The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-03-13
VILLAGE COURTHOUSE.
Associations of the Great Resort The Judge, the Prosecuting Attorney,
 the County Clerk and the Loafer.

JoAkCa kuC EAOOCSQbllAk akkOEHCyt the County Clerk and the Loafer.
 What an endearing structure is the village court house, with its green yard and horse-gnawed board fence. Within there are rude benches and floors covered with hemp bagging, but it is here where the statesman first finds an eloquent tongue. It is the nest of political ambi- ton where great leaders are matched. About the doors stand the honest" yeo- men who, over long and muddy roads, have come to angle for a place on tke jury. In this capacity they yearn to serve their country, for no intellectual effort is required. They must be of fuRnel ear and pep corn brain. They listen intently to the detailed account of how Jackson removed mortgaged property, and are thrilled with the dram atic recital of the killing at Maybury's mill. To them the lawyer is a giant of intellect. He is the great oak while they are the gnarled sap lings. His words come with a clap of thunder; their words are the whisperings of an April bEeeze.
 The judge, ah, the judge. He Is the grand embodiment of earthly wisdom. When he was candidate he sat down on the beam of plow and joked with the plodding yeoman, but now, wrapped in the cloak of peculiar authority, he is above the littleness of a jest. His un- grammatical charges and his prolix rul- ings are the music of perfect rhetoric, and his nod to the sheriff is a motion oi supreme command. He may have jug in his room, yet his strictures on the whisky habit are severe. He may carry deck of cards in his saddle-bags, yet his denuncia,ion of gambling is incisive. In the evening he sits on the gallery of the little hotel where he boards at re. duced rates-and, to the gaping crowd about him, tells of the remarkable cases which have been tried before him. He talks without Interruption but listens im- patiently. He complains of not feeling well, but he eats with sweeping appe- tite. With gracious light he bestows a smile upon women and with assumed depth of voice he addresses men. To bacco juice oozes from the corners of his mouth and his shirt is not spotless, yet no one criticizes him.
 The prosecuting attorney, ah, the prose cutting attorney. He is wiry young fel- low. He has many sharp sayings which he has treasured up and his stock of old jokes is always complete. He is neat in dress and is somewhat interruptions in action. Out of the court room he tells the boys who have committed misde- meanors that he will not try to make a case against them, but In the court room he uses his utmost endeavors to convict them. At night he turns sheet music at the piano and speaks to young lady he never saw before as tn ohgh he had known her from childhood. He accepts money from the saloon man who has kept the back door of his place open on Sunday; he enters into a compromise with the gambler, but he shows no mercy to the wretched negro who stole hog to feed his furnishing family. He mus, make his office pay. His salary is small, but by his peculiar practices he can m ake his fees large.
 The county clerk, ah, the county clerk. He is an accommodating fellow for he is looking out for reelection yet he does not hesitate to charge literally. He knows Uncle Billy and Uncle Joe, and he is considerate of them, but the stranger, the man who has no vote in the county is frost-bitten without mercy. The county clerk has deputy who stands by him in everything. The deputy afirms that the clerk is. one of the best fellows in the world, but several years afterward when the deputy announces himself as a can- didate for clerk, he tells his friends tha. he has done all the work and that the clerk has been drunk nearly all the time. The village courthouse is the abiding place of the respectable loafer. In the summer he follows the shade around the house. He tilts his chair back against the wall and tells vhy So-and-So and his wife have separated No one knows how he makes a living yet he dresses we'll He is an authority on horses and