Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 70, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1911 — His Only Brief [ARTICLE]

His Only Brief

By CARL JENKINS

11 ■ 1 (Conrifbt, tSMI. by Associated Literary Prsss)

Fred Fairlee's friends looked upon !Qte affair as a joke. It was all right to go to college and stumble through m classical course, after a fashion, but to take up law and elide through ■with It and then open an office for practice—why, they couldn’t believe What their ears heard. % Fred Fairlee was the son of a millionaire widow, and he had money of his own. A college course was the thing, in order that he might cheer for Harvard, Yale or Princeton, when the regattas and football games came off, but why should he study law, and hang out a shingle sad wait for clients? It waa a fad of hia mother’s. In the long past there had been a Jurist among the Falriees. He had risen to such heights that he had been mentioned in the Log Cabin history *f Kentucky. Things had dated back to Mm. No one in the family since his time had been a jurist, and It had been decided before Fred was IS years old that he should pick up the mantel of his ancestor and wrap It around him. Later on he started out to be a jurist, simply to oblige his mother. Ihere were four or five years of football, rowing, boxing, suppers, vacations and study, and behold the jurist! That Is, Fred wasn’t quite a jurist yet, but on the high road to It . Bven Ms mother, who knew so little of law, argued that be must first set up an office and win a case or two. Fred was a good boy to a good mother, and he made a start. He was modest about It, however. He began at the toot of the ladder, by opening his office In a suburban village, near wMch was the family summer residence. It was one' floor up and only —one room. There was at least one law book—possibly two. There was a set of boxing gloves, a lifting machine, a pair of Indian clubs and a gun or two. The old-time Jurists didnnt have such outfits to begin with, and that’s the reason It took them so long to get their fame. For five long months Attorney F. Fairlee drove, walked, fished, rowed, hunted and waited for a client. He waa doing better than he had any reason to expect when Ms mother bustled In on Mm one day with the glad exclamation: “Oh, Fred, I’ve found you a client!" “Do I have to pay him anything for bringing the case to me?” was asked. “You will make a great name!" “That’s what I am after.” “Your client Is a young lady!” "By George, but I never expected to live to see the day!’’ “Be serious, Fred. YW legal reputation is at stake. You must have heard of Miss Losslng. The family Bvee three miles from us. She has neen at the house, but never when you were there. Che's tall and willowy and blonde, and the family is among the best” “Oh, that girl, eh?” mused Fred. “Oa three occasions she’s almost run me down In her auto. And what’s the matter with her?” “A farmer with a load of hay ran tato her auto and upset It and bruised her all over and did S2OO damages. Bhe wants to bring suit I was calling at the house yesterday and t<sld her about 'you, and she will come in with me in three days. Oh, Fred. It’s the chance of your lifetime!” “Thanks, mother, dear, I believe you. It’s going to be an easy case to win. Handsome young lady out for a spin. Farmer with a load of hay. Young lady la happy, but the farmer has a grouch. Sees the opportunity to crowd her Into the ditch. Does crowd. Her auto wrecked and her nervous system shattered by {he shock. Jury won’t be out ten minotea. Heavy damages and a moral lesson to the farmers of all America. Bay, mother, you're a brick!” Two or three days later, chaperoned by Mrs. Fairlee. the client appeared at the law office. She Instantly looked good to the coming jurist. The more he looked at her the more pleased he was with her as a client. It wasn’t a formal affair. That Is. Mr. Fairlee didn’t try to look as wise as a horned owl and go into all the little legal details of the case. Miss Losslng said she had been bruised. She was not asked the exact number at her bruises. Her auto had been damaged. She was not asked to fig ure the costs to a cent She had screamed as the auto went over. The number of screams was not solemnly recorded. When her case had been stated and she had looked up in a pathetic way and asked the young attorney what he thought the chances wars of winning, he heartily and promptly replied: "Mss Losslng, we’ll win in a cantor—that la. In a boat’s length—that Is. by a neck. Why, the case Is won before being begun. You must rest easy and leave it all to me.” Mr. Fairlee got down his law book and his sporting calendar and began work at once. The case should be In two days be found It necessary to drive out to the Losslng manor and ask Ms client two or three questions, Three days later he had to go again. Then Ms client had to coma la with his mother, and the trio torched at a hotel as they went over tb<*

When the fanner was served with a warrant Mr. Fairlee had to make another drive, to tell Miss Losslng that he was hustling on the case, and was sure of winning. Then he had to drive out again to tell her that the opposing counsel had asked for and been granted an adjournment, but It would make no difference with the verdict when the trial came on. That Is, if it made any would be In her favor. Then there were two or three times he drove out that no mention was made of the suit at all, but all the talk was social. According to the way Attorney Fairlee figured out the case, the farmer would sooner or later come to him and offer at least S6OO and the most abject apology to settle the case out of court. According to the farmer, he would fight it to the last ditch. He got two adjournments, and then the case was ready for trial. Between the two adjournments there was more driving out to the manor, but even lawsuits eannot go on forever. There came. a day when the attorney drove out to find his client In tears. He she had quite recovered from the nervous shock, but it looked as if she hadn’t. He was rather pleased. It meant a heavier verdict In her favor. When Miss Losslng could control her emotions she asked: “Mr. Fairlee, is there any law about driving on the highway?” “You must keep to the right” “Does that apply to women?” “Of course.” “But If a woman is on the lef£ hand side and doesn’t feel like crossing over—” “Oh, she mustn’t feel that way.” “I know that an old woman driving a milk wagon should cross over, but if It’s a girl, and she is in her auto, she shouldn’t be obliged to, should she?” “Miss Losslng,” said Mr. Fairlee, “I understood that when you met Farmer Jones you were on the righthand side of the road.” “I—l thought I was. but I guess I wasn’t” , “And he drove Into your auto?” “I —I guess I drove Into his load of hay!” Mr. Fairlee, attomey-at-lakr and coming Log Cabin Jurist, rose up and paced back and forth for two minutes and then delivered himself of this opinion: “Mlbs Losslng. we are beaten on our case higher than a kite!” “Oh, I’m so sorry!” “But It is just as well. I have decided to drop the law and take up—” "What?” she whispered. “This!” he replied, as he reached for her hand and continued to hold it until her mother was heard coming out on the veranda.