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first turned to the last volume of the Key-Number Series, looking for a clue, and, using the Descriptive Word method, I turned to the reference heads, 'Strikes' and 'Delays. " Silas went on to explain how he had found in the Key-Number Series, under the reference heads, "Delays" and "Strikes," the reference to "Contracts, § 300," and how he had then simply followed that topic and section through each of the six volumes of the Key-Number Series, and the Decennial, and had found the authorities which he had marked in the books now open before them on the library table.

"Well," said Mr. Stockbridge, "I always did suppose that practically all the cases were covered by the American Digest System; but I never thought that anybody could find them."

"Oh, yes, they teach us how to use law books in the Law Schools nowadays," said Silas demurely.

"Humph!" said Mr. Stockbridge, looking at him under his eyebrows.

Just then the postman entered the library with the afternoon mail. "Here is the weekly issue of the New York Supplement," said the Librarian. "Try your Key-Number on that, young man. You know that the indexes of the weekly advance sheets of the Reporters, and even the syllabus paragraphs, as well as the indexes of the bound volumes, carry as an annotation the same Key-Number that is used in the Digests. I heard Mr. Whyte talking about it the other day. He thinks it's great."

Silas took the number and turned at once to the index in search of Contracts § 300.

"Here it is,-Contracts § 300 again," exclaimed Silas. And he began to read: "S 300.-A clause making a strike among workman a valid excuse for delay does not protect a contractor from a voluntary lockout on his part. Mahoney v.

Smith, 116 N. Y. S. 1091."

"What's that?" shouted Mr. Stockbridge, seeing at a glance the application of the lockout decision to his own case. He snatched the pamphlet from Silas' hand, and read the index paragraph, and then, opening to the text of the opinion, he read it attentively.

Silas, who was also beginning to see the light, suddenly turned to the Librarian. "What is the exact difference between a strike and a lockout?"

"Now you will have to go to Words and Phrases," said the Librarian, and brought out two volumes of that publication. Opening the first, and finding the place, he began to read: “A lockout has been defined to be the closing of a factory or workshop by an employer, usually to bring the workmen to satisfactory terms by a suspension of wages." He then turned to the second volume, and was about to read definitions of strikes, when Silas broke out, "Mr. Stockbridge, the contractor who built that bank wasn't delayed by a strike. What he had was a lockout."

"That's clear enough," said Mr. Stockbridge. "So is the case, now that I can cite this recent decision on the point. How did you find it all in a minute? It's lucky you stumbled on it, I can tell you."

"It wasn't luck, and I didn't stumble," protested Silas. "All I needed to look for was a number. The Key-Number Annotation-"

"Tut, tut, tut! I didn't say luck; I said lucky," growled Mr. Stockbridge. "Now I think we had all better go out to lunch, and then you and I can go back to the office and clean out that old desk and put another peg behind the door on which you can hang your hat and coat."

"Very well, sir," said Silas, meekly. But to himself he said, "It was lucky I took that course in Legal Bibliography."

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Practical Suggestions to Young Lawyers

An Address by VIRGIL M. HARRIS

Trust Officer of the Mercantile Trust Company of St. Louis, before the St. Louis University Institute of Law

VER in France, on its western shore, is a peninsula, the province of Bretagne, or Brittany, and on its rockbound coast the waves of the Atlantic forever beat. This province is one of the most interesting portions of Europe, being rich in history and Celtic ruins, and its landscapes are said to be surprisingly beautiful. Its people still retain their ancient language and customs.

In the year 1253 there was born in Brittany, of a noble family, one YvesHelori, who is recognized the world over as the patron saint of lawyers. He espoused the cause of the orphan, the widow, and the poor. He was greatly honored by his countrymen, and was canonized by Clement VI at Avignon. Many monuments have been erected and hymns written to perpetuate his virtues and his memory. He died at the age of fifty years, and on a tablet in one of the churches of Brittany are these words in Latin:

"St. Ives was of Brittany;

He was a lawyer, and not a robber,
At which the people wondered."

And so, as early as the thirteenth century, it was not uncommon to asperse the legal profession, and from that time to this there have been variant phases of disparagement to both the bar and the bench. And I take it, it will ever be so as long as malefactors are brought to justice and debtors made to pay their just dues.

But a few days ago I saw a book for children, printed in 1767. Under a wood. cut of a porcupine were these lines:

"This creature shoots his pointed quills,
And beasts destroys, and men;
But more the ravenous lawyer kills
With his half-quill, the pen."

And thus was natural history taught the young in those days.

The lawyer of necessity must see much of the mean, ignoble, and hateful traits of human nature. Byron says:

"The lawyer and the critic but behold

The baser sides of literature and of life; And naught remains unseen, but much untold

By those who scour these double vales of strife."

Balzac was, in my opinion, the greatest novelist that France ever produced, and there are not wanting competent judges who regard him the greatest novelist the world has ever produced, in the delineation of characters. At any rate, as time goes on, his name is put close to those of Shakespeare, St. Simon, and Dickens. As a boy, he was a worker in cooper shops and a gatherer of grapes on the hillsides of provincial France. At the age of nineteen he went to Paris and studied law, and there began the creation of his hundred books, to which he gave the title, "La Comédie Humaine;" and on his literary stage we find two thousand. well-defined characters, and they stand out like strongly painted figures on canvas, and are as cleanly cut as cameos. A few critics regard some of his books as immoral; but immorality must be judg-. ed by environment and by the age in which an author writes. Balzac had, intuitively, a keen insight into human na

ture. He wrote of the rich and the poor, of statesmen and of peasants, and, in fact, touched all grades of society, and did not overlook lawyers. In one of his minor books, "Colonel Chabert," we find an old lawyer saying to a younger member of the profession:

"There are in modern society three men who can never think well of the world, the priest, the doctor, and the man of law; and they wear black robes, perhaps because they are in mourning for every virtue and every illusion. The most hapless of these is the lawyer. He sees the same evil feelings repeated again and again. Nothing can correct them. Our offices are sewers which can never be cleansed. . I have known wills burned. I have seen mothers robbing their children; wives kill their husbands. I could not tell you all I have seen, for I. have seen crimes against which justice is impotent. In short, all the horrors that romancers suppose they have invented are still below the truth."

No doctor or lawyer ever reads these words without being struck by them, and without pausing to reflect. He knows they are true. Our author might have. made a distinction between priests and ministers on the one hand, and doctors and lawyers on the other. Priests and ministers know what people profess; doctors and lawyers know what they practice. It is not given to man to see the human heart completely unveiled before him. But the lawyer, perhaps, comes more nearly to this than any other. All the passions, all the vices, and all the virtues are by turns subjected to his scrutiny. He has the opportunity to study human nature in its least disguised appearance.

My first suggestion will be a consideration of the word "gentleman." On one occasion, in attending the commencement

exercises of a medical college, an old French doctor addressed the students, and he said: "Young gentlemen, remember that the doctaire, the doctaire, the doctaire, should always be a gentleman.” And I say to you that a lawyer should always be a gentleman, and, if it happen that any of you are of the opposite sex, I know it will be unnecessary to tell you to be ladies. One of the finest lines in our language is: "And thus he bore without abuse the grand old name of gentleman."

My second suggestion is with reference to location. Much depends upon a proper selection of a place to practice. All things considered, I believe the young lawyer stands a better chance in the small cities and towns.

Our

Honesty is the very life blood of the lawyer; but, as one of our learned judges has said: "There are unworthy members in every profession, and therefore we should take no shame to ourselves that they are sometimes to be found in ours. We can take refuge behind the maxim that supply corresponds with demand. If there were no dishonest clients, there would be no dishonest lawyers. profession does but adapt itself to the community in which it is exercised. But it can be said that the number of lawyers who betray their trusts is very few. Our profession abounds in opportunities and temptations to abuse its high functions." The penitentiaries contain more merchants than lawyers, and quite as many preachers and doctors. Do not be deceived about the results of doubtful or crooked practice. It may serve a purpose for the moment, but dishonest lawyers are known and despised. Under no circumstances, and at no time, permit any pressure to cause you to lose your professional integrity. Burns had the matter about right:

"To catch Dame Fortune's golden smile,

Assiduous wait upon her,
And gather gear by every wile

That's justified by honor.
Not for to hide it in a hedge,

Nor for a train attendant;
But for the glorious privilege

Of being independent.

"The fear of hell's a hangman's whip
To hold the wretch in order;
But where ye feel your honor grip,

Let that, ay, be your border.
Its slightest touches instant pause-
Debar all side pretenses;
And resolutely keep its laws,

Uncaring consequences."

The confidential relation between lawyer and client should never be abused. The employment of the lawyer is preeminently a matter of trust and confidence. The law itself so regards it. The privilege is that of your client, and not yours. You are not permitted to reveal what your client has confided to you. And this protection was not formerly extended, even to a religious confessor.

All classes of people will come within. your doors, the aged and the young, the wise and the simple, and it is your duty to protect the information given to you. The temptation is sometimes strong to disclose confidential matters; but it should never be done, and as you grow older in practice you will find it easier to accomplish.

Be humane. Great men are always humane. There may be better words in our language and in our lives than consideration and helpfulness; but I am free to say to you that I have not found them. View it as you will, all that is worth living for is encompassed by them. Each of you will have occasion to extend a helping hand, and I charge you never fail to do it. Robert Louis Stevenson says that love is the amulet which makes the world a garden.

General Custer was once leading the Seventh Regiment over the Western plains. Riding at the head of his regi

ment, he came to a place where a number of meadow larks had made their nests in the roadway. To avoid molesting them, he turned out, and the whole Seventh Cavalry did the same thing, leaving the birds unharmed; and each soldier as he passed saw the cause and read a lesson. That was the same General Custer who, with his whole command, went down not long after in a hand-to-hand encounter in the battle of the Little Big Horn.

There are two kinds of money which you will handle as lawyers. The one is your own; the other kind belongs to your clients. I urge you, most earnestly, never to mingle the money of your clients with your own. The law, recognizing the frailties of human nature, prohibits your doing so. When you collect money for a client, pay it over at once. De not wait until to-morrow; but do it to-day. If it is absolutely necessary to hold it, put it in an account which clearly indicates the ownership. Never permit yourself to be tempted, under any circumstances, to use your clients' money, even though you walk the streets hungry and are familiar with the inside of pawnshops.

Lincoln, it is said, carried his own money in one pocket, and his clients' in another. It may have been a crude way, but it was the true one.

The law is an exacting pursuit. You cannot succeed without unremitting toil and labor. In my judgment, not one lawyer in ten is fitted for the business. Travelers tell us that in mountainous regions water appears to run up hill. It does not. Water runs down hill, and always seeks its level; and lawyers follow the same law of professional gravitation.

If, after practicing five years, you find you have mistaken your vocation, quit it. It is better to pocket your pride, and start

anew, than put off the change until a time when it is too late. If you are going to direct your attention to other work, the sooner you commence, the better. Blessed is the man whose life work and destiny tend to the same end.

To succeed, you must love your profession, and remember she is a jealous mistress. Devote your entire time to the profession. Eschew politics and side is

sues.

I recommend that you be readers, not only of law, but of all good books. It is idle to proclaim that miscellaneous reading is not a necessary adjunct in law. Law is not an exact science, and the lawyer who is profoundly read has a decided. advantage of one who is not.

Be a leader. Among lawyers, as in all other vocations, there are leaders. Men get to the front by reason of personality and strength. Whenever you have an opportunity to make an address, take advantage of it, no matter what the occasion, and though your legs do wobble.

I earnestly urge you not to gamble and not to drink. More brilliant lawyers fall from these causes than from all others combined. The greatest members of our profession are not addicted to these habits, and it is certain that intemperance sears the brain, and gambling deadens many virtues.

Do not go about your professional duties in a haphazard manner. Be prepared when your cases come to trial, and avoid slovenly methods. The character. of a lawyer is reflected by his work.

Notaryships should be obtained by young lawyers, not so much on account of the fees that may be earned, but as a stepping-stone to acquaintance with desirable clients.

Judge Timothy Walker was at the head of the Cincinnati Law School in the early part of the last century, and his

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lectures to law students have never been surpassed in merit and in brilliancy.

I shall conclude this lecture by a paraphrase of one of his addresses:

I presume you have not selected the law as a road to great wealth; for, if so, you are almost sure to be disappointed. No lawyer in this country can become very rich in the strict pursuit of his profession; but, if properly pursued, it will lead to independence, which is all a wise man need desire. And as to reputation it opens an ample field. Tastes may differ on this subject; but for myself, had I the most burning thirst for fame, I would rather be a great jurist than a great statesman. At the American Bar, success cannot be the result of luck or chance. Accident has made many a hero and many a king, but never a Mansfield or a Marshall. The first requisite, certainly, for success, is a competent knowledge of the law. Every case will be a lesson, and your whole professional life will be one of progressive improvement. The most learned of lawyers would not get business if he did not attend to it; and, other things being equal, he will manage a cause the best who devotes the most attention to it. Next to legal knowledge, the most important condition of success is a habit of strict attention to business. Your clients must know where to find you, and when to find you. Establish a reputation for attending faithfully to whatever you undertake, and this alone will secure you a good share of business. You cannot be men of all work and lawyers besides. Young men are anxious to make money faster than by fees, and therefore frequently enter into speculation or politics; but either course is fatal to distinguished professional success. The law cannot be put on and taken off as a garment. It requires all the energies you can command.

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