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The Green Bag
Such a man invests in the red bag of a King's Counsel, while his bag of old he usually presents to a junior as a mark of respect. Later he becomes attached to a particular red bag and keeps it as long as he can. Judges have the wig and a green bag. Judges' wigs are substantially one and all the same and come to about thirty dollars. Most of these wigs are made of horse hair, which is first colored a snowy white. It takes about a month to make a Judge's wig, although the material can be got ready in six or eight days. The hardest part of the work is the weaving by hand, and even for an expert this is tedious. Experts, moreover, are hard to find, for there are only three of these shops in the world, and all three are In London.
"If you're not buying wigs, you'll at least buy postcards, — two of 'em only a shillin'," the wig-maker urges. You feel he may do you bodily hurt if you do not leave at least so much behind you. Satisfied with the shilling, he grows loquacious, and tells you how the judges keep their wigs on, in court, unless the day grow inordinately warm. Then he shows the ribbon which serves as the foundation for the wig, he explains the elaborate workmanship. Wigs are all about, — on the floor, walls, and tables. Among them a gilded por trait of Dickens looks down on the scene. Outside you survey the hoary struc tures of the Middle Temple. Some bar risters are coming to order wigs, and you go.
