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 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”.