The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-01-19
BLK AND HIS TAILOR.
How q Complication in Buttons
Was Settled In England

was Settled In England
There Is a lawyer in the temple
whom ] shall take the liberty Of term.
ing J.. Wellington Blk. That is not Is
name, Of course, / merely call him so
for the purposes Of this narrative, for
us far as | can find out there Is no such
name in the temple, and | say at the
beginning that If there is any man Of
that title.he is not the man | mean. ]
give the name BLK, as 1t were, with
out. prejudice" sc 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 in4wealth.
Nevertheless, tho thing l state is true;
there are lawyers In this world who
have a 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 q per.
son knows how to dodge his tailor,
dressing we'll costs money. 1t may
seem needless extravaganza to pay a
tailor, but, unfortunately, gentlemen
of the cloth do not look upon it in that
light, and they are sometimes persist.
ent In demanding their money, es.
pecially II they suspect their customer
Is poor.
Mr.. BLK kept encouraging his tailor
by ordering more clothes than he &C
tHally needed This Is a good plan as
long as it works, but it breaks down
after a time, and, like the indulging in
stimulants, leaves the victim with the
original trouble worse than twas at
first.
At last things came to a crisis. Mr..
Hemms, the tailor, said that II 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
| n England you may take what action
You please, you are not allowed tc
threaten, and the lawyer thought he
could perhaps twist the epistle into q
threatening letter within the meaning
Of the act, but, unfortunately, the
tailor had been there before. His note
was couched in b most polite and con.
eiliatory terms. 1t was only by reading
between the lines that anything like
q threat could be seen. Neve rtheless,
It 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 dispal the fiction that he had a
large and lucrative practical fiction
he was anxious should not be inter
fered with by any cold display of fact
OF course it was a daring and cour
ageous thing for a tailor to intimate
that he would bring q lawyer int
court This was, indeed, fighting the
deFil-sxith fire, Let no one say after
this that it takes nine tailcrs to make
a man.
Although the scheme Of the tailor
was magnificent it was not war. Il
was not to he expected that any mere
tailor could tread the slippery path o
legal knowledge and keep step with /.
lawyer. MIR. Blk remembered an act
or two relating to tailogs and he lookce
them up. He also ferreted out soms
~precedcnts bearing on the case, and il
good old England, when you can find 1
precedent, you are all right. He Wrote
to Mr.. Hemms, asking him 10 call per
sonallyat his chamberlain the temple
at a certain hour. Mr.. IIemms was
there, prompt to the minute, and hae
some faint hopes he would see at least
a little money, not r~cali2ing5the impos
sibility of removing certain r~artnents
he was in the habit of making, from
the person Of q -lighlandman.
'Sitd down, Mr.. Ilcinms," said Billy
afably. lit may take us some time Il
settle this little matter
n you pay me something on &C
count said IIcmms, II am willing tGI
let the balance ssane over for the pres
ent.i
Quite SO. The proposition does yor
honor, Mr.. Hemms, and shows tina
you have nov desire to press your Gus
toner as ha-d as yon do the raiment liz
wears. Unfortunately. it Is incon
yenient for me at the moment / 0 pay
ever the little on account
in that case" said Mr., nemms, III
will be reluctantly Obliged 10 take pro
ceedingss
Exactly. | gathered as much from
your most courteous note. Now, to del
SO with any chance Of success you will
need legal advice. n beg to offer myl
services in the mater, and / think
will do as we'll for you as any other
better, perhaps, for | understand AIN
about the case.
impossible You could not appeal
against yourself
my dear sir, you have evidently
: little conception Of the length a lawyer