Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1868-04-21
OUR BIG SHOW.
THREE DAYS AT THE C0UNTY-SEAT.
a GLANCE AT THE COURT.

that the Circuit Court of etferson county, or
more properly speaking, the 'Transplanted
Judiciary" is at present holding Its spring
term at the county-seat. Last week we spent
nearly three days in the town, not that we
had any business at the Court, but with the
hope of meeting the sOvereigns, and inter-
changing opinions and views with old friends
whom we hoped to meet there.
Through rain and mud, which rendered the
condition Of the roads almost indescribable,
we worked our passage, until good luck and
q better horse, brought US up" safely at the
,Enter II otel, in the ancient town whose name
commentaries the memory Of those whose
patriarchal vocations led them to watch their
tiocks by night" on the plains Of Judea and
elsewhere OF the town it is not our pur>
pose to write a history Of its past, or biog-
raphy of its present. We only allude to it as
connected with another matter of which it is
our purpose briefly to treat. We mean Of
course 'the court" before which all qucs-
tons of legal character are to be decided.
A stranger visiting the Court House, and
looking over the bench, the bar, and the
jury box, would not be likely to form favor
able opinion of the intelligence and sagacity
of the people of this county. But then
strangers, as we'll as our own people, are IA
miliar with the fraudulent circumstances
which chains our county to the chariot of
radicaism, and those who acquainted
with the universal tendency OF that abomln-
able isnl will readily make allowance for our
seeming degeneracy. If ignorance, and im-
pudence, and corruption, and perjury fill up
the inches that have been made vacant by os-
tracising those who once constituted the able
aud courteous bar of Jefferson county, let the
fault lie at the door OF the satanic missiona-
RIGS who have crept into the Legislative
Halls of the State az caterpillars creep into
and destroy the orchards OF our horticulture
lists, or as the chiuch- bug makes its insidious
ravages upon our corn and potato patches.
The whitening blight which radicalism brings
upon everything that it touches-mOre de-
structive than the mildew or carly autumnal
frost-is strikingly perccptible in the judicial
proceedings which distinguish the present
from the past; aud which will, when his
tory Of the county is written, classify the
present reign as the Ozark Age" Of our glo-
rious aud gallant little Jefferson. The names
of those in Sardis who have not defIed Their
garments, will then shine with lustre be-
fore which the ephemeral glory Of the toad
swollen reptiles who now bask in the sun
shine OF legal prosperity, will pale as the star
light pales before the approach ofthe stronger
rays the god Of day. He who gave birth
to the sublime sentiment that comparisons
are odious" must have had prophetic re-
view Of things past and present as they relate
to this county; and 1--WE had the magma
ton to draw the picture true to life, we would
not do it, as such a comparison would be in
deed odious to the memory Of our cherished
dead, and insulting to the seusbilities Of the
living who have been actors on the legal
stage in years agone.
THE BENCH.
The unsulied judicial robes of the elder
Parker, Of Douglass, and Of the junior Par
ker, have fallen upon the shoulders of a strau-
ger and pretender, who has only presump>
pertain to his station. AS the stall-fcd OK
glories in the grain that has kept meat upon
his bones, and given him sleek coat of hair
for the spring time, so does circuit judge
magnify his own importance as comforting
dignity upon the station. because its emolu-
ments furnish the material for sustaining
body which is his chiefcst care With an
owllike wisdom, rolling Of eyes, and contor-
ton of countenance, his opinions, involving
points of law, are stanmcred out with all in
Conference that renders his meaning unfath-
omable and causes his jurics to wonder
whether they have been listening to tile ut
terances Of a man or the gatherings Of mon
key. We will not assail his integrity, be-
cause we think it probable that his universal
satisfaction with himself, the great "Sir Ora
Gle" OF the law and the testimony, is pro-
lection against temptation to evil, except
wien partizan feeling creeps over his ex-
tended physical organism, and then the ''soul
OF honor" which should aotuate the "just
judge" under all circumstances, would be apt
to flow into the muddy current of radical cor
ruption. His affected gravity at once i'm
presses you with the truth that
"There are sort of men, whose visagcs
Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond;
And do a wilful stiffness entertain,
With purpose to be dressed in an opinion
or wisdom, gravity, profound Couceit;
AS who would say. am Sir Oracle,
And, when ope my ips let no dog bark
AT THE BAR,
we behold what emigration has done for our
oro G,,y oe