The prairie news. [volume] (Okolona, Miss.) 1851-1875, 1859-08-04
OKOLONA, MISS, AUGUST 4, 1859.

Some sickness, some calamity touching
this husbands own heart, shall medicia
his diseased mind and give her back t,
happiness and love-
The subduing gentleness and plaintiv,
beauty of this appeal to the stern imag,
OF Justice, aptly perscnifed in the singl,
Judge sitting silently before him, wa,
made more marked by the bold, strong
way in which Webster, who instantly
rose to reply, began bis argument. For
conscious apparently of the strong sym
pathy which Choate had raised, he launch
cd heavy blow at this feeling at the
outset. He opposed, by a very powerful
but unpolished and inharmonious com
parison of the husbands fate, if not di
vorced, to the punishment recorded in
history OF dead and decaying body
lashed forever to the living and breath.
ing form of the condemned criminal
The impassioned prayer of the wite's ad.
vucate, however, was destined TO prevail
We once heard lawyer, who had of
ten heard Mr.. Choate speak, declare that
the finest exhibition of eloguence he ever
heard from him was in little country
Office, before IA judge Of Probate, upon
The proving of a will Ii was winter
morning, and the Judge sat behind the
fire, with his feet up in the most careless
manner. He evidently had great con-
tempt for oratory as applied to law, and
/ ~ r..p,,lxr.H IA. h.,x nf
turnil z up his head as he saw the coun-
sci for the heir looking over pile of
notes, he said, in the most Indifferent
way "If you have any. objections to
make, Mr.. Choate, just state them now"
The idea of asking Rufus Choate to just
state anything Choate began in the
most tame manner he could assume by
running over few dry legal saws and
some musiy and absurd principles of the
las governing wills. The old Judge began
to prick up his ears soon the argument
Advanced from mere legal principle to
trifing but telling illustration of it,
couched, however, as far as possible, in
legal pbraseology; the Judge gave more
attention and the advocate enforced the
illustration by very energetic argument,
but yet not fowery and speedily the
Judges legs came down, one after the
other, his body turned round and his
eyes We're fixed on the speaker, and at
last, as he rose into his congenial and un-
fettercd field of argument and pictured
with flaming passion the consequences
to the whole domestic and social state of
New England. if the construction for
viii u ne concnded should not be APP
Piled 10 the wills of the farmers of New
England, the Judge fairly nodded in adj
mlrlng acQuieSccnce, and the unequaled
advocate carried the case and the tribu-
nal at the point of the bayonet.
We saw him once walk right up to a
juror who sat on The front seat of the ju-
ry box, looking coggedly incredulous-
right ny ciose e ltln he walked, and
bringing down Ills e!euchtl fist alntostin
his vern eyes, "Slr,N said he, give me
your attention, and ! pledge myself to
make this point wholly clear to you.'--
The poor man looked more crest fallen
and criminal than the accused prisoner.
He opened his eyes, and his ears, too /;
one after the other, the Qualifications in
which he had entreuched his resolution
for verdict against Choate went by the
board, under The resistless forensic can
and verdi for the defendant
sealed the success of that auda1ious dec
laration.
Choate's countenance is by no means
the looking glass Of his soul. Ii is too
salow ana bilious he deepest shadows
alone are visible in the dark dial. He
has, however, IN extraordinary inStru-
ment Of gesture, rar ~ if ever preceden-
ted and that is Ills legs. For it is FREE
quenl resort Of his, l,y way of emphasis,
to spring up by bracng all his muscles
and settle himself down again on his heels
with force which often actually shakes
the whole court room. His voice is rich
and deep, not resonant and metallic, a
quality which all out door speakers must
have. but rather wordy and deficient in
+" tmbre.
or" Bfophy," a young German en-
pluxed i'm the billiard Saioun of Mr. Phil |