Leaf the Twenty-First
My First Brief
by John Williams
(A Leaf from a Lawyer’s Notebook)
With the exception of medicine, there is no profession so difficult to obtain a footing in as law. It frequently happens that the best years of a young man’s life are passed in some obscure street waiting for a stepping stone which is to lead him to professional honor, and what is more important still, put money in his purse. No one knows but those who have had stern experience for their mentor, all a young man has to go through before he can obtain a respectable position in this world of competition and cares. None but these can tell the heartsickness, a thousand times worse than any bodily ailment, which these strivers after reputation are obliged to suffer. But there is one satisfaction. With a steady purpose, sterling integrity, and unflinching perseverance, the day of fortune will come; it may be delayed—but come it eventually must, and then, when the end is gained—the struggles to attain it appear much less than they really were.
In 1846 I was admitted to the bar. I shall never forget my feelings of pride when I saw for the first time my name,
Henry Milton, Attorney at Law,
in gilt letters on a black label, nailed to the front of a dingy looking house in Chamber Street, in the city of New York. Know then, gentle reader, my offices were situated in that same house. They were two in number; the first being a kind of reception room, and the other my sanctum. I remember how the latter was furnished distinctly, although so many years have intervened since then. The principal articles of furniture were two large bookcases, containing my library—the lower shelves were filled with large books, bound in sheepskin and backed with a red title. The… Read More