It had been the time-honored prerogative and the invariable custom of the learned judges of this court to go to sleep during the pleadings of the lawyers; but upon this occasion they did not indulge in an afternoon nap, I assure you!

He next reviewed the testimony of the witnesses of the plaintiff; complimented them on the ingenuity they had displayed in making “the worst appear the better cause,” by telling half the truth and ignoring the other half; but warned the court at the same time

  “That a lie which is half a truth, is ever the blackest of lies,
   That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright;
   But a lie which is part a truth, is a harder matter to fight.”

Then he reviewed in turn the speeches of the counsel for the plaintiff—­first that of Wiseman, the ponderous law-expounder, which he answered with quite as much law and a great deal more equity; secondly, that of Berners, the tear-pumper, the false sentiment of which he exposed and criticised; and thirdly that of Vivian, the laugh-provoker, with which he dealt the most severely of all, saying that one who could turn into jest the most sacred affections and most serious troubles of domestic life, the heart’s tragedy, the household wreck before them, could be capable of telling funny stories at his father’s funeral, uttering good jokes over his mother’s coffin.

He spoke for two hours, warming, glowing, rising with his subject, until his very form seemed to dilate in grandeur, and his face grew radiant as the face of an archangel; and those who heard seemed to think that his lips like those of the prophet of old had been touched with fire from heaven.  Under the inspiration of the hour, he spoke truths new and startling then, but which have since resounded through the senate chambers of the world, changing the laws of the nations in regard to woman.

Nora, do you see your son?  Oh, was it not well worth while to have loved, suffered, and died, only to have given him to the world!

It was a complete success.  All his long, patient, painful years of struggle were rewarded now.  It was one splendid leap from obscurity to fame.

The giants attempted to answer him, but it was of no use.  After the freshness, the fire, the force, the heart, soul, and life in Ishmael’s utterances, their old, familiar, well-worn styles, in which the same arguments, pathos, wit that had done duty in so many other cases was paraded again, only bored their hearers.  In vain Wiseman appealed to reason; Berners to feeling; and Vivian to humor; they would not do:  the court had often heard all that before, and grown heartily tired of it.  Wiseman’s wisdom was found to be foolishness; Berner’s pathos laughable; and Vivian’s humor grievous.

The triumvirate of the Washington bar were dethroned, and Prince Ishmael reigned in their stead.

A few hours later the decision of the court was made known.  It had granted all that the young advocate had asked for his client—­the exclusive possession of her children, her property, and her earnings, and also alimony from her husband.