The boy was ejected.
But the gravity of the old Chief Justice was not disturbed.
He had a curiously awkward motion, especially in moving about
a parlor in social gatherings, or walking in the street.
I once pointed out to a friend a ludicrous resemblance between
his countenance and expression and that of one of the tortoises
in the illustrations of one of Agassiz's works on natural
history. To which my friend replied: "It is the tortoise
on which the elephant stands that bears up the foundations
of the world," alluding to the Hindoo mythology.
Chief Justice Shaw's opinions, as we have them in the reports,
are exceedingly diffuse. That practice would not answer for
a generation which has to consult the reports of forty-five
States and of the Supreme Court and nine judicial circuits
of the United States, besides the reports of the decisions
of some of the District Judges, and in most cases the English
decisions. But it would be a great public loss if any of
Chief Justice Shaw's utterances were omitted. His impulse,
when a question was argued before him, was to write a treatise
on the subject.
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