Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-06-02
PROUD OF SACRAMENTO.
"Bystander" Comments on the Bar and
Memorial Day Ceremonies.

Memorial Day Ceremonies.
There are a legion of reasons why !
always speak with pride of my residence
in Sacramento. The intelligence, industry
and hospitality of the people at large; the
generous impulses, refinement and tone Of
our wealth classes, furnish to any one who
is decent, and who can appreciate enter
tainment that is elevating and refined,
opportunities to become acquainted with
men and women occupying the very
highest position in modern accomplish
ments and intellectual attainments.
There are in Sacramento social, literary
and scientific circles, the association of
which promotes literary and educational
advancement in degree equal to any city
in the United States. Our city to-day oc-
cupies as high plane of intelligence, re-
tinement and culture as any city in the
United States.
One of the many reasons upon which
my pride in Sacramento is founded exists
in my admiration of the Bar of Sacra-
mento, in the past and present Who is
it but that cherishes the memory of Henry
Edgerton He who was the foremost of
them all. In logic he was clear and con-
else, in grace superb, in force terrible, in
eloquence supreme. He stood before the
Court, jury, or on the platform, and
reached the very zenith of power few men
have to sway the passions, impulses and
judgment of their fellow-men. The
greatest efforts of the most successful por-
tiOn of his career were made while he was
n ba,. of baS 70 Do,
In n. Greene Curtis he had peer. The
genius of Henry Edgerton flashed before
mems eyes, dazzled, stunned and left them
in amazement. The power of n Greene
Curtis lies in soft and smooth restraining
influences, and men follow him as children
follow music, because ''its nice"
The Supreme Chief Justice of this State
was taken from the Sacramento bar. Our
dear old Judge Mcfarland is his Associate,
and as Attorney General of the State A. L..
Hart has made name and fame for him
self, as he sustained the reputation we en-
JOY through the illustrious careers of Ed
gerton and Curtis.
Judges benson and Catlin and Grove L.
johnson are known in every Court in the
State as counselors, occupying positions Of
enviable distinction, and no names are
more frequently seen than theirs in con-
nection with important cases throughout
the State
Taylor & Holl have a practice which
each year brings in a small fortune, while
Chauncey Dunn, Matt F. johnson, Ryan,
Martin and Charley Jones are all promi-
nent men, whose practice alone proves the
value the people are placing on their
services.
"Devlin on Deeds" is standard authority
in every Court of justice in the State.
Elwood Bruner, our District Attorney, is
acknowledged to be one of the best crimi-
nal lawyers in California; while among
the younger members Of the bar there is
material, so the old ones say, that will
some day shine with no less splendor and
fame than those | have mentioned.
If ever there was a Just and good and
noble Judge, it is John w. Armstrong.
The younger members of the bar have in
him friend, and the older ones respect
and honor him because of his untiring eff
forts to accommodate and please and give
them Justice. No one works harder, does
more or has fewer cases reversed in the
Supreme Court than he.
Judge Van Fleet stands (or rather sits)
with as clear, pure, bright and grand
record as any iurist within the State of
California. | am not much of proguos-
ticator, but let me Just here remark, as the
people of this State have twice knocked at
the door of the Sacramento bar and asked
for Beatty and Mcfarland, so will they
some day for the same reason knock and
ask us to give them Van Fleet. We have
no apologies to make for the members of
the Sacramento bar
In a manner becoming the dignity and
gratitude of a grateful nation, and at
time when nature could contribute its
beautiful offerings to the sacred memory of
an American soldier, the people of the
United States assembled en- masse last
Thursday with solemn pride and saddened
hearts to not only decorate the graves
with flowers, but to add fresh leaves to
memorys garland and keep the greatness
of their names, the greatness of their
deeds, fresh in the minds of the people.
No man or woman Of the present genera
tion should forget the debt of gratitude
We owe them. Let their names and the
memory Of their deeds pass on to our
children's children, that they may know
and feel that the greatest heritage of
American citizenship is the simple spot
that marks the resting place of an Amer
lean soldier
Decoration Day is indeed a most ap-
propriate ceremony. There can be no
neglect, for while we march with muffled
drum, withsa slow and saddened step, and
flowers in profusion bedeck the graves of
those we love, placed there by tender
hands, and chosen for their beauty and
perfume, there are lonely graves away
in some deserted, lonely battlefield over
which the wild flowers unfold their bios
SONS as tenderly devoutly as if they knew
the sacred memory they are so fondly
Yelled in a cloud of fragrance sweet,
great concourse moves up the street
Laden with flowers of the richest hue
To place on the graves OF the Boys in Blue.
'Tis evening; and the graveyard seems
More like a scene of children's dreams
one solid mass of garden flowers
Makes the scene more grand than fairy bowers
In lonely field there's another grave,
With no tears. no flowers, no music: save
doves low moan at the lonely spot,
And one little flower: "A forget-me not"
1t is with qualification that | notice on
these occasions, when tears and flowers are
mingled over the graves of the boys in
blue-yfoirerS and tears are mingled over
the graves of those in gray. 1t is proper,
it Is humane, and a flower placed on the
grave of a Federal soldier will lose none of
its fragrance and perfume.
BYSTANDER
For the SUNDAY UNION.
THE VALLEY OF CAPAY