In  November,  1S19,  he  came  to  Rome  and  entered  the  law  office  of  James  Sherman
to  complete  his  studies. At  that  time,  to  become  an  attorney  and  counselor  of  the
supreme  court  required  a  previous  course  of  study  of  seven  years. At  the  time  Mr. Fos-
ter came  to  Rome  there  were  but  six  lawyers  here— Joshua  Hathaway,  Wheeler
Barnes, James  Sherman,  Samuel  Beardsley,  S. B. Roberts  and  B. P. Johnson. The
village  of  Rome  contained  about  400  inhabitants  and  was  incorporated  the  spring
before.Thecity  of  Syracuse  was  then  unknown,  there  being  only  a  small  collection  of
houses,  known  as  Corinth,  on  the  site  of
the  present  city. In  those  days  the  oldest
and  ablest  members  of  the  bar  practiced  in
justice  court  whenever  the  opportunity
offered,  and  tried  cases  with  all  the  ability
they  could  command. For  a  law  student
to  compete  with  experienced  practitioners,
it  was  necessary  that  he  should  possess
more  than  ordinary  pluck,  industry  and
intelligence. But  whenever  Mr. Foster
was  in  a  law  case,  even  when  a  student,
he  was  a  powerful  advocate. In  1S22  he
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  court  of
common  pleas,  and  three  hours  after  his
admission  was  assigned  by  the  court  to
defend  a  person  indicted  for  a  second
offense  of  petit  larceny. The  trial  took
place  before  Judges  Joshua  Hathaway,
Truman  Enos  and  Samuel  Jones. Samuel
Beardsley  was  district  attorney. As  the
law  now  is  a  person  convicted  of  petit
larceny  for  first  time  is  liable  to  imprison-
ment in  the  county  jail  only,  and  if
convicted  of  a  second  offense  after  the
first  conviction,  the  punishment  is  by
imprisonment  m  the  state  prison. The
statute  as  it  then  read  provided  for
punishment,  by  imprisonment  in  the
state  prison,  of  every  person  who  should
be  a  second  time  or  oftener  convicted  of
petit  larceny,  without  saying  las  the  law
now  does)  that  the  second  oflfense  must  be  committed  after  a  conviction  for  a
former  theft. The  objection  was  taken  by  Mr. 