The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1893-01-31
BLK AND HIS TAILOR.
How q Complication in Buttons
Was Settled in England

name in the temple, and ] say at the
beginning that if there is any man of
that title he is not the man l mean. l
give the name Blk, as it were, with
out prejudice" SO as to protect myself
from possible legal complications, for
one must be very careful when he
speaks of lawyers.
Mr.. Blk possesses much law and little
money. This may seem strange, for
our idea of q lawyer in the temple is
that he has more cases than he can at
tend to, and that he rolls in wealth.
Nevertheless. the thing ] state is true;
there are lawyers in this world who
have hard struggle for existence.
One of the disadvantages of being a
lawyer who is not getting on is that
he has to dress well. and, unless a per-
SON knows how to dodge his tailor,
dressing well costs money. 1t may
seem needless extravaganza to pay q
tailor, but, unfortunately, gentlemen
of the cloth do not look upon it in that
light, and they are sometimes persist
emit in demanding their money. es-
pecially if they suspect their customer
is poor.
Mr.. Blk kept encouraging his tailor
by ordering more clothes than he ac-
tually needed. This is good plan as
long as it works, but it breaks down
after time, and, like the INDUCING in
stimulants, leaves the victim with the
original trouble worse than it was at
first
At last things came to crisis Mr..
Hemms, the tailor, said that if he did
not at least get some money on ac-
count he would sue Mr.. Blk for the
whole amount. Mr.. Blk pondered
long over the tailor's letter, for, while
in England you may take what action
you please, you are not allowed to
threaten, and the lawyer thought he
could perhaps twist the epistle into a
threatening letter within the meaning
of the act, but. unfortunately, the
tailor had been there before. His note
was couched in the most polite and con-
ciliatory terms 1t was only by reading
between the lines that anything like
a threat could be seen. Nevertheless,
1t was quite evident what the tailor's
intentions were. and Mr.. Blk felt that
he could not afford to be brought into
court over the matter. 1t would at
once dispel the fiction that he had a
large and lucrative practice-a fiction
he was anxious shs;ld not be inter
feFed with by any cold display of fact
OF course it was daring and cour-
agcous thing for tailor to intimate
that he would bring lawyer into
court. This was, indeed, fighting the
devil with fire. Let no one say after
this that 1t takes nine tailors to make
man.
Althou ugh the scheme of the tailor
was magnificent, it was not war. II
was not to be expected that any mere
tailor could tread the slippery path of
legal knowledge and keep step with a
lawyer. Mr.. Blk remembered, an act
or two relating to tailors and he looked
them up. He also ferreted out some
precedents bearing on the case, and in
good old England, when you can find a
precedent, you are all right. He wrote
to Mr.. Hemms, asking him to call per-
sonally ut his chambers in the temple
at a certain hour. Mr.. Hemms was
there, prompt to the minute, and had
some faint hopes he would see at least
q little money, not realizing the impos-
sibility OF removing certain garments
he was In the habit of making, from
the person of highlandman.
ssSit down. Mr.. Hemms," said BLK,
affably, lit may take US some time to
settle this little matter"
ST you pay me something on &C
count" said Hemms, 81 am willing to
let the balance stand over for the pres
ent"
"Quite SO. The proposition does you
honor, Mr. Fl emms, and shows that
you have no desire to press your GUS
toner as hard as You do the raiment he
wears. Unfortunately, it is incon-
venient for me at the moment to pay
even the little on account"
'In that case,v said Mr.. Hemms, II
will be reluctantly obliged to take pro-
ceedings."
Exactly. gathered as much from
your most courteous note. Now, to do
SO with any chance of success you will
need legal advice beg to offer my
services in the matter, and think !
will do as we'll for you as any other;
better, perhaps, for / understand all
about the case"
"Impossible You could not appear
against yourself.
"My dear sir, you have evidently
little conception Of the length lawyer
is willing to go for the love of the pro-
fession and incidentally for the fees
appertaining thereto. Why pay good
money to another lawyer, when will
be quite willing to undertake your case
for Gas you say little money down,
taking the rest out in trader"
A Mr.. Hemms was stricken dumb by
the proposal
Being certain that so amicable an
arrangement would commend itself to
you, the moment it was presented in its
full advantage. ! have taken the
trouble to look up the law on the sub
ject, and will without further parley
let you know just where you stand
You are doubtless aware that there
have been number of acts passed in
relation to tailoring which think will
tend to make our negotiations exceed
ingly simple. For instance, there was
an act passed in the reign of William
and Mary which made IL illegal for a
tailor to sew cloth buttons on suit.
The penalty is forty shillings for every
half dozen buttons he uses, besides the
forfeiture Of the goods. But you were.
Of course, cognizant of this before you
threatened the law on lawyer"
Il never heard of such an outrageous
act 1t is certainly not the law now"
''Ah, there you are wrong. and that
shows the advantage Of having the
best legal assistance. 1t would III be-
come us. Mr.. Hemms, to characterize
the wisdom OF our ancestors IS out
rageous. There are many things per-
tanning to the law that may not com.
mend themselves to the lay mind
''Do you mean to say that act has
never been rcpesled7"
$50 far from being repealed. II has
been affirmed and added to In other
roiRns. In the fourth year Of George I.
the law was made to include all kinds
Of hssftnns cnvAv~a h~4~~~ -~~s>~s-'