Strive and Thrive Part 9

"You must do your best, sir, for there is much at stake," said the client.

"Rely upon that. But don't give yourself a moment's uneasiness. A few years' experience at the bar is always enough to set aside your new beginners."

"I wonder if it can be my father's old apprentice?" the young lawyer remarked, after his client had gone.

"It's as likely as not," said his friend. "But would it not be a good joke if he gained the suit over you?"

"Never fear that."

"Well, we shall see!" laughingly exclaimed his friend.

On the next day James Wallace took his seat among the members of the bar, and marked with a keen interest and an air of intelligence all that pa.s.sed. One or two of the lawyers noticed him kindly, but the majority--Lee among them, in particular--regarded him with coldness and distance. But nothing of this affected him, if indeed he noticed it at all.

The cause in which he had been retained, and which proved to be the first in which he took an active and prominent position in the court-room, came up within a week; for all parties interested in the result were anxious to come to trial, and therefore no legal obstacles were thrown in the way.

There was a profound silence, and a marked attention and interest, when the young stranger arose in the court-room to open the case. A smile of contempt, as he did so, curled the lip of Harman Lee; but Wallace saw it not. The prominent points of the case were presented in plain but concise language; and a few remarks bearing upon the merits of the case being made, the young lawyer took his seat, and gave room for the defendant's counsel to define his position.

Instantly Harman Lee was on his feet, and began referring to the points presented by his "very learned brother," in a flippant, contemptuous manner. There were those present who marked the light that kindled in the eye of Wallace, and the flash that pa.s.sed over his countenance, at the first contemptuous word and tone that were uttered by his antagonist at the bar. These soon gave place to attention, and an air of conscious power. Once on his feet, with so flimsy a position to tear into tatters as that which his "learned brother" had presented, Lee seemed never to grow tired of the tearing process. Nearly an hour had pa.s.sed away when he resumed his seat, with a look of exultation, which was followed by a pitying and contemptuous smile, as Wallace again slowly arose.

Ten minutes, however, had not pa.s.sed, when that smile had changed to a look of surprise, mortification, and alarm, all blended into a single expression. The young lawyer's maiden-speech showed him to be a man of calm, deep, systematic thought, well skilled in points of law, and in authorities; and, more than all, a lawyer of practical and comprehensive views. When he sat down, no important point in the case had been left untouched, and none that had been touched required further elucidation.

Lee followed briefly, in a vain attempt to torture his language and break down his positions. But he felt that he was contending with weapons whose edges were turned at every blow. When he took his seat again, Wallace merely remarked that he was prepared, without further argument, to submit the case to the court.

The case was accordingly submitted, and a decision unhesitatingly made in favour of the plaintiffs, or Wallace's clients.

From that hour James Wallace took his true place. The despised apprentice became the able and profound lawyer, and was also esteemed for real talent and moral worth, which, when combined, ever place their possessor in his true position.

Ten years from thence Wallace was elevated to the Bench, while Lee remained a second-rate lawyer, and never rose above that grade.

In the histories of these two persons is seen the difference between simply receiving an education, as it is called, and self-education. The most eminent men are self-educated men. This fact every student and every humble apprentice with limited advantages should bear in mind. It should infuse new life into the studies of the one, and inspire the other with a determination to imbue his mind with knowledge. The education that a boy receives at colleges and seminaries does not make him a learned man. He has only acquired the rudiments of knowledge.

Beyond these he must go--he must continue ever after a student--or others will leave him in the rear; others of humbler means and fewer opportunities,--the apprentice of the handicraftsman, for instance, whose few hours of devotion to study, from a genuine love of learning, have given him a taste and a habit that remain with him in all after-time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The End]