The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1874-04-25
miscellaneous.
"AdUe,,tares Of an attorney ina
Search of u Prdctice.o

The above is the title of a new book, written
by Sir George Stephen, and which is IL ticed as
follows by the able critic Of the Baltimore Ga
zette:
This is volume which ellis in n entertain
ing way, the first struggles, disappointments,
successes ant hopes OF young practitioner OF
law The author who has evidently expert
enced the life that be speaks or writes of it IN
that vein of pleasantly, which one can afford,
who has passed safely through it, and who looks
back at it from portion OF prosperity; and he
mingles with his humor the kind of tenderness
that one always feels for the tolls, and hopes,
and follies even, of his own youth.
The great majority of "successful men have
gone through that sickenipg period Of naction
when conscious Of industry, knowledge and en-
ergy, conscious perhaps OF talents for manage
ment of complicated affairs, and Of ora torical
persuasion, they nevertheless have nothing to
do. All young men feel within, the STRINGS
of genius, whether they have it or not; and
very often the less they have Of it the moro
they feel the STRINGS. To such, the world
which passes their offices by, and retains other
counsel, acts in the most incomprehensibly stu
pid manner. That men of business should be
so blind to their own interests as to neglect the
man who of all others is the enc to manage the
ntricacies of their cases, seems to them sur
prising. Equally surprising to them seems the
success of some who earn the name OF "sharp
practitioners" by cheating their own clients
as we'll as others, and who with foreheads of
brass continue to cheat defantly, yet always
find plenty of new victims to pluck and most
surprising Of all, is the success of those whose
whole professional career is series of astound-
ing blunders, who are laughing stocks of both
bench and bar, and who by the sheer force of
that impenetrable dizziness that cannot even
see its own stupidity, rises in public esteem, is
regarded as "deep" and profound" and not
rarely reaches the bench of the Court of APP
peals. All this goes ON in England as well as
here.
In England, however-until recent times-a
strong professional sentiment forbade profess
sional man to geek" practice in any way. He
was compelled to wait, as patiently as he might,
until it came to him. Many distinguished
barrister has waited for ten or fifteen years for
his first brief. But over here, things are differ
ent Our young lawyers have various meth
DDS of seeking practice, some of which show
great "enterprise." One popular plan is to
Join Building Associations" Odd fellows, In
dependent orders of Red Men, Heptasophs-
and the like and thrust themselves into notice.
better plan is to be prominent in prayer meet
ings and Christian associations. These some.
times pay remarkably we'll. A pew in church
inspires the public with confidence. Politics
can only be used TO advantage by those who
have nothing to lose, and who are con the
make y for politics pursued as means of pro-
fessional advancement never helps any body but
the INSCRIPTIONS. Moreover politics areso alb
sorbing and exciting as to seriously break in on
regular practice.
Another method by which the "enterprising"
Young practitioner seeks practice, is to "get
in with" the local reporters of newspapers
This he accomplishes sometimes by insiduous-
ly winning ways-for local editors are only
men after all-and sometimes by directly
"making it to the interest Of the reporter
After this we find frequent mention of this dis
tinguished jurist in the daily press. We are
told of his eloquence, of his devotion to his
client, of his herculean labor; and from time
to time we find local items entitled ga singular
point of law" or "curious case" in which the
trial of some commonplace suit is recounted
with full mention of the name of the enterpris-
ing young man. And it usually happens that
the only thing "curious" in the case is, that
the enterprising young man should have been
employed in it, or that reporter could be
found so hard up for an item as to publish it.
But there is yet another method of seeking
practice which is ''practical.' This is by di-
rect solicitation. 1t happens frequently that
there are accidents with loss Of life or limb in
our factories, our railroads and on our streets.
When this happens the indignation OF our en-
terprisng young men at the "heartlessness OF
the rich" and the "selfshness and the greed OF
our gigantic corporations" knows no bounds
In defense of the "widow"-that widow is i'm
mense-in defense of that widow, he hastens
to her side, penetrates even the chamber OF
death where the mangled body of the laborer
lies, and undertakes to champion the rights of
that bereaved one for pure love OF justice and
one-half of the gross sum recovered. Some
times half score of similar enterprising gen.
tlemen besiege the door and invade the widows
hour of sorrow, to underbid each other in mon
ey, and overbid each other in offers OF sympa-
thy and indignation and coincidence. And
when the case comes into court, and the widow
in deep mourning enters on the arm OF the en-
terpris;ng young man, followed by nine orphan
children, then the "bloated capitalists" the
"heartless rich" and the Gigantic corporations
with no souls tremble in their shoes. For
everybody knows that it is the cause of the des
olate widow that fires the heart OF that enter
prising young man, and touches his tongue with
eloouence; and the small consideration of one
half the gross sum recovered has nothing to do
with the matter Therefore juries always give
heavy damages. eyes, gentlemen of the jury,
damages, heavy damages is the only way that
YOU can punish the criminal Indifference to hui
man life displayed by this gigantic corporation
and bring food to the mouths of these innocent
babes and wipe away the tears of this stricken
widow; and for these she appeals 10 high
minded, right feeling, ust, an impartial,
sympathetic and noble jury of her country
men. And when your own hour of departure
draws near, gentlemen of the jury, and you
come to look back over the record of your past
life, you will see inscribed in characters of
living light the good deed done this day, when
the fatherless and the widow sought &c &C.
and then the jury give verdict, and take some
thousands of dollars from the bloated capital
ist and give them to the enterprsing young
man. If he is a good young man as well as an
enterprsing one, he gives little OF 1t to the
fatherless and the widow. But often he keeps
ALL 1t is much simpler and avoids the trouble
of calculating shares.
These are some of the methods by which the
Contemplating" young attorneys of America get
into practice 1t will at once be seen how far
| superior they are to the old English method,
| which consists simply in deserving practice,
and waiting in dgnified patience until it comes.
The American plan no doubt stimulates acute
ness, but whether it fosters the growth of pro-
| feesional purity and morality is another ques--
ton. But one thing is sure. 1t is fair and
| true reflex of our public morality. business
public that prefers a "smart," adroit rascal, to
q conscientious worker, is responsible. That
business public is the soil on which he grows,
| and whatever publication is attempted must
| be begun there. So long men OF business
want to hire sharp rascals to do inscriptions
work, they can always get them. The public
must not blame the bar nor the bench. they
must blame only themselves. 1t IS humllla-
| ting reflection, and goes far to offset some OF
cur Wanted progress, but Fisk and Gould and
Drew are the legitimate products of our fnan-
cial honesty. Butler, Cameron and Tweed are
fairly representatives of our politics. They are
not monsters but natural growth. In like man
ner the Contemplating" lawyer is the product of
our modern ideas, and he will continue to thrive
lust as more and more every day the Walter
Joneses, the Luther Martins, the VIM. Pink
neys, the Chapman Johnsons, the Watkins
Leighs, the MacMahons and the Taneys become
impossible. We have no longer the soil on
which to grow such men.
Mg~Some useful lessons or examples may be
found in the most simple occurrences. AT the
Terre Haute depot recently, an old lady at
tempted to get off while the cars were in mo-
ton gentleman standing near the door pre-
/ -, dat bar avn1aimed a kind