Ten minutes, however, had not passed, when that smile had changed to a look of surprise, mortification, and alarm, all blended into a single expression. The young lawyer's maiden-speech showed him to be a man of calm, deep, systematic thought, well skilled in points of law, and in authorities; and, more than all, a lawyer of practical and comprehensive views. When he sat down, no important point in the case had been left untouched, and none that had been touched required further elucidation.
Lee followed briefly, in a vain attempt to torture his language and break down his positions. But he felt that he was contending with weapons whose edges were turned at every blow. When he took his seat again, Wallace merely remarked that he was prepared, without further argument, to submit the case to the court.
The case was accordingly submitted, and a decision unhesitatingly made in favour of the plaintiffs, or Wallace's clients.
From that hour James Wallace took his true place. The despised apprentice became the able and profound lawyer, and was also esteemed for real talent and moral worth, which, when combined, ever place their possessor in his true position.
Ten years from thence Wallace was elevated to the Bench, while Lee remained a second-rate lawyer, and never rose above that grade.
In the histories of these two persons is seen the difference between simply receiving an education, as it is called, and self-education. The most eminent men are self-educated men. This fact every student and every humble apprentice with limited advantages should bear in mind. It should infuse new life into the studies of the one, and inspire the other with a determination to imbue his mind with knowledge. The education that a boy receives at colleges and seminaries does not make him a learned man. He has only acquired the rudiments of knowledge. Beyond these he must go—he must continue ever after a student—or others will leave him in the rear; others of humbler means and fewer opportunities,—the apprentice of the handicraftsman, for instance, whose few hours of devotion to study, from a genuine love of learning, have given him a taste and a habit that remain with him in all after-time.
The End
Transcriber’s notes
Hyphenation has been standardized. Printers errors have been corrected such as missing periods at the ends of lines.