THE LIGHTER SIDE
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He Dodged. — It is said of a noted Virginia judge that in a pinch he always came out ahead. An incident of his childhood might go to prove this. "Well, Benny," said his father, when the lad had been going to school about a month, "what did you learn to-day?" "About the mouse, father." "Spell mouse," his father asked. After a little pause Benny answered, "Father, I don't believe it was a mouse after all; it was a rat." — Lippincott's. Title Deed. — A subscriber of Madison, South Dakota, sends in the following curious deed: I, J. Henry Shaw, the grantor herein, Who lives at Beardstown, Cass County, within, For seven hundred dollars, to me paid to-day, To Charles E. Wyman do sell and convey Lot two (2) in block forty (40), said county and town, Where Illinois River flows placidly down, And warrant the title forever and aye, Waiving homestead and mansion, to both a good-bye, And pledging this deed is valid in law, I add here my signature, J. Henry Shaw. (Seal) Dated July 25, 1881.
others. He died in 1882. His education so far as schools were concerned was limited to three weeks in a country school in 1837, where he learned the elements of reading and writing. Judge Brewer's Bailiff Story. — While on his way recently to Burlington, Vt., to visit rela tives, Judge Brewer related the following inci dent: "An amusing thing took place in Washing ton in connection with the Supreme Court this last winter. There was a young man in the court room who was talking out loud, making a little confusion, and one of the old colored bailiffs that we have there went in and led him out and said: ' Young man, you want to come out and be still. That is the Supreme Court of the United States in there! If they get after you, nobody in the world could help you! Nobody could help you — except the Almighty — and the chances are He won't interfere! ' " — Boston Herald. Woman's Discernment. — " What a mur derous looking individual the prisoner is!" whispered an old lady in a crowded court room. " I'd be afraid to get near him." "Sh! " warned her husband. " That ain't the prisoner. He ain't been brought in yet." "It ain't! Who is it, then?" "It's the judge." — Lippincott's.
I, Sylvester Emmons, who live at Beardstown, A justice of peace of fame and renown, Of the County of Cass and Illinois state, Do certify here that on this same date, One J. Henry Shaw to me did make known Carlisle and the Supreme Court. — A good That the deed above and name were his own; story is told of John G. Carlisle. Mr. Carlisle And he stated he sealed and delivered the was once approached by a well-known member same of the New York Bar, a man of most patroniz Voluntarily, freely, and never would claim ing manner. His homestead therein; but left all alone, "I see, Carlisle," he observed loftily, " that Turned his face to the street and his back to his home. the Supreme Court has overruled you in the S. Emmons, J. P. case of Mullins v. Jenkinson. But," he added, (Seal) Dated August 1, 1881. in his grand way, " you, Carlisle, need feel no The poetic deed preserves all legal points, concern about your reputation." Carlisle chuckled. " Quite so," he agreed. and is regarded by the members of the Bar as "I am only concerned for the reputation of a masterpiece. J. Henry Shaw was born in Boston in 1825, the Supreme Court." — Harper's Weekly. and settled in Illinois in 1835, and was promi According to His Folly. — The present chief nently identified with the early history of justice of Ontario, Sir William Meredith, was Cass County, Illinois, and was a prominent for many years engaged in the practice of attorney-at-law, meeting at the Bar such men criminal law, and afterwards became a notable as Lincoln, Douglas, War-Governor Yates and figure in provincial politics, as leader of " Her
