erefore fitted to shine in the domain of general literature as
well as in the realm of technical jurisprudence.

"During the pioneer years of Ohio its lawyers were obliged to
perform extensive circuits to practice their profession; they were
accustomed to accompany the courts from county to county, and in
this way to traverse an extent of country which, being uncalled
for at present, would appear fabulous in statement and difficult
to realize.

"Those early days also commemorated the warmest personal friendships
in the profession, and, indeed, this could hardly have been otherwise,
as they compelled its members into the closest habitual companionship.
They rode together in the same primitive style, their saddle-bags
stuffed with papers, documents, briefs, law-books, clothing, and,
peradventure, some creature delectation also. They were exposed
in common to the same inclemencies and impediments of travel, they
lodged together at the same inns or taverns, messed at the same
table, slept in the same rooms, and were not unfrequently coerced
by twos into the same bed. Free, jovial, genial, manly, and happy
times they were, when, after a hard-fought field-day of professional
antagonisms in court, the evening hours were crowded with social
amenities, and winged with wit and merriment, with pathos, sentiment
and song.

"If the sayings and doings at the festive evenings of the early
Ohio bar could be collected, there would be materials in rich
abundance from which a sympathetic and facile pen could compile a
volume of equal piquancy and sentimental refinement of patriotic
detail and humor, that alternate the pages of Sir Jonah Barrington,
or any other winsome work of the kind. This will not be questioned
for a moment when it is remembered that Henry Clay, Lewis Cass,
Philip Doddridge, Willis Silliman, David K. Este, and Charles
Hammond were frequent participants; that Philoman Beecher, William
W. Irvin, Thomas Ewing, William Stanberry, Benjamin Tappan, John
M. Goodenow, Jacob Parker, Orris Parrish, and Charles Goddard
habitually contributed to their entertainment, and that these were
often signalized with the hilarious fun of Creighton and the quaint
drolleries of Douglas. At these symposiums of recreation, and they
were held whenever the courts used to meet, Charles R. Sherman was
always the most welcome of companions, and contributed his full
share even to the ambrosial feasts,

'When all such clustering portions h