THE DOCTOR AND HIS WIFE ON A FISHING EXCURSION—THE LAW OF THE CASE—STRONG-MINDED WOMEN.

The right to the glory of having killed the bear being settled, the Doctor, addressing himself to Spalding, remarked—"There was something in H——\'s appeal to you about the law of his case, that reminded me of a little scene between my wife and myself, many years ago, when we were both younger than we are now, and certainly had never anticipated the dark years of trial, through which we were unexpectedly called upon to pass. You know that I started in life, like Smith here, a gentleman of fortune, calculating, like him, to live at my ease, without troubling myself with the cares of any particular business, as I passed along. Still I thought, or rather my father thought, that it would be well enough, even for a gentleman, to have at least a nominal title to some profession. So I studied the law, and was admitted as an attorney and counsellor of the courts. Never intending to practise, I did not become very profoundly learned in the profession; still I became, to some extent, indoctrinated with its mysteries. I did not like it; and when the necessity for some active employment came looming up in the distance, I chose a different calling, and at six-and-twenty, commenced the study of my present profession. This did not occur until after I had been married some three years. I lived in the country then, or rather, summered there, in a beautiful little village in the interior of the State, in a pleasant, old-fashioned house, which my father built, and which, as I was his only heir, I supposed of course I owned. Some half a dozen miles from the village was a fine trout stream, to which my wife and myself used occasionally to go on a fishing excursion. On such occasions we went on horseback, as the road was somewhat rough, and my wife was as much at home in the saddle as I was. This, I repeat, was a good while ago, and we were both a score of years younger than we are now. Well, I started out alone one day to visit this trout stream, anticipating a good time with its speckled, and usually greedy inhabitants. I say I was alone, and yet there was with me, all the way, and all the time, one who can talk, reason, philosophise, understand things as well as you or I; and one, to all appearance, as much and distinctly human as you or I."

"Impossible!" exclaimed Smith, "we can\'t go that, Doctor. I can\'t stand my quarter of that."

"Foolish man!" continued the Doctor; "I say I was alone; let me demonstrate my proposition. Blackstone says, and what he says every lawyer will concede is the end of the law, and the beginning too, for that matter, that when a woman becomes a wife, she loses her identity, becomes nobody; that her husband absorbs her existence, as it were, as he does her goods and chattels, in his own. Now, sir, do you comprehend? My wife was with me, and she, being according to law nobody, of course I was alone. You, sir, being a law abiding man, must admit that my proposition is Q.E.D.

"The doctrine of absorption, as I call it, is convenient. It promotes harmony of action, by subjecting it to the control of a single will, thus avoiding all embarrassment from a conflict of opinion between man and wife. So, on my way to the trout stream (I say my way, for though my wife was on horseback by my side, yet she being, according to the best legal authorities, nobody, you see I was alone), I thought I would enlighten the good lady in regard to the true position, or rather the no position at all, which she occupied. Our way lay for a couple of miles along an old road, towards a clearing which had been abandoned, and through which the stream flowed. The tall old trees spread their long arms over us, clothed in the rich verdure of spring, and the breeze, so fresh and fragrant, moaned, and sighed, and whispered among the leaves.

"\'My dear,\' said I, blandly, as we rode along, the birds singing merrily among the branches above us, \'do you know that you are NOBODY?\'

"\'Nobody, Mr. W——,\' (I was simply Mr. W——then; I had not become, nor even dreamed that I should become a Doctor), \'Nobody, Mr. W——? Did you say nobody?\'

"\'Absolutely nobody,\' said I. \'A perfect nonentity. You are less even than a legal fiction.\'

"\'Look you,\' said she, as she applied the whip to her pony, in a way that brought him, with a bound, across the road directly in front of me (she rode like a belted knight), obstructing my progress, \'Look you, Mr. W——,\' and there was a red spot on her cheek, and her eye sparkled like the sheen of a diamond, \'let us settle this matter now. I can bear being of small consideration, occupying very little space in the world, but to be stricken out of existence entirely, to possess no legal identity, to be regarded as absolutely nobody, is a thing I don\'t intend to stand—mark that, Mr. W——.\'

"\'Keep cool, my dear,\' said I; \'let us argue this matter.\' I was calm, for I knew the law was on my side; I had the books, and the courts, and the statutes all in my favor. I was fortified, you see.

"\'Argue the matter!\' she exclaimed; \'not till it is admitted that I\'m somebody. If I\'m nobody, I can\'t be argued with, I can\'t reason, nor talk. Now, Mr. W——, I\'ve a tongue.\'

"\'Gospel truth,\' said I, \'whatever the authorities may say. But we will admit, for the sake of the argument, that you are somebody; Blackstone says\'——

"\'Out on Blackstone,\' she exclaimed; \'what do I care for Blackstone, whose bones have been mouldering in the grave for more than a hundred years, for what I know. Don\'t talk to me about Blackstone.\'

"\'But, my dear, you are my wife, and Blackstone says\'—

"\'I don\'t care a fig what Blackstone says. If I am your wife, I am my mother\'s daughter, and my brother\'s sister, and Tommy\'s mother, and there are four distinct individualities all centered in myself.\'

"\'But,\' said I again, \'Blackstone says\'—

"\'Confound that Blackstone,\' she exclaimed; \'I do believe he has driven the wits out of the man\'s head. Now, look you, Mr. W——, you invited me to ride with you; you now say I am nobody. Very well. If nobody leaves you, I suppose you won\'t be without company, for somebody certainly left home with you this morning, and has rode with you thus far. So, good-bye, Mr. W——; success to your fishing, Mr. W——,\' and she struck into a gallop towards home.

"\'Hallo!\' said I, \'I give up the point. I take back all I said. Culpa mea, my good wife. If Blackstone does say\'—

"\'Not a word more about Blackstone,\' said she, shaking her whip, half serious half playfully, at me; \'if I go with you, I go as somebody—a legal entity.\'

"\'Very well,\' said I, \'we\'ll drop the argument.\'

"\'Not the argument, but the fact, Mr. W——; and admit that Blackstone was a goose, and that his law, like his logic, is all nonsense when measured by the standard of common sense and practical fact. Admit that a woman, when she becomes a wife does not become a mere nonentity, or I leave you to journey alone.\'

"\'Very well, my dear, let us see if we cannot compromise this matter. Suppose we allow his philosophy to stand as a general truth, making you an exception. We\'ll say that wives in general are nobody, but that you shall be exempt from the general rule, and be considered always hereafter, and as between ourselves, as somebody.\'

"You see the shrewdness of my proposition. Firstly, it saved Blackstone; secondly, it saved me, let me down easy; and thirdly, it appealed to the womanly vanity of my wife, and it took.

"\'Oh, well,\' she said, as she brought her pony alongside of me, and we jogged along cosily together, \'I see no objection to that. Other wives can take care of themselves. But this compromise, as between us, Mr. W——, must be a finality. No Nebraska traps, Mr. W——. No Kansas bills hereafter. It must be a finality, mind.\'

"\'Very well,\' said I; and a robin that was building its nest on a limb that hung over the road, paused in its labors, and burst into song, and the burden of its lay seemed to be a compromise, which, in truth, should be a FINALITY.

"We were successful in our fishing, and we followed the old-fashioned custom as to bait. We discarded the fly, using only the angle-worm. At the foot of the ripples; under the old logs; where the water went whirling under the cavernous banks; in the eddies; among the driftwood; everywhere, we found trout—not large, none weighing over six ounces, and few less than three. We caught my basket full in less then two hours, and then rode home. It was a day of enjoyment to us, you may be sure.

"And now I............