The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-05-02
YOUTHFUL BARRISTERS.

suDrcntice barrlSter3 are uAS
,.reocn.ors with q benediction, We Ieei as
ehere was need of information TO them
title more explicit, and advice little more
TO the point than they usually se' .io"
.hoae nnder whose careful tuition they nave
IN knowledge and strengthened IN
wisdom and self confidence. f'1'y young
man after more or less OF scholastic eouca-
sion mitch, we will say, upon the law as their
lifetime vocati IN. When they enter tne Jaw
class Of university, some are quite 1reSn
e-o,n their college studies, some have put
.sir nublic school education, some are pos
,.ssed of too little book kno Sledge 10 suince
.aor the business of life in any intellectual
nursuit some have haunted attorneys ofhces
and become familiar with legal forms, phrases
md usages, and some start on their chosen
career with nothing more to promise success
than an active desire to become members OF
The bar.
They all attend the courses of lectures with
more or less regularity while reading upon
The subjects presented; some with careful
.,ains, some slightingly and some too little
to be called reading in any proper sense. bu
ss rule after q year or two, they are all
graduates as Bachelors Of Law in the presence
Of hopeful parents and admiring friends, at
festival of rhetoric, music and learning, and
are presented with diplomas in dead IAN
,uace. VIII ich few ever afterwards look at or
could read it they did.
1t ia at this hour that some philanthroplc
,-eteran Of forty years practice ought TO as
r.end the platform, lay aside his specsc'es'
rceticence, dignity, rhetoric and cifcumspec.
ton. and try to tell the young disciples OF
rhemis as nearly and as fully as he can the
difficulties of the career on which they are
.bout to enter. It would be to them far more
useful than agreeable if he were to open upon
Them somewhat after this tenor:
"Young gentlemen of the graduating Glass;
this is. perhaps, the fortieth time that have
attended the commencement exercises OF this
and other law universities, and l am pleased
to say that you seem to be about equal to the
average Of classes in age. responsibility man
ners and scholarship. 1t becomes my duty
70 tell you that out of the fifty young men
ys,hom see before me there are not more than
twenty who will be known as practiclng law
,7ers ten years from this day. Some OF you
nave wealthy fathers and relatives who Will
cheerfully give you aid, but they cannot
make lawyers of you. Some of you are good
classical scholars, and can translate all the
latin and French found in your law
cooks but classical learning consil-
t1ses only small part OF the
.,~mory of the successful barrister.
some Of you, as am told. are skilled ana
.a,oouent in debate aud extemporaneous
speaking but this is faculty which, ike e
wild horse Of the prairies. must be trained be-
FORE it can be useful Some OF you are en-
dowed with talent as close reasoners, with the
faculty of accurate statement, with tenacious
memory and other leading characteristics OF
eminent counselors, but they will not avail
vou unless you can find employment for them.
some of you are not prepared for business II
yor could get it to dc, and never can be-
some of YOU who are not prepared for bust
ness. who might be if they would, but who,
IN all probability, lack the requisite will.
Some of you have the will with the capa city
70 make yourselves ready for clients, but
vxhether such will ever obtain the clients and
s,aye living practice depends upon many
contingencies.
.Those of you who are capable, and who
nave the WILL perhaps one-half OF the entire
81, 90. will encounter this one supreme difh
o,,tv. the want of business. Here, and IL
,,yery city and State, there is not halt busi
ness enough to sustain those who profess tt
80 LAWYERS. It is an old saw with which
friends will try to encourage you, that 'thert
,is room enough at the top" but you young
wen will none of you have anything to d.
with the ''top" for a great many years
Meautime you must live. According to tn
common course of nature, nine-tenths Q
7r,u will be married before ten years, ant
s.he majority of you before five years iron
.,bis date. You must support yourselve
sind families. if not at the law, thei
,,y other vocations.. Your great struggl
viii be to get cases, and forewarn you by M.
own experience and that Of thousands
LAWYERS that this waiting and struggle to &c
E.usiness, and to live until you get it, vii
thoroughly test your principles. your pat'enc
,snd your manliness. In this ordeal man
..f YOU deserving Of happier destiny kno'
must fall, as many able and amisble youn
,g,en have done before you. few IN tni
profession win prizes which range from
comfortable subsistence upwards to rar
.,sses of wealth, but even living practice il
prosperous times is not to be obtained oshel
wise than by downright earnest hard wori
Aside from notoriety tho same amount
Iabor and ability employed in finance or CON
,.nerce will generally meet with greater SUI
.,ess than in the law.
Gentlemen, you might as we'll dismiss q
your romantic notions about the dignity an
.a,-alted character Of your chosen profession