Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 10.pdf/290

 An Antebellum Law School. dents were taken by him into his family; the remainder, about twenty in number, boarded a mile away at what was then, and still is, known as the Mountain House, kept by an easy-going somewhat stolid countryman named Alexander. In all the traditions that have come to me — tradi tions that deal with the many mad pranks played by these students — this man Alex ander seems to have taken by far the most prominent part. The butt of their very roughest jokes, and ofttimes the suffering victim of jests too cruel to be named as such, he, nevertheless, seemed to have taken it with the utmost good-nature, and never to have cherished the least ill-will. Within a radius of twenty-five miles or more, wherever you may go, with whomso ever stop, to this day you can hear the tale of some wild escapade or of outrageous prank on the part of these sylvan law stu dents of antebellum times. Scarcely an inhabitant who has numbered his two score and ten or even less, but that can tell you of some mock trial — anything else but mock to him then — in which he posed as the principal figure. Should a man be sus pected of " attracting " his neighbor's hog home; should he mistake another's hen roost for his own; should he forget to re turn a horse he had privately borrowed; should he be caught stuffing his own lazy carcass with the share of corn-dodger that belonged by right to the industrious dog that had helped tree the coon or track the rab bit, he was forthwith summoned to appear for trial before that august judicial body, the court of the North Fork, on such and such a day. The supplementary warning, "and herein fail not," he never dared disre gard for fear of worse consequences. And woe betide the man who was known to raise his hand in anger against a woman! He was as sure of a head-downward bath in the icy waters of the North Fork, and of an after shower of pebbles and sand, as if sen tence had already been passed and carried into effect.

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Various were the places where this selfinstituted court of justice held its sittings. As frequent as were the trials, so as fre quent were the removals of the judicatory, for fear of untimely interruption by the bona fide judge. In addition to the sittings of this much dreaded court, and the passing and putting into execution of its sentences, numberless pranks were played upon any innocent victim chance or premeditation placed in their way. It certainly was an evil day — evil in so far as his future peace of mind was con cerned — that William Bailey, or "Bill," as the judge's eldest son was more familiarly known, took it into his head to try his hand at farming. Still more unfortunate was it for the sake of that same mental quiet that he agreed to engage as assistants the half dozen big-limbed, tense-muscled young fel lows who had so eagerly offered their ser vices gratis, "just for the exercise of the thing," as they declared. Now, Bill Bailey knew about as much of even the first prin ciples of farming as the proverbial " cowbeast " of the North Fork knows of Carolina politics, that is nothing at all. As to the self-offered sextet, it knew still less, if such a thing could be. A horse, plow, gears, etc., were procured and the ground at once torn up. When I say " torn up," I use the term with reference to its broadest meaning, for certainly no such plowing as that was ever witnessed- before or since in any rural district whatsoever under the sun. Each of the stalwart six in turn took his place between the plow-handles. As to the horse, it is safe to say that no more thoroughly astonished or badly mixedup animal was ever seen. It was really too bad that just at the moment the field was pronounced ready for seed, Bill Bailey should be called off in response to an urgent message, the sender of which declared it was life and death. Despite its urgency, however, Bill Bailey was for putting it off until his precious seed was in. But the six would not hear to it. It might, after all, be