“The Major is a warm friend of mine,” said the General, “and I should be glad to serve you.”

“Thank you, General; I feel awkward over my errand here,” hesitating; “I wanted to see a lawyer in his office, with his books and papers, and be permitted to look, especially at his books.”

“You are entirely welcome.  I am not much of a lawyer, and have but a few books, but nothing would give me more pleasure than to have you examine them.”

“I may annoy you.”

“Not at all.  I’ve not much to do.  Take a seat.”

Bart did so.  He found the General, whom he had only seen at a distance on muster days, a man of the ordinary height, with heavy shoulders, with a little stoop in them, a very fine head and face, and a clear, strong, grayish, hazel eye; and, on the whole, striking in his appearance.  There were files of leading newspapers, the National Intelligencer, Ohio State Journal, Courier and Inquirer, etc.  These did not so much attract the young man’s attention; but, approaching a large book-case, filled compactly with dull yellow books, uniform in their dingy, leathery appearance, he asked:  “Are these law-books?”

“Yes, those are law-books.”

“And these, then, are the occult cabalistical books, full of darkness and quirks and queer terms, in which is hidden away, somewhere, a rule or twist or turn that will help the wrong side of every case?”

“So people seem to think,” said the General, smiling.

“Does a student have to read all of these?”

“Oh, no, not to exceed a dozen or fourteen.”

“A-h-h-h! not more than that?  Will you show me some of them?”

“Certainly.  There, this is Blackstone, four volumes, which covers the whole field of the law; all the other elementary writers are only amplifications of the various titles or heads of Blackstone.”

“Indeed! only four volumes!  Can one be a lawyer by reading Blackstone?”

“A thorough mastery of it is an admirable foundation of a good lawyer.”

“How long is it expected that an ordinary dullard would require to master Blackstone?”

“Some students do it in four months.  I have known one or two to do it in three.  They oftener require six, and some a year.”

Bart could hardly repress his astonishment.  “Four months! a month to one of these books!” running them over.  “They have some notes, I see; but, General, a man should commit it to memory in that time!”

The General smiled.

“This is an English work; is there an American which answers to Blackstone?”

“Yes, Kent’s Commentaries, four volumes, which many prefer.  I have not got it.  Also Swift’s work, in two volumes, which does not stand so high.  Judge Cowan, of New York, has also written a book of some merit.”

“Shall I annoy you if I sit down and read Blackstone a little?”

“Not at all.”

He read the title-page, glanced at the American preface, etc., and then plunged in promiscuously.  “It has less Latin than I expected.  Is it good classical Latin?”