The New York herald., 1921-09-25
AN DIDN'T BECOME A LAWYER NOW is TOLD
MAN we never knew and whose name
we have forgotten kept us out of

A MAN we never knew ana whose name
~ we have forgotten kept us out of
the legal profession. But for his
influence We would probably by now either
be wearing male kimono and a magisterial
frown as we sentenced culprts for sup
posed crimes against society, or we would
be rising impressively to remark, May it
@lease the court, we object"
Our unknown friend entered our life back
in the days when after a session of reason
ing with ourself we became convinced that
If ever in the newspaper business we
amassed the fortune we still hope To have
became the influence in The community
which we still hope to be our success would
necessarily come either from marrying the
daughter Of a director or inheriting stock
from an ancestor. As we were not at the
time calling upon the daughters of any direc-
tors and as we had no immediate ancestors
who owned stock in a newspaper, we con-
cluded to abandon that profession
We placed an ear to the ground for any
earth sounds that might be vibrating and
distinctly we heard a call to the bar. Later
in life we have become convinced that we
heard correctly, but we misunderstood direc-
tions. 1t was different bar that called us
Well, anyway, having decided to become
a lawyer, we consulted a legal luminary of
our acquaintance and from him learned that
the first step in the process of becoming
q lawyer was to study law the object of
this being, according to our friend, to pre-
pare oneself for the examination which IS
said to be necessary before one is allowed
to practise in the courts Once having
passed successfully the examination our
friend said that further study of this dry
subject would not be necessary. Our extern
sive acquaintance with legal lumnaries
leads us to believe that he was telling us the
truth.
So we invested eight dollars of the money
we had worked for and bought two volumes
entitled "The Commentaries" or something
like that, and took them home for the pur-
pose Of commencing our career as lawyer.
These volumes are bound in calfskin. The
calf contributed the skin to the legal pro-
fession: we contributed the eight dollars.
The calf was skinned and so were we.
Well, be that as it may. we began the
study of law and commenced by reading
the biography of Mr. Blackstone, which was
the first thing in the first volume We read
two pages of 1t, and then arrived at the
conclusion that if the remainder of the two
volumes were as dry as the first two pages
of the life of the author, and if Mr. Black
stones lectures were half uninteresting
as the life he led on the first two pages of
regarding the intricacies of the law. Since
then we have confined ourself to retorts, and
have let those who will revel in simple
torts.
The two volumes are in our library to-day
We are glad they are Once we heard
scholar say that no gentleman's library is
complete unless it contains a copy of Black
stones Commentaries. Therefore when our
little five year old daughter directs our at
tention to the fact that we are leaning on
the table with our elbows or when her
mother remarks casually that gentlemen do
not sit with their feet on the window ledge,
or when any other natural and primeva
instinct arises, which Is supposed to have
been eradicated permanently by the three
generations necessary for its disappearance,
we turn our head and allow our eyes to rest
comfortably and sustainingly on the copy of
Blackstone in the book case. We know we
are a gentleman. The Commentaries in our
library prove il.
Yes it's we'll enough to have something
like that to tie to in times of stress. Our
eight dollars was well spent
/" HE most successful lawyer we ever
met was Judge We met him down
on Cumberland Island, off the coast
of Georgia number of years ago. where
we had gone with Cap Joyner, then chief
Of the Atlanta Fire Department, and Louis
Gregg. the cartoenist of the Constitution
AS we say, this Judge was the most success
full lawyer we ever met.
The surf bathing was all done in the morn
ing before the sun became hot Our after
moons were spent on the lawn in front of
the hotel We would mix up a pitcher full