Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1843-05-19
GFThe following story going the rounds
of the papers. We wonder in what part of
Vermont the incident occurred.

ECCENTlit1 .li.S OF \ MADMAN.
Mi, lawyer ~ Vermont doing good bust.
ness, nj on became insane and took mic his head
TO abandon the practice of law and engage IN basket
maxi iI.-.'c was at first a very awkward hand at
this employment, but. hy dlut OF perseverance, he
soon hgcamc Ncly s,ill Ill., and could weave basket
he had 10 M NY woven an argument at the bar
He followed tn business abou, SIX months, when.
taking new notion into hi head he abandoned II FOR
that o. char hIltUmlug
The material us d IN this occupation was bark,
which he stripped from the trees in summer when II
pees m st easily. Having come home one day CIV
cred from head 10 foot with mud, he was ed where
he had been, that he had GOT 50 thoroughly hcdaubed
He answered, that he had been IN nelghborlrg
swamp after elm bark, o! which he exhibited a strip
about forty feet long
DO you remark rhis! said he TRUMP lv.
Yes; bat how does this account Tor w.. being 81
muddy l'isn'' usual 10 lind mad % IT, Top Of a
tree.
No but You may sometimes, find it in the bottom
though I'll tell YOU how found IT, | cut the bark
near the root olthe uCc, and then stripped upwards
cXpcc ing IT would co ne 10 an end and break off, and
run Itself out after while Blu It hung on like Il sui
IN chancery-and suipt, and stript. until It run "
forty feet and as strong as ever.-Tnnks 10 myself
there's no in pursuing the thing any father and st
I'll enter nolle oseqH But not 10 lose benefit o
what had done-lhal was the point 10 be decided
wished ut least t. slve COSTS but pshaw l iorgn
i IN not lawyer now. Well, ms was saying,
looked at the subject to see now could secure tht
bark. 1t was TOO srongi for me 10 break off. At any
rate, thought there more than one way to SKIN
cat, as a butcher would say. III cannot break of
this bark, en- climb up by it. No sooner SAID than
done. ! lzed hold Of the strip, and, placing my
feet against the trunk of the tree ran up hand oyei
hand. BY this method Of climbing, you will per.
ceive my back must have been downward, and near
ly in horizontal posIiion--hy feet being brace,
against the tree, and my head standing from it in
unglc OF nearly nu,ty degrees. Having arrived n
the proper hr-ht, vas ii.n in qnandaiy, how t
get my kne ont Of INV pocket and how to ret it opef
when 1t was out.-lfl 1T 90 with one hand, ! wa'
fearful the other would MT hold me. However, say!
!, its nicl, nothing. I'll Try the experiment at an,
raie--so erippod powerfully, with my left hand Will,
took out my knife with my night, and opening ii witt
my teeth, whipped of the bark clean the Law
would dock an entail.
And what do YOU think was the result
Why, You came flat on your back, Of course ?
RGht Gentlemen of the lury-a very correct verde
indeed came down llt IN the mud. Never
client lad fltter on his bac, than land never WA
one so completely bedaUbed with filth and mud. Hu
thanks to the yielding nature oi the soil, saved m
bones, and only brought away the mischief on IN
coat. .:aned my cause ,no-whlch IS more than
can say of all my unirrtakngs.'
The company laughed heartily at the ey-awyer'
account Of his cXpoit--wluc the latter hanging hi
Goa in the san, said, tia the mud, the old wo
ma. s;cqs. would ruh o. when !, dgv.
H. continued while longer to follow his occupA
ton OF chair boItomiug, when suddenly leconnn
sane again, he resumed the practice oi law, and has
ever since, pcrlcrfod lay.n. his opponents on the
backs, in a legal way, 10 b-nI Ia d on his own IN 5
luditrous a manner as that above roiated.-N.
Trans.