194 court of appeals of maryland

derstood and have the effect desired. Much of
that old education is left to scholars and men of
special tastes, and if there has been replacement
with another kind of general cultivation it is not
with a kind that is exhibited in court-room argu-
ments.

There may have been some modification of the
ceremoniousness of the older lawyers. In the nine-
ties of the last century, perhaps later, it was still
customary for those appearing before the court to
dress in long black coats and other incidents of a
dress of dignity. High silk hats disappeared from
the approaches of the court a little earlier. Now
there is no special dress of dignity worn, but while
the lawyers appear variously arrayed, orderly
minds in orderly dress, some in playful dress, and
a few in degrees of undress, there appears to be
no great loss in the sense of the dignity and
solemnity of a court of justice. Some few of the
less experienced and knowing attorneys may ap-
pear unaware of the distinction between a court
room and other public places, but nearly all of
the members of the bar who appear at the counsel
table obviously feel and are eager to maintain re-
spect for the judicial function in which they take
part. Despite all change the proceedings of this
court are still dignified. This is probably due to
retention, not only among professional men, but
among the people of the state generally, of a
strong sentiment of respect for the courts and judi-
cature, to a degree sometimes not fully understood
and believed when cited elsewhere, but unmistak-
ably existing. Maryland is an old community,
and a comparatively small one, and until late