One question, and that as to the witness's means of
livelihood, is often sufficient.

"How do you support yourself?"

"I am a lady of leisure!" replies the witness (arrayed in
flamboyant colors) snappishly.

"That will do, thank you," remarks the lawyer with a smile.
"You may step down."

The writer remembers being nicely hoisted by his own petard on
a similar occasion:

"What do you do for a living?" he asked.

The witness, a rather deceptively arrayed woman, turned upon
him with a glance of contempt:

"I am a respectable married woman, with seven children," she
retorted. "I do nothing for a living except cook, wash,
scrub, make beds, clean windows, mend my children's clothes,
mind the baby, teach the four oldest their lessons, take care
of my husband, and try to get enough sleep to be up by five in
the morning. I guess if some lawyers worked as hard as I do
they would have sense enough not to ask impertinent
questions."

An amusing incident is recorded of how a feminine witness
turned the laugh upon Mr. Francis L. Wellman, the noted