The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-05-23
Our @lio.
From Homespun.
THE COUNTRY LAWYER.


sill, his thumbs hooked in the armholes of
his waisteoat, and his firm-set head as full
Of wisdom as an egg is of meat. If eli
ent happens to be sharing the hour with
him, he is either talking in that resonant
tone which so impresses itself on all his
clients minds, or the brazen echoes of his
professional laugh are reyerberating up and
down the village street.
He rejoices in that voice of his, which
is so hard and loud, esteeming it gift, by |
whose help he impresses his personal pow
er upon clients and opponents alike. When
he rises in court to wrangle and argue, it
is with a deliberateness which few men
can parallel. The sweet and bitter cud Of
legal lore he chews without cessation. For
tilted within the entertainments Of profess
sional dignity, he sallies out only when he
feels very sure Of bringing back tho enemy
captive. All the little boys look up to
him in wonder, remembering what hand
he has had in sending off thieves and
drunkards and otherwise questionable
characters to the county lookup.
There are some few persons, and partie,
ularly in country towns, who imagine it q
great gift to be a lawyer. They regard
this character as the Jupiter Tonans of
the rural Olympus. They associate all
that is great and worthy In the State with
his occupation. He, of all the rest, is the
one man who attends to the business of
everybody else, He Is as handy at private
as at public affairs. He draws up wills
for dying persous-has hand in the SET
Element Of estates-throws his professional
guardianship around the orphans and faith
erless-becomes the trustee of property of
all descriptions and values--manago del.
icate questions arising between the differ
ent members Of the same famiy--improves
the slender estates Of widows and maiden
ladies-attends the justice courts, those
rural standards and institutes of law aud
order-helps employ teacher for the
Academy-and is sometimes an active
member of that very important body known
as the Church Committee. There is, in
fact, no Office which the village advocate
and attorney is not qualified to FILL Let
it be never so triaing and uncomfortable,
he will manage to invest it with such pomp
and circumstance of learned phraseology
as shall make it seem scarcely less impor-
tant and digni6ed than the Presidency It,
self 1t Ia indeed wonder, what fac
ulty country lawyer has of extracting
the very essence of dignity out of some
kinds Of occupation, in themselves SO pitt
full and mean.
In the same town of Follifog lived and
practiced, too, Squire Bingham. The
Squire was one Of the reputed Solons of
the place. He was Q man very generally
'looked up to-" by foe as we'll as by friend.
Aside from the doctor and the minister
no one was popularity reckoned wiser than
he. In the stores and at the tavern men
listened to him with eagerness, and felt
grateful to catch the very drippings from
the caves of his wisdom. He could stand
and face people in church with a settled
assurance that was worth fortune to any
lawyer !. and few were the eyes which
could wrestle with his, and not catch sud
den fall.
In his profession, no man was ever
known to be more stirring than Squire
Bingham, Everybody knew that, to their
cost. Numbers who had gone to law un-
der his lead for damages" were quite
ready to admit that they got them. BY
the force of his energy and the persuasive
ness Of his eloquence, he had managed to
secure plentiful emoluments, and was-at
the particular time ! speak of--on the
high road to public Office and favor Long
ago had tho popular voice pronounced him
a "smart" lawyer, which means whatever
you please, What the popular hea,t mls ht
have chosen to say Of him,-supposing it
possessed Of so miraculous an organ as
tonguc,-would not so well suit this pres
ent purpose to repeat. He occupied as
fine house as any man in town already.
He ''stood high" with the inhabitants, and
exchanged familiar calls with the minis
ter's family; and in the days when the
ministers Of sequestercd towns were vir-
tually Popes in their little realms, this
one fact was sure guaranty of respecta-
bility, if not an actual passport to local
eminence.
The lawyers house stood behind
couple Of silvery sycamores, scarcely more
stately than himself, that impaired man
siou-likc appearance to the dwelling itself;
whilst within the cincture Of its white fil-
agree fence throve shrubs and flowers
enough TO have made the heart OF any
country lawyer as soft as woman's, po-
cts, or a story-teller's. The front walk
was of broad and clean hagging-stonos,
which was luxury very few Of the house
holders round about could well afford. A
huge lilac-bush stood beneath either front
window, aud furnished, in the season Of
towering, fragrance for the whole length
of the street; while it unhappily led not a
few little boys, on their way to Sabbath
school, into desperate boys of temptation,
from a desire to snap of spikes of the
royal purple blossoms and stick them in
their button-holcs. Snow-balls, too, were
growing in immense clusters in that yard;
and, here and there, a hollyhock, bunch
Of pinks, and screen Of morning-glory