people to feel a contempt
for state and symbols. Any attempt to return to the conventionalities
of Europe is met by the contempt of a democracy.

In rebelling at form we have been so occupied that we have not been
awake to a change in substance that has been demanded by modern
conditions. The courts are gradually reaching a simpler basis.
Formerly they may have been surrounded by more pomp and magnificence,
but the work is now being better laid out and the course of the
proceeding is on more modern lines. Changes in practice acts will
revolutionize trials. People smile at the dignity of their courts and
judges. The modern spirit is for greater frankness, simplicity, and
directness.

If he is a sane and reasonably simple man the judge tries to do his
duty according to the light that is in him. He knows some law, has
seen a quantity of human nature and passions flowing before him. The
court-room, his position of authority, the respect of the community,
the human drama, the abstract and intangible demand of something above
the actual awakens in the judge that passion for justice which is a
quality almost divine. The man himself becomes patient, understanding,
and humane. Nearly every man, no matter how small he may be at the
beginning, rises to the responsibilities of his position. So it is
with the judge.

It is undecided whether the judge is entitled to more respect from the
lawyers and laity or whether the laity is entitled to more respect
from the judge. The judge sits indolently crumpled up in his easy
chair; before him a leader of the bar is arguing. In an eloquent
manner he is pleading for a young attorney who is about to be punished
for "Contempt of court."

"And so your Honor will realize that in the heat and excitement of a
trial, in the turmoil of the legal battle, in the intensity of a
forensic struggle, the young man may well have forgotten the respect
and deference which is ever due from a member of the bar to the
representative of high-minded justice."

The judge seems unaffected by the appeal. The young man had been rude
and impertinent, the fine of $250 must stand as punishment for his
misbehavior.

Suddenly the pleader with a wave of his hand and a twinkle in his eye
says: "Look at the difference between the position of a lawyer who,
alert with restless energy, momentarily forgets his manners in
fighting for his client, and on the other hand the calm"--pointing to
the judge who is still half recl