The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-06-29
with the water works, which they hope
can soon be added.

. Will lll0 WILcI WOlhS, WIllCu Lucy nope
can soon be added.
The County Board of Commissioners
in turning over the building for the use
for which it was erected, express the
hope that it may ever be in fact as we'll
as in name, a temple of justice; that
none but able, learned and conscientious
Judges may ever sit on the bench now so
we'll adorned by yourself; that the advo-
Gates who shall plead the cause of their
clients here may be actuated by the high
est motive of securing none but just and
right DEGREES and verdicts, and that none
may ever attempt by their eloquence to
"make the wrong appear the better rea-
son, to perplex and dash maturest coun-
SELL" that the witnesses who shall give
testimony on the stand may always tes-
tify to the truth, and that the jurors
shall be men controlled by q sense of
right and with desire to enforce the
right and to punish the wrong, and may
all who have business within these walls
know that here law is enforced, that
those who are in the right always pre-
vail and that evil doers are always con-
demned.
May the different county officers who
shall occupy the various court Offices
be competent and honest and reflect hon.
or upon themselves and the county.
With these expressions for the future
| take pleasure, sir, in turning over to
your Honor the keys of this building.
In accepting the keys, Judge Benet de-
liversd the following address:
Mn Learned Brother AS mem ber of
the judiciary OF South Carolina, accept
from you the keys of this new Court
House, and place them in the hands OF
the G ERIK of the Court with the hope, nay
the assurance, that in him and his sue
cessors in Office this beautiful building
will always find careful and watchful
custodian.
In due course of official duty it was
nv good fortune this year to be assigned
to hold the Summer Term OF the Court
in the Eighth Circuit, and / am truly
grateful that thus it has fallen to my lot
to preside on this auspicious occasion,
and TO aid in the dedication Of this new
temple of justice.
congratulate the town of Anderson
ON having in the middle OF its handsome
public square this noble pile, perpetual
delight t., the eye aud daily object les
sou in chirecture.
congratulate the County OF Anderson
ON possessing Court House worthy OF
the Count,-a County 30 long and 80
Justly hn.ored for her great prosperity,
iute.l,g-ncs aud political power. 4
| congratulate the County Supervisor
and the ouuty Board Of Com missioners
un be successful completion OF their
enlightened efforts to provide for their
.unly Court House not only adequate
To the growing needs OF this fiourishing
County, but in keeping with the spirit OF
the cultivated people OF this town, whose
hnt+ls and stores and banks and public
buildings and private residences are fast
transforming the town of Anderson into
nusotthe most beautiful cities of the State.
A too unitarian spirit with mistaken
views of economy might have contented
itself with erecting bare brick barn, its
four square walls devoid OF beauty and
\ various rooms unadorned and unlove
Nv, yet affording ample room and space
f,,r lhe transaction of all the work proper
to a Court House, and for the preservation
of public records Such Court House
buildings are not far to seek in this state,
things of ugliness, and eye-sores forever.
IL seems sometimes to be forgotten that
utility is not the be-all and the end-all OF
life: that there is room also for beauty.
He who makes the cotton boil, in His
wisdom makes also the tton-bloom,
and cotton fields bloom bonnily before
cs,tton bales are marketed. Wise 1t was,
therefore, and we'll done in the County
Board of Commissioners to determine
that the new Court House should not
simply be commodious and convenient
and suited to the uses for which 1t was
intended; but that 1t should also be
pleasant TO the eye, an ornament 10 the
iown, "a thing OF beauty" and "a Joy for
ever"
Here now it stands, a stately structure,
beautiful exceedingly, with graceful tur-
ret and lofty tower, quaint gable ana
ANTIQUE porch, building to be proud OF;
building that does honor to its architect
and builder; to the brain which conceived
and the hand which constructed 1t.
But while we stand and look and ad-
mire. memory cannot refrain from look
ing backward and thinking of the old
strncture that stood where this now
stands. Unlovely it must have been in
,ts youth, unsightly it became in its age.
The outside view revealed no line OF
beauty: the inside view was destitute OF
grace. Small, mean and squalid, its day
was done: 1t was time that it should be
demolished. And yet its demolition
was not without regret. l see before me
within the bar Of this spacious and beautl
ful Court Room gray haired counsellors
who must think of that old Court Room
with sadness and regret. For them how
many hallowed associations cluster
around that building whose place knows
it no more forever. Shabby were It's pre-
cincts and dusty were its purlieus, but
they cannot forget that 1t was the scene
vY their professional triumphs, the arena
of mianv hard-fought contest.
And for them the dingy old Court
Room is thronged with the shadowy
ghosts of the departed. dimly seen IN Inc
niists Of the past. And az figure after
fiuure appears within that old par, tney
seem to hear once more the SOUND OF
| voices that have long been still. Again
the hare discolored walls seem to rever-
berate with the eloqnence which helo tne
listening throng in thrall.
In that ghostly company they see sew,
eral venerable men who were eievateo
from the Anderson Bar TO the Juolclal
Bench; men whose learning ana uprlgnt,,
ness shed lustre on their profession ana
did honor to their position. They see
ono who praced the Speak er's chair in
Washington aud represented his country
abroad az minister at an imperial coCrt
they see others who for their countrys
sake left the mimic strifes of the Bar for
the bloody battles of the Civil War, some
of them never 10 return. Others they
see who filled up the measure OF law
ver,s hnsv lie and then rested from their
labors :, .,..
"All all are gone. the old familiar
faces" but the memory OF them haunts
,,,o ola Court Room. itself now only q