Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1871 — Sticking to the Point. [ARTICLE]

Sticking to the Point.

A friend of mine, who was in business, and in need of a clerk, advertised, but out of the whole number of-those who presented themselves only one shut the door tight as he went out of the office. This one was immediately called, back and employed. j A little while afterward another friend, a suctessful lawyer, advertised as follows: Wantbd. —A young man to work In au attorney’s office, mid also to read law at his leisure. Apply to John Smith, 13 Dunlap street, B——. It was the conviction of my friend that what is most desired in a lawver is a certain cool judgment, which holds on to the main point in a given case, and allows no side issues to warp the mind from its anchored position. 'I have often heard Kim say, “ In the end, the lawyer who, having hit the nail on the head, kefcps driving it in until it is countersunk in the conviction of both judge and jury, is the leader who succeeds best at the bar of justice. I always select for my students such young men as have this quality, and l almost Invariably -find it lodged in minds that are inclined to stick to the point.” On the day following the publication of the above notice, Mr. Smith had in the forenoon a dozen applicants in person. He bade them wait his pleasure; then when they were all seated around him, he addressed them as follow’s: “Before we proceed to business, mv young friends, I wish to tell you a story.’’ Of course no one objected to this. “On Deacon White’s barn,” began Mr. S., “there perched one eveniijg an owl. The Deacon was slightly superstitious, and not fancying the hooting of the lugubrious vlsHant, he took his gun, stole out softly, got wiHdrrgood range, leveled his gmrat the ominous intruder, and tired. Now, the barn was old and Hill of chinks and holes, and it being a very dry time, the treacherous wadding immediately set fire to the hay inside, and in an instant the entire fabric was in Hames. “O dear! dear!” ciied the deacon, “how can I release all my cows, oxen and yearlings, and my sheep and horses, in season to save them ?” for the wind was high, and, as it always happens, it increased In freshness as the fire gained in fury. “Help! help!’’ he shouted.’ “Did the folks hear him in the house?” asked Alfred. (1 shall call the applicants by their Christian names.) “Not directly,” said Mr. Smith. “The deacon lost no time in getting out the cattle. He found them frantic with terror and unmanageable. White engaged in loosing a stout young bull, the latter suddenly turned his horns and pierced him. ‘l’m gored! I’m gored!’he exclaimed, in ggony, just as his terror-stricken wife ciunc to the rescue." “Did he die?” “lie was injured seriously,” resumed Mr. Smith. “Feeling faint he was obliged to go and lie down. The woman ran for a doctor. When she returned, the piteous bellowing of the tortured and dying cattle fell on her ears. The thrilling thought quickly struck her, wag her husband possibly in the burning ruins? Had he ventured beyond his strength again, and fallen a helpless victim ?” “‘O, my husband! my husband !’ ” “Did he answer?” inquired Charley, with anxious face! " Was he in the tire?” asked David. “ There was no' reply,” continued Mr! Smith, “save from the crackling limbers and moans of the doomed animals. Presently she heard the voice of her only son among the flames.” “‘Help! help!’ he cried. mother’s heart was ready to break. She hastened to rescue her darling boy.” “ Did she save him?” asked Edwin. “ O, I hope she .didn't get burned herself,” said Frank. "Please tell us, sir, whether they were burned to death,” pleaded Grant. “ Well,” resumed Mr. Smith, “the poor deacon died of his wounds.” “ Too bad,” said Henry. “He was a brave man.” a “And his son was badly burned.” • “ O, awftil! ” exclaimed Isaac.

“ Anil the widow’s clothes caught fire, but, luckily, one of the neighbors (there were none living very near) arrived at the scene of destruction just in season to extinguish the flames.” , “Good! good!” exclaimed James. “He threw the buffalo in the wagon aver her, I suppose ?” “ You are.right,” said Mr. Smith. “And he released one of the best horses ” “ WaS he burned at all I" asked Karl. “ Only a little scorched," said Mr. Smith. And so the narrator went on until lie had depicted the consequences in detail Of the sad event. Then he paused. His audience was silent—their sympathies had been deeply touched. Each one seemed silently pitying the poor, afflicted family. But one boy sat unmoved through the whole story, and said nothing. And now that the parrative was finished, and a pause had come, he deliberately looked into Mr. Smith’s face in a straightforward manner, and asked: “ Did he hit the owl ?” This was the youth that stuck to the point, and the one that the lawyer selected from the twelve. The story‘hail simply been manufactured for effect. *’ The sixty minutes between 11 and 12 o'clock, on the night of the 31st till., were memorable as the last hour of the last day of the last week of the-last month of the last year of the decade ending with 1870 Such a coincidence will not occur again in over eighty years.