The Portland daily press., 1886-07-31

whom he heartily despised or by the dullness
of the victims of that art, he always claimed
with apparently full confidence, that the de-
termination of the majority would be ulti-
mately just
He was by nature self reliant, and stranger
to fear. His allegiance was to justice, and
not to power. He did not quail in the pres
ence of majority He was willing TO be
alone for conscience sake. His standard OF
righteousness was not the actual doing OF any
man nor any party He judged by rule; not
as the world judged. He was of strong at
fectons; but his scorn of evil doing was so
intense, and his power of expressions was SO
great that unsound men were not easy in his
company, and all hypocrites were afraid OF
him.
Yet though as Judge and citizen, he would
not compromise with evil, he had compassion
for all but penal suffering, and often even for
that; womanly gentleness and sympathy which
those who met him only in the ways of public
business did not often see. In his house was
a most generous hospitality. Sad to say, there
was no child there; but he had that delight in
the company of children which men of great
learning often, if not usually show; and
strange as it may seem to some, they recog-
nized him as their fit companion.
When his worldly task was DONE and it was
-
shadow cana upon him, and he ceased to hear
the din of our life but when every other
sound was lost in silence, he still heard and
knew one voice-the one most welcome among
all the voices of the earth. So, for him, even
while he was yet among us, love had survived
sorrow And in the shadow, where haply, the
peace of God was brooding, he went away.
To this place, where we have been won't to
meet him, from which he is now absent forever
and ever we of the Cumberland Bar, united
by the memory of SO many OF the mighty and
true hearted that have gone, and now yet more
strongly bound together for his sake, have come
with these already fading garlands, our last
and all.
We that have seen him and are so soon to
die would gladly leave such tribute here that
he might be endeared to after times as he has
been to ours. We understand the vanity of
that desire. We do not know in what distant
age his personality, and even his now splendid
fame may be forgotten; but we believe the in
huence of his life will even then abide, strength
to the heavy laden and inspiration to those
who may not know from what pure source it
came, "until the day of Jesus Christ
Hon. Joseph w. Symonds, also one of the
committee on resolutions, then spoke asfollows; !;
The universal regret, with which Judge
Barrows retirement from the bench was re-
ceived, was followed only too quickly by the
depeer regret equally universal in this State,
upon the announcement of his death. That
he should have insisted upon withdrawing, at
the fullest maturity and vigor of his mental
powers, from his chosen field of judicial labor,
for which he was especially fitted, and where
his long experience gave peculiar value to his
services, was at the time the subject might
almost say of wonder as well as OF regret.
1t seemed strange that he should have reached
such a decision and the conviction arose in
our minds that he must have in view some
literary work, historical or otherwise, to
which he preferred to devote the leisure ofhis
later years, and that, in putting off the robes
of his profession he was only to reap the har-
vest which, with his scholarly tasts and habits.
he had planted in other fields than those of
the law.
But jim the light of the latter event, we can
seem to trace a connection, undisclosed before.
between his retirement from the bench and his
suddenly succeeding illness and death. We
find ourselves inclined to believe-I know not
whether it may be true or not, but one inclines
to believe-that some word of premonition ofthe
future, which others did not heed, had already
fallen upon his own ear, that some shadow of
the impending change was even then stretching
closely along his path, and that when he left
not believe that there was before him in this
world only the quickly gathering darkness.
He had given his life to the service of the
State; it was at best but brief respite at
evening that he reserved for himself; he had
given his life to the State and few men come
bringing to their native State costlier offer
ing than a life and service like his. After
years at the bar, after the period of valuable
services rendered in the discharge of the deli
cate and responsible duties of judge of probate
in this county, after twenty-one years OF
arduous labor upon the supreme bench, it is
not strange that it seemed good to him to with
draw from the cares and distractions of his pro-
fession to the calmness of contemplation and
the companionship of his books
He has acted well his part. AS judge at
sisi prius, he had made the most constant and
exacting demand upon himself in his attention
to the details of controverted cases. Many
men in this State who hold their exact legal
rights. neither more nor less, as the result of
complicated and difficult investigations, owe
them to the painstaking and self sacrificing
efforts of Judge Barrows, to his vigilance thar
walked, in court and out, during the trial of
cases before him, and to his patience that never
tagged. AS one of the law judges of the
State, for more than score of years, with
simple diligence and fidelity, with exact and
plined energy, with the application of all his
learning and ability, he devoted himself to his
work; and this remains, the record of his life,
the monument to his memory, fair page in
the history of this honored court. He has
made his work as jurist a part of the institu-
tions and laws which he helped to mould to
more and more perfect form, permanent as
xhe golden legacy which he has left to the
State of severe discussion, exact reasoning,
delicate illustration and application of legal
principles to the ordinary affairs of life. His
judicial opinions are the clear result Of
thorough reading and study, long and mature
reflection, and impartial judgment. They
show at once the fine mind and the full mas
tery of the subject.
He wrote with facility and clearness, and
with the scholars pen and adds his own name
as an authority for the close relation between
law and literature, for which from Cicero and
Pliny to our own day we have many prece-
dents. His style was suited to his subject, and
there were no careless lines. He worked in
the spirit of the saying of De Quincey's, that
in writing we cannot distinguish between
matter and manner, between style and sub
stance, that neither of them is capable of a sep
arate insulation, and that one might as well
attempt to say with regard to the earliest rays
of the dawn, show much of the beauty lay in
the heavenly uSnl WHICH cHdSeu away lHe
darkness, how much in the rosy color which
that light entangled."
There is another peculiarity of Judge Bar
rows's opinions. They seem to me in many
respects to present perfect picture of the man
himself There is a distinct flavor of his own
personality in them. Not only is this true of
the general tone of thought and reasoning. but
often one meets a single sentence which is a
striking expression of himself Measured and
slow as he was in his movements and in his
style of speaking, sure as he was to keep the
balance of his mind, he was still man of the
quickest sensibilities, and strong and intense
in his feelings. He hated sham or pretence,
and was shy of legal technicality or ic-
ton, unless he could make it
serve the present demands Of
Justice. 1 am not sure that he was wholly in
sympathy with all the tendencies of our insti-
tutions and our society. He was
thoroughly conservative. He liked
the old times, when men were content
to do less, and to do it better; to follow sin
gle pursuit which quietly and without ostenta-
ton absorbed lifetime, if only it left lasting
result; to write a sentence that the world
would remember rather than volume to ex-
cite or amuse the idle caprice of the hour; and
one need not go beyond his own opinions to
find severe structures upon the arrogance and
concet of our own times, But he did not