Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-07-21
A GLOWING
Extract from . Report Of . Ls4e Bar
Meeting.

A copy of the printed proceeding Of a bar
meeting, held to take action on the death OF
the late Junius Z. Greene, has Just been re-
ceived. II contains the following glowing
tribute, paid by Judge Greer:
MAY II PLEASE THE CoURT: Last Satur-
day / was appointed by the Chairman of the
bar meeting 10 present these OF
resp ct 20 the memory Of Junius T. Greene.
10 asking that they be spread on the minutes
OF this court, / desire TO add q few words OF
commeudstion of my dead friend. / knew
him from The time be first became a student
Of law in this place until q few months since,
when his feeble health drove him from The
practice. As 1 speak now, two pictures OF
him rise 10 my memory. In the first, / see
q tall, seli formed student bending day after
day over his books, in the most dilligent
study 1 ever Witnessed. About him is every
thing 10 betoken an earnest, resolute spirit,
for whose ambition there is DO limit
in the honorable career that is dswning.
Bot = few years pass away, and /
see again the same form, bowed now and
bent, as with age. 1 see the frosted hair be-
tokenipg the early approach Of that eternal
and frozen silence which has now fallen upon
him. / hear the husky voice which comes
with such labor, and / note the expectanf,
waiting and tired leek which 90 mourpfuliy
tells me-we are soon to part. His lite
seemed to me like a q sme of q candle set in
a window, throwing its light on all about it.
When first we noticed the wavering OF the
q M, we only thought of it as the gentle
bres ze Of summer blowing upou it. Alasi it
wss but a little time until we realized this
wavering was because Gods breath was upon
him, and the NJ sster was calling his creature.
And SO the q ,me has gone out, and the
word Is the darker for The want OF one spirit
Who inspired TO better and pobler things.
Possessed of a wonderful love for books, be
never lost sight of the practical uses OF lite,
and never became a mere sbstractioulst Eo-
dowed with keen and quick insight into
the motives of men, he easily detected sham
and pretense, but never degenerated into
suspicIousness or cunning. Having a great
ambition to be known amoog the
great men of the earth, he never aspired to
| rise through sacrificing others or through
any scheming policy of his own. With q
hasty temper and fiery courage, his generosi.
~ repaired any evil into which he was led
ny the one, and his sense of justice was 30
large it restrained the other. His sense OF
humor WAS of the keenest, but never descend
ed isto coarseness. Broad, philosophical and
inquiriug in his mind, be never became q
thtorist, a skeptic or a doubter. Having q q
intense individuality and an indomitable
will, he was ready to listen to the advice OF
l OlutI5, u y ACGoiy u NC W
in the wrong, surrende. his own viesp. The
d~escendsnt of a lopg line Of distinguished O
css,ry, he asked only in his associates what
| they we're, not what their fathers had been.
| With dauntlsss, nervous energy, he would
| coolly and dispassionately enter upon any
work he had marked out to do. With q
womanly purity of TASTE and morals, he had
a healthy kinship with men. Both sexes
seem to rave met in him-each upon an
equal ground. As a lawyer, he was learned
in what the books had to tell, but always
kept legal speculation and subtlety
down by the anchor Of common
sense. An earnest speaker, he never wan
dered from the legal status the case argued
held. Just enough 10 his mind to see there
are two sides IN almost every suit, he wsi
jealous enough to see that his client was pre-.
sented fully aud ably to the court. 10 him
was blended judicial impsrtialiIy and Z al
Qua advocacy. Coming 10 the bar at twenty
three, he was made attorney general Of the
B rtle't Court in four years thereafter
Seized with consumption, he was forced from
the practice in six years after his career had
begun, and at the early age of went mine
back among the mountains of his nativ.
North Carolina, with those whom he loveG
best about him, he sunk into that dreamles
, 81 Llness which the a~ncients wisely and gently
said was the twin brother OF sleep. With al
OF the characteristics / have mentioned, wha
wonder that those of us VINO knew him vel
looked forward to an acknowledgment of hi
greatness, in yet a few years, by his fellow
menl But just In the morn ng time of hi
life, while the sunshine of his promise wa
about him, he has passed over the river unt
The shadows OF the night time have fallen.