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Show THE LADY AND THE LAW. . From the Chicago Chronicle. , She went marketing; her gown was costly. A projecting nail In the market rent the gown and suit followed against the butcher. The magistrate held that the lady should have held up her skirt and not trailed It, Judgement for the defendant. . - The advice is good, but the law Isii'L Suppose she were a poor woman with a baby in her arms. One hand would b required to hold the baby, the other to keep their way clear and safe so far as the mother could see. The nail, it appeared ap-peared from the evidence, was furtive and not frank. It could not be seen. Suppose, instead of making a rent In the gown it had penetrated a shoe, causing lockjaw and left the babe motherless. Would the Judicial decision deci-sion be that she should have carried her skirt on her arm as grande dames do when pages do not .carry them ln court precincts? Women ought to wear short skirts outside the home. Such skirts do not need to be held up. But what is moral and economical is not necessarily legal. The protruding nail had no more right to protrude than the plaintiff to drag her draperies on the floor. . Market floors are not supposed to have protruding nails in them when patrons go marketing. |