The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-04-29

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 fxture-he is the trunk Of the
tree-while his metropolitan brethren
are the branches.
The beauty of the tree is in the
branches, 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 drop and fall.
The country lawyer is an electric
while his metropolitan brother is fast
becoming a homeopath, dealing in
specifics and specialties.
In the broad field of equity the
country lawyer roams confident and
at ease, armed with all the weapons
of full and even justice, while his
metropolitan brother rarely ventures
into these field unless preceded by
an injunction. which he relies on as
often and as implicitly as the darkey
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 the laws
grave study six, tour spent in
prayer, the rest on Nature fix"
But his surroundings force our
metropolitan 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
Metropolitan law colleges are fac
tories 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 net 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 corpora
tions and capital are involved, the
smaller, keener, more polished
blades are highly effective, but when
the life, the liberty or the property
of the citizen are assailed, the
broad axe is the weapon for their
defense.
When the foundations for the
Jurisprudence of State are to be
shaped, the broad axe is indispen-
sable
As nature, in all her varied moods
of form and sunshine, furnishes the
Indian with tropes and SMILES
wherewith he garnishes his rude
speech to the point of touching
eloquence, so does nature as it
comes to him in the spreading fields,
the clear skies, the unstudied gossip
of neighbor, and the shrewd but
homely speech of those among
whom he lives, gives TO him a
strength, a copiousness of illustra-
ton, an insight into the motives and
minds of men, that enables him TO
touch with master hand the chords
that lead to their hidden thoughts
and move them at his will.
The law is a coy maiden. She is
not to be had for the asking.
She dislikes the sounding brass
and the tinkling cymbaIl, and fees
from wars alarms.
The rude jostling she meets with
in the busy metropolis, where the
dollar is Deity, makes her shrink
from it, and exclaim with Young:
"Give me, indulgent Gods! with mind serene.
| And guiltless heart, to range the sylvan scene;
| No splendid poverty, no smiling care,
| No well bred hate servile grandeur there. -
The country lawyer is an Ameri-
can product. 1t don't flourish in
Europe. The law there is not a
coy maiden, but worried and worn
old wife, married to force, but she
has no control over the house,
except when the old man is asleep,
and even then she gives her orders
with bated breath, lest it may awake
him, and drive her out OF the house,
as he has so often done.
The country lawyer can not
flourish under such regime, for he
is a guard on the peoples watch
tower, and has always been first to
sound the alarm when force was
found attempting to usurp the
domain of the law.
The country lawyer, by years ol
calm study, undisturbed by smiles Of
fortune, years of reflection, OF obser-
vation and OF friction against his
fellows in the every cay walks Of
life, gradually gains wisdom, as the
bee gathers honey, and strength, as
the athlete gains it, by daily endea
vor, until year after year in oul
Nations history, we find him coming
from the obscurIty of his country
law office, to lead the bar OF metro
polls, to adorn the bench OF State
, and Federal courts, and crystalizt
into enduring law the wisdom h'
gained in his country practice anc
life, by the study of those book
5 which God made-the minds, tn,
, thoughts, the aspiration, the feeling
t OF his fellow men with whom he wa
/ so long and SO closely in touch dur
ing his years as country lawyer.