WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 126, 1 October 1875, Page 14

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

I f fc A™*? 1?1 ?* 8 TO a L .tr T . BBS — The lowing rules for lawyers will no doubt be read with interest:-" St. Alphonso, who flourished in the tost century, but -who was not canonised till the year 1839, and was himself a good lawyer, lays down the following twelve rules for the guidance of the profession, which we extract, for the benefit of our learned friends, from the life of the Saint, published in 1855, in which it is said:— 'Guided by such rules, it is not to be wondered that he gained an ascendancy over all hearts, and so enchanted his audience when he spoke that not only the iudges, but even his adversaries, often ranged themselves on his side. Such must ever be the ultimate effect of truth and honor/ 1. Never to accept unjust causes, as being pernicious to conscience, and hurtful to honor. 2. Never to def«nd a cause by illicit or unjust means. 3. Never to burden clients with superfluous expenses. 4. lo defend the causes of clients with the same care as one would his own. 5. To study carefully the details of a process, in order to draw arguments from them that may effectually help the defence. 6. lo implore the assistance of God in order to succeed, because He is the protector of justice. 7. If the dilatoriness and negligence of a lawyer prove prejudicial to clients, he must reimburse the loss caused in this way, otherwise h« sins against justice. 8. A lawyer must not undertake causes which surpass his talents or His strength, or for which he foresees he will not hare leisure to prepare his defence. 9. Justice and probity should be the characteristics of a lawyer, and he ought to preserve them as the apple of the eye. 10. A lawyer who loses a cause by negligence contracts the obligation of making up all the losses of his clients. 11. In the defence of a cause it is necessary to be truthful, sincere, respectful and reasonable. 12. The qualities requisite for a lawyer axe knowledge, diligence, truth, fidelity and justice." Parisian Suicides.— No other city in the world can show such remarkable statistics relating to suicides as the Trench metropolis. This desperate resort seems to be epidemic at all seasons of the year. The means employed are various, the water of the Seine and the fumes of charcoal being the most common ; but there is one mode which la almost peculiar to the Parisians alone. Official (statistics show that one hundred and twenty individuals have killed themselves from the summit of the Column of Vendome, which rears itself nearly a hundred ond ifty feet in the air, in the centre of the Place Vendome. Our readers will remember that durin** the reign of the Commune in Paris, this grand monument, erected by the first Napoleon in 1805, was pulled down, but it has since been restored to its former height and completeness, except the statue of Napoleon, which has not been replaced upon the summit for obvious political reasons. From the Column of July, situated in the Place de la Bastille, rearing its lofty proportions over one hundred and fifty feet heavenward, forty-nine individuals have * leaped to destruction. What a strange infatuation must have possessed these desperate people as they stood on the lofty pinnacle beside the gilt figure of the Genius of Liberty for a moment before they hurled themselves into space. From the summit of the Arc de Triumphe, at the upper end of the Champs Elysees, the official record also shows thirty-one individuals have sought instant death. 1 his triumphal arch is situated upon the highest grounds in Paris, and is the finest and largest structure of the kind in the world. But of all the lofty heights from which the suicides of the French capital have leaped to certain destruction, the famous tower of Notre Dame takes precedence. Here an official record has been kept since the commencement of the last century, and it exhibits the fact that seven hundred and sixty-seven desperate human beings have thrown away their lives by leaping from the towers to the pavement below. t Why St. Crispin is the Patkon.Saint of Shoemakers.— St. Crispin was a Roman nobleman, who, accompanied by his brother bt. Crispiman, left Rome about the middle of the third century and took up his residence in Soissen in France. Here the brothers preached the faith of Christ publicly in the day, and, in imitation of St. Paul, worked with their hands at night making shoes. They succeeded in making many converts to Christianity, and finally suffered martyrdom by the sword in the year 287. They were the patrons of the Freres Cordonniers (brother shoemakers), a society started in Paris in 1645, by a pious shoemaker named Henry Michael Buch. The rules of this society prescribed to the members certain prayers and acts of charity. The society did a good work in elevating the workmen of France. °™ GII l, OF THE WoBE> "Auction."— Auctions originated in war. The Roman soldiers after the battle thrust a spear into the ground to advertise th© sale of their booty or plunder. This elevation of a spear to .advertise the sale of property was transferred f*>m the camp to the city, and announced in process of time the auctions of ordinary traffic. Hence the * ordinary Latin phrase, sub Aastam venire—" to come under the spear." The English word " auction" comes from the Latin word " auctio," to increase. Things to be Remembered.— Prussia owes the organization of xte war establishment to Marshal Gneisenatt, a Catholic and educated under the Jesuits. In 1836, one-half the Prussian and Sjleßixn. <mnees.corps were Catholics; in that of Posen two-thirds • Weitphaha and Treves, three-fifths j and in the Rhenish division seren-eighths. (The proportion is much larger now in favor of Cfttholicß). No chaplain was provided for the Catholic soldiers. The Catholic Bavarians, Westphalians, (Rheinlanders), and Posenera bore the brunt of the late war. The Catholic priest* and religious distinguished themselves in attending the wounded &c A grateful government rewards their heroism with insults, persecution, and all manner of injustice. /The house of Bradenburg (royal louse of Prussia) was Catholic till 1539; Lutheran till 1613 • Reformed or Calvinastic till 1740: Infidel till 1786- am in TiV formed till 1817, and now it is Evangelical ' g m Ke "