ame." But the old countryman, who
had a hundred dollars in his pocket, proposed to spend it on something
more showy and employed a solemn, black-coated, and much powdered
bigwig. The latter turned out in due course to be a splendid
illustration of the proverb that "fine feathers do not make fine birds."
This the crestfallen rustic soon discovered. Meantime he had listened
with amazement and growing admiration to an argument by Marshall in
a cause which came on before his own. He now went up to Marshall and,
explaining his difficulty, offered him the five dollars which the
exactions of the first attorney still left him, and besought his aid.
With a humorous remark about the power of a black coat and powdered wig
Marshall good-naturedly accepted the retainer.

The religious bent of the Chief Justice's mind is illustrated in another
story, which tells of his arriving toward the close of day at an inn in
one of the counties of Virginia, and falling in with some young men who
presently began ardently to debate the question of the truth or falsity
of the Christian religion. From six until eleven o'clock the young
theologians argued keenly and ably on both sides of the question.
Finally one of the bolder spirits exclaimed that it was impossible to
overcome prejudices of long standing and, turning to the silent visitor,
asked: "Well, my old gentleman, what do you think of these things?" To
their amazement the "old gentleman" replied for an hour in an eloquent
and convincing defense of the Christian religion, in which he answered
in order every objection the young men had uttered. So impressive was
the simplicity and loftiness of his discourse that the erstwhile critics
were completely silenced.

In truth, Marshall's was a reverent mind, and it sprang instinctively
to the defense of ideas and institutions whose value had been tested.
Unfortunately, in his "Life of Washington" Marshall seems to have given
this propensity a somewhat undue scope. There were external difficulties
in dealing with such a subject apart from those inherent in a great
biography, and Marshall's volumes proved to be a general disappointment.
Still hard pressed for funds wherewith to meet his Fairfax investment,
he undertook this work shortly after he became Chief Justice, at the
urgent solicitation of Judge Bushrod Washington, the literary executor
of his famous uncle Marshall had hoped to make this incursion into the
field of letters a very remunerative