1876. J ^O [Strong. 



Duponceau, distinguished especially by his knowledge 

 of admiralty law. They were men of varied accom- 

 plishments, but they were all men of power, conspicu- 

 ous in the city and throughout the State, and to 

 them was entrusted nearly the whole of the important 

 legal business of the community. To a young man 

 just entering the profession, the prospect of success in 

 obtaining employment may have seemed gloomy. The 

 business community, who most need the assistance 

 of lawyers, were supplied, and well supplied. There 

 seemed to be no room for other lawyers, and those 

 who occupied the field were too strong in themselves, 

 and too strongly entrenched in the confidence of the 

 public, to be displaced. In truth, however, the circum- 

 stances that might have been thought to interpose 

 almost Insurmountable obstacles to professional sue- 

 cess were adjuvants to it. The well-prepared and 

 ambitious young men, who, on their admission, found at 

 the bar a body of practitioners so eminent as were those 

 I have named, monopolizing the honors and the emolu- 

 ments of the profession, were taught at once to lift 

 their own standard high. They learned that no mod- 

 erate attainments, no half-hearted efforts, no imperfect 

 preparation Avould meet the necessities of their case. 

 They grew Indeed for a time in the shade, but it was a 

 healthy shade. The exhibitions of mental power, of 

 legal learning, and of professional skill which they 

 constantly witnessed were instructive to them, the sub- 

 jects of their thought and conversation, and Incentives 



