The Portland daily press., 1886-07-31
IN MEMoRIAM.
Action Upon the Death of Judge
BarroWs.
The Memorial and Resolution of the
Cumberland Bar.


Cumberland Bar.
Exercises Before the Supreme Court
Yesterday.
meeting of the Cumberland Bar held
at half past two yesterday afternoon, the re-
port of the committee on resolutions on the
death of Judge William G. Barrows, was
presented by Judge Cleaves, chairman of the
committee and unanimously adopted The
meeting then adjourned to the Supreme
Court room where the full Bench was in ses-
sion. President S. G. Strout of the Cumber-
land Bar then spoke as follows:
Nav it please the Court,-It has
become my painful duty to announce to
YOUR Honors that since your last session in
this county William G. Barrows, for many
wears your associate upon this bench, has
deceased.
His character as a man was pure and above
reproach; his ability aad learning as lawyer
and judge were of that high quality that always
commanded the respect and commentator OF
the bar and the community.
Associated with the eminent judges who
have adorned the bench of Maine, he was in
all respects their peer; while at the bar we
esteemed and loved him, and his career upon
the bench increased our regard.
Simple in his tastes, just and well balanced
in mind. ,yarm hearted, but not impulsive,
modest almost to a fault, to his own merit
he was good judge on whom suitors could
safely rely for fair and impartial determina-
ton of their rights, according to law The
members of the bar of Maine, who have known
him long aud well, will cherish his memory.
70
preciate him from his able opinions contained
in our reports.
AS "a fitting tribute to his memory, the bar
of this county, in which Judge Barrows for
many wears had his home, have adopted appro-
pirate resolutions, and charged Judge Cleaves
with the duty of presenting them to this court,
which he will now do.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Strouts remarks
Judge Nathan Cleaves, chairman of the COM
mittee on resolutions, addressed the court as
follows:
Nav it please your Honors,-The relations
which Judge Barrows sustained for so many
wears towards the bar of the State and the
court over which you arenow presiding, render
it highly appropriate that you should join with
us in paying just public tribute to his memory.
1t is perhaps not generally known that in
early childhood, upon the decease of his
father, he was adopted by his uncle, the Rev.
Joseph Palmer Fessenden, of Bridgton, Maine.
man he was to all the country dear,
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,
Nor e'er had changed nor wished 10 chanSe MS
place.
In the quiet picturesque village of South
Bridgton at the modest home of his uncle our
deceased brother passed his youth. His prep
aration for college was largely under the per-
sonal instruction of this cultured and eloquent
"yillage preacher who paid with willing hand
the expenses of the college course of his
adopted son, who graduated at Bowdoin col
lege in 1889, and his alma mater somewhat
tardily bestowed upon him, few years ago,
the degree of Doctor of Laws. He pursued his
professional studies in Portland, with his
uncle, General Samuel Fessenden, whose name
and fame are known throughout New England.
The story of his subsequent life l leave for
Others to tell in fitting terms, having of neces-
sity, but briefly alluded to it in the memorial
which now have the honor TO present.
Judge Cleaves then read the following
memorial and resolution:
William Griswold Barrows is dead: and the
members of the Bar of the County of Cumber-
land with a deep sense of personal bereaye-
ment desire to express in enduring form, their
high estimate of his life and labors, and to
commend his excellent example to those who
follow them.
His natural love of knowledge was quicken
ed and encouraged in his early years by for
tunate family and social influences, and he
came to the practice of his profession with
mind well grounded in fundamental legal prin-
ciples, and enriched with the fruits of diligent
classical and general study.
In his practice at the bar he acquired an un-
questioned reputation for faithfulness, in
tegriry and accurate learning, and gained the
confidence and respect of his associates, the
courts, and the community in which he lived.
He was elected Judge of Probate for the
County of Cumberland in 1856, and most ac-
ceptably performed the duties of that office.
until 1868, when he was appointed an As
sociate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court
of the State. For twenty one years he was
distinguished and honored member of this
court.
He brought to the administration of his
high judicial trust sleepless conscience, an
absolute rectitude of purpose, an almost in
tuitive perception of right and wrong, and a
resolute determination to apply the principles
of law to the rights of men, with unerring
Justice. AS was said of one of the Chief JUS
tees of England, ''He seemed to love justice as
his life, and the laws as his inheritance, and
acted as if he remembered whose image and
commission he BORE and to whom he was ac-
countable for the equity of his DEGREES"
His judicial opinions extending from volume
fifty to volume seventy-seven of the Maine
Reports, are models of sound judicial thought
and Judgment, expressed in the choicest and
clearest language. They will always be held
in high estimation by the jurist, and regarded
with admiration by the scholar. 81 monw
,ent,ta q,taeriS. circun,spice suam cttan ct saas
Iabores.
While the printed reports of this court
abundantly attest the fulness of his learning,
the correctness of his taste, his eminent ability
and untiring patience and industry, his asso-
ciates and contemporaries will remember the
kindness of his heart, his ready sympathy, and
faithful friendship, his pure life and Christian
virtues, and perpetuate them with grateful
admiration, in this brief testimonial of his life
and character
ResoEred, That this tribute of respect in
memory of our deceased brother, be presented
at the Law term of the Supreme Judicial
| court, now in session, at Portland with re-
quest that the same be entered upon its
records
Weston Thompson, Esq, of Brunswick, of
the committee on resolutions, followed Judge
| Cleaves with the following remarks:
Nav it please the court,-Our common grief
| has been made easier by the several griefs that
| we have borne before. Some of us have been
so bereft that the treasures OF our nope ana
memory had become the same; and yet SO
blest that the heaven of our longing will suffice
us if it but restore what has been given to us
here. When they depart whose presence made
us wish that earthly life might never end,
voices unheard by our dull sense before begin
to say that waiting love shall have its own
again. The recollection of past happiness
| pleads with us then, until ingratitude becomes
| thanksgiving. Even from distant Galilee comes
| greeting. "Be Of good cheer-it is l."
Therefore, now to those who have been so
afflicted and so consoled, it is cause for exulta-
ton as we'll as for mourning, that our late
| companion, leal and true-illustrious and
| long loved, has left the world. We should be
willing to accept his burden that he may be
| relieved of it; to do without his presence for
a season that he may be with those that neither
| lose, nor mourn, nor say farewell.
| 1t seems quite certain that while he was
member of this court, his days passed pleasant
| ". He had honest pride in the judicial office.
| He had not the uneasiness of political
ambition. He must have had that happiness.
which attends the doing well of any work.
with the advantage of his vast and profound
| learning in the law and beyond it. of his