him he
had not read the 'Revised Statutes.' But I would not say such
a thing as that, sir, about any man."

But Brother Bacon had the kindliest of hearts. It was impossible
for him to bear malice or retain resentment against anybody.
When I was a youngster I was once in a case where Bacon was
on the other side. Charles Allen was my associate. It was
a case which excited great public feeling. There were throngs
of witnesses. It was tried in the middle of the terrific
heats of one of the hottest summers ever known in Worcester.
Allen, who had a power of stinging sarcasm which he much delighted
to use, kept Bacon nervous and angry through the whole trial.
At last, one afternoon, Bacon lost his patience. When the
Court adjourned, he stood up on a little flight of steps on
the outside of the Court-house and addressed the crowd, who
were going out. He said: "Charles Allen has abused me all
through this trial. He is always abusing me. He has abused
me ever since I came to this Bar. I have said it before and
I will say it again--_he is a curious kind of a man."_ This
utterance relieved Brother Bacon's wounded feelings and he
never probably thought of the matter again.

One of the great events in Bacon's life was his receiving
the degree of Doctor of Laws from Brown University, where
he was graduated. This gave infinite satisfaction to his
brethren of the Bar, who were all very fond of him. It was
at once proposed, after the old Yankee fashion in the country
when a man got a new hat or a new suit of clothes, that we
should all go down to T.'s to "wet" it. T. was the proprietor
of a house a few miles from Worcester, famous for cooking
game and trout in the season, and not famous for a strict
observance of the laws against the sale of liquor. There
was a good deal of feeling about that among the temperance
people of the town, although it was a most excellent, properly
kept house in all other respects. But the prejudice against
it of the strict teetotalers had occasioned some entirely
unfounded scandal about its management in other matters. Mr.
Bacon, when invited by the Bar to go as a guest, accepted
the invitation, but stipulated that he should have provided
for him a pint bottle of English ale. He said he was opposed,
on principle, to drinking intoxicating liquors, but his doctors
had ordered that he should drink a pint of ale every day with
his dinner. That was provided. The Bar sat down to dinner
at a