Zella
New member
Gideon Seymour was unknown to the vast majority of the crowd, but the Tar Man's support of him predisposed them in his favor. Thirty thousand pairs of eyes focused on the small figure with a rope around his neck. Gideon stepped forward and spoke. His voice rang across the fields of Tyburn, and the crowds shuffled forward in order to hear him the better.
"I do not deny that I have done wrong," he said in a loud, strong voice that trembled only slightly. "And before God and the people I say that I truly repent of my sins. But I am not guilty of those crimes of which I am accused. Nor have I led a more wicked life than that of my betters who have seen fit to bring me here to this accursed place. I stole food when I was starving, and I know that I am not alone here in having to choose between life and breaking God's law."
There were murmurs of approval.
"Yet I tell you that I have seen the future and in that different land there will be justice! No one shall be driven by poverty to a life of crime and deceit! Live in the hope that better things are yet to come and that if individual men are wicked, the heart of our nation is sound, and we shall create our own paradise on earth."
The crowd now broke into cheers. Flowers were thrown onto the scaffold.
"Life is sweet, my friends! Do not waste a moment of it! Fare thee well!"
-From Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer (It makes more sense if you read the book.)
"I do not deny that I have done wrong," he said in a loud, strong voice that trembled only slightly. "And before God and the people I say that I truly repent of my sins. But I am not guilty of those crimes of which I am accused. Nor have I led a more wicked life than that of my betters who have seen fit to bring me here to this accursed place. I stole food when I was starving, and I know that I am not alone here in having to choose between life and breaking God's law."
There were murmurs of approval.
"Yet I tell you that I have seen the future and in that different land there will be justice! No one shall be driven by poverty to a life of crime and deceit! Live in the hope that better things are yet to come and that if individual men are wicked, the heart of our nation is sound, and we shall create our own paradise on earth."
The crowd now broke into cheers. Flowers were thrown onto the scaffold.
"Life is sweet, my friends! Do not waste a moment of it! Fare thee well!"
-From Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer (It makes more sense if you read the book.)