The herald., 1897-01-17
YS9 S9$SS $$ss y vsSSSSSS
n y,
Z PIONEER OHIO LAWYERS :;
xA&AAAA4&A4@A@AAAA&&A4AAAs
BY AN OLD LAWYER

1.-THE dead alone are honor'd and alone
Recorded still;-our destinies obscure
Contrast the glories of our ancestors;
Our present life leaves but the past entire
And deep the quiet around memory
-Cornne.
AT the commencement Of the present
century Ohio was the farthest destina-
tion--the extreme limit--the Ultima
Thule-of that vast tide of immigration
that poured over the Alleghenies from
the east to the west.
Jf stranger seventy years ago had
visited the interior of Ohio, he might
have found a village just springing up,
consisting OF few struggling huts and
clapboarded houses. 1t was situated in
the heart Of the richest valley that the
sun ever shone upon, and not far from
the confluence where two streams come
together. The country around was
heavily timbered; the sycamore and, cot
tonwoood aboundad, ami the soil was
covered with vegetation ofalmost trop-
ical luxuriance. Now where costly resi-
0IanceS stand, on the same lots the deer
and wild turkey were hunted and killed.
If the same stranger had been curious,
he might, probably, as he passed along
what was called the street. had his at
tention attracted by two wooden signs,
got UP somewhat in the style of art Of
our chief magistrates sign in Tennes-
see. Those signs informed the public
that Michael Baldwin and William
Creighton were ready to assist any un-
fortunate gentleman who was weary
anG heavy laden, and whose nights had
been invaded and trampled on; and that,
for a reasonable compensation, any one
might have and enjoy the luxury of
lawsuit
THESE two young men had followed
the tide of immigra tion and taken up
their abode in this rising village. They
came from different states of the union,
and which states differed not more
widely in geographical distance and lat
itude than in the habits and peculiar
modes of thought of the people of each
state. They brought with them to their
new homes each GOOD education-lib-
eral culture-a certificate to practice
law-and in their saddle bags each a
copy of Blackstone-that wonderful
book, whose pure English style and
clearness of method extorted admdra-
ton from EnglanHs greatest orator, Mr..
Fox. They were as unlike each other
as the states were from whence they
came. Yet the very points of difference
between them seenr-as it often does
to have ripened their intercourse into
lasting friendship. Rivals they could
not be, for they had a monopoly of the
law to themselves. If client employed
one OF them, the other party was sure to
employ the other, for what client ever
went to law without lawyer, If there
"is law Or lawyers in all Spain.'
Neither were they representative men
of the sections Of the country they came
from. We are apt to associate the idea
of Connecticut man with an individual
cool, wary, circumspect and shrewd-
one that looked upon the world as one of
Shakespeare's characters did: The
world is mine oyster. which I with my
knife will open" In a, word, that he
measures the pith Of the enterprise by
the amount of the profit thatdt will yield
Now, Mr.. Baldwin did not fill this bill
in any particular-wild, reckless, i'm
provident, overfiowing with genius-of
joyous, animal spirits, and, with mouth
full of common sense on every subject
We are apt to associate with native
Virginian an outspoken impulsive man.
who carries his heart upon his sleeve"
and who feels-excusably, too-immense
partiahty for the Mother of Presi-
dents" Now, Mr.. Creighton but family
resembled this, as he was mild and tag