m.

As the counsel begins opening every juryman leans forward and watches
him intently. They feel their responsibility as officers of justice
and there have been few complaints of their falling asleep during the
trial. The jurymen have come to know the names of the opposing lawyers
and the faces of the clients, if they have been pointed out during the
examination of the jurors, but nothing more. Are the jury to hear a
story of bitter resentment or of passion and crime, or a calm demand
for the payment of a debt? The opening will show.

Did the plaintiff during years of effort build up a business and take
the defendant in as a partner only to be defrauded by him? Plaintiff's
attorney will indicate the years of effort briefly, but impressively,
before sketching the manner in which the defendant stole from him by
fraud the fruits of his labor. When the plaintiff then testifies that
in 1890 he opened a small store in Fourteenth Street, moved in 1896 to
Twenty-third Street and thence in 1916 to an up-town street off the
Avenue, the dates will sink into the jurors' minds and they will
portray for themselves the twenty-six years of painstaking effort. No
eloquence then could rival the effect of the witness's slow, bare
recital of his progress. Yet without counsel's prologue what could be
more dull than the naming of street numbers and dates?

The matter of the testimony may be interesting, but unless the witness
has a rare gift of expression and a sense of the picturesque, the way
in which it will be given may be dull and plain. But at this point the
little keen-faced lawyer for the other side jumps up and interrupts:
"I object, your Honor; what difference does it make where he lived in
1890, whether on Fifth Avenue or Mulberry Bend? What we want to know
is what he is suing for now." And the court will probably rule with
him and keep the plaintiff down to more relevant facts.

Some of the important answers may be yes or no. Counsel in such a case
supplies the color and gives an appearance of life to what is actually
alive enough, but which alone would seem dry. Even if so famous a
character of fiction as "Becky Sharp" came into court and only looked
her part with what intense interest would we not hang on her
testimony, though it consisted of no more than "Yes, I did"; "I never
saw him before." We should be fascinated by this bald statement
because Thackeray had interested us so enormously in the lady. The air
would be ele