fested by a woman who belongs to the class of inexperienced clients adverted to, in re ferring to her physician or clergyman and in referring to her legal adviser. The tone of voice, independent of the purport of the observation, indicates her partiality to those whose peculiar province it is to touch the sen sitive cords of the emotional nature, or to allay one's troubled feelings in the treatment of a real or a fancied malady. Tenderly does she refer to " my doctor " and " my minis ter;" but the merest allusion to " my lawyer" shows that that gentleman is regarded with aversion and distrust. Not a few who have occasion to consult an attorney are quite as much displeased with what they regard as studied silence upon material circumstances as with the un willingness to hold out great hopes of suc cess. The clergyman and the physician recognize in special cases the necessity of caution and reticence, but sometimes they perpetuate their dominion (and properly too), — the one by an optimistic presentation of the consolations of religion, and the other by stilling apprehensions and encouraging hopes. A lawyer acquires discretion with years. Prudent counsels and discreet de portment are obligatory upon him when he is the custodian of another's purse. He knows the peril of confiding intended meas ures to a client of unguarded lips. That general would have little hopes of success who should disclose to his adversary the strength and resources of his army, as well as his proposed tactics in the approaching battle. In the popular estimate of the attorney due allowance is rarely made for the diffi culty of dealing with men and women of widely different proclivities and dispositions. One person has a high, and another a low standard of morality. The former's suscep tibility to moral impressions may render the transaction of business rapid and easy; the latter's obtuseness may lead directly to de feat. The writer has in mind a female client who employed him to undertake a delicate
mission, the success of which was likely to de pend upon the view which those who were to be approached might entertain of her reputa tion and character in previous years. Her name had not been above reproach; and the domestic bereavement from which she had long suffered, and about which the mission was to be undertaken, would probably never have come to her had her life been always discreet. It was necessary for the writer to communicate his apprehensions. To his sur prise the woman indignantly rejoined: " No one can find fault with me. I have always had a good name in the community. I have always paid my bills." It was difficult to impress upon her that the gentlemen whose favorable judgment she was to solicit would be governed by other considerations than her mere promptness in the discharge of her pecuniary obligations. How manifold are these difficulties which beset the practi tioner, rising, as it were, like artificial barri ers stretched across a path! Alas! how unkind are often both the client and the public in their allusions to the lawyer's task! One client complains because the attorney is too slow in adjusting interests; he openly charges him with a malicious desire to prolong litigation in the hope of personal profit, forgetful of the fact that the remuneration of a lawyer is not always pro portionate to the labor expended and the time consumed, and that protracted litigation, in particular, rarely brings commensurate re ward. A lawyer's anxiety to precipitate a settlement is, if conveyed to his adversary by word or action, the surest method of strengthening the latter's confidence in his case and of inspiring him with hope. A client of the kind referred to pops into the office at all hours with unreasonable queries and suggestions, reminding one of an auto maton popping out of a box upon the touch ing of a spring : " What do you say to this?" or "What do you say to that?" or, " What do you say to the other? " are the constant questions of this indefatigable indi vidual. With all his weakness, he has pene
