Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/106

90 share in the business.” If it is at all reasonable or possible for you to grant it, do so by all means. But if not, then see if he will not modify it a little; but grant it as he writes it, if you possibly can, for you will never be sorry for doing so.’

“The gentleman went away determined to act on this advice. In about a week he came back to say that he had done as my brother suggested, and that the written demand was much more reasonable than he expected, so he granted it at once. The brothers parted the best of friends. Some years after, when the eldest brother, who had been greatly prospered in business, died, in his will he left his younger brother, who had not been so successful, a very handsome legacy.

“Another incident may be mentioned. The owners of the copyright of Webster’s Royal Octavo Dictionary had given written permission to a publishing firm in New York to issue certain smaller Dictionaries with the name of Webster attached to them. These publishers began the preparation of an edition of the Dictionary which the copyright owners considered likely to compete with the Royal Octavo edition. This, in their opinion, was not permitted by the contract held by the New York publishers. A suit was brought against these publishers, but the judge, before whom it came very wisely said that this was a matter about which he and his fellow justices had no knowledge, and therefore decided that two publishers who knew the use and custom of the trade, and a lawyer who understood the legal points, should act as arbitrators in the case, For this purpose the judge chose Mr. J. H. Butler, of Northampton, Mass., and my brother Robert, as the two publishers, and the Hon. W. M. Evarts, now representing the State of New York in the United States Senate, as the lawyer. The meetings were held in the Everett House, Seventeenth Street, New York.

The discussion turned chiefly on the meaning of two words, size and intermediate. The owners of the copyright contending that size necessarily includes the idea of shape, used the following homely illustration to support this view: