The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-30
THE BANQUET.
Three Long. Tables at the Grand
Lined with Lawyers.


Last night the Bar Association sat down
to a banquet in which the most lively feel
ings were displayed. Three long tables,
lined with members of the Bar Association,
stretched the length of the dining room of
the Grand Hotel, After the dinner John G..
Williams, POSTMASTER. called for the
speeches of those who were scheduled to
address those present with sprightiy re-
marks. Frank B. Posey. of Evansville dis
coursed on What Lawyers Owe the Law"
The lawyers, he said. are in the divorce
courts as little as the clergymen. The
stage and the novelists ridicule the lawyer
more than any other professional man, yet
the people refuse to take this ridicule seri-
ously. This. he maintained, the lawyers
owe the law. They owe their elevation sim
ply to the law. They owe the best they can
to the community that surrounds them.
William p Breen, of Fort Wayne. was
called upon to speak on the charitable part
OF lawyers life. lie said III part:
There are those who anect to believe that
the word charity is not found to be in the
lawyers lexicon. The poet has satirized the
lawyer, the novelist has criticised him, the
press, IN the eXuberance of free expression,
has maligned him for alleged imperfections.
uenoting unreneVed seltshness. Fhe
thoughtless, superficial critics, who pretend
to an acquaintance with the springs of hui
man action, do not ascribe the instincts of
altruism to lawyers. These profound OBJ
servers do not find the golden thread of
charity in the texture of the LAWYERS char
acter. Is it true that charity, which gems
the soul and retines the heart of the full
bred, genuine man, is an unknown quantity
in the lawyer?
How. often in a lawyers office may be
seen some strange, poor, ill-clad, tender
faced woman. whom fate has yoked to a
brutal husband, who, under the influence OF
drink or hell-engendered jealousy, has bent
her spirit and terrorized her SOUL ana finally
Kissed at her the Economical threat not only
to be divorced from her bllf To take nv law
from her custody the pledge of her love, the
prattlng babe in her arms AS she tells
her story TO the listening lawyer, and with
affrighted eyes pours her entire soul into
the agonizing inquiry to him, Can he take
this baby from meY is not the lawyer
minister of charity who relieves her anxiety
and watches restored confidence dry the
tears on her cheeks when he tells her that
no law and no judge will ever take that
not of these things. The law and common
sense have made the lawyers office
or inquiry of the uninterested, and have
enveloped 1t with a veil impenetrable and
impervious to the world
Henry M. bowling, or this city, spoke on
the subject, THE Lawyer VS.. the Warrior"
lie said they are entirely too much alike to
be placed in opposition. The two thrive on
entS of the law have been contributed by
the military profession. England has
pressed her conquestS around the globe and
she has done it with the sword in one hand
and the law book in the other.
THE NiSi PriuS Judge" was the topic of
Daniel w. Comstock, of Richmond. He
told of the ,tribulations and the sacrifices Of
the trial judge. He may not laugh at jokes,
because the law does not recognize them.
He may not witness exhibitions of the man
ly art because justice is blind. His attend
ance at baseball is tolerated, but backgam-
mon and croquet are recommended for
him.
Frank B. Burke, of this city, in speaking
on THE Police Power said he asked a
newsboy on the street what the police power
was. The newsboy replied, It's de cops
what keeps us from swimmin' in de canal"
He said the patriots have not gone to Cuba
and Manila to fight for liberty, but for the
police power. Liberty and police power
now and forever, one and nsepara ble!'
When Mr.. Burke had finished there were
cries for Mr.. Hornbower, of New York.
He responded in a very happy inpromptu
speech.