s and Ripon, hard-earned private property
would soon be confiscated by the rapacious horde. Once in a while I was
made aware that Mr. Watling had his eye on me.

"Well, Hugh," he would say, "how are you getting along? That's right,
stick to it, and after a while we'll hand the drudgery over to somebody
else."

He possessed the supreme quality of a leader of men in that he took
pains to inform himself concerning the work of the least of his
subordinates; and he had the gift of putting fire into a young man by
a word or a touch of the hand on the shoulder. It was not difficult for
me, therefore, to comprehend Larry Weed's hero-worship, the loyalty of
other members of the firm or of those occupants of the office whom I
have not mentioned. My first impression of him, which I had got at Jerry
Kyme's, deepened as time went on, and I readily shared the belief of
those around me that his legal talents easily surpassed those of any of
his contemporaries. I can recall, at this time, several noted cases in
the city when I sat in court listening to his arguments with thrills
of pride. He made us all feel--no matter how humble may have been our
contributions to the preparation--that we had a share in his triumphs.
We remembered his manner with judges and juries, and strove to emulate
it. He spoke as if there could be no question as to his being right
as to the law and the facts, and yet, in some subtle way that bated
analysis, managed not to antagonize the court. Victory was in the air in
that office. I do not mean to say there were not defeats; but frequently
these defeats, by resourcefulness, by a never-say-die spirit, by a
consummate knowledge, not only of the law, but of other things at which
I have hinted, were turned into ultimate victories. We fought cases from
one court to another, until our opponents were worn out or the decision
was reversed. We won, and that spirit of winning got into the blood.
What was most impressed on me in those early years, I think, was the
discovery that there was always a path--if one were clever enough to
find it--from one terrace to the next higher. Staying power was the most
prized of all the virtues. One could always, by adroitness, compel a
legal opponent to fight the matter out all over again on new ground, or
at least on ground partially new. If the Court of Appeals should fail
one, there was the Supreme Court; there was the opportunity, also, to
shift from the state to the federal courts;