Without my knowledge, he paid a visit to my uncle. This gentleman,
I may be permitted here to say, had been quite as much surprised as
anybody else, at my determined prosecution of my studies in spite
of the difficulties by which I was surrounded. That I was pursuing
them, while in the mercantile establishment to which I had gone, he
did not believe; and very frequently when I was at his house--for
I visited the family, and sometimes, though unfrequently, dined
with them on a sabbath--he jeered me on my progress--the "wonderful
progress," as he was pleased to term it--which he felt sure I was
making with my Coke and Blackstone, while baling blankets, or
bundling up plains and kerseys. This I bore patiently, sustained
as I was by the proud, indomitable spirit within me, which assured
me of the ultimate triumph which I felt positive would ensue.
I enjoyed his surprise--a surprise that looked something like
consternation--when the very day of my admission to the bar, and
after that event, I encountered him in the street, and in answer
to his usual sarcastic inquiry:-"Well, Edward, how does the law come on? How is Sir William
Blackstone, Sir Edward Coke, and the rest of the white heads?"
I simply put the parchment into his hands which declared my formal
introduction to those venerable gentry.
"Why, you don't mean? Is it possible? So you really are admitted--a
lawyer, eh?"
"You see, sir--and that, too, without any Greek."
"Well, and what good is it to do you? To have a profession, Edward,
is one thing; to get business, another!"
"Yes, sir--but I take it, the profession must be had first. One
step is gained. That much is sure. The other, I trust, will follow
in due season."
"True, but I still think that the bricklayer would make the more
money."
"Were money-making, sir, the only object of life, perhaps, then,
that would be the most desirable business; but--"
"Oh, I forgot--the talents, the talents are to be considered."
And after the utterance of this sneer, our dialogue as may be
supposed, did not much longer continue.
I did not know of the contemplated visit of Mr. Edgerton to my
worthy uncle, nor of its purpose, or I should, most assuredly, have
put my veto upon the measure with all the tenacity of a resentful
spirit; but this gentleman, who was a man of nice sensibility as
well as strong good sense, readily comprehended a portion of my
secret history from what was known to him. He easily conceived
that my uncle was somewhat of a niggard from the manner in which I
had employed myself during my preparation for the bar. He thought,
however, that my uncle, though unwilling to expend money in the
prosecution of a scheme which he did not approve--now that the scheme
was so far successful as to afford every promise of a reasonable
harvest, could not do less than come forward to the assistance of
one who had shown such a determined disposition to assist himself.