The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-08-02
TUESDAY IN ELKTON.

TUESDAY IN ELKTON.
Tuesday is no ordinary day in Elkton,-
in fact it is an extraordinary day. 1t is the
business day of Elkton, so to speak; and
the second Tuesday of the month is invest
ed with peculiar interest to the native
Elktonian.
No day in all the calender can compare
with the second Tuesday. On that day
the Orphans Court meets, and the County
Commissioners commence their monthly
sessions. The people from all parts of the
county, having business which the statutes
must take cognizance Of, gather to Elkton
on the second Tuesday. At irregular inter-
walls the School Commissioners meet on
Tuesday to deliberate and act upon the
education of the rising generation. And
again, on other Tuesdays, the examination
of school teachers takes place. These lat
ter days are particularly noticeable on &C
count of the number of bright faced young
ladies that enliven our streets, with their
elastic step and jaunty attire. They appear
flies, to compete for certificates which give
them the right to rule and quiet little mob
Of boys and girls whose normal condition is
noise and mischief. AS soon as the cars
these occasions the School Examiner is first
seen-the advance guard, as it were, of the
assembling-throng hurrying down North
street with satchel, and heading toward
that old ruin called the Court House.
Pretty soon the streets are alive with
school marms in all stages of advancement.
Some have been in harness for years, and
have staid, positive look; like folks al
ways wear who have had their first expert
ences we'll over, and their eye teeth cut
They are apt to look little grave, as if
they had begun to entertain serious doubts
if teaching school after all, is more noble
occupation than managing kitchen and
keeping house in order at twice the
wages, which educated skill would readily
command if put into domestic employ
ment. What an immense stride it would
be in our civilization if there were COM
petitive examinations held, in which ques-
tons on domestic economy were given the
candidates; in which the philosophy of
bread making, compoundins soups, baking
joint of meat, roasting a fowl, ventilat-
ing chambers, sweeping carpets, clear
starching, etc., ETC., through the long cata-
logue of domestic mysteries 1--WE may as we'll
term them, for their relation to health,
comfort and life are so little understood by
nineteen twentieths of those who are called
to manage them, that they may very pro-
perly be classed among the mysteries) were
expounded.
But we are DEPRESSING too far. Let us
60 back to an Elkt0n Tuesday, and take a
new departure. About O'Clock, A. NJ,
the lawyers assemble on the broad side
walk in front of the county offices, and
pass the intervening time between that and
the arrival of the Baltimore train in telling
fancy yarns and imaginary jokes. Keep
ing their eyes on North street in the direc-
tien of the Depot. Soon after the locemo-
coming down the street, some with umbrel-
las and travelling bags: and when the
weather is warm some of the countrymen
have their coats thrown across their arms.
They dive into the Clerks and Register
office; and if the County Commissioners
are in session, the majority of the new
corners file into the "hole in the wall :"
under the Court House. The hawk-eyed
lawyers each fasten onto simple Simon
and disappear with him into the recesses
Of their law Offices.
The Orphans Court takes its seat at an
elevated table in tho Registers office, and
adjusts its spectacles preparatory to attend
ing to the affairs of the widows and
orphans of the county. The Clerks Office
is now busy with some three Or four pens
tracing the ponderous foiios. In the
County Commissioners office mob is
.josteling. Half dozen are boring the
Clerk at one time, wanting to know they
can't tell what. Other detachmonts have
the Commissioners in possession. Some
want roads to make worse. Others want
more money for the roads they have in
charge. Others again want a new road,
or new bridge, and there is contest
over the matter, and the poor Commission
have to submit, and sit quietly and listen
till the crowd is tired and dispsrsss.
But everything is done on scientific
principles and the head and front of that
science in Elkten is law; and the lawyers
follow next with their books and expound
to the Courts in question the law; point
ing out to the Judges the great difference
between their right hand and their left, and
explaining that what in justice is clearly
right, in law is demonstratively wrong
At this the wise judges scratch their heads
and say it must be so. By the time the
half-past twelve dinner bell rings at the
Howard House, the lawyers have plucked
their clients, who come out of the at
tornsys' Offices looking like the sheep that
went in for wool but came out shorn, but
looking wise withall, for tho lawyers have
impaired to Simon some important legal
secrets, which he thinks will stand him
in need some future day.
By three o'clock in the afternoon the
business is all over. The lawyers each has
his feet on the desk or table, and is COM
placently smoking his Cigar or pipe, with
his clients fee snug in his pocket. The
county officers and clerks have all shut up
their books, and are doing in the shade.
Everything remains quiet in the legal cir
Gle till Tuesday comes round again. When
the Circuit Court meets, Tuesday is the Der
by day of Elkton. Then we have life and
hustle where all was dullness before
Troops of lawyers, and jurors, and wit
nesses, and clients, and constables threng
the streets; and the hotel keepers all wear
smiling faces, and walters fly round with
white aprons. The crier of the Court is at
his post, and the bailifs are in line
on the Court House yard. The clerks
and shop girls stand behind their
counters ready for customers, and every
thing and everybody wear an expectant
look. There are many other curiosities