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THE GREEN BAG
Majesty's Loyal Opposition " in the Ontario Parliament. He is a man of fine presence, with a leonine mass of white hair. One night he was speaking in Toronto at a turbulent meeting held toward the close of a hot cam paign, when he was sharply interrupted by a strident voice from the top gallery: "Aw, Willum, go an' get your hair cut!" Instantly Meredith threw back his magnifi cent head, and, fixing the offender with the stern eye of the practiced examiner, exclaimed : "My friend, if my memory serves me, I once had something to do with getting your hair cut." There were no more interruptions. — Lippincott's. Saved His Opponent.— " Sam" Tompson, the Boston lawyer, back in the seventies had a case in the civil court, and during the trial the attorney on the other side, in a heated argu ment, called him a liar, in words more forcible than elegant. Now " Sam " was hard of hearing, and his alert assistant promptly in formed him that his opponent had just called him a blankety-blanked liar. "Sam " at once faced him, and, in his pecu liar drawl, said, " I can take you out on the street and find a hundred who will say the same thing." He then proceeded with his argument so quickly, the court, if so inclined, had no chance to administer a rebuke, or perhaps a fine for contempt, to his opponent. —- Boston Herald. >JJ The Quality of Mercy. — In the court of common pleas of the city of Aurora, Ill., along toward the close of the war, a darky preacher was indicted for the larcency of a pig belonging to an Irishman. The accused not having a lawyer, the judge appointed two Democrats, among the ablest at the Bar. It was amusing to the audience in attendance to see them consulting during the trial with their client who of course sat with them. They set up an elaborate defense;
a better one it was thought than they would if their client had been white instead of black. But the jury was satisfied the pig had been feloniously taken and carried away as it was found at the darky's, with footprints leading from the Irishman's pen. Before passing sen tence the judge asked the accused if he had anything to say, etc., to which he replied that he had always been taught in the South that it was better to tell the truth than to lie, and better to beg than steal; but he said he had asked for aid, and unable to get it, he had helped himself to the pig in order to save his family from starvation. His appeal for clem ency was so touching that the judge suspended his fine and thereupon a bailiff passed around a hat to pay for the pig, and there being more than the Irishman was entitled to, the balance was given the darky, and they left the court room together. "A Logical Deduction." — A decision lately rendered by a justice of the peace in this dis trict illustrates beautifully the wisdom of selecting as a judge a person who has never wasted his valuable time in burning the mid night oil while pursuing his studies of elemen tary law, and I might say of logic. Plaintiff, a saloon keeper who conducted what is commonly known as a wine-room in connection with his saloon, sued a young man, a minor, on account, for beer and whisky furnished him therein from time to time. The defendant pleaded " infancy," but ad mitted the purchase's. The judge, to the great surprise of defendant's counsel and, I might also add, the plaintiff's counsel also, rendered the following opinion: "The defendant admits the contract and relies only on a plea of infancy. The law is well settled that an infant may contract for necessaries. All medical authorities agree that whisky is a medicine and that beer is food, and medicine and food are necessaries. Therefore, the defendant's plea in this case is bad. Let judgment go for the plaintiff."
