The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-11-18

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fashionable trousers, but the process of
evolution works more rapidly on the coun-
try lawyer, and often, when we find met
ropolitan brother winning all the races on
the kite shaped track of metropolis, un-
til he attracts the worlds attention, when
the world hunts up his pedigree and train
ing, it finds him, as colt, putting on legal
muscle by nibbing the short, stubby grass
of jury trials around the primitive counts
of country justices.
Such early feed, in the legal pastures,
Of the country, gives wind and mettle to
the legal racer, and makes him thorough
bred, as surely as the limestone soil and
blue grass of Kentucky, or the ozone Of
California gives it to the equine thorough
bred.
And when, in his maturer years, he
wins the metropolitan races, he forgets the
plaudits which greet him, while his thoughts
turn back with pleasure to the scanty
country pasturage of his early days where
he had to hustle from
s'Early morn till dewy eve,
for living.
With the country lawyer the law is still
profession, while with his metropolitan
brother, it is business at all times, ex-
cept when attending bar associations.
Bar associations are a modern institu-
ton. They are an innovation upon the
established ways Of our professional faith
ers, and the country lawyer takes to inno-
vation very slowly. Indeed, it looks as
though it would take the country lawyer
as long to get in the way of attending bar
associations as it did to work the tails off
our ancestors.
The country lawyer is good deal of a
fixture e-he is the trunk of the tree
while his metropolitan brethren are the
branches.
The beauty of the tree is in the branch
es, but the sap is in the trunk. The
branches bathe in the sunshine and wave
in the breeze because the trunk supports,
uplifts, sustains them, and gives them new
life when they droop and fall.
The country lawyer is an eclectic while
his metropolitan brother is fast becoming a
homeopath, dealing in specifics and special
ties.
In the broad field of equity the country
lawyer roams confident and at ease, armed
with all the weapons of full and even jus
tice, while his metropolitan brother rarely
ventures into these fields unless preceded
by an injunction, which he relies on as Of
ten and as implicitly as the darky does on his
rabbit foot.
The country lawyer can, if he choose,
live by the rule quoted by Sir Edward
Coke:
''Six hours to sleep, in laws grave study, six,
Four spent in prayer, the rest on Nature
| fix"
But his surroundings force our metro
politan brother to live by the rule of Sir
William Jones:
''Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber
seven,
Ten to the world allot, and none to heaven. y
Metropolitan law colleges are factories
that turn out keen polished pocket knives
and razor blades.
Country law offices are factories that
turn out broad axes
When comes the conflict between right
and wrong the broad axe is better than the
pocket knife or razor blade, though not SO
polished or so keen of edge.
When truth is to be rescued from the
wilderness Of falsehood the broad axe is
the weapon needed.
When the interests of corporations and
capital are involved, the smaller, keener
more polished blades are highly effective
but when the life, the liberty or the prop
erty of the citizen are assailed, the broad
axe is the weapon for their defense.
When the foundation for the jurisprn-
deuce of State are to be shaped, the
broad axe is indispensable.
As nature, in all her varied moods Of
storm and sunshine, furnishes the Indian
with tropes and SMILES wherewith he gar
nishes his rude speech to the point Of
touching eloquence, so does nature as il
comes to him in the spreading fields, the
clear skies, the unstudied gossip Of neigh
Dor, aud the shrewd but homely speech Of
those among whom he lives, give to him {
strength, copiousness of illustration, an
insight into the motives and mind,
of men, that enables him to touch with
master hand the chords that lead to theil
hidden thoughts and move them at his will
The law is a coy maiden. She is no
to be had for the asking.
She dislikes the sounding brass and the
tinkling cymbal,". and fees from war;
alarms.
The rude jostling she meets with in th'
busy metropolis, where the dollar is Deity
makes her shrink from it, and exclaim will
Young
"Give me, indulgent Gods with mind serene
And guiltless heart, to range the sylvan
No splendid poverty, no smileing care,
No well bred hate, no servile grandeu
there"
The country lawyer is an American pro
duct. 1t don't flourish in Europe. Tn,
law there is not a coy maiden, but wor
ried and worn old wife, married to Force
but she has no control over the house, ex
cept when the old man is asleep, and evel