moment I hesitated. Now, I thought, I will "make a spoon or spoil a horn."

"I took the pen from behind my ear, drew myself up, and marched outside the bar to the witness stand. "Sir!" I exclaimed to Lovejoy, "give me the paper from which you are testifying!"

"In an instant he pulled it out of his pocket, but before he had got it quite out he hesitated and attempted to put it back. I seized it in triumph. There was his testimony in Bramble's handwriting! Mr. Mason got up and claimed the protection of the court. Judge Smith inquired the meaning of this proceeding.

"I said: "Providence protects the innocent when they are friendless. I think I could satisfy the court and my learned brother who, of course, was ignorant of this man's conduct, that I hold in Mr. Bramble's handwriting the testimony of the very respectable witness who is on the stand."

"The court adjourned, and I had nothing further to do. Mason told his client that he had better settle the affair as quickly as possible. Bramble came to my office, and as he entered I said, "Don't you come in here! I don't want any thieves in my office."

""Do whatever you please with me, Mr. Webster," he replied. "I will do whatever you say."

"""I will do nothing without witnesses. We must arrange this matter."

"I consulted Mr. Mason, and he said he did not care how I settled it. So I told Bramble that in the first place there must be a new lifebond for one hundred dollars a year, and ample security for its payment, and that he must also pay Brown five hundred dollars and my fees, which I should charge pretty roundly. To all this he assented and thus the case ended.' 999

Mr. Webster's professional brothers were very much puzzled to account for his knowing that Lovejoy had the paper in his pocket, and it was not for a long time that he gratified their curiosity and revealed the secret.

My young readers will agree with me that Bramble was a contemptible fellow, and that the young lawyer, in revealing and defeating his meanness, did an important service not only to his client but to the cause of justice, which is often defeated by the very means that should secure it. In many cases lawyers lend themselves to the service of clients whose iniquity they have good reason to suspect. There is no nobler profession than that of law when it is invoked to redress grievances and defeat the designs of the wicked; but, as Mr. Webster himself has said, "The evil is, that an accursed thirst for money

violates everything. We cannot study, because we must pettifog. We learn the low recourses of attorneyism when we should learn the conceptions, the reasonings and the opinions of Cicero and Murray. The love of fame is extinguished, every ardent wish for knowledge repressed, con science put in jeopardy, and the best feelings of the heart indurated by the mean, money-catching, abominable practices which cover with disgrace a part of the modern practitioners of the law."

CHAPTER XX.

"THE LITTLE BLACK STABLE-BOY."

I am tempted to detail another case in which the young lawyer was able to do an important service to an acquaintance who had known him in his boyhood.

In Grafton County lived a teamster named John Greenough, who was in the habit of making periodical trips to and from Boston with a load of goods. One day, when a mile or two distant from the house of Daniel's father, his wagon was mired, owing to the size of his load and the state of the roads. He found that he could not continue his journey without help, and sent to the house of Judge Webster to borrow a span of horses.

"Dan," said the Judge, "take the horses and help Mr. Greenough out of his trouble."

The boy was roughly dressed like an ordinary farm-boy of that time, his head being surmounted by a ragged straw hat. He at once obeyed his father and gave the teamster the assistance which he so urgently required.

!

The teamster thanked him for his assistance and drove on, giving little thought to the boy, or dreaming that the time would come when Dan would help him out of a worse scrape.

Years passed and the farm-boy became a lawyer, but Greenough had lost track of him, and supposed he was still at work on his father's farm.

He was a poor man, owning a farm and little else. But a question arose as to his title to the farm. Suit was brought against him, and his whole property was at stake. He secured legal assistance, his lawyer being Moses P. Payson, of Bath. Mr. Payson thought he ought to have help, as the case was an important one, and suggested it to his client. The latter agreed, and Mr. Payson made his selection.

Soon after, in an interview with Mr. Payson, Greenough inquired, "What lawyer have you hired to help you?"

"Mr. Webster," was the reply.

Is he

"Webster, Webster !" repeated Greenough; "I don't know any lawyer of that name. from Boston ?"

"Oh, no; he came from your neighborhood," was the reply. "It is Daniel Webster, the son of old Ebenezer Webster, of Salisbury."

"What!" exclaimed the teamster in dismay; "that little black stable-boy that once brought