The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-02-15
THE EVENING STORY
HIS ONLY BRIEF.

a, r1eo rdlrleeS friends looked upon
the affair as a joke. It was all right
to go to college and stumble through
q classical course after a fashion. but
70 take up law and slide through
with 1t and then open an office for
practice-why, they couldn't believe
what their ears heard.
Fred Fairlee was the son of a
li1iionaire widow. and he had money
Of his own. A college course was
the thing, in order that he might
cneer for Harvard, Yale or Prince
ton when the regattas and football
games came off, but why should he
study law and hang out a single
and wait for clients?
1t was fad of his mothers In
the long past there had been a jurist
among the Fairlees. He had risen
TO such heights that he had been
mentioned in the Log Cabin history
OF Kentucky. Things had dated back
re him. No one in the family since
ms time had been iurist, and it
had been decided before Fred was
fifteen years old that he should pick
up the mante1 OF his ancestor and
wrap it around him. Later on he
started out to be jurist, simply to
oblige his mother.
There were four of five years of
Football, rowing, boxing suppers, va
cations and study. and behold the
Jur1st! That is. Fred wasn't quite
to it.
Even his mother, who knew so lit
tie or law. argued that he must first
set up an ofhce and win a case or two.
FRED was good boy to good moth
er. and he made start He was mod
est about it, however. He began at
the the foot of the ladder by opening
MS Office in a suburban village, near
which was the family summer resi-
dence. 1t was one floor up and only
one room. There was at least one
law book-possibly two. There was a
set of boxing gloves, a lifting ma
gun or two. The old time jurists
didn't have such outfits to begin with,
and that's the reason it took them so
long to get their fame
For five long months Attorney F.
F'airlee drove, walked, fished, rowed,
hunted and waited for client. He
was doing better than he had any
reason to expect when his mother
hustled in on him one day with the
glad exclamation:
ooh, Fred, I've found you a client!'1
do I have to pay him anything
for bringing the case to me?" was
asked.
You will make a great name,"
''That's what L am after"
"Yo our client is young ladyi"
"By George, but L never expected
to live to see the dayi''
"Be serious, Fred. Your legal repu-
tation is at stake. You must have
heard of Miss Losing. The family
been at the house, but never when
you were there. She's tall and will
lowy and blonde, and the family is
among the best
ooh, that girl chr" unused Fred.
ION three occasions she's almost run
the matter with her?''
"a farmer with a load of hav ran
into her auto and upset it and bruised
her all over and did $500 damages.
She wants to bring suit. I was call
ing at her house yesterday and told
her about you, and she will come in
with me In three days. Oh, Fred, it's
the chance of your 1ifetimer'
Thanks, mother, dear. I believe
you. It's going to- be an easy case
for spin. Farmer with a load of
hay. Young lady is happy, but the
farmer has a Crouch Sees the op-
portunity to crowd her into the ditch.
Does crowd. Her auto wrecked and
her nervous system shattered by the
shock. Jury won't be out ten min
utes. Heavy damages and a moral
lesson to the farmers of all America.
Say, mother. you're a br;cki"
Two or three days later, chaperoned
at the law office. She instantly
looked good to the coming jurist. The
more he looked at her the more
pleased he was with her as a client.
It wasn't a formal affair That is,
Mr. FairIee didn't try to look as wise
as horned owl and go into all the
little legal details of the case. Miss
Losing said she had been bruised.
She was not asked the exact number
of her bruises. Her auto had been
ure the costs to a cent. She had
screamed as the auto went over. The
number of screams was not so1emnly
recorded. When her case had been
stated and she had looked up in a
pathetic way and asked the young
attorney what he thought the chances
were of winning, he heartily and
promptly replied:
Miss Losing, We'll win in a can
ter-that is, in boats length-that
is, by a neck. Why. the case is won
before being begun. You must rest
easy and leave it all to me-
Mr.. Fair1ee got down his law book
and his sporting calendar and began
work at once. The case should be
rigidly prepared.
to drive out to the Losing manor
and ask his client two or three Ques-
tions. Three days later he had to go
again. Then his client had to come
in with his mother, and the trio
1unched at a hotel as they went over
the case.
When the farmer was served with
warrant Mr.. Fairlee had to make
another drive, to tell Miss Losing
that he was hustling on the case, and
was sure Of winning. Then he had
to drive out again to tell har that
the opposing counsel had asked for
and been granted an adjournment.
but It would make no difference with
the verdict when the trial came on.
That is, if it made any difference. it
would be in her favor. Then there
were two or three times he drove out
that no mention was made of the suit
at all. but all the talk was social.
According to the way Attorney
FairIee figured out the case, the
farmer would sooner or later come
to him and offer at least $500 and the
most abject apology to settle the
case out Of court. According to the