The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-08
TITS MUSE EARNED Sl5O,OOO.
ppo.D ACRES or SAT- MEADOWS
FOR MIRABEAU L. towns.

49,. u-ocrtv. roet, Lawyer, Pciitteiss
=. o-.,cr wrote Poetry for Appreei'
- utenset Rroons-Ths Letter Har
- rr,,i.s Hi-- q Fertu-s-Er. Tcwns'r
-. xyorN. Little for TIE ssn.
ro,.,idrs. in a few remarks about " The Good,
Great Man" said
How seldom, friend. q good. great man inherits
i,o,or and wealth with all his worth and pain.
:, ..em. A story from the world Of spirits
where any man obtains that which he merits
or anv merits that which he obtains
Nou. IL may be you will say that this story
cor,c. from the land Of spirits. II may be you
lii .ey the Hon. Mirsbesu Lemsrtine Towns,
orator. lawyer. barrister, politician. and poet,
18th a thoroughly creased and ever ready
,ruse Is n fakir. In either case you will be
wrong Mr.. Towns is a gentleman and scholar,
and he is rs full OF truth rs an egg Us OF
meat Moreover, there Is better evidence than
se3dsyits that this tale is true, and because 1t
"a ,rue Mr. Towns must he set down as the
CHAMPION poet Of America. Financially speak
inc he is more successful than Tennyson. for he
has received $4,000 for four squeaks OF his
muse You may not know Mr.. Towns. IL you
don't YOU have missed one Of the joys of life.
Won surely have heard of him. He was dele
v,te to the Constitutional Convention, and he
worked his muse up there in Albany. He is a
friend Of supreme Court Justice Gaynor, and he
was heard Of a good deal Mt Saratoga. But be-
aides this Mr.. Towns has one OF the best and
biggest paying law practices In Brooklyn, for
which. in part at least, his hard-worked muse is
responsible as this story will show.
The story. as wrung out Of Mr.. Downs by the
reporters, Is something like this:
"Once upon time many, many years ago.
was sitting in my office waiting for business,
when an aged man called on me. He said his
name was Broone, liueal descendant Of the
famous Brian Boru who so valantly drove the
Danes from Irish soil into the broad bosom Of
the Atlantic He lived in Queens county. He
said that he was not lawyer himself, but that
through many years of toll and hardship, disap-
continents and successes. his chief recreation
had been TO follow the litigations Of the commu-
nifty as chroniced In the daily press, and enjoy
the humors and tragedies Of the law. In his
youth he had intended becoming lawyer In the
old country, and had often dreamed of the time
when he should plead within the classic
shades Of the Four Courts of Dublin.
and emulate the great deeds OF Grattan.
Flood, whteside. Shields, and O'Connell.
He Informed me that he had seen my name
mentioned in the daily papers as one who did
not take the law seriously, and that he had fol-
lowed my career for some time with the inten-
ton OF giving me the first case he might person.
ally have or could induce his friends to give me:
that he had always thought the lawyers took
law too seriously. and were prone to treat every
case alike and follow in one another's footsteps
like so many pack mules of the Andes follow
ing their leader. I was the only exception to
the rule he had ever heard of outside Of Philpot
Curran. and for this reason he now desired to
give me the case Of Bridget Rowan agt. John
lon inquiry found that Mrs Rowan claimed