Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1898 — ESTIMATING HIS VALUE. [ARTICLE]

ESTIMATING HIS VALUE.

The Retaining Fee that a Stranger Gave a Young Lawyer. a £; Jndge Bobbs is one of those men who have attained a standing in their profession that permits them to admit faults in their earlier career without impairing their present standing as able lawyers. “I once had an experience while coming west on a train from New York that I’ll never forget,” tells the Judge. “After three other gentlemen and myself had played whist for a couple of hours, we fell to discussing numerous subjects of current Interest. One of our number seemed to be absorbed in his own meditations and contributed but little to the conversation. Finally, as pertinent to a subject under consideration, be propounded a somewhat complex problem in law and turned to me for an answer, for I had not neglected to make known my calling. “Not being able to furnish him with a solution, I foolishly sought to cover my ignorance by a resort to dignity and a pretended regard for professional ethics. This is not the time or place for transacting legal business,* said I. ‘The question you submit is a very important one’—l went on, with the solemnity of an owl and about the same degree of wisdom. ‘I would be glad to give you the benefit of my opinion and advice at my office and after receiving a retainer.’ With that I handed him my card, on which appeared the fact that I was an attorney and coun-selor-at-law, notary public, member of a sure-thlng collection agency, real estate operator, Circuit Court commissioner, and life Insurance man. “He looked at the thing in an amused way, reached into his pocket, handed me a half dollar with the remark that he bad nothing smaller, and repeated bls law question. While I was arranging to thrash him one of the other men whispered to me that it was Rufus Choate. I sneaked into the smoker, pulled my cap over my face, and never removed it till I reached the home depot.”—Detroit Free Press.