Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-04-28

excellence become Lne rOydl ihmlhSo VI
America.
Let young men beware lest they by
their behavior blot such family records
with some misdeed We can all think
of households the names Of which
meant everything honorable and con
secrated for a long while. but by the
deed Vt one son sacrificed, disgraced
and blasted. Look out how you rob
your consecrated ancestry Of the name
they handed to you unsullied Better
as trustee to that name add something
worthy. Do something to honor the old
homestead, whether a mountain cabin
or city mansion or country parson-
age. Rev. David Dudley Field. though
80 years passed upward, is honored to-
day by the Christian life, the service,
the death of his son Stephen.
influence of Good Father.
Among the most absorbing books Of
the Bible is the book Of Kings, which
again and again illustrates that, though
piety is not hereditary, the style Of
parentage has much to do with the
style of descendant. 1t declares of King
Abijam. HE walked in all the sins Of
his father which he had done before
him." and Of King Azariah, "He did
that which was right in the sight of
the Lord. according 10 all that his IA
ther Amaziah had done We owe
debt to those who have gone before in
our line as certainly as we have obliga
tions to those who subsequently appear
in the household Not so sacred is your
old fathers walking staff, which you
keep in his memory or the eyeglasses
through which your mother studied the
Bible in her old age as the name they
bore the name which you inherited
Keep it bright, l charge You. Keep 1t
suggestive Of something elevated in
character. Trample not underfoot that
which to your father and mother was
dearer than life itself Defend their
graves as they defended your cradle
Family coat of arms, escutcheons' en-
signs armorial. lion couchant. or lion
dormant. or lion rampant or lion com
batant, may attract attention, but bet
ter than all heraldic inscription is a
family name which means from gener
alton to generation faith in God, self
sacrifice, duty performed. life well
lived and a death happily died and a
heaven gloriously won That was the
kind Of name that Justice Field aug
mented and adorned and perpetuated-
a name honorable at the close Of the
eighteenth century. more honored now
at the close of the nineteenth.
Notice also that our illustrious friend
was great in reasonable and genial dis
sent OF l,O42 opinions be rendered
none were more potent or memorable
than those rendered while he was in
small minority and sometimes in mi
nority Of one A learned and distin-
guished lawyer of this country said he
would rather be author Of Judge Field ;
dissenting opinions than to be the au-
thor Of the constitution of the United
States The tendency is to 90 with the
multitude. 10 think what others think.
to say and do what others do. Some
times the majority are wrong, and II
requires heroes 10 take the negative.
but to do that logically and in good
humor requires some elements Of make
up not often found in judicial dissent
ers or. indeed. in any class Of men.
There are so many people in the world
opposed to everything and who display
their opposition in rancorous and OBJ
noxious ways that a Judge Field was
| needed 10 make the negative respected
and genial and right. Minorities under
| God save the world and save the church.
An unthinking and precipitate Eyes
may be stopped by righteous and he
roic no" The majorities are not al
ways right The old gospel hymn de
clares il:
Numbers are no mark that men will right be
found
| few were saved in Noah ark 70 many hii
lions drowned
His Dissenting opinion.
The declaration Of American indie
pendence was a dissenting opinion. The
Free church of Scotland. under Chal'
mers and his compeers, was dissenting
movement. The Bible itself, Old Testa.
ment and New Testament, is protest
against the theories that would have
DESTROYED the world and is a dissenting
as we'll as a divinely inspired book. The
decalogue on Sinai repeated ten times
"Thou shalt not. For ages to come
will be quoted from lawbooks in court
rooms Justice Fields magnificent dis
senting opinions
Notice that our ascended friend had
such a character as assault and peril
alone can develop. He had not come to
I the soft cushions of the supreme court
bench stepping on cloth of gold ana
ealuted all along the line by handicap
ping of applause. Country parsonages
do not rock their babes in satin lined
cradle or afterward send them ont into
the world with enough in their hand to
purchase place and power. Pastors sal
aries in the early part Of this century
hardly ever reached 800 year. Econ
omies that sometimes cut into the bone
characterized many of the homes OF the
New England clergymen. The young
lawyer of whom we speak today arrived
in San Francisco in 1S49 with only $lC
in his pocket Williamstown college
was only Introductory TO post gradu.
ate course which our illustrious friend
took while administering justice and
hating rufianism amid the mining
camps of California Oh, those forty
miners. as they were called, through
what privations, through what narrow
escapes amid what exposures they
moved Administering and executing
l.w among outlaws never has been al
easy undertaking Among mountain
eers, many Of whom had no regard fol
human life and where the snap OF pisto
and bang Of gun were not onusual re
sponses. required courage ol the hishes
metal
Behind dry goods box surmounte'
by tsllow candles Judge Field begai
: HE iudicial career What exciting