Some Sample Walks 49 



time to die, the Lord' 11 let Chipman go 

 fifteen minutes before I do." He had his 

 wish. 



None the less, you find these fellows in 

 the front pews in church, because in a 

 rural community one gains social standing 

 from a deaconship and business from 

 social standing. They are pious men, 

 don't play poker, are temperate, swear 

 only in whispers, in the wood-shed, and 

 would scorn to steal openly. We shall 

 find, however, that genial faults are bet- 

 ter liked than austere virtues, that by 

 the same token straight conduct is ad- 

 mired, that a little obvious benefit in a 

 farm holds more satisfaction than a promise 

 of greater in a court. It is a queer freak 

 of my fancy that puts romance into the 

 dry, dull law. Perhaps it came from read- 

 ing " Bleak House ;" perhaps the inscruta- 

 bility of lawyers stirs the imagination ; they 

 seem to carry something ideal in their 

 function and behavior so long as they 

 keep silence. Ideals best prosper in em- 

 bodiment, and we do not have to show our 

 emotions. We are suspicious of those who 

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