itting down like jacks-in-the-box or those weather figures, where if
one goes in the other comes out. Their appearance differs in the
different courts from the higher courts where the well-groomed eminent
leader of the bar, with thin lips and white side whiskers debates in a
frock coat before the appellate court, questions of international
importance, or the anxious-eyed little attorney where in one of the
lower courts with a showy diamond ring and a handkerchief sticking
out of his pocket in the shape of an American flag, argues, while
chewing gum, whether his client shall pay the fourteen dollars rent or
not.

There is never any peace between them. Occasionally there is a truce
when they come together to agree on a certain state of facts, or
conclusions of law, but essentially they are at war; otherwise they
would not be in court. The only reason for their being there is an
issue to be decided.

Often so eager do they appear that physical violence seemed impending.
It is as though they were on the point of breaking into fisticuffs.
The judge says: "Gentlemen, gentlemen." They appear like two naughty
schoolboys who have to be controlled by their master. First one is
restrained and rebuked, then the other is held strictly to the rules
of the game. Like schoolboys, although they may be fighting one
another, they appear at times to be in league against the judge. As in
a baseball game, both sides join against the umpire. There is a
common class feeling between the lawyers leaguing them against the
judge. This may be explained perhaps by a rather subtle psychology.

The lawyers are primarily in court to please their clients. Every
ruling of the judge against them on even minor points of evidence, any
adverse decision is fatal to them from the point of view of retaining
the client for the next litigation. They watch the judge with
lynx-like eyes. Is he going to drive the client away from them? Should
he reprimand them or speak severely, their client would think that
they had angered the judge and so they had lost the case. Defeat in a
case is so important that if a lawyer loses a case he probably loses
his client.

In one of the lower city courts on the East Side, a young attorney
came in one morning with a scar across his cheek, a scratch on his
nose, and sticking plaster on his chin. The judge had often seen him
before. After the case was over he called him to the bench and said
that he was sorry he had an accident,