The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-02-08
A Glass Address That LayIal
viii Like to Read.
ADVICE TO YOUNG LAWYERS
The Highest W.sdom-Follyo O: Sick
Ing to the Letter-PrincipIes.
Choice of Clients.

Reid before the law class OF Cumber
land University. Tenn. and published |
in the Nashville Daily American:
The more intently you concentrate |
your mind on any subject the mists |
and fogs and clouds that hide IL from |
you will disappear, as before the rising |
sun. and the whole landscape. with its |
woods and meadows and distant hills
and streams and houses will be- re-
vealed to your gaze.
The highest wisdom. after all. Is
that which we acquire indirectly and
unconsciously The critic may be able.
very learnedly. as the term goes. tn
analyze into its component parts and
explain how noble poem OF piece
OF music ought 10 be constructed. but
can himself no more give birth to
either than a parrot or a goose can
sing like nightingale. Although You
may know nothing of the laws OF
versification. the poem. nevertheless.
! leaves your mind in an expanded state.
While available facts have not been
| filed away in your memory, YOU are
| lifted into a higher state OF being.
and in that state are apter for the
performance of all practical duties
DO not be a parrot lawyer. DO not
read too much. Use the eyes that God
has given you as long as you can be-
fore adjoining your nose with specta-
cles.
Eat no more. either OF mental or
physical food. than your system can
digest and assimilate. under penalty
OF becoming dySpeptic. The best law
book, just now, that can BE- put into
your hands. If YOU wish to develop
into something better than a QtIirk.
Cannon or Snap. is that book. NO
matter of what subject il may treat.
which will cause YOU To think The
old style of teaching far back in the
paimy days Of Greece. when the mas
ter walked about surrounded by his
pupils, and thought aloud. and pro-
voked them to think. has never been
improved upon. Those unfamiliar
thoughts which you find in books can
only be healthfully appropriated by
you and made your own by fixing your
mind on them with that intentuess
chewing and Illuminating them. that in
time. by use. they come 20 be a part
of your very self. as much so as though
You had originally conceived them
What We employ not but impedes our
way.
The legal profession at this time
is Overruu with case-lawyers and case
judges. sJicklers for the 'cumin ans
; the anise and the mint who strair
after gnatS and swallow CameIS. Gu
haeret in litera haeret in cortice. VIII,
sticks to the letter OF the law. goa
but skin deep into its meaning. s
little learning is dangerous thing
Chancellor Kent. i'm a charming auto
biographical sketch written man,
years ago To Mr.. Thos. Washington
of the Nashville bar. says: As chan
cellOr my practice was first TO max
myself perfectly and accurately tmath
ematiCally accurately acquainted wit
y the facts. II was done by ahridgiu.
the bill and the answers. and then tn,
dispositions: and. by the time I ha.
done this slow and tedious process
was master OF the case. and ready q
decide iJ. I saw where iusttC. las
J, and the mora! sense decided the cas-
half the time. And then tmarE you
not until thenD | sat down 90 ssarrl
the authorities until / had ,Nhausts
a my books; and / might. once in
: while. be embarrassed by a techuic1
e rule. but I always found principle
suited 20 my views OF the case.
, My own observation Is that IN min
I cases out OF ten the trouble Is. not q
understand what the correct principl
is that should be applied 20 a give
state of facts. but 10 understand wis
the true question Is which those FAC;
raise for adjudication. BE certain this
YOU are right as 20 what the real issu
is raised by the facts. and. in a gre.
> majority of cases. the answer will a
most suggest itself. And be- sure
y pattern after Judge Kent. and new,
open law book until YOU know IN.
you have thoroughly mastered n
facts. Else the chances are that YOU
{. get OFF on a false scent. and if you ,
the game is lost. Had / the time
could cite you TO many cases. in OF
!. State Reports. where the principles a.
uounced in the opinion are sound a,
just. and yet the decision itself wrou
for The reason that the true quest,
a raised by The facts was not son. an