“And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with
her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed
unto death; that he told her all his heart, and said unto
her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; ...
if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I
shall become weak and be like any other man.” 

          
                                                    —­Judges XVI, 16, 17.

“Have you seen ‘76 Fed.’ anywhere, Mr. Tutt?” inquired Tutt, appearing suddenly in the doorway of his partner’s office.

Mr. Tutt looked up from Page 364 of the opinion he was perusing in “The United States vs.  One Hundred and Thirty-two Packages of Spirituous Liquors and Wines.”

“Got it here in front of me,” he answered shortly.  “What do you want it for?”

Tutt looked over his shoulder.

“That’s a grand name for a case, isn’t it?  ‘Packages of Wines!’” he chuckled.  “I made a note once of a matter entitled ’United States vs.  Forty-three Cases of Frozen Eggs’; and of another called ’United States vs.  One Feather Mattress and One Hundred and Fifty Pounds of Butter’—­along in 197 Federal Reports, if I remember correctly.  And you recall that accident case we had—­Bump against the Railroad?”

“You can’t tell me anything about names,” remarked Mr. Tutt.  “I once tried a divorce action.  Fuss against Fuss; and another, Love against Love.  Do you really want this book?”

“Not if you are using it,” replied Tutt.  “I just wanted to show an authority to Mr. Sorg, the president of the Fat and Skinny Club.  You know our application for a certificate of incorporation was denied yesterday by Justice McAlpin.”

“No, I didn’t know it,” returned Mr. Tutt.  “Why?”

“Here’s his memorandum in the Law Journal,” answered his partner.  “Read it for yourself”: 

Matter of Fat and Skinny Club, Inc.  This is an application for approval of a certificate of incorporation as a membership corporation.  The stated purposes are to promote and encourage social intercourse and good fellowship and to advance the interests of the community.  The name selected is the Fat and Skinny Club.  If this be the most appropriate name descriptive of its membership it is better that it remain unincorporated.  Application denied.

“Now who says the law isn’t the perfection of common sense?” ruminated Mr. Tutt.  “Its general principles are magnificent.”

“And yet,” mused Tutt, “only last week Judge McAlpin granted the petition of one Solomon Swackhamer to change his name to Phillips Brooks Vanderbilt.  Is that right?  Is that justice?  Is it equity?  I ask you!—­when he turns down the Fat and Skinnies?”

“Oh, yes it is,” retorted Mr. Tutt.  “When you consider that Mr. Swackhamer could have assumed the appellation of P.B.  Vanderbilt or any other name he chose without asking the court’s permission at all.”