The whole question as to witnesses is whether they shall be allowed to
tell what they want or what the lawyers want. As they are both in the
court-room they must abide by the rules of the court. That is the
trouble: the rules are against the witness.

When the witness goes on the stand for the first time the court
attendant asks her to raise her right hand. She does so and tries to
sit down in the witness chair so that she may feel a little more at
ease. "Stand up," says the officer. The judge looks at her
inquisitorially over his spectacles. She tries to smile and regains
her feet. "Raise your hand," says the judge. The delightful and
sanitary custom of kissing the Bible has been done away with. Even
the habit of resting the hand on the Book is disappearing and in many
courts a Bible is hard to find.

The lady, in the confusion of appearing on a stage for the first time
and standing on a raised platform before an audience, holds up her
left hand. The court attendant jumps at her. The judge has seen the
same performance many times before and hardly notices the
_contretemps_. By this time she is confused and ruffled and after
hearing something murmured about the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, she sinks into the chair and begins in a very
uncomfortable frame of mind the ordeal of giving testimony.

What she wants to say, what she ought to say, what she was told to say
is all gone. The jury and the judge understand and feel sympathetic
but the rules of the court do not permit them to be polite, and to ask
her to take a more comfortable chair, to have some tea, whether the
children have had any after-effects of the measles, or to take off