The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-02-13
IN THE oLpEN DAYS.
An Old Nan Discourses ON the Decline Of
Legal Oratory.


An Old Man Diseourses ON the Decline Of
Legal Oratory.
The Judge and jury were quietly
doing in one of the New York court
rooms the other day. while counsel was
trying to prove by long lists of figures
and incomprehensible accounts that his
client was one of the salt of the earth.
The attendance was small. On one of the
back seats was white-haired old man
with smooth-shaven face. who seemed
to watch the proceedings with more in
terest than any of the other spectators.
He leaned forward in his seat with his
hands folded over the head of an old
fashioned walking stick. and shook his
head mournfully from time to time. as
if to express sort of indulgent pity for
the counsel. the court and the jury. At
last his feelings seemed to demand re-
lief in speech and he began to unbosom
himself to his neighbor.
well, well. well. said he, dropping
the pitch of his voice as he pronounced
each successive exclamation. is that
the kind of lawyers you have nowadays?
Why, folks would rather go to meeting
than come to hear a man talk like that.
An auctioneer makes a better speech
than his'n," nodding toward the lawyer
who was struggling with the figures,
when he wants to make you believe
that a spawned horse is sound as nut.
What's the good of your colleges and
your law schools if you're going to turn
out such wheeling little monkeys as
that fellowP Why, sir. i amt been in
side court of law these forty years.
but when was young fellow used
to follow all the cases and used to be
able to make better speech than any
of the lawyers hear now.
"Ah! tell you in my day it was diff
ferent. A lawyer that was going to
argue a 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 if he wasn't quite certain
how he'd best begin. At last he'd get
his Inspiration. as they used to say, and
he'd run his fingers through his hair to
help along the ideas like. Then. Gen
tlemen of the jury says he very i'm
pressive and in low voice. But he'd
soon get well under way and give you
a regular RATHER. There'd be deal of
pathos. and sometimes his voice would
sort of fail him. and then he'd take out
his handkerchief and blow his nose
very loud to get control of his feelings.
Then he'd get very mad. and you'd
have supposed that he was going to
walk right in and fight the jury and
Judge to boot. There'd be gestures
and SMILES and Latin quotations . yard
or more long. Latin quotations always
had great convincing power. and .
man was sure to win case If he had
enough OF them. Well. with all this
eloquence he'd finally get the Judge
and the jury so mixed that they
wouldn't know which side of the ques-
ton he was speaking for, and the more
he mixed them up the better lawyer we
used to think him.
But bless you, listen to that fellow.
BE talks away as quietly as if he'd just
dropped in to say good-morning. He
hasn't made single gesture yet, nor
shouted a single quotation. He don't
seem to get worked up with his subject
as the men of nv day used to do. They
tell me the Judges won't let the lawyers
get too fowery nowadays, and say they
haven't time to listen to long-winded
quotations. More's the pity. They're
discouraging eloquence, and they'll
soon have the lawyers presenting their
cases from their offices over the tele-
phone" So saying the old man took
up his hat, busted it with his handker-
chief, and went out. still bemoaning the
decline of oratory and the degeneration
of the legal profession. y Tribune