The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-11-29
A TRIBUTE TO JUDGE BLWELL,
FROM HIS OLD PASTOR.
Nh Dear Mr.. Editor:--

4
The word 4" old " in the remorseles
flight of time is to me now sterr
reality, but l use the term rather ir
reference to those days now long past
the days before the war, when YOU
beloved father was in the vigor of hi
manhood, when l was privileged t.
minister in Towanda to the congrega
ton of the Episcopal Church which
he attended. l also was young, ant
this was my first charge as Rector
And among the privileges of my life
upon which l look back with intense
satisfaction aad interest, an interest
which revolving years have in.
tensifed rather than diminished,
is the circumstance that my lot
was cast in Northern Pennsylvania to
minister in Towanda to that loving
and beloved congregation. l see
before me now the forms of Elwell,
Wilmot, Mercur, Adams, Baird and
Ward as they occupied their seats in
the old wooden building at the north
ern entrance of the town, and listened
attentively to the preachers words.
There were others of strong, and
marked personality. Overton, Patrick
and several to whom allusion is made
in the noble tribute to your fathers
memory in the paper which you sent
me, whom l had the privilege of
regarding as my personal friends.
Before the war the fires of political
animosity ragged fercely and To-
wanda, from the single fact of its
containing men of strong convictions
and conspicuous ability, fed the flame,
but the fires of controversy at least on
the old lines are burnt out and the
silence of the tomb broods over the
sepulchres of the dead giants.
There is something however which
does not die and which we willingly
will not let die-it is the memory of
the quiet virtues which made the
names Of Elwell and Mercur and
others so dear TO those who knew
them.
There are few things which 60 to
make up rounded character of noble
Judge besides legal attainments, strict
justice and keen discrimination these
are gentleness, kindness and goodness
-" the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit which is in the sight Of
God of great price" These are
things of which account will be taken
at that bar before which we all must
appear. These are the imperishable
gifts which live on as a precious legacy
to ones children, to district and to
nation when the hand has lost its
cunning. And these were the gifts
and graces which filled out the noble,
able, amiab.e character of Judge
Elwell. They seem like the golden
sheen of the setting sun at the close
of day in Indian summer as it lights
up the yellow corn and the ripened
fruit.
l could write much more, but
where the need1 To the bar of the
Judicial District over which he pre-
sided with SO much dignity for more
than quarter of a century he has
left an imperishable legacy. His
colleagues know his worth and they
have put on record their appreciation.
His name will be entered upon the roll
ofthose ptilanthropists who with Sydney
Smith in England have succeeded in
blotting out some of the terrible
penalties for slight offenses which
disgraced the penal code at the be-
ginning OF the century. The members
of this great commonwealth should
never forget his service to humanity
in his single handed effort, and com
plete success to abolish imprisonment
for debt And in these days of strikes
when labor and capital seem ever
ready to plunge into an unnatural
war, how invaluable the labors of such
a Judge as Elwell in 1871, who knew
no "respect of persons apart from
the simple merits of the case. And
last but by no means least now tha,
the summing up is FLED in the Cour,
Of last Appeal, wha. memory and
what a motive he has left to hi:
bereaved family, to surrowing friends
to that dear congregation among
whom he worshipped, to his owr
church, TO Christians of every name
to those who are strangers and alien,
to the love of Christ, to the commu
nifty generally, to one and all, to follow
him as he followed his Lord.
Phlla. Nov. as, 1895.
BENZ. J. DOUGLASS,
Former Pastor Christ Church Towand: