William Cushing. a man of equable temperament, rather nega tive and timid. His manners were mild and his ability decent. His devotion to the law and the judicial function command respect.
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His character arouses no enthusiasm or ad miration. His mind was not so great as to leave any impress upon the jurisprudence of his country or his State.
SOME DELIGHTS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION. BY WILLIS B. Down. IT is not intended here to enter into a legal dissertation on any subject. The object of this article is merely to indicate a few of the delightful sources of entertainment which are open to the student and prac titioner of the law, it being manifest that the subject is too comprehensive for full con sideration in a magazine article. There are very many humorous matters which come under the consideration of the student of the law and some of these will now be noticed. Here is an interesting cat case. It is well known that there is held in the City of New York annually a show of poultry, pigeons, pet cats and the like. Why it is that cats and ferrets should be mixed up with ducks and pigeons nobody can tell, but such is the case. When show time came, about the year 1898, a lady sent her pet cat to the Madison Square Garden where the show was held, and paid the entry fee, expecting of course to win a prize. Under the rules of the New York Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association, Limited, the good lady had to make this exhibition of her pet cat at her own risk, but still there was a duty on the part of the Association to give ordinary care to the comfort and preservation of the cat. Now, horrible to relate, shortly after this entry was made there was a disappearance of the creature from the Madison Square Garden, and as it was never recovered the good lady brought ан action to obtain the value thereof. She succeeded in proving her case in the Municipal Court, and there was awarded to
her the amount of fifty dollars, which repre sented, of course, the value of her quadruped. An appeal was taken from this judgment to the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court, where the majority of the judges in a very brief opinion, which gives no token that they understood the real inwardness of this action, that is to say, the fun of it, affirmed the judgment with costs. One of the judges, however, who had a keen eye for the treasures of the profession, saw in this case an opportunity to hand down to future generations a dissertation in legal phraseology upon cats as exhibits at poultry shows, et cetera. Mr. Justice McLean thereupon delivered himself in part of the following opinion: "Herein is an instance of bailment, or, to borrow learned language from Massachusetts (10 Gray, 366), locatiim of a Manx feline, described as a male speci men, longer as to its hind legs than as to its fore, prize-winning from agricultural socie ties, of great value and without a tail. Zenda, for so the Manx was dight, was brought to the show of pigeons, of poultry and of pets of the defendant, and placed in a coop thereof by mistress and maid, assisted by an offering man, of fair complexion and dressed in blue checked overalls, with a colored blouse, in which livery many were about, who opened the coop door and showed both how to open and to close it. A little later the powerful and peculiar exhibit had moved the iron cage, unforesightedly not fastened at the bottom, along and partly beyond the plat
