Weekly Independent

UNDER RECOGNIZANCE.
How a Georgia Judge Disposed of a Tough Boarding-House Ham.

"We had all been attending court on the blank circuit," said an old lawyer to an Atlanta Constitution man, "and old Judge Wisdom had presided with his usual dignity. In the town of Hardluck we had finished the week's business, and were all seated at the table of Mrs. Edgecut's boarding-house, finishing the farewell dinner.

"Mrs. Edgecut had been very kind and attentive to us all during the week, and that day she was more considerate than ever. On the table reposed a cold-boiled ham, as hard as a hickory maul and as stale. We had cut, and hacked, and chipped from its callous surface all the week, and still it came up fresh and smiling, the center dish on the table meal after meal.

" 'Gentlemen, ahem!' said Judge Wisdom: 'conduct yourselves with proper deportment now.' Then, rising from his seat, he began: 'To all and singular, the sheriffs, constables and other officers of the county aforesaid, greeting: I recognize this ham, and do hereby command said ham to be and appear at the fall term of the honorable superior court in and for said county, and to appear from day to day and from term to term until properly dismissed by the court.'

"Great guns! Old Mrs. Edgecut had stood in the corner, arms folded and a smile of pleasant anticipation on her face when the judge arose, but as he proceeded she stood mute and paralyzed for a moment, and then burst forth such a torrent of abuse and invectives as we had never heard before. Judge Wisdom's conclusion was drowned in storm of her wrath."