T. S. Arthur

“ Here lies the test of a truly good lawyer. I see no great credit that a man deserves for gaining a perfectly plain case. Anybody ought to do that. It is in the bad cause that the lawyer shows his real power."
"And this is legal integrity!" said the student. "No, Lawrence Dunbar, I will not credit it! The lawyer may be the guardian of rights, and yet remain true to himself. You have mistaken the true character of the profession." ”

“ A young man of any ambition is a fool to think of marriage before he is twenty-eight or thirty. He establishes his position first; he writes his name so high that all can read it, and then makes his selection of a wife from the hundreds whose hands are ready to grasp the one he outstretches. Six or seven years from this time, wealth and high connexions may easily be secured by marriage. Lawrence! I thought better of you. What is Mary Lee! How will a marriage with her advance your interests in the world, or help to place you higher?"
Dunbar had never thought of this. ”

“ There are ways in life that lead more certainly to wealth; and there are avenues to distinction more easily trodden But if your mind turns towards the medical profession, with anything like a desire to enter into it, I will not speak a word against your choice. You will find it an arduous calling, but one in which you can do much good; and one in which your own character may be purified and elevated. You will rise into eminence—true eminence—here, as well as in any other pursuit; for I know you have the required ability, and I believe you are not under the dominion of merely selfish purposes. ”

“ Medicine I incline to as a profession, though not because I can be more useful in it than I can be in any other; for every regular calling in life regards the common good, and in each and all of them men may engage with unselfish motives; but because it suits my temper of mind, and I can see clearly how in the practice of it I can attain the requisite external things I need, at the same time that I can be of great use to my fellows. As for the ambition to rise in the world to a distinguished position, of which you speak, I must own that I do not feel as strongly as you do its impulses. ”

“ The fact is, Lloyd," and Dunbar slapped the student upon the shoulder, "if it was not for the sins and iniquities of the people, I don't know what you or I would do. We should make great allowance for them, don't you think so?"
"We should do all in our power to lessen the amount of evil and suffering in the world," replied Hudson.
"And starve for our pains. If there were no cheating and roguery in the world, what would become of all the lawyers? and if there were no sickness, what would become of the doctors?" ”

“ They had been well educated, and used to the elegancies of refined society. Nearly all who are thus raised have certain false views of social life, something more or less artificial and conventional about them; and this was the case with the sisters of Dr. Baldwin, as well as with most of the young ladies he had happened to meet. Ella Hudson, with equal refinement of feeling, intelligence, and true accomplishments, was so independent in matters of right, so free from everything false, affected, or merely conventional, that he almost wondered at, while he admired her. ”

“ The star of Lawrence Dunbar's rising fortunes had already reached its point of culmination—young as he was, and possessed of brilliant talents and a mind well stored with professional lore—and was now beginning its rapid descent. He had erred in supposing that, separated from Mr. Harker, he could take a high position at the bar. In this he had overrated himself. Only a few petty cases came into his hands besides the case of Malcolm, which he managed so badly. The flaw left in his client's bill in this case was so palpable, that the whole bar expressed astonishment at the glaring oversight. ”

“ The prejudice existing in certain grades of society against all females who are engaged in useful employments, she well knew; and as this was a prejudice arising from a false education, and as she was to be introduced by marriage among those with whom this prejudice existed, she rightly concluded, after looking at the subject in this light, that it was best for her, as no real necessity existed for her continuing her duties as a music teacher, to give them up at once. For Doctor Baldwin to meet her, as he had done that morning, could not, she felt, but be unpleasant to him. ”

“ In coming to this decision, let me admonish you to look well to the motives that prompt your choice. If you feel a selfish regard to your own advancement in the world, struggle against and repress it; for, though by this you may attain wealth and a name, it will never bring you happiness, and that highest of all honors, the reputation of having accomplished some good for your fellow men. Have, therefore, in choosing a profession, regard to the good you may be able to do, as well as the good to yourself that you wish to obtain. ”

