The native American. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1840, 1840-10-03
A LAWYERS LAMENT.

Individually, as members OF society,
I'VE commend piety and virtue loudly we
admire them very much; but cd. d." or
"the Rev" will not help note. We will
take the reverend gentleman's promises
| for the eternal future, and think his piety
Sufficient collateral security; yet we can
not believe what he says " sixty days after
date" 1t would be amusing to see the
Icountenance of veteran shaver, as he
read the note Of the Rev. DIR. somebody,
for twenty dollars some shaver whose
only idea of the devil is, that he is
the embodiment of "Defalcation or De-
lay"-which latter would be his inter-
|pretation Of " d. D." There is no COM
|mandment which says, Thou shalt dis
count clergyman's note !" and in this
money that he is safe in a refusal
"The lawyers, Of all classes in the COM
munity, very decidedly suffer the most.
A clergyman may pickup little here and
there, from some good Christian, who
feels disposed to make an investment for
the benefit of his soul hereafter; mer-
chant may speculate to any extent; buy
stock con time," to the amount of hun
dreds of thousands, but the lawyer must
have constantly in his minds eye the un-
poetical idea of cash. There are no fluc-
tuations in the bread market, which ena-
bles him to buy on time," eat bread and
"pay the difference" 1t is the most in
teresting feature in the operation of the
man who speculates largely, that he eats
the bread and pays the difference--in par
lance Of brokers and merchants.
"Mercantile men are never troubled by
duns; they have polite "notice" sent to
them by the bank, prettily printed upon a
nice piece of white paper, like an invita-
ton to dinner, that hundred thousand
dollars are due to such bank mark that,
the bank never asks them for money, but
says, very respectfully, that the amount
| is due, and gives them three days of
grace that is to say, gives them time to
think how much more they want. If
lawyer owes money, some greasy faced
fellow walks in, no matter who's there,
whether you are making love or singing
/" Oft in the Silly Night" with his hat in
his hand, and smirk upon his hideous
countenance, muttering broken sentences:
"Just stepped in-that little account
and so on. As soon as he hears the reply
-"no money"-the sweet Summertime
smile vanishes.
off bank director meets merchant,
they are very polite to each other; indeed
the director is most probably merchant
himself. Whether he is or not, they are
very civil to each other; bow, ask after
wife and children, and so on. Neither
the merchant nor the director knows that
the lawyer has a wife and children law
yer knows. Neither touches his hat to
the lawyer. If the omnibus is crowded,
there is plenty of room for the merchant
or director; ID the bit for the lawyer.
And thus the poor lawyer is neglected by
the merchant and the man Of money, un-
til other classes of men follow the example,
and treat him with like contempt. If he
| is so unfortunate as to not have any prac-
tice in his profession, some scoundrel in
the shape of directory maker gets hold
of him, and writes him down "gentle-
man." This puts the finishing stroke to
him. nicker6ocker.