The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-11-17

"eo wal VI Ills COuEGoSleS. lie never
invited him to his house, nor indeed
any young people, but had an alert
and brusque sort of kindness for him
which John Earling found pleasant
and unfailing. Under the guise of ex-
planning some point, he would talk to the
young man by the hour when Judge
Bower was out, giving him history Of
cases in his own experience, and eluci-
dating intricate passages and situations
in law. John Earling, with his head
bent down little, would fasten his
clear eyes upon the amber-colored orbs
that looked out from under the old
lawyers shaggy brows, and follow his
thought until their minds seemed some
times one. Often the old lawyer would
stop and say: CHOW you have the sit
uation, following this line of action,
how would you come out?" And when
his young auditor sometimes OWNED
the outcome, which often could hardly
be found with any thing short of inspi-
ration, the old attorney would slap his
leg with infinite relish and exclaim:
"By snum! you struck it,"
| When the winter had gone, following
upon the autumn in which he received
the check from Joel, John Earring
gathered from the old lawyer remarks
to his partner that he had sent the
willful Maun away to sisters acad-
envy in an Eastern town. to which in
formation Judge Bower had shook his
head and closed his lips very tight,
opening them with the remark: THAT
he didn't believe it would work. +"
Thereafter the old attorney seemed
less alert and less talkatiye through the
summer, and in the fall John Earling
gathered again from their habit of con-
versing while he worked, that Maun
had come home, without consulting
the pleasure of any one beyond her
self, and refused to return. The old
lawyer had laughed with the recital,
and his partner had said, with IA
miliar drawl: swell, it seems to me,
Woodman, that you will either have to
give her no rein at all or put the
lines entirely into her hands. You're
too soft on one side and too hard on
the other; you pen her up, to be sure,
but she runs things inside the pen.
; You better make a party and bring
her out and let her feel that she is a
woman"
But the old lawyer shook his head
and was silent. Deep in his heart
there lay a jealous dread Of the inevi.
table day when this one and only being
that he loved should take her heart in
great part from him and yield it to an
other. He often felt with he impetuous
kisses on his lips, and other childlike
exhibitions of wild kind of fondness,
: that he never could bear it. So he de.
, layed acting upon the judges sugges
ton, and time ran on with Maun
studying at home under the tutelage Of
her father and a lady from the East
Once or twice thereafter John Earl
ing saw her cantering her white pony
over the swelling slopes, and for days
t the pretty picture fingered in his mind.
+ AS the autumn fell away into the
winter after the coming home of Maun
, the old lawyer seemed fresher hearted
and resumed his curious conversations
with John Earling. Upon one of these
occasions when in the midst of an in.
tricate demonstration with his eyes
fixed intently upon his eager auditor,
something in the matter under dissec
ton seemed suddenly to suggest a pre-
viously considered question, for he
stopped short and said:
''What was the reason you WASH
satisfied in Joel's store?"
.Why, SIR replied the young man
with some surprise, "you may remem
Der when came to you / lntlmatec
that things were not pleasant to me a
Mr.. Whitney's; besides, l wished te
enter the law, you know"
ssWas it for the reason that things
did not 60 as honestly as you liked a
Whitneys?"
! Cranky, sir, that was the case"
"Do you expect to follow the Law
honestly?"
II do, in the finest sense of the
term"
The old attorney spit in q slow,
doubtful way, and perhaps the frs
time in his life, beat his pencil on thu
, table by which he was sitting for ;
Z moment, looked at the youth much a;
if he doubted his sanity or was sadl.
disappointed in his shrewdness. ant
said: "Snum me! if 1 ever heard o
such thing"
"Why, SIR" SAID John Earring, witt
a smile, Il was not aware that such
!, statement contained any thing surpris
: inc. Isn't it possibleP"
"Why, no, boy, thunder and light
= min, no! Why, we're all a set Of ras
Gals didn't YOU know it?'' The oil
> man struck the table in the earnestnes
of his accusation.
. so no, no" said, John Earring
quickly, IL beg your pardon, but you
estimate must certainly be defective
! There is no nobler occupation than tn
l law, as I conceive it. Think of tn
! fineness of it; it gives justice, right
: wrong, protects the innocent, shield
the helpless, and broods over us llk
the silent atmosphere, here and Their
- polluted, but nevertheless, sweet, be
. neticent, and not to be lived without
It can not be that men are not or ca
: not be as honest in the conveyance {
II this supreme principle as the handle
of coarser, commoner things"
! The old man crossed his arms on tn
: table before him, leaned forward owe
= them, shook his head compassionate
n and groaned. "Why, boy he. brok
. out, .don't you know that the whol
q system is to defeat and lam each othe
: about withP''
b John Earring smiled, but said, in hi
d open, fearless way: That's not my col
e ception of it. 1t may be used NOR