Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-04-25

had come up and was tapping upon
his window with its velvet finger-tips
and crossing the big tin roof with
thousand tiny velvet feet. In a mo-
ment it had gone, pattering away over
the house-tops into the fields, and an
other cloud shod with liquid moved
slowly over the sleeping town. Broad
and soft it came on and deepened into
a deluge for a moment. then slackened,
and with some bU>.ms of thunder that
beloved away into the caves of heav-
en-, deepened again, and presently whis-
pered into silence. John Earling, list
ening, thought of Maun's music, and
fell asleep with that memory mingling
with the memory of Celeste's far-ott
silvery cry.
In the morning, when he awoke, the
sunlight falling through his window
was spattering the wall with vapory
gold and he sprang up to feel his
dream come suddenly back upon him,
and he had worked several hours that
| morning before be lost its weird mys-
| FERROUS charm.
After Judge Bower had gone home
that evening the old lawyer, who
seemed through his silent year-long
struggle to have put aside in part his
jealousy of Maun through his affection
for John Earling, began talking again
in his old way of the law. Going over
some of his cases that had fallen with
in the last decade of Openstone's his
John Earring as if a sudden thought
had arrested his ideas. II suppose
you have noticed that have cleared a
good many criminals?" he said.
"Yes, SIR" said John Earling, with
his clear eyes on the old mans face, II
have noticed it, and also that you have
expressed the opinion that number
of them were guilty. l should like to
protest against that"
The old lawyer threw his chin up
and let quick ''Haw! hawr' escape
him. ut wouldn't do any good" he
said; "a mans reputation as lawyer
don't depend as much on the number
that he eonvicts as upon the number of
acquittals he brings about, especially
in criminal practice. fyou succeed in
turning loose lot of murderers and
thieves to prey upon the dear public.
the dear soft-livered public will pat you
on the back and you will be great and
have riches, and generally they will
gratefully send you to Congress. The
old man spit quickly and burst into a
kind of dcrisive laugh, and John Earl
| my looheu ouC Vic "luuoW Will Sao
bitterness.
'Oh people are fools, mere fools, ="
the old lawyer burst out. Gull the
individual and it pleases the great
body. They do SO admire a smart
man; a smart one, remember. not a
good one. Snumr' and he thrust his
claw-like hand out and fetched it back,
as if he had jerkcd the scalp from col
lective humanity.
'"They may like the smart bad one
best at the beginning, but they will like
the good one best at the last. That is
history" said John Earring.
But the old lawyer was looking down
in a meditatlve way, and went on re-
gardless of what the young man had
said: ~ expect they will be electing
Joel Whitney to some big Office one OF
these days; send him to Congress, or
some other paradise for moral ruins, to
serve them and guard their interests;
and no man in the district has done an
oilier job of quilting than he, unless il
the people and then had them Dust
Bower and give him the judgeship
eight years ago. They have been after
me, too, a good many times, wanting to
make me their noble mouth-riece in the
halls where laws and loopholes are
manufactured, but was too honest to
allow them to use me to their own hurt.
And the old man gave a mocking
Haw! mo, l haven't been friend tC
the people. have only turned loose
several criminals among them, and
they think me wise as lghtnin'-bah
the fools!" And he got up and went
across the room and stood before the
window, looking out.
John Earling looked at his tall,
crooked form, sharpened and accent
outdoor light, and something like ad'
miration of the old lawyers anger
mixed with kind of horror of hi:
achievements, clouded his eyes. Sud
denly the old attorney wheeled about
with his hands in his pockets and came
back and sat down.
There is one thing you may as wei
know" he began, ''and that is tina
your re going to have hard time putting
your ideas into practice here. I'll give
you an outline of the situation and you
may Judge. In the first place Joe
Whitney is at the top of the heap; thu
center of tho ring. He knows you
ability and when you begin to rise h.
will crush you if he can, for, of course
he can't use you Then in the seconC
| place Judge Ashman Will truckle, a
he has for years. to the bar, for h,
wants their influence to keep him il
his place. You will find that his de
cisions are lopsided and in the direc
ton of every one in general but strik
no one in particular, and that unde
, his rulings and indulgence the lawyer
will turn criminals loose in spite o
, you, and that will break your hear
, and ruin your practice, for you ar
. supposed never to work only on tn
, right side. In a good many cases
! though. you will have chance at
=, more than once: for when a case goe
/, one way, generally a new trial
ordered, and what with stays of sen
; tence, writs of error, appeals, change
! of venue, and so on, you can at leas
get a good deal OF money out of it,
not a great deal of Angels bread t
feed your conscience on!'