316 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
not object; but accordingly the judge put on 
a complete suit of the miller’s best. Adorned 
with a miller’s hat, shoes and stick, away he 
marched to Chelmsford, where he procured 
lodging against the Assizes next day. When 
the trial came on, he walked like an ignorant 
fellow, backwards and forwards along the 
country hall, and when the court began to 
fill, he found out the poor fellow who was 
the plaintiff. As soon as he came into the 
hall, the miller drew up to him : 
“ Honest friend, how is your case like to 
do to-day 1” 
“ Why,” replied the plaintiff, “ my cause 
is in a very precarious situation, and if I 
lose it, I am ruined for life.” 
“ Well, honest friend,” replied the miller, 
“ will you take my advice ? I will let you 
into a secret which, perhaps, you do not 
know. Every Englishman has a right and 
privilege to except any one juryman through 
the whole twelve ; now do you insist upon 
your privilege without giving a reason why, 
and, if possible, get me chosen in his room, 
and I will do you all the service in my 
power.” 
Accordingly, when the clerk called over 
the names of the jurymen, the plaintiff ex¬ 
cepted one of them. The judge on the 
bench was highly offended with this. 
“What do you mean,” said he, “by ex¬ 
cepting that gentleman 1” 
“ I mean, my lord, to assert my privilege 
as an Englishman, without giving a reason 
why.” 
The judge, who had been highly bribed, in 
order to conceal it by a show of candor, and 
having confidence in the superiority of his 
party, said: 
“ Well, sir, as you claim your privilege in 
one instance, I will grant it. Whom would 
you like to have in place of that man ex¬ 
cepted 1” 
After a short time taken in consideration, 
he said, “ My Lord, I wish to have an honest 
man chosen in,” and looking around, “ there 
is that miller in the court; we will have 
him, if you please.” Accordingly the miller 
was chosen. 
As soon as the clerk of the court had giv¬ 
en them all their oaths, a dexterous fellow 
came into the apartment, and slipped ten 
caroluses into the hands of eleven jurymen, 
and gave the miller but five. He observed 
they were all bribed as well as himself, and 
said to his next neighbor in a soft whisper, 
“ How much have you got ! “ Ten pieces,” 
said he. The miller did not say what he 
had. 
The cause was opened by the plaintiff’s 
counsel, and all the scraps of evidence they 
could pick up Avere adduced in his favor. 
The defendant had a great number of Avit- 
nesses and pleaders, all bribed as well as the 
judge. The evidence deposed that they 
Avere in the self-same county Avhen the broth¬ 
er died, and saw him buried ; and everything 
Avent Avith a full tide for the younger broth¬ 
er. The judge summed up Avith great grav¬ 
ity and deliberation : “ And iioav, gentlemen 
of the jury, bring in your verdict as you shall 
deem most just.” In a feAv minutes the 
judge said, “ Are you agreed ! Who shall 
speak for you 1” 
“ We are all agreed ; our foreman shall 
speak for us.” 
“ Hold, my Lord,” replied the miller, “ Ave 
are not all agreed.” 
“ Why,” said the judge, in a surly manner, 
“ Avhat is the matter with you— what reason 
have you for disagreeing.” 
“I have several reasons, my Lord,” re¬ 
plied the miller. “ First, they have given 
all the gentlemen of the jury ten broad pieces 
of gold, and me only five, which is not fair. 
Besides, I have many objections to make 
to the false reasoning of the pleaders, and 
the contradictory evidence of the witnesses.’’ | 
Upon this the miller began a discourse 
that discovered such a vast penetration of 
judgment and extensive knowledge of law, 
that it astonished the judge and the Avhole 
court. As he Avas going on, the judge, in 
surprise, stopped him. 
“ Where did you come from, and who are 
you!” he asked. 
“ I came from Westminister Hall,” replied 
the miller. “ My name is MattheAV Hale, 
Lord Chief Justice of the King’s bench. I 
have observed the iniquity of your proceed¬ 
ings this day; therefore come doAvn from 
the seat you are in no Avay Avorthy to hold. 
You are one of the corrupt parties in this in¬ 
iquitous business. I will come up this mo¬ 
ment and try the Avhole over again.” 
Accordingly Lord Matthew Avent up in his 
miller’s dress and hat, began the trial from 
the commencement, and searched every cir¬ 
cumstance of truth and falsehood ; he 
evinced the elder brother’s title to the estate, 
and gained a complete victory in favor of 
truth and justice. 
HALL STOVE AND BROKEN PANE. 
In the hall are a stove and a Avindow. 
The former is kept full of gloAving coal; in 
the latter, a pane is broken out, and it has 
been left unmended throughout the Avhole 
winter. What a Avise economy is here pre¬ 
sented! Yet it is of a piece with many a 
man’s and Avoman’s conduct during life. 
Good principles and habits may be conspic- 
ious ; but bad ones are suffered to go uncor¬ 
rected. Virtues may abound, but so does 
vice ; Aveeds groAv apace as Avell as Avheat, 
and it is frequently a question, which of 
them Avill get the mastery. Sometimes the 
broken pane in the hall lets in more air than 
the stove can Avarm. 
And one fact it is important to remark. 
