Without my knowledge, he paid a visit to my uncle. This gentleman,

I may be permitted here to say, had been quite as much surprised as

anybody else, at my determined prosecution of my studies in spite

of the difficulties by which I was surrounded. That I was pursuing

them, while in the mercantile establishment to which I had gone, he

did not believe; and very frequently when I was at his house--for

I visited the family, and sometimes, though unfrequently, dined

with them on a sabbath--he jeered me on my progress--the "wonderful

progress," as he was pleased to term it--which he felt sure I was

making with my Coke and Blackstone, while baling blankets, or

bundling up plains and kerseys. This I bore patiently, sustained

as I was by the proud, indomitable spirit within me, which assured

me of the ultimate triumph which I felt positive would ensue.

I enjoyed his surprise--a surprise that looked something like

consternation--when the very day of my admission to the bar, and

after that event, I encountered him in the street, and in answer

to his usual sarcastic inquiry:-"Well, Edward, how does the law come on? How is Sir William

Blackstone, Sir Edward Coke, and the rest of the white heads?"

I simply put the parchment into his hands which declared my formal

introduction to those venerable gentry.

"Why, you don't mean? Is it possible? So you really are admitted--a

lawyer, eh?"

"You see, sir--and that, too, without any Greek."

"Well, and what good is it to do you? To have a profession, Edward,

is one thing; to get business, another!"

"Yes, sir--but I take it, the profession must be had first. One

step is gained. That much is sure. The other, I trust, will follow

in due season."

"True, but I still think that the bricklayer would make the more

money."

"Were money-making, sir, the only object of life, perhaps, then,

that would be the most desirable business; but--"

"Oh, I forgot--the talents, the talents are to be considered."

And after the utterance of this sneer, our dialogue as may be

supposed, did not much longer continue.

I did not know of the contemplated visit of Mr. Edgerton to my

worthy uncle, nor of its purpose, or I should, most assuredly, have

put my veto upon the measure with all the tenacity of a resentful

spirit; but this gentleman, who was a man of nice sensibility as

well as strong good sense, readily comprehended a portion of my

secret history from what was known to him. He easily conceived

that my uncle was somewhat of a niggard from the manner in which I

had employed myself during my preparation for the bar. He thought,

however, that my uncle, though unwilling to expend money in the

prosecution of a scheme which he did not approve--now that the scheme

was so far successful as to afford every promise of a reasonable

harvest, could not do less than come forward to the assistance of

one who had shown such a determined disposition to assist himself.




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