Section 56:  "An Educator of the Law"

I suppose I possessed naturally but little talent as an educator of the law or indeed of anything else, but yet in the course of my life as a lawyer a number of young men studied law in my office, most of whom were admitted to the practice and some became and are successful lawyers and other pursuits and avocations, and have perhaps done quite as well as if they had remained in the profession.

Amos Myers read with me from 1843 till 1845, was admitted and practiced some years with J. S. McCalmont, went to Congress, afterwards became a Baptist Preacher and as I am informed, is still the pastor of a congregation up somewhere in York [sic] State. Some years after that a man named Mason studied law with me. He was married to a Miss M. Coy, near Strattonville, had some ability and was a good student. He removed to Wisconsin and I do not know what became of him. Then along in the early fifties, Stewart Barber, the son of my old friend and client Captain Robert Barber, studied law with me and was admitted to practice, but shortly afterwards took the typhoid fever and died.

About 1856 David Lawson and John F. Craig entered as students of law with Campbell and Lamberton. Both were admitted in this county and both went west for a few years, but in a few years drifted back to this county, Craig to go into business with his father and brothers and became a successful, upright and energetic business man and is now one of the leading men of capital of New Bethlehem in this county. He never practiced law in this county. Lawson has been for many years a successful practitioner in this town, a leading member and elder in our church and a man of sterling worth -- few if any more useful men in our town.

There was a son of Dr. Bowser read law in this office a year or so but he did not finish his course and was not admitted. About 1861 or 2 W. H. Fitzer read with me and was admitted and practiced in this office a short time while I was on the bench. He married the youngest daughter of John Clark. In a few years he also removed to the west and succeeded in raising an interesting family and securing a competency and a good home in Iowa. One or two of his sons are said to be in responsible positions on a railroad there at Omaha.

Then along about 1870 or 1871 John W. Reed who had been going to school to Miss Haldeman commenced reading law in my office. Miss Haldeman evidently had seen something in the boy worth cultivating. It was said she took much interest in him and as he said himself when he did anything wrong she lectured and talked to him till she would cry and he said not infrequently till she brought tears to his eyes. It was not remarkable that he became a moral, upright man. At first he studied Blackstone diligently but did not seem to have any peculiar aptitude for the law. I think he was away one winter teaching a public school, but the last year he was in the office I never had a student worked harder or made more progress, and he entered the profession having a pretty thorough knowledge of the elements of law. After admission he tried Brookville a while, then went to Green Forks in Wisconsin, but drifted back to Clarion and is making a reputation in the town in which he was born.

My son, Robert D., commenced reading with me before Reed was admitted and was himself admitted a year or so after. This is the extent of my labors as a teacher of law.

I always liked to teach "Blackstone," "Jones on Bailment" and "Chitty on Contracts." It was interesting to notice how a young mind took hold of Blackstone. I never had two students who caught the spirit and drift of the law alike. With me those who at first were slow to understand legal principles seemed to get the most perfect understanding of elementary law in the end -- probably by harder work -- than those who seemed to catch on to the spirit immediately. My observation has been that it is the hard worker rather than the brilliant mind that makes the successful lawyer.

It is a singular fact that while the population and wealth of the county are increasing, the legal business and fees of the lawyers seem to be diminishing. In the first place the land titles are generally settled; then shrewd and experienced men have got to conduct their business more methodically and the mass of people are better able to pay their debts. Thirty to forty years ago a large portion of the lawyers' fees grew out of collections and sheriffs' sales. Now this practice is insignificant. The vast increase in the volume of the currency -- particularly silver -- has brought business and trade very largely to a cash basis and has resulted in the accumulation of vast fortunes in the fortunate and sharp business men of the great trading centers. Millionaires are about as plenty now as men worth fifty thousand dollars were seventy years ago.