You will be given a definition of a task first, then an example. Follow the example to solve a new instance of the task.
Based on the information present in the given passage, you need to write a correct answer to the given question. A correct answer is one that correctly and completely answers the question. Do not write answers that address the question partially or incorrectly. The correct answer must be contained in the given paragraph.

Paragraph- Sent 1: Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Sent 2: He is the only President to have been born in Hawaii.
Sent 3: He was born to a white mother and a black father.
Sent 4: His mother, Ann Dunham (1942-1995), was born in Wichita, Kansas, of mostly English descent, with some German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss, and Welsh ancestry. Question: How old was Obama's mother when he was born?
Solution: 19.
Why? Obama was born in 1961. His mother was born in 1942 and 1961-1942=19. Therefore, any of the following responses are considred correct: '19' and 'almost twenty'.

New input: Paragraph- Sent 1: As his car slid downtown on Tuesday morning the mind of Arnold Thorndike was occupied with such details of daily routine as the purchase of a railroad, the Japanese loan, the new wing to his art gallery, and an attack that morning, in his own newspaper, upon his pet trust.
Sent 2: But his busy mind was not too occupied to return the salutes of the traffic policemen who cleared the way for him.
Sent 3: Or, by some genius of memory, to recall the fact that it was on this morning young Spear was to be sentenced for theft.
Sent 4: It was a charming morning.
Sent 5: The spring was at full tide, and the air was sweet and clean.
Sent 6: Mr. Thorndike considered whimsically that to send a man to jail with the memory of such a morning clinging to him was adding a year to his sentence.
Sent 7: He regretted he had not given the probation officer a stronger letter.
Sent 8: He remembered the young man now, and favorably.
Sent 9: A shy, silent youth, deft in work, and at other times conscious and embarrassed.
Sent 10: But that, on the part of a stenographer, in the presence of the Wisest Man in Wall Street, was not unnatural.
Sent 11: On occasions, Mr. Thorndike had put even royalty— frayed, impecunious royalty, on the lookout for a loan—at its ease.
Sent 12: The hood of the car was down, and the taste of the air, warmed by the sun, was grateful.
Sent 13: It was at this time, a year before, that young Spear picked the spring flowers to take to his mother.
Sent 14: A year from now where would young Spear be?
Sent 15: It was characteristic of the great man to act quickly, so quickly that his friends declared he was a slave to impulse.
Sent 16: It was these same impulses, leading so invariably to success, that made his enemies call him the Wisest Man.
Sent 17: He leaned forward and touched the chauffeur's shoulder.
Sent 18: "Stop at the Court of General Sessions," he commanded.
Sent 19: What he proposed to do would take but a few minutes.
Sent 20: A word, a personal word from him to the district attorney, or the judge, would be enough. 
Question: What did Mr. Thorndike want to do at the Court of General Sessions?.
Solution:
He wanted to help young Spear.