Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1845-06-06
A Vermont Judge---Henry DIN.


attentive perusal The anecdote with which
it commences, we believe we have already
published--but it contains an excellent
moral, and will bear a repetition.
Judge DIN, of Vermont, father Of the
President Of the Wesleyan University, at
Middletown, is the Judge o. referred TO in
the following anecdote from the Knicker-
booker.
81 remember an anecdote of Judge o.,
which is very Characteristic of the man, and
is, have no doubt, authentic. AT ses-
sion of the Court in Addison county, Judge
O. was violently attacked by young
and very impertnent attorney. To the
manifest surprise of every body present, the
Judge heard him quite through, as though
unconscious of what was said, and made no
reply. After the adjournment for the day,
and when all had assembled at the inn where
the Judge and many of the Court-folk had
their lodging, one of the company, referring
to the scene at Court, asked the Judge why
he did not rebuke the impertinent felowl'
Permit me- said the Judge, loud enough to
call the attention Of all the company, among
whom was the fellow in question permit
me to tell you a story My father, when he
puppy, may say. Well, this puppy would
60 out every moonlight night and bark at
the moon for hours together
Here the Judge paused, as if he had done
with the story.
We'll, well, what of it? exclaimed half
dozen of the audience at once.
ooh! Notwithstanding whatever; the
moon kept right on, Just as If nothing had
happened"
The humor of this story is not impaired
by better knowledge Of the parties. In
this case, truth, if not stranger as Byron
says, is better than fiction. The young at
torney alluded to, was not an 'impertinent
fellow but young gentleman of polite ed
ucation, who understood his profession thor
oughy as a science, and has since become
leading member of the Bar of that State, a
Judge of the Supreme Court, and is now
Senator Of the United States, Hon S. 5.
PHELPS, whose speech ON the subject of the
Tariff during the late discussions, was one
of the best delivered during the debates He
possesses talents of remarkable order, and
has never yet assumed the position in the
Senate to which he is entited-owing, per-
haps, TO an habitual Discrimination for poiti-
cal controversy. His powers of analysis,
searching logic. and wit, both humorous and
sarcastic, are combined in such proportions
as to render him one of the very hardest Gus
toners in debate that gentleman could fall
in with, and to these are added the adyanta-
ges of a majestic and singularly handsome
person. He possesses a naturally irritable
temperament, and has won his public hon
ors, by mere force Of genius, without any of
the facticous aids of party organization. In
logical and substantial argument he is equal
to any man; while in personal retort either
humorous or vindictive, the writer, who has
often witnessed his efforts at the bar, never
saw him meet an antagonist who would not
escape from the house rather than endure
personal reply, ifone had been provoked
Judge DIN, on the other hand, was man
of strong good sense, unaided by education,
Astounding in humor and anecdote, who al
ways dealt his blows in the shape Of stories
or parallels like the one above. With
clear perception of right, a masculine lore
of justice, and singularly retentive memo
ny, he was a pretty sure match for any COM
petitor. He was farmer-weighed up
wards of three hundred pounds, so fat as to
be unwieldy, entirely without professional
education, and but very limited one in.the
simplest English branches. He improved
himself wonderfully by reading aDd obser-
walton, and after occupying a seat in the
Legislature for many years, was placed on
the Supreme Bench. He occupied this po-
sitlon for long time with credit, during the
early history of the State. AS a matter of
course, however, he was obliged to rely up
on his sense of right and perception of JUS
tice, without much regard to strict rules of
law, of which he could possibly know but
little. Modest enough in his pretensions,
his strong judgment and fertile humor al
ways made him an oracle for the people, and
drew around him ready crowd, as we'll ed
ucated as uneducated, for the benefits of his
advice and the pleasure Of his conversation.
He was, to the politics of Vermont, what
Burns was to the literature Of Scotland-as
Judge his good sense was seldom question
ed, his purity never. 1t was on the Bench,
in the zenith of his glory, that young Phelps
first encountered him. Fresh from the walls
of old Yale, and disciplined by nice and
thorough professional as well as classic ed
ucation, he and the Judge formed in many
respects natural antithesis. Starting from
some distinction founded in the early periods
of the common law, young Phelps would
draw chain of powerful logic, the falacy
of which, if fallacy it contained, would be so
adroitly concealed, and the different steps so
fortified by authority, that it was impossible
to resist him in good case, and difficult
and doubtful task to attempt it even in bad
lone The Judoe startinU from some trnth