The Portland daily press., 1889-05-15
JUDGE GODDARD.
Memorial Exercises In the Supreme
Court.


Yesterday morning the exercises in men,
ory of the late Judge G. w. Goddard were
held at the Supreme Judicial Courtroom,
Judges Virgin and Haskell on the bench.
There was a large attendance Of members.
Hon. S. G. Strout announced to the Court
the death of Judge Goddard in fitting terms,
and was followed by Judge Waterman. who
reviewed the career Of the deceased
and presented these resolutions, which
had been unanimously adopted by the Bar:
Resolred That by the death of Hon. Charles
W. Goddard this Bar has lost member CT great
learning and ability, OF extraordinary energy and
industry, and of untiring devotion 70 the claims
of his profession while in the active practice or
the official administration Of the law; one whose
integrity, conscientious fidelity and chiyalrous
courage In battling for the truth as he believed It,
whose utter lOathing OF shams, whose generous
tolerance of honest opinions, however different
from his own, and whose Implicit confidence In his
friends and strong, answering loyalty TO them,
were positive and conspicuous traits of his char
acter.
characterized by constant activity, infexible and
jealous fidelity TO the interests Of his clients and
uprightness and honorable conduct In his rela-
tlOns to the court and his brethren Of the bar Ii Is
due to his memory TO recall the fact that he also
filled numerous other important and honorable
Positions both in the service OF the State and of
Resolved, That remembering his earnest and
persistent efforts 20 establish the Superior Court
abors. as the first judge of that court, to make It
subserve the interests of justice. recognize his
wisdom and foresight as well as his administra-
tive capacity and accord TO him the honor OF lay
ing the foundation and inaugurating the practical
operation OF a court which has In an eminent de-
gree afforded to all Invoking its aid, fright and
Justice, freely and without sale, promptly and
without delay"
Resolred, That the court be requested to order
these resolutions to be spread upon its records
a tribute OF our respect for the memory OF our
deceased brother.
Hon. Charles F. Libby spoke in support Of
the resolutions, giving an admirable analysis
of the legal abilities Of the late jurist, and at
the conclusion of his remarks Judge Virgin
spoke as follows:
Sixteen years ago, on like occasion, Judge
Goddard, in his tribute to the memory of a
former member Of this bar, said: "To your
honor, as well as to myself. our deceased
brother was endeared by the ineffaceable mem
cries of college life, and am sure that, down
the three decades which have passed, come
only pleasant "reminiscences of our deceased
classmate" which sentiment nsutatis Bsutandis
Il might now well repeat with even more fer
vent sensbility.
For to- day am moved by still deeper
emotions, born not only of the serious refiec-
ton that, since the occasion mentioned, the
number of his surviving classmates has
dwindled from thirty to twenty, but of the
more agreeable and abiding recollection that
Judge Goddard's voluntary acts, much more
emphatically than any words he could have
uttered, free of all selfish considerations on
his part of particular benefits Heretofore re-
ceiyed or special favors thereafter expected,
convinced me that, in addition to the kindly
feelings inspired by forty years of uniformly
pleasant personal and professional relations,
including those years when both were at the
bar as well as those when my clients were
seeking their legal rights under his admins
tration Of the law and his under mine--and
even above and beyond the endearing ties
which have united his classmates and which
increase with the constant and more rapid de-
crease Of surviving members l was entitled
to call him my personal friend with all thereby
implied; for. as fate has finally decreed, TO his
active personal influence, more than TO that Of
any other one, are due this solemn official duty
and privilege of listening to your fitting
tributes Of respect for his memory, and of ex-
pressing my heartfelt concurrence in your lust
appreciation of his personal, professional and
official life and character.
On the 18th Of December last, he and four
"ineffaceable memories" to which he formerly
alluded and which so strongly abided with
him, attended in a neighboring State the
obsequies Of the twenty eighth deceased mem
Der ofhis class Of 40 members who were eradu (.
ated forty-6ye years ago. And although that
occasion naturally so quickened the common
place reflection "all must die" into the sharper
personal consciousness al must die and soou
that he and his companions might, for the
time, seem to be individually waiting beside
the silent sea the mufhed oar" vet he or thew
then little thought that the "snares of death
were so close about him, that his glass was
so nearly run out, and that ere
the first spring-tide should unfold
the flowers just planted on the new made
grave, his "bright spirit''-as he was fittingly
denominated by his congenial editorial friend
who so soon followed him-would be the very
next to swell the majority of those classmates
whose "mortal had put on Immortality"
Although he has left such rich record of q
well filled past, the brief time appropriate to
such an occasion forbids any attempt to an
alyze character so rare and peculiar in its
combinations; therefore briefly notice but !
few of his prominent tiaits. repeating what has
already been better said.
Judge Goddard's manhood was but his col
lege boyhood continued and matured. His
distinguished collegiate scholarship, won by
assiduous and indefatigable study was to the
qualification Of himself and mates, rewarded
with the salutatory at commencement He did
not, however, master the curriculum for the
mere sake of rank, fattering himself with the
apparently quite common erroneous notion
that, when high collegiate honors are earned
and secured, life's real labors are at an end and
that all the desirable honors of the sworld':
wild hubbub" lay within his easy reach and
were to be had for the mere asking. On the
contrary, he had an Unsuitable thirst for knowl-
edge in whatever field to be found, and with
characteristic vigor and persistency he sought
her for her own sake, as well as a means to
high and noble ends. And l verify believe that,
had his after college life been cast among
those with whom Ignorance is bliss and its
folly to be wise" he, unaffected by environ
ments, would have striven with the same tire
less zeal and industry which characterized
every day of his life, to widen and deepen the
scope of his understanding, to comprehend i'm :
portant public and private interests of his day
and generation, TO discover and contriye the
best means and methods for eliminating the
evil and accomplishing the greatest good of all
and thereby to make the world and all therein
the better for his having lived in it. And who
can say that his aspirations were altogether
fruitless and that the impress which his posi-
tive individuality has left upon the people d
this State has not been for goods
He read law in the office of learned LAWYER,
as well as in the university. And when b,
came to apply it to the affairs Of men, he as.
siduously studied its history, growth, adapta.
ton to new conditions and dug among III
foundation reasons which alone afford "the
inside view of the law He loved his Iprofes.
sion and practiced il successfully for some years
having been leading counsel in several cases
Of importance. He was active in establishing
the superior court and administered the law
on its bench for nearly one term to the general
satisfaction of its suitors if not to his own