In a Western Court a negro was convicted of stealing a mule. Before the sentence was pro nounced the judge gave him an opportunity to speak for himself, and he said : " I wouldn't er tuck de mule nohow ef I hadn't er red in de Testermint whar Jesus tuck a mule." The judge re marked : " Yes, but he didn't ride him to Kinston and try to sell him; " and thereupon he gave the negro three years in the penitentiary.
A Warr1ngton justice once reproved a wouldbe-suicide thus: "Young man, you have been found guilty of attempting to drown yourself in the river. Only consider what your feelings would have been had you succeeded."
Not very long ago, troubles in a well-known Washington family were the cause of divorce pro ceedings. The wife got a judgment, though the husband had filed a strong cross bill. In a few months the ex-wife was again married, this time also to a Washington man. One evening, re cently, at a large reception the two met unex pectedly, and an acquaintance, not well up in the family history, was proceeding to introduce them. "Oh, we've met before," said the last husband, "we're husbands-in-law."
Chancellor Henry Bathurst was held in low esteem by the Bar on account of his ignorance. At the close of the trial of the Duchess of King ston for bigamy, he gravely addressed her grace in the following terms : " Madam, the lords have considered the charge and evidence brought against, and have likewise considered of every thing which you have alleged in your defense; and upon the whole matter their lordships have found you not guilty of the felony wherew1th you stand charged; but, on dismissing you, their lordships earnestly exhort you not to commit the same crime a second time."
A good story is told of an English lawyer, who, having succeeded in making a litigant of every farmer in his county, having grown rich at their expense, and thus established a valid claim to their consideration, consented to sit for his por trait, which was to adorn the court-room of the
county town. The picture was duly painted by a London artist, and previously to being hung was submitted to a private view. " Most uncom mon like, to be sure," was the general verdict. But one old chap, regarding the canvas critically, dissented from the prevailing opinion, as follows : "That be somewhat like his face, but it aint the man, — this man has got his hand in his own pocket, you see; now, I have knowed him for five and thirty years, and all that time he's had his hand in somebody else's pocket. This chap aint him." Curran's ruling passion was his joke, and it was strong, if not in death, at least in his last ill ness. One morning his physician observed that he seemed to " cough with more difficulty." "That is rather surprising," answered Curran, "for I have been practising all night." While thus lying ill, Curran was visited by a friend, Father O'Leary, who also loved his joke. "I wish, O'Leary," said Curran to him*abruptly, " that you had the keys of heaven." "Why, Curran?" "Because you could let me in," said the facetious counsellor. "It would be much better for you, Curran," said the good-humored priest, " that I had the keys of the other place, because I could then let you out." NOTES. A correspondent, writing from New Zealand, says the police in that colony have the power, if they think a man is injuring his own health or neglecting his family as the result of habitual drinking, to take him before a magistrate and get his drink stopped for twelve months within a radius of twenty miles. After that, any hotelkeeper supplying such a man with drink, and any person privately giving him drink, is liable to a fine; and if a prohibited man is found the worse for drink, he is to be arrested at once, and sent to gaol for three months' hard labor. — Tit Bits. In Waldeck, a little German principality, a decree has been proclaimed that a license to marry will not be granted to any individual who has the habit of getting drunk; and if one who
