Page:The knickerbocker (IA knickerbocker00agne).pdf/60

I had just commenced the practice of law in the pretty village of Stoneville, a county-seat. Consultations as to petty matters alone gave hopes of future business. I had not as yet been retained in a single case; not even in one of as little consequence as that in which a worthy legal friend of mine happened to be employed in his earlier practice, namely, a suit involving the right of possession of a rat-trap. My office, however, presented the appearance of business, if business itself were wanting. My book-case was tolerably well filled with elementary works and the latest reports; and some old deeds and other papers tied together in different parcels, with a liberal allowance of red tape, were arranged to the best possible advantage upon my table. Lying also upon the table was a paper-weight of ample dimensions, presumed, at least, to have been placed there for the purpose of preventing the loose but highly important papers underneath it from being lost or mislaid. I had read a large proportion of the books in my library, and re-read some of them, and gave advice, therefore, though young both in age and profession, with a considerable degree of confidence. It was not my fault if I failed to impress those who consulted me with some sense of my dignity and importance. I advised them, indeed, with a hem and a haw, with a gravity and a prolonged deliberation worthy of the learned Smelfungus himself.

In spite of all the real attention I was giving to my books, and thus to my profession, time, as may be supposed, hung heavily on my hands. I had always been fond of trouting, and a beautiful brook, a short distance only from the village, enabled me at once to gratify my piscatory passion, and remove from me a portion of the ennui by which I was oppressed. The brook, which ran for