Splitting Legal Hairs

This is au after dinner story told by a well known lawyer the other eveuing, illustrative of legal difficulties that inay arise even in the carrying out of the most amioable contracts: There were once four brothers, who had inherited a storage warehouse from their father and who equally divided the property ainong theni. Among the appurtenanoes thereto was a cat, a fine animal, excellent forrnousing, and this, toes was divided, the eider brother owning the right front quarter, the second brother the lef t front quarter and the younger brothers the two hind quarters. Now, unfortunately, the cat in one of its nocturnal prowls injured the right front paw, and the eider brother attended to that portion of his property by binding the injured meinber with a greased rag. The cat, thankful for this relief to its sufl'ering, went to sleep contentedly before the lire, but in the luidst of its slurnbers a falling coal ignited the rag, and tho animal, howling with agony, dashed through the warehouse, and, coming in éontact with some combustibles, set the building on fire. When the loss carne to be figured out, the three ypunger brothers wished to throw it all upon the eider, upon the ground that had he not tied np his part of the cat with the inflammable rag the building would not have been destroyed. He, on the contrary, contended that had the cat only been possessed of the front right paw - his property - it would have stood still and burned to death. It was the three other paws that caused the damage. The brothers argued the case until they died, but could never