Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1890-04-10
AN ELOQUENT TRIBUTE.
Feeling Remarks on the Death of the Late
Huge NJ. Lewis in the. District Court.

bu6 udGS duu uOul oSb 1Ol Iho PIC
sentation of the resolution
in the district court which
were adopted several day.
ago by the Washington county bal
association on the death of Hugh NJ
Lewis, clerk of the county court
There was quite large number O
citizens, outside of the jurors, wit
nesses and fair sprinkling of ladies
The resolutions were presented by
W. W. Searcy, Esq. who, in pre-
senting them, made the following
chaste, appropriate, and touching
remarks:
May it please the court, it is 6
practice sanctioned by long usage
and which in itself is right and
proper, when an officer of the courts
eminent for his attainments and
worthy has been cut off by the hand
of death, for the members of the ban
to place upon the records of the
court some enduring memorial of es.
TEEN in which he was
held while living. In con-
formity with this usage 1 appear
this morning to present to this court
the resolutions adopted by a meet
ing of the bar of Washington coun-
ty, held on the 18th day of March,
1890, in relation to the death OF
Hugh M. Lewis, for the past four
teen years county clerk of Wash
ington county. These resolutions
are not, however, a mere desire to
conform to a nero custom: their
adoption was not intended to be an
empty and unmeaning ceremony,
but unless L am greatly deceived in
those who participated in said meet
ing, they speak impossible emotions
of stricken hearts, that felt and ap-
preciated the loss which had been
sustained by the immediate family
of the deceased, by his friends and
the country at large. Hugh NJ.
Lewis was born in Brennan June
19, 1916, where he resided until the
breaking out of the war between the
states, when as mere lad, fired by a
patriotic love for his native state, he
joined the famous Green's Bre-
gade," went to the front and did
battle in behalf of his country. The
war over and all save honor and true
manhood lost, he returned to the
home of his childhood to assist in
rebuilding the waste places and to
help his people through the trying
day of reconstruction. With his
back turned upon the dark days of
the past, and with hope and face set
to the future, he struggled manful-
ly, and as reward was elected
county clerk of Washington county
in FEBRUARY 1876 to which position
he was reelected at each ensueing
election since that time. He famil-
iarized himself SO thoroughly with
the duties of his office and was so
clever and accommodating to all,
that the people had come to believe
that as an officer he was indispensi-
Bile. As man he was brave, frank
and honest. As a FREUD he was
warm, sympathetic and true. In
fact, in all of the relations of life
in which he was called upon to
act, whether as a citizen, soldier,
or officer of this county, whether
as husband, brother or friend,
Whether in public or private life, he
has left an honorable record, and so
conducted himself that to know him
was to love him. The amenities of
his manner, and the unobtrusiveness
of his character, added to a native
goodness of heart, endeared him to
all and to none more than those who
had official business with him. Such
is the character accorded by those
who knew him best, to Hugh NJ.
Lewis; a name that will live in this
community as long as true manhood
is appreciated. Death is at all times
an unwelcome messenger, but when
he overtakes old age, bending under
the accumulated weight of years and
cares, "wrinkled and white with
hoary hairs" we are consoled by the
thought that life's mission has been
fulfilled and that the 'treaper only
plucks the ears that are ripe" When |
he takes away youth in the morning
of life, there is also some consola-
ton, because the attachments are
yet uniformed, the usefulness of its
being not yet appreciated But
when he strikes down man in the
full vigor of manhood, in the full
meridian of his usefulness, when he
has just entered upon the realization
o his youthful dreams, when he has
become the centre of clustering af-
tections, it is then that the hearts of
surviving friends are left desolate in
deed, unless there is consolation to
be had in the beautiful lines of the
poet.
LET angels come at early morn
When the day is Just begun,
Or come at the evenings close-A man
Dies not till his work is done.
Let his name be sung in marble halls
By fame in her loudest tone,
Or let him dwell in the paupers hut
Uncared for and alone.
Or let him strive in the wropo TO hide