The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-10

The Young Lawyers Duty.
 The high principled lawyer protects the weak as well as the strong. The young graduate from a legal school is likely to take any case which comes in his way It Is not so much then a question of money as of getting something to do. He will spend as much time over the case Of pet dog which has been poisoned in back yard he will twenty years la ter on a S100.000 suit But after awhile that young man works his way up the legal ladder. His brain becomes keener, his experience greater. He stands in the front rank of his profession. What Is the result? He ceases, as a rule, to deal with cases involving small fees. He is railroad attorney or a rich mans advocate.
 My legal friend, now is your opportun- ity for heroic self sacrifice. Do you know of a case in which a poor man is menaced with injustice? Do you know of man who is charged with a crime of which he is innocent? The glory you win in ehampioning his cause is better to you than a $1,000,O00 fee. The great corpo- rations and wealthy men have reserved Tor their services the strongest legal l brains of the country. I ask who are going to look after the legal interests of the poor and the helpless2 You know Just as well as I that the critical time l 1 has committed that sin which he did thoughtlessly and without realizing it's helnousness. You know that if he is once l convicted and sent to the penitentiary and herded in with lot of old crimi- nals he will become one of the blaekest of the black. Will you leave him to the | care of one of these legal incompetents who are found hanging about every court room waiting like a vulture to bounce upon the helpless and the slain? Or will you, in the front rank of the legal profession, give your time and services to save that young man? You know as well as I do that that little child who had her legs cut off by the cruel wheels of the electric car through the care1essness of the mo- torman will get nothing unless man of your brain plead her cause. You with your legal ability could win for her a verdict of S20, 0O0 cash. Will you let that little child be sent to a crIppIe's home and pass all of her life there in poverty because you, a successful lawyer, are not willing to plead her cause?
 For Humanlty's Cause.
 Shall the strong lawyers only look after strong clients and not after the weak? No, no. That Is not what they ought to do. Surely the lawyers should be just as self sacrificing in caring for the helpless unfortunates as their brother profess sionals, the surgeons and doctors. The poorest in our cities can have if necessa- ry the services of the very best surgeon or oculist or aurist or lung specialist. All man has to do is to go to the hos- pital clinics, and the best medical and surgical skill is at his command free Can 1t be that the lawyer is not willing to sacrifice as much for humanity's cause as the physician the surgeon. Be- sides that my abele legal friend, you sides that, my able legal friend, you ty of money. You know the reason you | do not retire from practice Is simply be- | cause you cannot bear to be idle Then | why not give part of your time to help | ing the weak and downtrodden? Why | not be good Samaritan in the profess | sion In which you see only too often the | bruised and bleeding travellers who have fallen among the thieves on the Jericho | road and who have not one strong legal friend to come to their rescue?
 The noble lawyers greatest influence should be traced in the spiritual realm It Is necessary for him to plead the cause which will affect the individual temporal | destiny. Is it not much more important | for him to plead that cause which will | affect another's life not only for time but for eternity? Every great lawyer is a leader in the community in which | he lives. If he wishes, he may become a leader in municipal politics and statecraft "a leader in all the reformatory move ments. Shall he not be a leader before the throne of grace?
 Some people are foolish enough to suppose that lawyer bemeans his office | when he champions the gospel just as a minister nearly always degrades his spir- itual office when he becomes embroiled | in the bitterness of local politics. When | Sir Thomas Moore used to visit his old | home on the Sabbath day, he could al- l ways be found in the Episcopal chancel | taking part in the service as a lay read | CT. A state officer one day came to | him and said: Sir Thomas, do you not | think you are casting a slur upon your | official position under the king? Ought | the English chancellor to perform the humble duties of a lay reader?" 'Yes," | answered the great statesman, "a chan cellor always serves his earthly king | better when he is truly serving the King of kings" The lawyer who honors Christ above all is the lawyer who will be the most faithful to his earthly | clients.
 The noble Christian lawyer is most 1 anxious to serve alright his associates in a spiritual and in a temporal sense. Why? He knows that some day all the | acts of his life shall be passed upon by the greatest of all supreme courts, the great Judgment seat of Christ. A lawyer l Is always more careful of case if he thinks that case is going to be appealed to a higher court. One misstatement in | a brief or the lack of the sworn testi- | mony of witness may mean the re- | versal of the lower courts decision. How | much more then. should the fact be ever | present to him that he will one day have | to stand at the bar of God. The true | Christian lawyer is the man who is pray | erfully careful of every word and deed | and act of his life All these acts are to | be recorded In the Book of Life and read | at the great "assize of heaven" win | you. my legal friend live and work with | this one thought before your mind? Live | with the Idea that some day the Christ | whd once stood as a defendant before | Pilate Is the Christ, who as a judge will | nave Pilate as defendant before Him. |
 Remember the Great Asslze.
 Some young lawyers in the impulsive- | ness of their youth do not stop to con 1 slider this. One day a professor said to a | wild college lad, My boy, what do you intend to make out of life?" Well" answered the boy, T intend to spend four years at college.'' What then?" Then intend to enter the law school and work hard and make my mind a | great repository of legal lore" What | then?" "Oh, then I shall throw myself, shall force myself in the front ranks of | the great lawyers of my time. I shall be | known, I hope, as a man with eloquence | circle of friends greater" "What then o. Why, then I shall turn my attention to | politics. l shall stand upon the rostrum | IrsWN. l..aIl