Page:The ways of war - Kettle - 1917.pdf/35

 householder is entitled to display towards a burglar. Kettle suddenly startled him with the query: 'Have you ever considered this question from the point of view of the burglar?' The magnate was horrified and hastily withdrew."

That story is typical of him. His term at King's Inns concluded with his securing a Victoria Prize, and he was called to the Bar in 1905. With his oratorical gifts and passionate delivery, a brilliant career was foretold. A writer in the ''Irish Law Times'' says: "He did everything that came his way with distinction.... There was a freshness and vigour about his style and a rare eloquence in his language which satisfied everyone that he would be an instant success if he was going to make law his profession." Personally, I think he would never have been happy as a lawyer. He was too sensitive. I remember his defending a criminal who was convicted and sentenced to penal servitude. The conviction worried him greatly. He used to say that it was a fearful responsibility to plead for a man and think that perhaps had another lawyer been chosen there would be no conviction. That the man was guilty mattered nothing to him. He went on the principle that the innocent are those who are not found out.

"Everywhere the word is man and woman; Everywhere the old sad sins find room."

He looked at the Law Courts and their victims,