Governor Leslie M. Shaw, of Iowa, is quick at repartee in his public addresses. Sev eral times this ability has served him well. Dur ing the late political campaign Governor Shaw was addressing a meeting in Nebraska that was especially troublesome. A number of the longwhiskered populists were rather inclined to doubt the statements made by him on the gold and tariff questions. To make the situation more embarassing, a half-drunken fellow in the back part of the room broke out several times and had to be quieted. The Governor waited patiently his opportun ity to get in a telling blow that would turn the laughter and ridicule against the offenders. Several times questions were asked and were answered by the speaker without any signs of irritation being shown. A man well down in front insisted on asking a question every five minutes on the average. He usually prefaced them by such remarks as " Just a minute, please," or " Let me interrupt for a minute." In an unhappy moment, however, he broke in with " Pardon me, but —." Before he could finish, the Governor, a rather self-satisfied look spreading over his face, replied : " Well,,1 've pardoned lots worse fellows than you in my time, and I presume it would be unjust to draw the line here." A celebrated lawyer in Nova Scotia, who writes under the notn de plume of Juvenis, is noted for his carelessness in dress, which fact annoys the members of the bar exceedingly. Entering the court room upon one occasion minus a necktie, the Judge reproved him, saying that the law required him to wear one. " Oh, yes, your Honor, I know it," was the ready answer, " but it does not say where to wear it." As he spoke he pulled it out of his trouser's pocket. The Court was too busy repressing a smile to allude further to the matter. The late Judge Thompson of Gloucester, Massachusetts, stammered badly. It chanced one day while on his way to attend Court in Salem, that the Judge had for a seat-mate a stranger. Entering into conversation, the Judge, who was a genial man, beguiled the time by tell ing stories. Not many days later when called to Salem again he met the same companion who
invited him to sit beside him, saying," You are 47 the gentleman who told such delightful stuttering stories." When the ante mortem epitaph composed for Lord Westbury by Mr. Wickens, which has been so often referred to, appeared in print, it naturally enough excited much attention among members of the bar, by whom Lord Westbury was respected for his learning, but not loved for his courtesy. The story goes that when James (always and only known as "fat James," for his bodily proportions were something more than ample) sailed majestically into Wood's Court, and with difficulty squeezed himself into his accustomed seat in the front row beside the sparse form of Mr. W. M. Gifford, Q.C., the first question of James to Gifford was, " Have you read the epitaph?" "Yes, I have; it is inimitable. You must get Wickens to write yours for you, James." "I wonder what he would have to say about me, Gifford." "For my part, James, I have long ago thought of the most appropriate epitaph for you. Shall I tell you what I think it should be? ' Let my latter end be like his.'" NEW LAW BOOKS. The Law of Bankruptcy. Including the Na tional Bankruptcy Law of 1898, the Rules, Forms and Orders of the United States Su preme Court, the State Exemption Laws, the Act of 1867, with Citations to all relevant Decisions. Second Edition. By Edivin C. Brandenburg, LL. M. Chicago: Callaghan and Company. 1901. Law sheep (pp. liii-f 988). The second edition of Professor Branden burg's Law of Bankruptcy differs essentially from the first edition. To interpret the present bankruptcy law by the light of actual decisions was, in the case of the first edition, impossible — for the simple reason that there were then no such decisions, except in so far as decisions un der the Act of 1867 were applicable. Now, however, after the Law of 1898 has been in operation for three years, many of its provi sions have been the subject of judicial interpre tation; so that while in the first edition the de cisions under the earlier act were cited at best
