Mayor's Court.
--For holiday times, the temple of municipal justice on Saturday presented an appearance of loneliness that was enough to give the casual observer a dumb ague.
It is admitted as a truth that while
Christmas brines its fun and jollity to free and easy people, the tapering off of the holidays brings pains and penalties; and we have known very nice young men to spend in jail the close of a week that was commenced with great hilarity over bowls of egg-nog and apple-toddy.
It is, therefore, with pride and pleasure that we allude to the barrenness of the
Mayor's docket on Saturday.
We sincerely hope that this symptom of reform may affect all classes, and that New Year's Day may become the occasion of firm and serious resolves to spend the year of our
Lord 1861, in such a manner that its termination will give rise to happy and satisfactory reflections.
We entertain no doubt that
James Riley wished that he had sworn off a year ago, and stuck to his resolution; nay, we think that when he found himself before the
Mayor on Saturday, he regretted that he had not chosen the riley water of the
James for a Christmas beverage, in preference to the essence of corn that made him top-heavy, and sent him on a zig zag excursion through the streets.
Unhappily, however, he became a martyr to his own indulgence, and went to jail in default of security to keep the peace.
The other case before the
Mayor was that of
Joseph M. Steady, a free negro, who steadily persisted in remaining here, in defiance of law, when he should have been in
Caroline county, where he is registered.
A certain number of stripes were administered by way of teaching him the course to pursue in future.
