416 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



chances, and accordingly, September 18, 1865, I opened 

 up a law office and on the 19th we were married. When 

 my discharge came from the adjutant-general's office a 

 few days later it was also dated on the 19th of September. 



I was not ready for the practice of the law but what 

 was better I knew of my inadequate preparation. My 

 studies had been broken into by the war. I had had a 

 splendid school in the study of men and officers and per- 

 haps that has been worth more to me than a more thor- 

 ough study of books would have been. But I immediate- 

 ly commenced to make good my shortcomings by steady 

 unintermitting study which I have kept up ever since. 



I may add that after my exchange and reenlistment in 

 July, 1862, 1 did not lose an hour's time from duty until 

 after the end of the war when I was discharged. My en- 

 tire service was about three years and eight months, my 

 final discharge bearing date September 19, 1865. 



THE PRACTICE OF LAW 



I commenced practice with inadequate preparation, as 

 I have already stated, but I only just began to read law 

 when I commenced active practice. From 1865 to 1888, 

 twenty-three years, I worked from twelve to sixteen hours 

 a day at my profession. It was my custom, though, not 

 to abandon my other studies, but to always keep some 

 good book on hand to read in course. If I went to Sig- 

 ourney or Knoxville to try a case I had the book with me 

 which I was then reading and any spare time that I 

 might have on hand coming or going, or while waiting for 

 my turn in court, I spent in study or reading. 



The number of books that I have thus read is very 

 large. By taking up outside studies in this way a pro- 

 fessional man may broaden the range of his vision and 

 prevent the tendency to narrowness which too close appli- 

 cation to a single profession is apt to occasion. 