“ Ella Hudson is as far superior to any young lady that I ever met in fashionable circles, as is one of the supposed individuals I have introduced, to the other. As for Miss Elbert, she is far less refined, lady-like, and accomplished then Ella Hudson, and far less worthy the love of any man."
"You speak strongly, Edward."
"I do; I mean all I say. Come, sister! lay aside a weak prejudice that is unworthy of you, and consent to go with me and be introduced to this excellent young lady. You must know each other, and the sooner it takes place the better. ”

“ What the lawyer has to do is to advocate or defend his client's rights, nothing more. This is his use in the community; and when he goes beyond it, he goes beyond what his client has a right to demand or he a right to give. Depend upon it, Lawrence—and you must pardon my plain utterance of what is in my mind—the lawyer who permits himself to use unfair means to gain a client's cause, will not find it a hard task to continue his client's cause year after year, in order, if possible, to swell the amount of his fees. ”

“ Your father has attained neither wealth nor eminence, though a man of good mind."
"The reason is plain. Want of education, and early opportunity. But we have just what he lacked."
"Well, Lloyd," returned Dunbar, "all that I have to say on this subject is, that if you have any fancy for this looking after other people's affairs, I have not. I think I shall find just as much as I can well do in looking after and taking care of my own. My father has set his heart on seeing me rise in the world, and has sacrificed much to that end: he shall not be disappointed, unless the Fates are against me. ”

“ It would not be right."
"It will be right if done in the right spirit, my son," replied the high-minded watchmaker, who, though in humble circumstances, had a noble nature. "What we do should not be in sole reference to ourselves. Our acts ought to have some reference to the good of others. I believe that it will be right for me to help you for one or two or three years, until you are able to support yourself, for, thereby, you will the more surely rise into a high and useful position. ”

“ Harker who omitted no opportunity for introducing his student to people of standing in society, he found himself gradually making friends and associates of an entirely different class to those he had been in the habit of meeting. Attractive as he had at first deemed Mary Lee, he was fated to see her attractions waning before more brilliant young ladies of a fashionable education, and fashionable habits and manners. ”

“ I have been weighing with great deliberation what you say about the choice of a profession, and, like you, am not yet able to decide which is best. At the bar, you will rise in the world, and gain distinction as a man of talents; while in mercantile pursuits, you will attain wealth and the elevation in society that its possession always gives. ”

“ Conscious that he was committing an error in suffering his mind to be so diverted from his business, Malcolm strove hard with himself to correct the error, but without effect. His eyes could not rest upon his own dry stubble field, for looking at the golden grain waving in fields beyond.
At length creditors began to be urgent for their money; business grew worse and worse, and there was a prospect of a crisis in his affairs before any decision would be had upon his suit. ”

“ Then, in the fact of being a watchmaker there is nothing that should make one man less esteemed than another man, no better than he is, who follows a profession. Both are useful employments, and so far as they are concerned, he who most faithfully and honestly discharges the duties of his calling, and his social and domestic obligations, is the best man, let the world think and say what it pleases. And not only the best man, but the best friend a man who wants one can choose. So much for the watchmaker. And the same may be said of the music teacher. ”

“ So flagrant a violation of all honest principles met its just rebuke. He stood alone. No man of honor and respectability showed him any attentions or passed him the compliment of an invitation to his house. There was a ban upon him; so much so that men pointed at him in the streets and related the story of his affair with old Mr. Harrison. In less than a year there was a public sale of his elegant furniture in Arch street, and he moved somewhere South with his wife. Of his domestic felicity nothing need be said. Enough can be imagined. ”

“ All agree that it will be best for you to remain here. The difficulty in the way is the slowness with which a practice is acquired in a large city like this, and the inability of a young physician to support himself for a year or two. Ella and I, in love and duty, agree to do a certain thing, right in itself—as right as to practise medicine—in order to sustain our brother, a young physician, until he can sustain himself. Can he, upon any just plea, refuse to let us be coworkers, in affection, with him in his honorable elevation. ”

