Page 247

From the text:
Mr B.B. Underwood was at his most bitter, and he couldn't have cared less who cancelling advertising and subscriptions. Mr Underwood didn't talk about miscarriages of justice, he was writing so children could understand. Mr Underwood simply figured it was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children, and Maycomb though he was trying to write an editorial poetical enough to be reprinted in The Montgomery Advertiser.

Our interpretation of this:
As we can see from this passage, Mr Underwood is one of the few Whites in Maycomb who are not prejudiced against the blacks. He runs Maycomb's editorial. When he knew that Tom Robinson had been shot to death, he was very upset. He couldn't be bothered about any other things around him. He was so hit by TR's death that he wrote an editorial about it. Mr Underwood wrote the article simply, for children to comprehend. He knew that children were not so prejudiced against others. So, he wanted them to read it and feel the same way.
Mr Underwood felt that it was a sin to kill cripples because they are already at a disadvantage physically. Everyone knows that generally, cripples cannot possibly commit serious crimes because of their health condition. Thus, Tom Robinson, being a crippled, is most unlikely to rape Mayella Ewell.
Mr Underwood also refered Tom's death as "senseless slaughter of songbirds". The songbirds refers to mockingbird, again refering to the book's title. In Chapter 10, Atticus tells Jem not to kill mockingbirds, but kill all the bluejays he wants to. Mockingbirds are harmless creatures which just sing beautifully for us to hear. In this way, Tom Robinson is like a mockingbird. He didn't harm anyone in anyway. Yet, he was punished for the wrong he never did and was killed.
When Mr Underwood wrote the editorial, Maycomb thought he was just trying to get it reprinted in the major Montgomery Advertiser, a newspaper in the state. Here, we can see that the Whites in Maycomb are very prejudiced against the blacks. They never see what Mr Underwood is trying to explain to them. All they think about are the selfish or wrong characters of others. They never ever stop to think that they are wrong.

From the text:
Miss Stephanie told Aunt Alexandra in Jem's presence ('Oh foot, he's old enough to listen') that Mr Ewell said that he made one down and about 2 more to go.

Our Interpretation of this:
This sentence prepares the readers on what is going to happen to Jem and Scout next. It makes the readers' imagination run wild of how Bob Ewell would harm them. This also tells us that Mr Ewell is one man who would not own up that he was the one who caused all the trouble for the trial. Instead, he wants to seek revenge on Atticus, who sided a black and not a white. We believe that Bob Ewell was the one who always raped his daughter, the 'victim' in the trial. Thus, he was very sore with the people who defended Tom Robinson because he felt that they didn't trust him. He wanted people to believe him and side with him. As he is a very violent and temperamental man, he began to feel that he needed to avenge, for his pride was at stake. He didn't have to kill TR, because he was shot by the prison guards. Now, the only people he had to kill were Atticus' beloved children - Scout and Jem.

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