Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1874 — Going to Law. [ARTICLE]

Going to Law.

“A farmer cut down a tree which stood so near- the boundary line of his farm that it was doubtful whether it belonged to him or his neighbor. The neighbor, however, claimed the tree, and prosecuted the man who cut it for damages. The case was continued from court to court. Time and money were wasted, temper soured and temper lost, but the case was gained by the prosecutor. The last of the transaction was, the man who gained the cause came to a lawyer to execute the deed of his whole farm, which he had been compelled to sell to pay his costs! Then, houseless and homeless, he could thrust his hands into his pockets and triumphantly exclaim, ‘ I’ve beaten him!’ ’ This reminds us of a little story. Forty-three years ago a young man was teaching a country school. He had not been in the place bne quarter before he had acquired a reputation for knowing much more than he did know, but he was wfse enough to take no pains to'disabuse

the popular mind of the favorable impression. If there was one study that he was more deficient in than another it was surveying. But he taught it as well as he could and his pupils learned. Two farmers had a chronic dispute as to the line between their lands, and for many years they had contended as to the right of possession in a little strip. Bqjh of them were warmly interested in the young school-teacher, and in a happy moment it occurred to them to ask him to examine their titles and maps and decide as to the true running of their dividing line. He took the papers, gave “ his whole mind” to the question, made a map w ith the line where he believed it should be; both parties accepted it, set their fence According to it, lived in peace, and to this day, after the lapse of nearly half a century, the schoolmaster’s line is undisturbed, though the lands have changed hands frequently. The line will doubtless never be disturbed. How much better this than to go to law, consume their property in vexatious litigation, alienate families, fret themselves, and bequeath a feud to successive generations. Both the farmers have long since gone to sleep with their fathers, but the young schoolmaster who - judged between them lives to make this the first record of his decision.— N. 7. Observer.