The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-07-12

old storv-the tax which poSthumouS fame
so often paws for its title-a garnet and a
crust in life, a marlsoleum and a statue
afterwards What avalls it all: We may
Justly console ourselves with the reflection
that we belong to Il profession which a
bove all other shapes and fashions the
institutions in which we live, and which,
in the language of great statesman, rs
as ancient as the magistracy, as noble as
virtue, as necessary as justice "a PROBES
sion, | venture to add, which is generous
and fraternal above all others, and III
which living merit is appreciated Ill It's
dav, according to its deserts, and by none
so quickly and so ungrudgingl V as by those
who are its professional contemporaries
and its competitors in the same held. we
have our riyalres: who else has more:
but they seldom produce jealousies We
have our contentious, who else has so
many. but they seldom produce enmltles.
The old SaXons used to cover their fires
on every health at the sound of the even
ing Curfew In like manner, but to Il
night fall the embers of each day struggle
and strife We never defer our amnesties
until after death, and have less occasion,
therefore, than some others, to deal in
post norton bronZes and marbles. SO
much we may say without arrogance of
ourselyes-so much of our noble profes
sion.
Not only is the past secure, but also the
future certain. 1t is vast mistaket to sup
pose that with advancing civilization,
and better society, the usefulness of popu-
larity of the profession will wane. Hand
in hand with every movement of the world
onward will 20 the fame and value of the
lawyer, and even in the courts of heaven
he will still have the honored place. The
relations of the profession to criminal
law furnish the least important as the
least remunerative part of our labors.
Our great work is in the ad justment and
enforcement of civil rights and disputes.
As civilization advances, the relations of
men in society become more complex, the
rights and duties of each to the other
more intricate and perpleNing. A few
simple laws are all that society in
barbarism demands Each life compare
lively separate and isolated. Property is
limited Commerce is only an occasional
barter of a horse or blanket. Cities
with the complicated machinery of munci-
pal government are unknown. Railroads,
telegraphs, banks insurance, bonds, notes
deeds, mortgages bailments, mills, manu-
factories Mines wholesale stores, hotels,
hospitals, colleges with all the myriad
questions springing from their manage
ment and use, are no part of such society.
Yet these furnish at the present day the
lawyer his work and determine his useful l.
ness.
Have you ever stood i'll the streets of Il
city, and, looking up at the hundred wires
of telegraph or telephone, as they stretch
from. pole to pole, and cross and recross
each other and together from an appar-
emily confused network of wires, wonder
ed at the brain which maintained order in
that seeming chaos and made each wire
Have YOU ever been at a railroad centre
where trains constantly comes and go,
tracks cross in every direction, while the
very ground seems to groan and tremble
beneath its burden of cars and engines,
and admired the man whose thought takes
in all these complications and directs with
unerring certainty every motion. And
yet these are but feeble illustrations of
that mightier brain power which takes in
all the relations of man to man i'll this
complex and intricate social and CONNER
cial life of to-day and adjnsts duties and
obligations upon the basis of absolute
right and justice. Every new discovery
and invention, every Improvement in
civilization adds plexity to the rela-
lions of society and business, and calls for
stronger and clearer brain and a higher
intelligence to adjust those relations.
The veriest tyro in the profession to-day
knows more law than the LEANED lawyer
of century ago. 1t is a mistake to sup
pose that law suit implies international
wrong in one of the parties thereto. The
most honest differ as to their rights and
obligations; and ignorance as to the
measure of these is to-day the parent OF
more litigation than actual dishonesty
And this will become more true as the
world swings on toward the milenial
morning. Men will grow better, but bust
ness and social relations will become more
# hp In
imperative to unravel the tangled skein
There will be fewer divorces, but more
marriage contracts, fewer contests over
dead mems estates, but more wills to be
drawn; less of criminal but more of com
mercial law; iails and penitentiaries may
crumble through disuse and decay, but
more contracts will have to be drawn and
interpreted, and more inquiry into the
rights and obligations of all business
transactions Casualties will occur, rail
road accidents happen. business ventures
end in disaster, letters miscarrv, memories
fail and man forever misunderstood the
words and deeds of his ncighbor, and fol
the reconciliation and adjustment of all
differences arising from these and Il thou
sand other causes the world will ever tnr1l
to the profession of Story, and Mansfield
and Marshall. The strong and ambitious
brain will ever hasten with enthusiastic
devotion to the labors and honors of the
bar. Eloquence will find in the forum the
ablest and most congenial field for the
display of its power, and the world will
ever bow with unquestioning and loyal
homage before the brain of the lawyer, az
the maker of its laws, the Trainer of its
contracts, the adjustcr of its differences,
and the great and building force which
rules and directs society in its majestic
march onward and upward.
Yes, young gentlemen, denounce Us as
the word may, sheer at Us n some Will, 1t
is a blessed thing to be Il lawyer. ght
you pass the portal and stand within the
Il L,