The Portland daily press., 1869-12-01

| The rooster must go at last! alter a con-
spicuous elevation of eighty-three years, it
has folded its wings and retired to private
life; it has rendered honorable service to this
community; it has presided over eminent
judges and lawyers and listened to the simple
melody and earnest prayers of the early and
oeVoted Methodists; and at last, sad, but hu-
man fate, it has been subjected, by the pro-
verbal ingratitude CT Republics, for no crime,
no negligence Of duty, to inhale, in its old
age, the noxious fumes of tallow chandlers
shop! "To what base uses do we come at last,
Horatio."
The building over which this venerable
cock so long roasted was erected in 1876. The
court room and lobbies occupied the whole OF
the second story; the first floor was an open
room, in which was originally stored the gal
lows, the pillory and the whipping post, all OF
which were used, as my own observation tes.
titles, for the first quarter of century after
the building was erected. But in that hum
BILE court room was displayed greater legal
talent then ever graced the more splendid
halls of its two successors. 1t was there
that the accomplished Chief Justice Dana
presided with a dignity unsurpassed. -
1t was there that his successor Parsons
pronounced those learned opinions which
crystalized the unsettled principles of our ju-
risprudence; and there the modest and wise
Sewall his successor, calmly heard the able
arguments at the bar and uttered his we'll
weighed decisions. 1t was there too that the
eloquent James Sullivan and Isaac Parker,
both as advocates and judges, gave new lustre
to the profession. In that unadorned room,
too, had sat the learned judges Sedgewick,
Paine, Bradbury, Thatcher, Strong and
Jackson, and listened to the arguments of the
graceful Solicitor Davis, of Symmes and Chase,
of Mellen and Whitman ard Orr, of Hop
kins, Longfellow and Emery; and last of the
brilliant train whose voices fingered in those
walls were Greenleaf and the elder Fessenden
and Daveis, who feshed their maiden swords
of logic and address within that humble
room. But these eminent lawyers and noble
men, the bright particular stars of our legal
ornament, have passed on in the great pro-
cession to that higher tribunal, over whose
grand assize presides a Judge of unerring
judgment, whose DEGREES, tempered by mercy,
never fail in execution; there ''they will hear
the bird of morning sing"
In 1916, the old court house was sold to
the Union society of Metho1ists and moved
to that part of Exchange street which was
then named Court street, to give place to the
brick court house erected on the same site.
This in its turn had to give place in 1858, by
the march of modern improvement, to the
splendid structure which now adorns the
place and does honor TO the city. In the
meantime the old wooden building, with its
belfry and rooster, served a turn in the min
istry, meet sequel to the forum, and for a
dozen years listened to the pious teachings of
good Father Taylor and his brethren in the
faith, until that prosperous denomination out
grew its humble dimensions and sought more
ample accommodations. The old building
then, like cast-off clothes, and without re-
gard to its sacred or secular associations, was,
in 1927, ::sold to Robert Hull, and sad des-
tiny, converted by him to the unsavory duties
of soap factory. ........-e
And "last scene that ends this strange,
eventful history is mere oblivion" and that
attractive bird which for so many years
spread its bright wings and ushered in the
morning of its day of splendor, as we'll
as of its humility, has stepped down
from its elevated position, and the places
which so long had known it will know it no
more forever.
"We build our castles proud and high, upon the
shining sand,
And Time, the wave comes creeping up to sweep
them from the strand" w.