“ Harrison. "And I rather think a man's a fool to allow you to get him into your hands. If I'd paid this Malcolm the twenty-five thousand dollars he originally asked, I would have been wise. Now I shall think myself well off if I escape with a loss of double that sum."
"It won't be so bad as that, I guess. I am very sure that an offer of twenty-five or thirty thousand dollars will completely silence all scruples of conscience that Dunbar may happen to have, and fully satisfy his cupidity." ”

“ I shall not invite them to my wedding, nor insult Mary and Ellen by inviting them alone."
"You are an unnatural brother!" said Mrs. Dunbar, speaking with great warmth. She could no longer control her indignant feelings. She well knew the worth of Ellen and Mary, and the excellence of the men they had married. From both she received, at all times, the most affectionate attentions, while her son Lawrence had, for years, treated her with neglect or ill-concealed contempt. ”

“ We are bound in conscience to take care of our client's interests. He commits them to our hands, and honor and honesty demand that we should protect them by every means in our power."
"Not by unfair means," said Hudson.
"If your client's cause is not sound, how can you sustain it by sound arguments? You must divert the attention of the court from the true point at issue, and take advantage of every defect or error of your opponent to make his good cause appear a bad one. ”

“ It would not do, she felt, to assume any importance with her, from having moved in a different sphere, for this would not elevate but rather lower her in the estimation of Mrs. Hudson, for whom, in spite of herself, she felt a rising sentiment of respect. The father of Ella was a man of a character much more strongly marked than she had expected to find, and she noticed that men of education and known attainments, when they engaged in conversation with him, paid great deference to his remarks, and treated him with as much respect as they did any one. ”

“ I don't know that there is any greater honor in receiving musical instruction than there is in imparting it. The general impression is, that the preceptor is superior to the scholar, just in the degree that knowledge is considered superior to ignorance."
"But that doesn't show that you ought to go below your own sphere in society and marry a music teacher, Edward."
"In marrying, sister," replied Baldwin, "a man takes a companion for life, and, therefore, he should select one whose qualities are of a substantial kind, and promise to last through life. ”

“ Dunbar, lived an industrious, intelligent watchmaker, named Hudson, whose family consisted of a son and two daughters. Mr. Hudson saw quite as clearly as did Mr. Dunbar, the great advantage which every young man possesses, who is blessed with a liberal education: and it had been his intention, from the first, to give his son every opportunity in his power for acquiring information. But, in considering the son, he did not disregard his daughters. Lloyd Hudson and Lawrence Dunbar were entered at college, for a four years' course, at the same time. ”

“ Hudson, leaning, towards her husband, "he has certainly not risen into happiness."
"No man does, who acts from an utter disregard of others," replied the doctor. "Dunbar started in life with the avowed determination to rise; and to rise on the most thorough selfish principles. What his exact elevation, as regards external things, may be, I do not know; but I have heard it whispered that he has at least been sadly disappointed in the amount of his wife's fortune. ”

“ When Ella Hudson went home that afternoon, after having given the various lessons required of her for the day, she had some different thoughts in regard to what she ought to do, than had before obtained a place in her mind. It occurred to her, that the position in which she now stood to Dr. Baldwin, made it incumbent upon her to have some regard to his feelings, as well as to the prejudices of his family, with whom she was soon to come into intimate relationship, and with whom she could not but desire to be united in affection. ”

“ For making pills and plasters?"
"Eminent for usefulness," said Hudson, calmly.
"Usefulness!" Dunbar uttered this word with manifest contempt. "My ambition does not lie in that direction. I am neither a St. Paul nor a Howard."
"To be eminently useful, is the highest distinction attainable. What are great wealth or brilliant talents, if not applied to a good purpose?" replied Hudson. ”

“ They have not degraded themselves. They cannot! Better children than are Mary and Ellen no parents ever had. I wish we could say as much for our son, for whose sake they were deeply wronged. To elevate you, Lawrence, they were depressed; and now you spurn them with your foot contemptuously. Truly have you risen in the world—risen above all that is just, noble, and honorable. ”