The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-07-19
COMMERCIAL RIGHTEOUSNESS.

"He is not the man that Margaret
ought to marry"
"Why not? He seems to be COM
ing to the front, accumulating prop
erty, has fine home ready for his
bride-a successful lawyer, I be-
1ieve."
"The kind of success that a true
woman will not be satisfied with. I
know Margaret. She is not like other
girls. She has been her fathers
companion, and has his ideas of right
and justice. The fine house you
speak of-do you know how Mack
got it? 1t belonged to a widow he
had a mortgage on it. He took ad-
vantage of the fact of the interest not
being paid promptly, it was put up
at auction, the weather was hot, peo-
pie out of town, no bidders, and he
bought it for a song. The purchase
is now being contested"
"Well, it's all in the line of busi-
ness, I suppose" +"
eyes, it's business, minus a sense
of right"
"Say, old fellow, are these Utopi-
an ideas of yours common in the legal
profession.
They're not quite so common as
Gods air and sunshine, but they
have attended all true success in the
profession of the law"
"I sit at your feet, my dear sir.
I am learning wisdom. What's the
fee :"
"Oh, thank you; don t mention it.
The relation between client and law
yer is trust relation, and this trust
is violated less frequently than any
other business relation"
"You don't mean it ! Say, old
fellow, don't fling sentiments like
that around loose they'll knock peo-
pie senseless."
1--WE only hear of the failures, you
know. They come to the light, and
the profession stands the brunt."
Where are your Websters, your
Calhouns, your Storys today?"
"While it is true that their days
have gone by, we have as many able
and eminent lawyers in New York or
Chicago, or any one of our large
cities, as there were then in the whole
United States
II am astonished but times have
changed"
eyes, but the law of right and JUS
tice has not changed. That remains.
Success and fame in the legal pro-
fession have followed along the line
the line of commercial, or profess
sional, righteousness. Call up any
of the names of our renowned jurists,
follow their course-you will find
that they have won by defending the
rights of their fellow-men, not by de-
frauding them, not by tricks. Why,
a mans fool who forfeits the re-
spect and confidence of his fellows,
his career is necessarily short one"
"I am glad to learn that there are
some of the good kind left in the
profession"
"Yes, but unfortunately there are
too many men in it, who ought to be
doing something else, hewers of wood
or drawers of water. Many would do
less harm in the world as groundlings.
A smattering of legal knowledge
makes them cunning, tricky, danger
ous to their fellow men, and damag-
ing to the profession these are the
ones that get rich off the widow and
the orphan.
"What do you think of universi-
ty of morality, attached to a law
school. Train fellows in the higher
law; when one shows a tendency to
tricks, to dishonesty, turn him down /;
don't arm him with legal tools with
which to cheat his fellows. But then,
by Jove you would not confne this
college of morality to the law alone.
That reminds me. / was riding in a
street car in New York city some
time ago. A countryman sat beside
me who was interested in the little
machine that registered the fares.
Turning to an intelligent-looking wo-
man, he inquired what it was for.
After she had explained it he said,
why, how foolish to go to all that
trouble; why don't they have honest
conductors?' Honest conductors :?
said the old lady. Why there's not
honesty enough in the city to make
a mayor. +"
Thus in their bachelor apartments
the two young men, talked and smok-
ed, one of them with high ideas of
right, the other somewhat pessimistic
in his views. The friend of whom
they spoke took his bride to the home
he had bought, and the young people
entered upon their new life with fair
prospects.
Margaret was girl who had adorn-
ed her home as we'll as society. Her
surroundings had come to have a
harmonious relation to the family,
which consisted only of herself and
father, whose views and thoughts she
shared thoroughly.
Now, in arranging her new home
she was happy to carry out her ideas
of the house beautiful, to make it at
tractive for her husband, to offer 6
sincere, not snowy, hospitality tc
her friends.
But the happiness of the young
wife, with its pleasant home duties
was of short duration. One day 6
stranger called, a lady of middle age
in mourning dress. The young ma
tron received her graciously, as was
her wont Looking aronnd the draw,