Why do you think Jem cries at the end of Chapter 7 in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee?

In Harper Lee's To Kill a
Mockingbird, Jem and Scout have spend countless hours imagining what Boo
Radley is like. The gifts in the tree at the Radley place seem at first to be no big
deal: simply a curiosity. However, as they continue to "arrive," especially with the
carved soap figurines of Jem and Scout, they children are captured by the intent of the
items—gifts left for them to find. This is not an understanding they have come to
casually. First they believed the items were in someone's hiding place. When they tested
out this theory and the items never left, they decided they might keep them for the
person who left them until later. However, by the end of this "adventure," Jem and Scout
feel they objects are gifts to them: and, it's "finders-keepers" as
far as they are concerned.

Jem and Scout are children who
are still young enough to have a sense of wonder about the world. They have delightful
(and wild) imaginations, as we see even before Dill arrives, as they act out books Jem
has read. The world is a place of possibilities. However, when Mr. Radley cements the
hole closed in the tree, we have a clear sense that he is not
trying to save the tree, he is lying, and somehow it is connected to Boo. Although the
children have never seen him and may even be a little frightened of him, the three of
them are all connected, even so early in the novel.

On some
level, I believe that Jem understands this. It is one of the first experiences with
adults that he will have over the course of the story that will open his eyes to many
truths about the world; and with each incident, there is a loss of innocence for Jem,
who is several years older than Scout. We learn after Chapter Six and the near miss the
kids experience at the Radley house, that Jem is maturing, and very much wants his
father's respect: he doesn't want to get in trouble with Atticus because they snuck onto
the Radley's property. However, with every brush a youngster of Jem's age has with the
"real world," there is a price to pay: sometimes something positive comes of it, but not
this time. Here, Jem is forced to see Mr. Radley's inhumanity to
Boo, suspecting that he is somehow trying to cut Boo off from them. This is not to say
Jem understands the reasons, but the result is clear
enough.

Scout notices the impact the event has on Jem, who
ironically reacts as he had tried to keep her from doing: he
cries.

"Come
on in, Jem" I said.

"After
while."

He stood there until nightfall, and I waited for
him. When we went in the house I saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right
places, but I thought it odd that I had not heard
him.