Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1878-06-11
he Daily Press and Dakotaian
WHAT MAKES A LAWYER.
1osenh II. Choate to Law Graduates Of COlum-
Dia College.

= Uli SOuCSCs 3
The sound practical lawyer is composed
of three parts-the physical, the moral ant
the mental, and it is hard to tel! when 0
the three is the most important ingredient
I place the physical first, because without
sound and healthy body a lawyer can nc
more reach high places Of the profession
. than a spranged n broken-wlnded race
could win the Ascot cup. Applause.
Those ancient anatomists who located the
! seat of the mind in the stomach were not 50
far wrong, and I have known lawyers with
thai great organ iron-clad who achieved a
tolersble measure of apparent success with
a very moderate allowance of brains. The
bar at any moment you choose to survey it
furnishes in a physical point OF view the
MANIFEST illustration of Darwin's great the
ory Of the survival of the fttest that can be
found in modern society. At the word "go"
all starts on the same lire with equal hope
and expectation; but one after another, the
sick inirm, the fat, the lazy and the self-in-
dulgent, drop out of the race, aud a few
paunt champions maintain the contest for
the foremost places in middle and latter
life. In these days of intense action and
close competition there is no career which
calls for more heroic regimen than that Of
the ambitious advocate in one of our great
cities. l should say, then, as the first piece
of advice to every young lawyer, look out
for your body, don't go into the struggle
unless certain that you can rely upon that.
and then preserve and strengthen it by ex-
%ercise, by temperance and all the sleep that
it will hold. (Laughter.)
Sleep that kuits up the travelled sleeve of care
The death of each days life, sore. laborious path.
Balm of hurt minds. great natures second course
Chief nOuriSllment i'll lifc's feast.
And next in the scale l place the moral
element, as necessary to the composition Of
the sound practical lawyer. Ifyou can't be
honest, and must still live by your wits, why,
in heavens name, choose some other calling
any other rather than this, whose special
province anc duty it is to aid in dealing out
exact and equal justice to all men. Turn
broker at once. Laughter. Turn peidler,
turn anything you can lay your hand to, but
don't try to turn a dishonest penny in the
aacred temple Of Justice. l know there arc
sometimes dangerous examples of wicked
lawyers who have grown rich by chicancry
and plumber and rare and exceptional cases
of men reaching high places at the bar who
had thrown their conscience overheard and
exhibited the loathsome and disgusting
spectacle of great talents and opportunities
given them for the highest good Of their fel.
lowmen, prevented into instruments Of fraud
and crime. But you may be sure the scorn
and contempt Of mankind pursue them, and
better were it for any one Of you that a mill.
stone were hung about his neck aud be cot
into the sea than to aspire to follow af.er
such false lights. So too there are quacks
at the bar as we'll as in the doctors office,
but generally their prosperity soon fails
them first the profession spots them and
then the community, and by and by they
loose their clients and go into politics, where
their peculiar gilts and %pretentions find
more appropriate scope. The fact that in
every liberal profession who:e privileges are
underlined as ours are it is only the con-
science of the individual practitioner that
can save the whole craft from quackery, and
so my second piece Of advice to you is to
keep in our sound bodies somewhere a
conscience ever lively and quick and a cul-
tiyated ifyou would honor the calling to
which you aspire. (Applause.) And third
ly, it must be admitted that, though next in
Importance to sound health and clear con-
science, brains are necessary to complete the
qualifications for admission to the bar.
Genius will do, of course, if you happen to
have ii, but as you probably have not
wouldn't count on that. Genius is a century
plant. One century may produce an Frs.
kline and the next a Webster, but it isn't to
be looked for in every graduating class, and
so I would advise you to fall back again on
common sense. Common sense and com.
mon honesty combined with in
duatry will make a successful lawyer and
give a man an honorable place in any gen.
Grafton at the bar. But let no man imagine
that in our profession he can travel on his
intellectual muscle alone, however good it,
fibre may be, without lifelong study and
unremitting bar.