeant, put those
people out of the court."

The officer walked up the aisle and ordered the society buds and their
escorts to leave.

"Why, we're studying sociology," murmured one girl. "It's a very
stupid thing, however, down here."

"So vulgar, my dear," acquiesced her friend. "There's nothing
interestin