The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-05-02
The Lnte Edward w, Fox.

day afternoon, Clarence Hale, ESQ, from the
committee appointed to prepare resolutions on
the death of the late Edward W. Fox, address,
ed the court as follows:
May it please the Comt,-It becomes my duty
to announce to the Court the death of Edward
w. Fox, one of the most highly esteemed and
beloved brethren of our Association, respect
ed and honOred advocate at this bar. 1t is al
ways sad and solemn thing to call the atten-
tloD of the Court to the hand of death. II is
especially solemn and sad when that hand has
fallen upon one in the vigOr OF his professional
career, and when the great work of strong,
true life seems to our imperfect vision to nave
been but just begun. All the hopes and prom
Use of bright future were before Mr.. Fox, all
the rewards that await a sound and unremit-
ting student as well as a skillful and accom-
plished advocate. He has been taken from all
| these hopes and promises from tie friends and
| the family which his earnest and manly nature
| made doubly dear to him. We may not ques-
| ton or say, Why? but from his memory ana
example we may build a monument that shall
| he broad and deep-laid, and white and perfect
1 move the following resolutions:
Resolved That the Cumberland Bar have heard
with the deepest regret the death of esteemed
brother, Edward w. Fox, an honored counsellor OF
this court.
fast uprightness, the kindness and courtesy that
always marked his intercourse with his brethren at
the Bar and the faithful love of truth which inspired
his life In our sadness at his loss we bear also
respectful pride in his manly straightforward career
citizen and lawyer, in his legal ability, his
eminent love and fitness for his profession the purity
of lis life and the earnestness of his character.
ReSoIved, That present these resolutions to the
Supreme Judicial Court, and request that they be
spread upon It's records
County Attorney Libby, in speech, second
ed the resolutions, delivered a touching eulogy
| on the character of the deceased, and was ap-
propriately followed by Hon. W. L. Putnam,
Hon. Nathan Webb, and T. Fl. Haskell, Esq.
Judge Barrows responded in the following
fitting remarks:
honor the strong acknowledgements which
goes so far to make of the the members of our
profession one family. l know no other body
of men held together by no stronger bond
than that of a common pursuit in life, among
whom it has such force. In good hap ard
sorrow, in life and in death, worthy and up
right member of the Bar always has the
warm and ready sympathy and the unfeigned
regard of those with whom he has contended
here in honorable rivalry.
am proud to say that SO far as my observa-
ton extends, there is no profession which
shows less trace of the workings of envy or
malice than ours-none in which there is more
hearty good will and brotherly kindness No
bitterness is epgendered by the conflicts in
which its members engage here that is sufficient
to blind them to the sterling qualities of each
other.
So let it always be; let us never forget that
the strife in which we mix has no other
legitimate object but the triumph of truth and
justice and right, and that he best performs his
whole duty to his clients as well as to the
court, and the community in which he lives,
who keeps his eye single to that object, who
''never Willingly or willingly promotes any
false groundless or unlawful suit or gives aid
or consent to the same" Such an one was he
to whose steadfast uprightness and manly
qualities your resolutions bear witness.
1 know no higher praise that can be accorded
to any counsellor, old or young, than that
which is embodied in the resolutions whi3 h you
have presented and the remarks by which they
have been accompanied.
In what you here propose to enter upon the
records as tribute well merited by Edward
w. Fox entirely concur.
To such an one
"There is no death! What seems so is transition.
This life of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portal we call DEATH
And the record of his life here and of the
esteem in which he was held we should take
pains TO preserve.
A due discrimination is to be used in these
matters.
We pass over in silence and in sorrow the
record of any man who is conspicuous only for
talents perverted, high aims abandoned, life
wasted or misused, and power exercised for
mischief. or selfish qualification, while we
point with honest pride to the man, true to his
answered LIES great end
Seneca wisely says: "The comfort of having
a friend may be taken away but not that Of
having had one. As there is sharpness in
some fruits, and bitterness in some wines, so
there is mixture in the remembrance of our
friends, where the loss of their company is mti-
gated by the contemplation of their virtues.
Let me rather fortify myself thereby. against
death and all inevitable casualties and necessi-
ties. Let me fully understand that the good of
life does not consist in the length, but in the use
of it." Shall we say of him whose young life
was quenched go suddenrp
"His leaf has persisted in the green
And while we breathe beneath the sun
The world which credits what is done
Is cold to all that might have been!
eThe memory of the withered leaf
In endless time is scarce more brief
Than of the garnered autumn sheaf."
1t is almost three hundred years since that
up his life, aged not quite'32. And the virtues
which have brought his name down to us are the
same that we here tenderly ascribe to our de-
ceased friend.
By the resolutions which you have passed,
you have in some sort coupled, on the records
of this term, with the name of the late venera-
| BILE Chief Justice, that of this much esteemed
| and beloved young brother, whose span of
earthly existence scarcely numbered one-thrd
| as many years, but whose brief career gave
| large promise of future usefulness
Born and brought up in this city, graduated
at Harvard College, well read in his profession,
his fine talents, and unwearied application, and
above all the rectitude of his purposes and his
| life, pointed him out as one to whom the adj
ministration of justice would in all probability
at no distant day be con6ded.
His arguments upon questions of law always
showed careful study, a broad and clear COM
prehension of the legal principles involved, and
a steady determination to conduct himself
with all good fidelity as well to the courts as
| to his clients"
Not through any fault of his, 'failed the fair
promise of bis early day." His untimely death
has blasted the high hopes of his friends and
the community.
We mourn his loss, and cherish his memory,
| and our warmest sympathy goes forth to his be.
| reaved family and kindred.
At the close of the above remarks the Court
| adjourned.