THE LIGHTER SIDE A Difficult Case. — Former Chief Justice Logan E. Bleckley of the Georgia Supreme Court, who, at eighty, is the father of four children each younger than his youngest grand child, delights, since his retirement on account of advanced age, to revisit occasionally the scene of his many years of labor and join again, as a sort of mental exercise, in the dis cussions of the consultation room. The other day Judge Bleckley walked into the Supreme Court library when the justices were in the midst of a deeply involved case, one which had for some days given them no little worry. Seeing a possible opportunity to get the benefit of well-considered and valu able advice, the Chief Justice remarked: "Take these briefs and tells us • what you think of this case." It was just the mental athletics Judge Bleckley seemed to need. He took the briefs and other papers and read them carefully for one — two — three hours, occasionally con sulting authorities, while the members of the court were occupied with other duties. Then he returned the papers to the Chief Justice, while the whole court looked up expectantly for his opinion. "Gentlemen, this is one of that class of cases," Judge Bleckley said measuredly, " that whichever way you decide it, you will decide it wrong." — Saturday Evening Post.
639
note, but under the law of Pennsylvania that man can collect only the amount you actually borrowed from him with interest thereon at six per cent from the date of the loan up to the time of payment." The old farmer said: " Judge, suppose you figure it both ways and see what the differ ence will be." The ex-judge made the com putations as requested, and then told his client that if he settled according to the law of Pennsylvania, instead of the moral law, he would save about three hundred dollars, but he would forfeit the friendship of the holder of the note. The old man thought the matter over very carefully, and then said: " Judge, I guess the law of Pennsylvania is good enough for me. Three hundred dollars is worth more to me just now than any one man's friend ship." He went away, taking with him the compu tations and statement made out by the exjudge, and in a week or so returned apparently with a heavy load off his mind. " Judge," says he, " I made that man a tender of the amount as you figured it. He jawed and cussed around a good while, but I told him it seemed to me it would be better to settle all such matters in this world than in the next, and he finally took the money, and gave me the note. "Much obliged to you judge."
Pennsylvania Law Good Enough for Him. —
An old farmer one day walked into the office of a Pennsylvania ex-judge, and said: " Judge, I borrowed some money from a man a good many years ago, and gave him my note for the amount for one year, with interest at ten per cent. When the note was due I could not pay it, and he figured up the interest, added it to the debt, and took a new note for another year. Well, to make a long story short, I was never in shape to pay, so he kept on compounding the interest at ten per cent and taking a new note every year until now the debt is pretty big, and the interest, as he has figured it, is a good deal more than all the money I borrowed from him, and he has got my note for the whole thing. How much will the law make me pay." The ex-judge said: " My friend, according to the moral law you must pay the full amount of your last
Three Years. — " How long," asked the judge of a vagrant negro, " have you been without any means of support?" "Since my wife died in 1903, suh," re sponded the darky respectfully. — October Lippincott's. Fall Worth $i a Foot. — In the early forties there was an accident on the Fitchburg rail road near Prison Point, and the engine and one coach went overboard. Among the injured was Timothy Batts of Charlestown, the com modore's runner on the receiving ship Co lumbus. The officials of the road wanted to settle with him, and asked him what he wanted. He asked how far he fell and was told it was twenty feet. Then he said he thought it' was worth $i a foot. — Boston Herald.
