Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/414

Rh To all these sufferers of the race,
 * This bag brings freedom, peace, and hope,

And lawyers wring full recompense
 * From those whose souls in meanness grope.

And thus it is and ever was,
 * Of all the powers in the world,

Justice has thundered from this bag
 * In tones as from Olympus hurled.

The weal or woe of all mankind
 * Has hung upon its grave mandate;

Nor Sphinx, nor Delphian oracle
 * E'er whispered so the voice of Fate.

And lawyers are the genii and
 * The guardian spirits of the bag,

Who tear the mask from flaunting vice
 * And show the world a painted hag.

Yet mean aspersions oft are laid
 * By those of canting, craven hearts,

Who charge that bag and lawyers too
 * Are full of naught but lying arts.

But even we—who have but passed
 * And in the outer chambers wait,

In this grand temple of the Law
 * Where, throned, she sits in sovereign state—

Know all full well the glories of
 * The triumphs of her majesty,

And know that her hand-maidens are
 * The virgins, Truth and Equity.

But in this day of light, the law
 * Needs not a vindication here;

Her sacred mission, Heaven-sent,
 * Hallows the world each cycling year.

Her peerless triumphs and her grace,
 * No humble, human e'er could sing;

His voice would falter in dismay,
 * His harp would fall a tuneless thing.

But while we bow in reverence
 * To law, "the State's collected will,"

A passing tribute we should lay
 * Upon a mem'ry verdant still.

The old green bag I came to sing,
 * That faithful, humble friend and stay,

Our proud profession's symbol still
 * While law maintains her regal sway.

When carried by our forefathers
 * It held the rights and hopes of men;

And may our hearts as truly hold
 * And keep them safely, now as then.

A nobler, prouder heritage
 * Than Norman castle, feudal lands,

Is this old bag that 's come to us
 * Blessed by those ancient sages' hands.

And, brothers, guard it sacredly,
 * And let it ever be for you,

A thing to shield and safely hold
 * Justice for men when e'er 't is due;

Broad as that "law which moulds a tear
 * And bids it trickle from its source,

That law preserves the earth a sphere
 * And guides the planets in their course."