The times., 1901-06-02

after being before him in his capacity as
a judge, have voluntarily. and with quite
one accord. set apart to put in this eDdur-
ing form the expression of their regard for
him and appreciation of his services.
More than that. it means welcome to
him on his return to our fighting ranks;
and may his memory of his relations to US,
and of our appreciation of those rela-
| tions. continue bright as this gift,
which / now have the honor and the
pleasure of presenting to him, and may
the relations which have so long been
so pleasant with us be as enduring as
its material" prolonged applause.l
Judge Cole in replying said:
My Fellow Members of the Bar: You
quite overwhelm me. ! am afraid to trust
myself TO talk to YOU, and for that rea-
son, l have jotted down a few lines, that,
If you will excuse me, l viii read to you.
or course, | am very much surprised.
In one sense i am very greatly surprised
and very greatly delighted; in another
sense | am not surprised, because some
or your mer.berS were kind enough to
tell me several days ago that something
Of this sort was on foot, and with gentle
men with whom | have been so familiar
am little afraid to attempt TO
speak to you eXtemporaneously for fear,
on one hand. that l might say more than
l ought, and on the other hand, that /
might leave out something that / desire
TO say to you. / assure you that | have
d very keen sense of my own GelinQuen-
cies, and your very great generosity.
1t Is exceedingly pleasant to be well
coined back to the bar in the kind manner
in which you have each personally well
coined me, and which you do now collec-
lively in this form. The fact that ! vol
unfairly resigned should not be taken as
an indication of a lack of appreciation on
my part of the honor dignity, and i'm
portance o. the duties Of the office.
Indeed, while all of you who are ia
miliar VITA the circumstances of my ap-
pointment know l was not candidate
nor sought the office vet You will all re-
| q IN
the fact that ! coveted the honor, and IT
required no considerable urging on your
part to persuade me TO accept the office.
/ also appreciate that my appointment
resulted from your influence and that of
few others Of our associates who are
with us no more
My experience in the office had no ten
dency to lessen my appreciation of the
delicacy and responsibility of it's duties
or the Importance to the profession and
the public of their proper performance.
The last day on which ] exercised judicial
functions the sense of responsibility was
greater even than it was before The du-
ties of the position were greatly lightened
by the ability and courtesy of the bar
and it is a great pleasure now to be unable
10 recall a single unpleasant occurrence
with lawyer while ] occupied a seat
upon the bench. our relations and in
tercourse were such that now have only
the pleasantest recollections of them.
Il am mindful, however, that there
must have been occasions when many of
you-perhaps all of you-must have felt
for a moment at least that my actions
were perhaps not entirely correct and inn
partial, and IL is very generous of you
now to forget or to forgive all these mat
ters and remember only what was pleas
ant. IT is pleasant TO be assured espe-
cially in the kind words that Mr.. Davis
has used. that in my judicial action | was
fair and impartial OF course, such con-
duct was only plain duty on my part,
and a very great man once said that no
man is entitled to thanks for doing his
duty. AT the same time it is very graft
flying to have the assurance of those best
able to judge that that most important
duty was fairly well performed.
This elegant present you have made
me is, indeed, both handsome and valua-
Bile, and ! thank you for II and the gra-
cious words Of Mr. Davis in presenting
them. most sincerely. Its chief attrac-
ton. however. lies in the fact that it Is
a memento of your friendship. which /
prize more than silver. more than gold.
''If my retirement from the bench in
volved my separation from you, l doubt
If | could have voluntarily inflicted such
pain upon you. AS II is, | look forward
with pleasurable expectations of associa-
tions with YOU gentlemen at the bar.
repeat most earnestly my thanks for
your kindness. and wish for you all in
return many years of success and happi-
ness. In the words of another. May you
want as long as you I've.