580 APPENDIX. 



fears had magnified it to vital importance. His opponent was a coarse 

 and brutal man, and in tlieir protracted contest tlie abruptness of his 

 demeanor had awakened whatever latent asperity had found a hiding- 

 place in my uncle's bosom. He looked upon that cause, trifling as it 

 was, as the most important matter of his life. His daily thoughts and 

 irritated feeling had magnified it. Even the little ant, by constant ap- 

 plication, can create a mound altogether disproportionate to its size, 

 and there is not a column so beautiful that may not be defaced by the 

 trail of a slimy snail. My poor uncle feared the ant-hill, and recoiled 

 at the filth of the worm. 



" The morning his cause was to be tried he dressed himself with un- 

 usual care, and my aunt, knowing the bent of his mind, exercised all 

 her little appliances to encourage him. He went to the court-house and 

 took his seat, a dejected man. He looked around as if in search of 

 some one to sit beside him to aid and sustain him, but none such were 

 present, and he sat alone. 



"The caus was called, the jury empanelled, and the investigation 

 proceeded. Every question that arose, in its progress wrought up my 

 uncle's mind to painful intensities. In the ardor of his feelings he at 

 times interrupted the proceedings, and was rudely ordered by the court 

 to sit down and be silent. He obeyed, while every fibre of his frame 

 shook with passion and offended pride. His opponent smiled in tri- 

 umph as he beheld his confusion. He sat alone; no one approached to 

 sympathize with him, and he felt as if deserted by all. In consequence 

 of the distracted state of his mind, his defence, though a just one, had 

 been imperfectly made out. Facts had escaped his memory; papers 

 were missing that should have been produced, and the result was, the 

 jury returned a verdict against him without leaving the box. It fell 

 like a thunderbolt upon hmi ; he fancied the last business of his life was 

 over, and in the triumph of the moment his adversary taunted him, and 

 openly charged him with dishonesty. The old man rose to repel the 

 insult, while every limb shook with passion as if palsy-struck. All was 

 confusion. The judges interfered to preserve order. My uncle heard 

 them not. He was commanded to sit down, but still persisted to vin- 

 dicate his character. A second, a third time was he called upon to sit 

 down and be silent, which awakened him to a sense of his position. 

 He beheld his antagonist still smiling; he slowly sunk into his seat, and, 

 as if abashed, his head hung over his bosom, and gradually descended 

 until it rested on the desk before him. Order was again restored, and 

 the court proceeded in its business. A few moments after some 

 one approached my uncle, and on raising him he was found to be 

 dead ! 



