The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-03-02
Prom the boston AAHiisSii p
PnrenSIr and HumOF.

The learned Judge Wilde Of the
Massachusetts, Supreme Court, when
a practitiOner at the bar lnMalne, was
distinguished for the aptness OF his
and his strict adherence
TO the rules of law. He rarely indulg-
ed in humOT, and never at the eA-
pense of his cause or his client. An
instance is related Of his being oppos-
ed in a Certain case to AttOrney-Ten-
eraI Foote, and being rather prePos-
terously charged by the Attorney
with 'traveling out Of the record
and indulging in a wide departure
from the strict line Of argument. 'In
fact" said the Attorney, "my brntl-
er Wilde has in his matter literally
gone of on q wild goose chase" "
Coming, as the charge did from one n
little disconnected and rather tightly
in his own arguments, brother Wilde
took the interruption very calmly,
and in a quiet manner remarked that
he had Thought himself adhering to
to the strict point Of argument, and
was not at all aware Of travelling out
of the road much less of going OF as
his opponent alleged, on any wild
appeal to the Court IN this matter,
and leave that learned body to Judge
whether, in the case before them, the
Wide was not found on one side and
the goose on the other"
Judge Roger Vose, Of New Ham
shire, less of a lawyer than Judge
Wilde, but more of wit retained his
ruling passion for humOr almost in
death. He was afflicted by paralysis
for a considerable time before his de-
cease, and there was not only hes
itaney in his speech, but an obvious
decay of his mental powers. Having
arrived al that stage when he would
sit listless for hours, and would be
hardly able to recognize even his old
est and nearest friends, ole who had
known him long happened in at the
sons office, where the Judge was dOz-
ing. There was hardly any rousing
of his faculties, even to a partial rec
ognition of his old acquaintance. A
neighbor came in, who was under
stood to have seen better days, but
had been reduced, by imprOyidenee
or bad habits, to rather dilapidated
canditiOn He, however, appeared
this day, quite unexpectedly, in a
pretty tidy suit Of black. The son re-
marked the change, and inquired if
he was in mourning for any one.
mo" was the reply, "Only mourning
for my sins" The Judged reused up
at the moment, and but for amOment,
and, with his former drOll look
and later broken articulation, asked
Lost ann Of iena ?p
There is, or was, recently living in
Penobscot County, Maine, eente-
marian negro, by the name of Van Me-
ter. He was once called as a witness
before the County Court, then held
by a rather aged official, Judge Per
bam. The lawyers on each side, by
questioning and eross-questiOningi
had pumped the negro pretty dry, and
got him into a state Of extreme per
plexity. The Judge, in kindness,
thought he would interfere, and put
some plain questions for Van Meters
relief. The negro, not appTeeiating
the motive, and thinking the game OF
crOss-questiOns was still to continue,
broke out with a beseeching look 70
the bench: 'Don't you meddle mol
make in this business, old grandsir ;
I've got as much as / can tend to with
these men down here" The Judge
subsided, and the negro kept dark q;
to any further answers.