y be in its restraint and picturesque
vividness, and, not least, in its clarity. Confused business dealings
may be described so that important sums, figures, and dates will be
remembered and recognized when they appear again in the evidence.
Counsel, for the time, occupies the center of the stage; his course is
in his hands to make or mar. He reaches the end of his speech, bows,
and the first witness is called.

Before the testimony begins the judge looks at the defendant's counsel
and asks him whether he wishes to state his defense. There is a
different practice in this regard in different courts. Some insist
that the defendant ought to tell at once what his side is about,
others that the defendant should wait until the plaintiff is through
all his evidence and has rested; then at the beginning of the
defendant's case the defendant's lawyer opens and makes his
introduction.

The difference between these two manners of proceeding is so essential
that it may be explained. On the one hand the lawyer feels that he
should not be compelled to give away what he is going to do, how he
proposes to meet the attack, whether he will lie in ambush and snipe
the plaintiff as he comes on or intrench behind a rampart and meet him
with the full force of his battery of evidence. He may be planning to
make a sudden sally after the plaintiff has shot his arrows and
exhausted all his ammunition. The lawyer feels if he tells his plan of
campaign he loses the advantage of generalship.

Suppose a simple case: The plaintiff is suing on a long account for a
bill of goods which will take a long time to prove. The defendant has
a receipt in full showing payment. On the theory that the defendant
need not disclose his evidence in the opening, he may sit still with
the receipt up his sleeve, let the plaintiff open and call his
witness, the evidence may drag itself along with the usual motions and
objections, and after the plaintiff rests the defendant opens to the
jury.

"Gentlemen," he says, "this is a simple case. The plaintiff claims he
sold the goods and the defendant did not pay for them. I propose to
show you that the plaintiff was not telling the truth. I made him
prove to you that he sold every item in the bill because I wanted to
show you how untruthful he is. My client, the defendant, not only paid
for the goods but I can show the receipt in full signed by the
plaintiff."

To the layman this is absurd. The defendant should have show