oung Republican Congressman to defend the
constitutional rights of men known to be disloyal, and rightly despised
and hated for their disloyal practices."

I refer any of my maturer readers who may desire an abstract of the
young lawyer's masterly and convincing argument, to Major Bundy's
valuable work, which necessarily goes more deeply into such matters than
the scope of my slighter work will admit. His argument was listened to
with high approval by his distinguished associate counsel, and the
decision of the Supreme Court was given unanimously in favor of his
clients.

Surely this was a most valuable _debut_, and Garfield is probably the
first lawyer that ever tried his first case before that august tribunal.
It was a triumph, and gave him an immediate reputation and insured him a
series of important cases before the same court. I have seen it stated
that he was employed in seventeen cases before the Supreme Court, some
of large importance, and bringing him in large fees. But for his first
case he never received a cent. His clients were poor and in prison, and
he was even obliged to pay for printing his own brief. His future
earnings from this source, however, added materially to his income, and
enabled him to install his family in that cherished home at Mentor,
which has become, so familiar by name to the American people.

I can not dwell upon Garfield's experience as a lawyer. I content myself
with quoting, from a letter addressed by Garfield to his close friend,
President Hinsdale, of Hiram College, the account of a case tried in
Mobile, which illustrates his wonderful industry and remarkable
resources.

Under date of June 18, 1877, Garfield writes "You know that my life has
abounded in crises and difficult situations. This trip has been,
perhaps, not a crisis, but certainly has placed me in a position of
extreme difficulty. Two or three months ago, W.B. Duncan, a prominent
business man in New York, retained me as his lawyer in a suit to be
heard in the United States Court in Mobile, and sent me the papers in
the case. I studied them, and found that they involved an important and
somewhat difficult question of law, and I made myself sufficiently
familiar with it, so that when Duncan telegraphed me to be in Mobile on
the first Monday in June, I went with a pretty comfortable sense of my
readiness to meet anybody who should be employed on the other side. But
when I reached Mobile, I found there were two other su