g born again--is not without its foundation in fact:
the soul is in process of gestation, and when the time is ripe the new
birth occurs, and will occur again and again.

Patrick Henry at once took his place among the strong men of
Virginia--his was a personality that must be reckoned with in political
affairs. His law practise doubled, and to keep it down he doubled his
prices--with the usual effect. He then tried another expedient, and
very few lawyers indeed are strong enough to do this: he would accept no
case until the fee was paid in advance. "I keep no books--my fee is so
much--pay this and I will undertake your case." He accepted no
contingent cases, and if he believed his client was in the wrong, he
told him so, and brought about a compromise. Some enemies were made
through this frank advice, but when the fight was once on, Patrick Henry
was a whirlwind of wrath: he saw but one side and believed in his
client's cause as though it had been written by Deity on tables of
stone.

Long years after the death of Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson made some
remarks about Henry's indolence, and his indisposition to write out
things. A little more insight, or less prejudice, would have shown that
Patrick Henry's plan was only Nature's scheme for the conservation of
forces, and at the last was the highest wisdom.

By demanding the fee in advance, the business was simplified immensely.
It tested the good faith of the would-be litigant, cut down the number
of clients, preserved the peace, freed the secretions, aided digestion
and tended to sweet sleep o' nights.

Litigation is a luxury that must be paid for--by the other fellow, we
expect when we begin, but later we find we are it. If the lawyers would
form a union and agree not to listen to any man's tale of woe until he
placed a hundred dollars in the attorney's ginger-jar, it would be a
benefit untold to humanity. Contingent fees and blackmail have much in
common.

A man who could speak in public like Patrick Henry was destined for a
political career. A vacancy in the State Legislature occurring, the tide
of events carried him in. Hardly had he taken the oath and been seated
before the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole to
consider the Stamp Act. Mutterings from New England had been heard, but
Virginia was inclined to abide by the acts of the Mother Country,
gaining merely such modifications as could be brought about by modest
argument and respectful