The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1885-12-15
THE OLDEN DAYS.
An Cid Man Discourses on the De-
cline of Legal OratOry.
n. Y. Tribune.

The Judge aud jurv were qnietly doz-
ing in one OF the New York Court rooms
the other day, while counsel was trying
to prove bv long lists Of figures. and in.
comprehens ible accounts that his client
was one OF the salt of The earth. The
attendance was email. On one OF the
hack seats vas q white-hai:ed old man
With sinooth.shavPn lace, who seemed
TO ws'ch the proceedings with more in
terest than any OF the oiher spectators.
He leanei forward Ia his seat WITH his
hands folded over the head OF an old
fashioned walking stick, and shook his
head n ourn:ulli from time to time, as
it 10 xpress sort OF indulgent pity for
tine cnunssi, the coost aud the Jury At
l.st lis feelings seemed to demand re-
lief in speech and he began to unbosom
himself to his neighbor.
"We'l, well, WE'LL" said he, dropping
the pitch OF his voice as he pronounced
each successive exclamation, 'is that the
kind OF lawyers you have NOWADAYS p
Whv, 70 ks would rather go to- meeting
than come to hear man talk like that
An auctioneer makes better speech
than his 'n," nodding toward the lawyer
who was struggling with the figures,
"wben he wants to make you believe that
q spawned. horse is sound as nut
w hats the good of your colleges and
your law schools If you're going to turn
out such wheeling little monkeys as that
fellow7 Wnv, sir, l amt been inside
o court OF Law these forty years. but
when l was young fellow l used to
follow all the cases and used to be able
to make better speech than any OF the
lawyers hear nov.
"Ah! I tell you in my day 1t was dr.
erent A lawyer that was going to argue
case would get up and look all around
the court room, and then he'd look at
the jury. and then he'd look at the floor,
as ii he wasn't quite certain how he'd
best begin. At last he'd get his inspi-
ration, as they used to say. and he'd run
his. fingers through his hair to help along
the ideas like. Then, 'Genilemen Of the
jury says he. very impressive and in q
low voice. But he'd soon get well an.
der wav and give you regular rattler
There'd he deal of pathos, and some
times bis voice would sort Of fail him,
and then he'd take out his handkerchief
and blow his NOS very loud tn get con.
troll of bis feelings. Then he'd get very
mad, and you'd have supposed that be
was going to walk right in and fight the
jury and Judge to boot There'd be
gestures and similes. and Latin qnota.
tions yard CT more long. Latin quo
tations always had q great convincing
po wer. and q man was sure to win case
il be had enough Of them. Well, With
all this elcquence he'd q rally get the
Judge and tse jury SO mixed that they
wouldn't know which side OF the quee.
,ion be was speaking for; and the more
he mixed them up the better lawyer ne
used to think him.
but, bless you. listen to that fellow.
He talks away as quietly as il he'd just
dropped in to say good-morning. He
hasn't made q single gesture yet. mol
shouted single quotation. He don''
seem to get worked up with bis subject
as the men Of my iay used to do. They
tell me the judges won't let the lawyers
get too dowery nowadays, and say thew
haven't time to listen to long.winded
quotations. More's the pity They're
discoursging eloquence. and they'll soon
have the lawyers presenting their cases
from their offices over the telephone
So saying The old man took up bis hat,
busted it with his handkerchief, and went
out, still bemoaning the decline OF ora
tory and the degeneration Of the legal
profession.