The Editor's Bag his aid is that I cannot forget Mildred. He will understand.’ “I left the prisoner-and that afternoon -the same voice came to me over the tele
phone and asked if I had seen Walcott. I told him of Walcott's obstinacy and the
reason for his refusal to accept aid. There was a sob in the man's voice as he talked with me. I then asked him to whom I was to return the retainer fee, and he
replied that I should donate it to some institution or association, having for its
659
So the justices agreed that the eldest among them, an old “squire," should give the youth a severe lecture, and then discharge him. The squire, im pressed with the serious duty, arose,
ordered the prisoner to stand up, looked fiercely at him, and exclaimed: — “Young man, it's awful—awful, I say! Clear out of my sight, you ornery scamp!" . _ And he did, amid the roars of laughter
from the spectators.
object the assistance of prisoners and
improvement of prison conditions. I carried out his wish and donated the money anonymously to a prison reform
association. I inquired about Walcott later and learned that he had pleaded guilty and had been sent to prison for a long term.
LEGAL-RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS HEN one lawyer refers to another as "brother attorney" he em ploys an ancient phrase peculiar to religious and legal fraternities and sug
gests the close historical relation be tween the callings. In England for
"I never saw Walcott after that time, nor have I ever heard from the man who tried to help him. There are many ex planations which one might suggest, but
two and a half centuries after the Norman Conquest, all high legal ofiices were filled by churchmen. Laymen
they would be, at best, mere conjectures. Take it all in all, however, it was an odd
could not hope for advancement or for clients and indeed the only path to
experience, and the strangest case, per haps, that I recall in my practice." t-‘i IVE THE honest SQUIRE’S old farmers LECTURE of Vir
cation lay through holy orders.
the acquirement of a professional edu
The
fraternal form of address, common to
examination was a boy who had been
the Church, passed naturally into legal phraseology. Brother so-and-so of the monastic order was “brother" also at the bar. So strong was popular preju dice against admitting the competency
arrested upon a grave charge, and the
of mere laymen at law when this class
question was, should he be held for
began to practice about 1300, that lay barristers adopted a black velvet skull
ginia were once convened as an ex
amining court.
The subject of their
trial at the circuit court. The honest old fellows knew little law, but they were kind-hearted and not without that mental quality known as "horse sense." They listened to the evidence; it was conclusive against the prisoner. But he was very young, and
might reform if given another chance. Should he be sent up for trial he might
go to prison and be ruined.
cap, or coif, to conceal their lack of
tonsure, the distinguishing mark of the priestly clerk. Down to our day both the form of address and the peculiar head gear have remained, although we have ceased to associate the two pro fessions whose early intimacy was the
original reason for their existence. A. P. C.
The Edilor will h glad to rnn'w for flu’: dcpan‘lunt anything- lrklly fa nun-lain flu rmdn-r sf the Green Bag in {In way of legal anliquitiu, faulic, and murder”.