Vice seems always perfectly able to take 
care of itself; Avhile good principles need 
cultivation and care to maintain or multiply 
them. The cold Avind will come in at the 
broken pane of itself Avithout an anybody’s 
attention. But labor and vigilance are re¬ 
quired to keep up a fire in the stove. The 
draught of the one is constant and perpetual, 
night and day, Avliether any one minds it or 
not. On the other hand, the stove fire is 
apt to wane, and even go out, is almost sure 
to do so in the night, and needs incessant 
replenishing to enable it to maintain an equi¬ 
poise to the blast from the windoAv. Error, 
wrong and vice are rushing in upon us in 
ceaseless stream, Avhether Ave will or not; 
the equilibrium of goodness and right is al¬ 
ways in danger of being overcome. Indeed, 
this is pretty sure to be the issue, unless 
those evils shall be encountered by such 
bravery and stability of principle and good 
habits, as shall oppose a barrier equal in 
strength and endurance to the assaulting 
forces. 
The Stove and Broken Pane may be met 
with in various departments of life. When 
avc see a man Avasting ten thousand a year, 
Avhile his business yields a profit of five only, 
the broken pane and neglected hall stove re¬ 
appear to view. Another man talks loudly 
of temperance. It is Avell; but Avhen he 
spoils his precepts by hard drinking, or op¬ 
poses measures Avhich can only really pro¬ 
duce the spread of temperance, it puts us in 
mind of the broken Avindow, Avhich nullified 
all the good that the entry stove could do. 
There is a multitude of people possessing 
amiable and valuable traits of character, but 
so tangled up are they with disagreeable 
habits and propensities, as to render them 
objects on the whole which one should avoid, 
as he would a bee, Avho has honey at one 
end, but a sting at the other.— Neivarh Sen¬ 
tinel. 
“LET IT LIVE.” 
“ Let it live,” said a kind-hearted lady, a 
short time since, as she picked up a flying 
bug from the floor, and helped it out of the 
window. She probably thought there Avas 
plenty of room in the wide Avorld for it, and 
there was no good reason for killing it. 
We can see nothing wrong in killing a 
poisonous serpent, or a dangerous beast of 
the forest, as they are hurtful, and are evi¬ 
dently our enemies. God has also shoAvn us 
that it is perfectly right to kill such animals 
as are good for our food; but to kill any 
thing that has life and feeling merely for 
sport, or through wantonness, is wrong, and 
the habit indulged in begets and cultivates 
cruelty in one’s heart. 
The fishes that sAvim in the Avaters, the 
beasts that roam in the forests, the birds that 
fly in the air, and the insects that craAvl 
among the leaves, were all made to live, and 
they love to live : and Avhen we, through 
recklessness, destroy them, it does no good 
but brings death to them, and the act injures 
us, as it engenders a cruel feeling. 
More than half the music in the Avorld is 
made by the birds and insects ; and yet there 
is cruelty enough among men and boys to 
hush all this melody by recklessly killing 
the creatures Avhich God has made to live, 
to sing, and be happy. 
Let us not be thus cruel, but let these 
creatures live and enjoy life as best they 
can ; let them skip over the hills, or glide 
through the waters, or fly in the air, or sing 
among the trees, as God has given them 
ability. Let them live, and by their example 
teach us lessons of activity and industry. 
Be kind tOAvards insects, birds, and beasts, 
and you will be more likely to be kind to 
your fellow-beings, and to secure kindness 
in return. 
PRETTY WOMEN AND POLITENESS. 
A talented lady Avho “ Avrites for the pa¬ 
pers,” speaks thus of city railway cars : 
“ The seats of the car Avere all occupied— 
crowded, yet the conductor waited for me. 
Not Avishing to disturb those who were 
seated,.I was intending to stand, but a gen¬ 
tleman up at the far end arose and insisted 
upon my taking his seat. Being very tired, 
I thanked him and obeyed. Presently a 
lady, much younger, much prettier, and 
much better dressed than myself, entered 
the car. No less than four gentleman arose 
instantly, offering her a seat. She smiled 
sweetly and unaffectedly, and thanking the 
gentleman who urged the nearest seat to 
her, she seated herself Avith a peculiar grace 
of manner, she had one of those faces 
Raphael Avas always painting—touchingly 
sweet and expressive. A little after this 
young beauty had taken her seat, a poor 
woman, looking very thin and pale, with 
that care-worn haggard look that poverty 
and sorrow, and hard labor ahvays give, 
came in. She might have been one of those 
poor seamstresses Avho Avork like slaves 
and—starve for their labor. She Avas thin¬ 
ly and meanly clad, and seemed Aveak and 
exhausted. She had evidently no sixpence 
to throw aAvay, and came into the car not to 
stand, but to rest while she was helped on 
her journey. While she Avas meekly stand¬ 
ing for the moment, none of the gentlemen 
offering to rise, Raphael’s angel, Avilh SAveet 
reproving eyes, looked on those Avho had so 
officiously offered her a seat, and seeing 
none of them to move, and just as I myself 
was rising to give the poor old lady a seat, 
she arose and insisted upon the Avoman tak¬ 
ing her seat. It was all the Avork of but a 
moment; and the look of grateful surprise 
the old woman gave her, and the glance of 
sweet pity the beautiful girl bestowed on the 
