Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-02-02

| ter praticing some years in Bangor as
| the law partner of Judge Kent, he went
| to Boston at the personal solicitation
Of Webster, and died in comparative
| youth in the midst Of his growing fame.
| Judge Shepley. too, the second mem
Der OF the great legal triumvirate, is
| gone but the third and youngest we
hail. tonight. as our beloved chief jus
tice. enshrining him in our affection
| and esteem.
| Following this brilliant company Of
speakers, most Of whom are judges or
eX-judges. certainly gOvernors-nor at
| the very lowest, senators Of the United
! States--it will not be expected that an
undistinguished member even Of a dis
tinguished bar, should do more than
voice the unspoken acclaim with which
| the whole bar Of the State hail the rare
service and Vet rarer personality Of
John A. Peters.
| remember well when all the lead
ing clergymen Of this region where
they knew him best, We're circulating
petitions for his confirmation as judge
partly. perhaps, because. in general
way. they thought him up to the
place. but particularly because Of his
consistent temperance principles, and
| remember. also. how. y few years
later. when ! had entertained party
Of friends with the landlords best a
the Bucksport Inn, mine host Of the
ola school blue coat ana brass buttons
refused To take pay either for his lodg
ing or his cheer. because hc said Judge
Peters had been the last one tu sample
both, and he understood that | was a
friend Of Judge Peters.
Yet both the clcrgymcn ana mine
host acted With fun knowledge of the
facts: for Judge Peters never cid any
thing behind the door-and neither
was far away in his judgment Of the
man: FOR while mine host knew that
he was catholic by nature ana tolerant
Of all pleasures that wrought no harm
to others. the good clergymen knew
also that John A. Peters, even when
he had just drained a glass 10 human
ity. was a better friend to temperance
AMI order than many a sorry anchoritc
who fiagellates his flesh with the
thongs Of total abstinence.
Judge Peters could dare many things,
yet the great heart Of the people
trusted him, because they knew in
stnctively that while humanity
coursed through him in rich. full tide
yet back of it all was an utter stain
lessness of spirit.
Have you ever studied the different
trees in the forest, the twisted oak,
the bending birch. the. tall straight
pine. till, through some chance open
ing onto the intervale. your eye came
to rest at last on the elm. the chief
justice of the trees. from whose pen
dant arches you catch the idea of
grace. yet to whose sheltering strength
men fee instinctively in storm.
So he stands. today, and will stand.
our chief justice. brim full Of ideas.
terse and luminous in their expression,
the master of language. never its
slave. the Lord Mansfield of his time,
declaring not 50 much what the law
has been as what it had just become
through his creative act and what it
should remain thereafter.
Warm in his friendships. kindly and
delightful in all his intercourse with
the bar or outside it. no man ever dar-
ed presume in court on his friendship
outside Of court. and he would scorn
a meanness even as he abhorred a
fraud.
Gentle in all he did. when reused by
Injustice. llt touHI Stl lIt
thunderbolt. AS | close. one scene
stands boldly out against the back
ground of armory 1t was in the old
court house here in Bangor at the close
of q great trial where murder was
charged and denied. The counsel for
the prisoner and the State had ended,
and the dense throng hung on the lips
Of the chief justice, as he read from
his notes, as was his wont, a mastery
analysis of the contentious for and
against the prisoners. Suddenly. as he
was about to close. he threw down his
notes with quick, impatient gesture, |
and summoning all the immense moral
reserve of his nature. he slung them
all into one tremendous sentence, 50
that strong men shivered, as when in
the surcharged night, the whole sky |
breaks forth into one awful flash and |
bolt | hear that sentence now, ring |
ing in my ears, as if it We're but yes
terday: IF these men are innocent, |
declare it, for they are entitled to go
free: but if they are guilty the very |