The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-11-27
WORCESTER COUNTY BAR
H0NORS ITS OWN
Continued From Page One,)

did. Bristol County usually claims the
office. 1t has had it 2S years out of so
years, and 20 years it has been held in
New Bedford. That seems to be one Of
the offices a New Bedford man can
get" Mr.. Knowlton closed by saying
that he was assured Mr. Parker would
make the office what he had thought it
ought to be, and had tried to make 1t,
as best he might
The POSTMASTER introduced Judge
Gaskill, saying that he was good
fellow and good Judge
Judge Gaskill said he had expected
that the honors would be divided ac-
cording to the custom that prevailed
among the judges, by seniority, and that
Judge Hopkins would precede him. But
Judge Hopkins had been called away.
Perhaps the bar didn't know that he
had been tempted to leave during the
past few months. But it was all over
now. because Mr.. Parker had been
nominated and elected.
I'VE have tested him and are sure
that he will not be found wanting in
any place where he may be found :"
Judge Gaskill said that he could
speak for the court, in a measure al
though not deputed to do SO. He then
referred to the service of Mr.. Parker
as district attorney. He said that this
That he had peculiar joy in being pres
ent, because this assemblage was here
to do honor to "our guest" who had
been loved by the judgment of those
who know his worth.
The POSTMASTER said that the Suffolk
County has had sent a star of the first
magnitude, but that that star had set,
that Col Melvin o. Adams had been
| obliged to withdraw early in the even
| ing.
That another member of the Suffolk
bar would be asked to respond, Hon.
John w. CorcoTan. Judge Coro9ran
said that Col Adams is a star who
never sits. never sets and never OBJ
scures. There are only few of us left.
] prefer to be known as member of
the Worcester County bar. 1t was here
that 1 received whatever inspiration l
have had to upward and onward eff
fort. Judge Corcoran spoke feeling
ly of the relationship of himself and
Mr.. Parker "in that little county Of
flee in Clinton"
He would rather be elected to the Of
fee of attorney general than to any
other in the gift of the commonwealth.
He might have been elected to that
office at one time if the people had
shown good judgment and seized the
opportunity. This allusion to the days
VI w lllldll r. IluSotllJ Wien JuuSe
Corcoran's name was near the head
of the ticket was received with ap-
plause. The Worcester County bar is
in his opinion for excellence the bar of
the commonwealth. There were as
great lawyers at the Suffolk County
bar as anywhere in the United States,
but for llberality generosity, chivalry
and integrity, for uniform excellence,
the Worcester County bar was the
greatest of any.
Judge CorcOran concluded with the
wish that Worcester County might
hold the office of attorney general at
least as long as Bristol County, which
was to say, half as long as it has been
in existence.
The scene when Mr. Dewey present
ed Senator George F. Hoar as "the
Nestor of the Worcester County bar, "
was beyond description Every man
in the room rose to his feet and for
| three minutes the welcome continued
Senator Hoar spoke at some length
| In beginning he said that he was proud
to be introduced by the title which the
! POSTMASTER had just accorded him.
| He felt in coming into this presence
| much as Adam might have felt if he
| had been transported to the Garden a
| generation after his fall and restored
| to his primal and sweet innocence. He
offered as a marginal note the PROPOSE
ton: If you want to get a good man
! for any office, go to the Worcester
| County bar; and, better yet, get a
man who has studied in Mr.. Hoars
office or has been his secretary"
He continued to the effect that the
lawyer was given great opportunity to
perform great service to mankind and
to have mankind know it, If a doctor
came to see a man, it couldn't be
known whether the doctor or nature or
both nature and the doctor saved the
mans life. If a clergyman saved your
soul you didn't know it as long as you
lived. But you knew that it was the
lawyers eloquence that saved your
case. The strongest man would win.
That did not mean that injustice would
win, for part of strength was the
ability to distinguish justice and urge
justice
Senator Hoar knew of no happier life
for man to lead than that of a Massa-
'chusetts lawyer. The lawyers wealth
was in his brains, where stock markets
could not affect it, nor rascally bank
teIlers take it, nor moths corrupt it,
He remembered very little of what
he learned at college, but evrything
that he learned after he took his seat
in a lawyers officein that little wooden
building in Concord. That office was
not pretentious. but ii was the office
in which the Republican party was
born.
He related an amusing instance from
his early recollection of legal life. 1t
was the story of six men who were in
dfcted for engaging in a riot. They
were accused Of gathering for the I'M
lawful purpose of making fellow citi-
zen leave town, a man whose ways
were not good. To their counsel they
said that the man promised them he
would leave, that they used no threats
and displayed no weapons. Neither did
they use any force. What do you
suppose made the man promise to
leave?" asked the lawyer. well.
Squire" said a quiet man, who had not
spoken, "He see the tar a bling"
Senator Hoar then touched upon the
honor that had been given to Mr.. Par
ker, saying that he was happy in II,
and that it brought back tenderest
recollections Of his dearest friend John
D. FELTON,, one of the brightest lawyers
on the Pacific coast, who was an uncle
to Herbert, and In the latter he liked
to think were some Of the same quail
ties.
The speaker touched upon the bro
therhood of the bar saying it was the
greatest that has ever existed. He
pointed out the grand part played by
the guilds in the continental cities of
old, in preserving the spirit of free
dom He spoke of the good that has
been accomplished by the brotherhoods
of the Catholic Church. But he insist
ed that no brotherhood has done so
much for the freedom of mankind as
the bars of England and America. It
was Coke who encountered the Tudors,
and it was the lawyers who saved the
seven bishops in the time of King
James.
The three greatest speeches in the
history Of the American Constitution
were made by lawyers of the Com
monweaIth Of Massachusetts.