Page 104
By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
A priest defends Michael's fight with older trustees, recounts his intervention for a child in pain and reports his parents' plan to send him to Valley Forge Military School.
The priest acknowledges that the court lacks suitable placements for children with disabilities. He recounts the child's seizure and the trustees' retaliation, asking the judge to understand why Michael felt he had to fight. He concedes the bloodshed and proposes the parents' military-school plan as Michael's next placement.
A priest pleads Michael's case to the court: Frost spoke out against two trustees who were forcing 'this crippled child back into the swabbing line', and was later blocked from the basement dressing room by them and another boy, so 'He had to fight all three of them your honor'. The judge asks 'Well Father, what do you expect me to do at this point?' and the priest reports the parents' plan to send Michael 'to Valley Forge Military School'.
The speech is a careful piece of advocacy that admits the fight was 'quite bloody' while shifting blame to a court that cannot place children 'in the proper inviornment'. Its formal, repetitive courtroom manner ('your honor', 'We understand') contrasts with the violence it describes. The page shows the church using its standing to steer Michael's fate.