The age-herald., 1901-01-24
SKETCHES FROM
 EVERYDAY LIFE

where a woman was suing a railroad com- pany for killing her husband. Her huss band, by the way, was not worth killing, but she was asking the jury to award her some large amount about $20.0O0 I think it was. The plaintiffs lawyer had the case on the mo cure no pay principle, and he was making a hot fight to get a verdict The railroad attorney on the other hand was making strong effort to prevent damages being assessed against his com pany. He was a good lawyer, but the plaintiffs attorney, while energetic. was entirely uneducated and ignorant. The de- fendant's attorney in his speech had quoted something from Shakespeare and the plaintiffs attorney in replying to it begged the jury not to pay any attention to what Colonel Shakespeare might have said as he had never heard of him as being law yer. This was the first time I had ever heard of him as being colonel. The jury was charged by the judge and retired to the jury room to consider it's verdict. Most of them were agin the road, but as the plaintiffs case atirely without merit one or two of us neie out for the defend- ant. I was sitting by the fire smoking a pipe which had habit of going out every minute or two and had to be relit There were some slips of paper lying on the ta- ble which were just the right size for lighters and used them all in keeping my pipe going. Finally to break the deadlock, someone suggested that we return to the court room and have the judge recharge us. This was decided on, but the foreman when he came to look for the judges oh find had laid them on the table and I had unwfttingly used them all in lighting my pipe. Feeling somewhat guilty in being such a green juror agree to give the plaintiff a small verdict. We finally fixed on an amount and a verdict was rendered without being recharged'
 Everyone Is a slave to habit" said an old resident of Richmond who is now resid- ing here. 'eThe only difference is whether they are slaves to regular or irregular hab- it's don't know that there is much choice between the two but personally I prefer irregular habitsl Most people. I suppose. would choose the other In fact, have had the advantages of regular habits preached to me all my life, but my own have always been irregular, both from choice and ne- cessity, and I have always enjoyed excel- lent health. The system becomes accus- toned to habits which are regularly irreg- ular as well as those which are simply reg ular. I never knew a man with more irregu- lar habits than the late Dr. Moses D. Hoge, the distinguished Presbyterian minister of Virginia, yet he enjoyed excellent health up to his death, at the age of 80, which was the result of an accident. He made it a rule never to take breakfast at the same hour twice ia succession. One morn- ing he would breakfast at seven and the next day. at ten. Frequsntly he would go without any breakfast He was i,,s. as ir- regular in his other meals. He took exer- else if he felt inclined. and if not he would chair. He had no rules as to diet. He would drink wine on occasion, like all the old-school ministers, although he was a model of temperance. He was also a coffee fiend and used tobacco. He had no regular hour for going to bed, and would often sit up all night. When he did this he invariably smoked half a dozen strong cigars and drank cup of strong coffee ev- cry half hour. He had little stove which he kept going for this purpose. He always prepared his sermons in this way. He lever wrote them, but would sit in an arm chair all night, thinking, smoking and drinking coffee. Some years ago he made a tour through the Holy Land with a large party. Many of the party who were what are or dinariy called creatures of habit were made sick by the irregular habits of travel. Dr. Hoge, however, was never ill mo- ment.
 The same thing is shown to be true in an army, where the city men always enjoy better health and exhibit more endurance than the men from the country. It is sim- ply due to the matter of habit. The coun- try men are creatures of regular habits, while rule the city men are not, and therefore they are not as easily knocked out by the irregularities of campaign as their fellow country mem
 'I was sent to report a religious meet ing once," said rporter, some of whose proceedings. did not relate for while they would have been strictly true it would have been inadvisable to mention them For instance the first thing done at the meeting was the reading by the secre- tary of the minutes of proceeding meeting whose most interesting feature had been a collection taken up, the sum total of which amounted to 60 cents The meet ing then got under way and proceeded with singing by the choir and preacmng by the preachers. Then another collection was taken up. The chairman stated that they must raise the sum of $4.50 to defray the ex- penses of the meeting. The collectors made thorough canvass of the congregation and when the proceeds were counted by the chairman, 1t was found that exactly $150 had been collected This left asdefieit of $3 which had to be met There was an em- barrassing silence for some moments: then the advisability of second collection was discussed. Just as this was about to begin one member arose and said he would give 50 cents. This stimulated the generosity of several members each of whom gave 50 centS until the deficit was made good An-