The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1855-08-03
READ THE FOLLOWING
From the Nashville True Whig--better
than Dickens in his palmiest days.

Chancery Court met here on last Monday,
and after five or six dlvs of costs and con-
tinuances, very soTcmnly and composodv ad.
journed. or course, no one knows ANYTHING
in particular what was done. went into
Chancery--vuluntariy cutercd.thc shades, to
see or to hear, the ghosts o. the dead that
still linger on earth, in the dusty records of
the court. The angry litigans who filed
many of those "bills" and "nnswers," have
long since gone to answer the bill filed by the
Recording Angel in that high chancery where
no er parte hearings are had, and where the
wrongs of earth are righted by the dccrees OF
that chancellor from whose judgement there
is no appeal. Yet they wranCle here!
thought of these dead men, of their bitter
disputes in life, and their drcamlcss sleep in
death; of their autngonsm on earth, and of
their community in theiCrlyc, and when I'M
agination carried me from the halls of chan
cery TO the graves of the litigants, could not
but smile Mt the emptiness of human strife,
and the hollow mockeries Of n chancery
court
As have already said, ] went into chance.
ry to see and to hear, but no one there SEEM
ed to know much more about what was going
on than did. Now and then II case was
called, about which some lawyer seemed
honestly to think he knep something. aud
would get up to tel, it, but in n short time
conviction that he wasn't the fellow he took
himself to be would steal over him. and the
case would he continued, in order, suppose,
to render by the lapse of.;ime, any knowiedEe
of il vet more hopeless. Again, another case
would be called, and the two OM lawyers
would mutually agree that they knew enough
about il to try il, and after the astonishment
and disorder consequent upon this announce
ment, these two old gentlemen begin tO.look
fierce at each other and the clerk brings in n
basket full of papers tied up with red strings.
The chnncellor-thc iron bound hub of the
whccl-with a.wheel--takes Off his specs,
and shutting his eyes devoutly,appears to be
engaged in prayer for the two old spokrs,
who say they know enough about II suit in
chanccry TO try it. He then opens his eyes
and Looks ut them seemingly to satisfy him.
; self that it is flesh and blood before him, and
that it was'not dream, that two old men
: had risen up before him and agreed to try
=, ease in chonccry. The reality of the thing
u being established, the decks ARE cleared for
', action. The chancellor gets up from his deep
:, ~ arm chair, and accnmplishcs disruption OF
tt flesh from brecchrS. at Il point where Marcy
wore his hrraldic quarterngs and then feeling
u the seat of his chair TO see if there hndn't
- been gravel in it. he let's himself down with Il
&c look into it that betokens utter iniidelity in
III the doctrine of resurrection. The attaches oi
the court bttake themselves TO their custo
.o mary pursuits. The clerk and master, with
his characteristic zeal "ior the diffusion o
" useful knowledge" calls young man arounc
in the bar to tell him about the snakes in vii
I'd son. The old lawyers, except the two at war
:, 90 to sleep, and the young ones dispose o
- themselves nd ibiium. One takes mn apprcn
ne ticc store clerk oil to explain the point Of hi
he last pun; another undertakes to convince
ce refractory Wing that Gentry was Scott maj
-, in 1852: n third surprises the early flies il
-, their adventurous amOurs, with savage rae,
III while the others are engaged in smuggling
o, apples, cheese, and other ciib.es, contrabant
ey of chancery, over the bar, and in lcvying con
70 trbutions, of tobacco ironthe bystnndcrs.--
Meanwhile the two belgerpnt old spoke
u grew ticrcer towards each other, and contin
h ued their preparation for war, by dividing TIN
n papers ndi>crrninatcly between them, and ai
-, Ter notifying the Hub that they are ready Il
= proceed in the case, they 20 to reading th'
b" papers. These papers seemed to be bograph
lp cal and genealogical sketches of man anC
n woman who lived hundred years ago, witt
=, here and there detailed account of "beginins
~ at dogwood and running west to stake,
Is and, then, after running five or six othel
* ways, umaccOuntabIy getting back to the dog
$. wood. These revelations seemed to interest
n no one but the readers, but still the readers
read. Piles of paper were read but still III,
" readers tired not in their work. Bills, an
le swers, rcjoinders, rcpcations, petitions, dc
e. crces, conveyances and deeds were all ready
ID and these seemed to be no end.
:, But suddenly in the midst of certain revc
IT la'ion the reader stopped, and the monotonou
IA n. / .
r. sporiic notes of dscordant accordion aIon
~ were heard. The attention of the Hub wa
called to the fact tha. the readers had stop
VI ped, and he aroused himself by shaking ~
We mnch of his body ms he could Mt one time
and began to make Il decree in the case. Th
readers interposcd, however, and told HIM ihn
the papers they had been rmdng were TO
the ones they thought they were, but belong
ed to Il case whc! had been Dismissed som
twenty years ago. The case they though
they had been trying was thereupon continued
at the cost of somebody that the sheriff wen
out and got. This man unfortunately mad
affidavit that he WAS personally ncqunlntc
with another, who married the widow of
grandson of the defendant in the cause, an
upon his testimony continuance was granite
at defendants cost.
Such seemed to me to he fair sample O
Chancery proceedings. Indeed it appears tlH
whenever suit at law becomes so hopressl
tangled and confused, that no twelve men j
the country cnr understand il, it is forihwi
thrown into Chanccry, to ou,livc, undecided
all the Chancellors plaintiffs, defendants
counsel heirs, wards, minors, guardians, +,
cevers, and commissioners, that were ever /
it. Chanccry is an insolvable riddle. Ne
may solve the other mysteries of heaven an
earth, but Chanccry stands unc0mprehendr
and incomprphcnsiblc. Tho deep ard bewi
derng prophecies of Daniel, under the Nritl
melc of Armegcddon, are rendered to sin
pie prediction of the taking of Greytown, an
the row in the Crimea, but no prophet, see
or preacher, was ever known to eXpound tn
hidden things of Chancery. Pearl diver
sweep the floors of old ocean and gathe
Jewels there to deck the brow of beauty her,
but no diver has ever got bottom in Chancrr,
The wan and cadaverous a'chymist touche
metal and stonc and 10! they crumble in
moment to primal ingredients, but no blow
NJ. pipe or crugible can reduce chancery to any
h., thing like simple elements, or original parts
''' There il stands an unknown, uus0lved, M
ne penetrated mass--incomp inexpl
ct, cable, and impenetrable Chancery, the myth
90 cal aud mysterious city of refuge, wher
bengnant Equity throws around the wido'
and the orphan that shield against oppressio
a. and wrong which the law cannot offer
~ Cornu! Long may she wave. Selam!