The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1853-09-03
ABOUT LAWYERS AND THEIR
CHARGES.

have lively admiration for them.-
Who ever heard of one of them taking
a fee in ali uni ust cause o. doing any
hard hearted thing! or saying what he
did not believe or encouraging litiga-
ton! or misrepresenting evidence to
the jury! De TocqurviIe rightly says
they are :he arstocracy-t is, the
best of men-oi the United States. Our
own admiration of them Is founded on
large experience of their virtues. Let
us call the images of few lawyers Of
our own acquaintance.
There is our friend at Columbus,
Mississippi, who never varies from his
scale OF charges, even for friends. We
sent him once for collection our bill of
SO, against a subscriber. He colIected
it the same day, and sent us, by return
mail, his own bill Tor fee Of $ Is with
"A polite dun. for the unpaid balance Of
SIX dollars. We RENTED instanter,
thanking him for his promptneS>.
Then there is the eminent counselor
at Lake Providence, who charged US
500 on bill of exchange for $4,000.
which had been paid on presentation
: We demonstrated, and he cou>oled us
Tor not having collected through bank,
! 10y the assurance that, il professional
etiquette d.d not forbid, h. would most
certainly reduce his original charge,
which he admitted was rather too heavy.
A stllI better man was ID Texas Jaw
yer 10 whom We submitted disputed
land claim, on an arrangement called the
"halveS," very common in that part OF
the country. A facetious dog was
Smith. About eighteen months elapsed
without our hearing trom him. He then
wrote to lis, IN answer 10 our twrntLIpth
+pistle, that he bad done remarkably
well with the claim, having compromise
ed it for half the value of the proprrty;
that he had pocketed the half for his fee;
and that we were not really indebted to
him for any thing besides the costs of a
suit hr had commenced and discontinue
ed.-We could have fairly Rugged the
fellow for his gay and careless humor.
He did not give lis half the trouble we
had with lawyer out at Jefferson CITY,
who had collected for US q cIaim Of
several hundred dollars. Functlal as
a correspondent, he advised us by the
first mail, adding that the mails were
made very irregular by the overlooking
OF the RIVER, and he did not think it safe
- remit. We waited until summer
time, until one could almost wade the
/ Upper MlSsonrI.-I river was So low
then, he said, that he found it extrp melv
inconvenientto get his paper to the bank
where he usual Y had it caShed. Two
seasons passed by, and nnumerable let
ters were Inierchanged in regard to re-
hitting, drafts and inunda,ions.-At last
being IN need of funds, we wrote that
we must insist on having the money,
irrespective OF the state OF the water.
He was an honest creature at heart, and
sent it, forgetting to add the two years
interest, but deducting II per cent, for
his fee.
Lawyers will be little lazy some
| times: but can We blame man for phys
zeal happiness or inactivity! The lazi-
est one We ever knew lived IN Shawnee
town, Illinois. He had promised for
two years to remit to Louisville some
money ne had collected for u.s. Bust
ness-iik" demands, caolery, persuasion,
argument, and menace, had no effect on
him. He would write no more. At
last we sent him. IN full the anecdote of
the man who was so lazy that he ate APP
pies OFT the trees, not being energetic
enough to raise his hand to pluck them.
This touched the RICH. spot. and he
reused himself so far as to send us the
money The effort may have killed
him. for we have never heard of him
since.
In no profession is there more chiv-
alrous sense of honor than in that Of the
law. We have lively remembrance
OF having been kept in bodily fear by a
lawyer Of Little Rock, Arkansas. He
! had maintained most obstinate silence
for more than a year after receiving
for US the full amount of a claim TO
letter in which we demanded an i'm
mediate and satisfactory adjustment of
the matter, he answered that our former
letters were too Yankee. like, but, he
was ready TO give us satisfaction at once.
He ended by requesting us to name our
friend and weapons, as he would come
on and fight US on our ground. We
wrote him by return post, to put Pick
wickian construction on the offensive
letter. After applying to some forty
lawyers to collect the claim from our
beligercnt attorney-al! of them refus-
ing the business on the plea Of profess
sional dellcacv-we succeeded in re-
tanning one, on promise OF twenty
per cent. AS the war.like ones charge