The age-herald., 1901-10-03
IN HOTEL LOBBTES
 AND ELSEWHERE
Judne Bruce and sentiment.

tween Dumfarlln and Glesca,' said the
 late United States Judge John Bruce to
 me on one occasion as he smiled benign
 ly down upon me from the bench" re-
 marked a Birmingham man last night
 That was in September, 1885, and Judge
 Bruce was then holding court on the sec
 ond floor of a building in Twenty-first
 street, between First avenue and Second avenue this city. Colonel Denson was
 United States district attorney. Having received a foreign service appointment from the President, 1t was needful at
 that time for me to take the official oath
 before Judge Bruce. and likewise to see the district attorney.
 When in the courtroom. Colonel Dem
 son called Judge Bruce's attention to my
 once suspended court proceedings and
 summoned me before him.
 So you are going to ScotlandT he said, kindly and amiably.
 '1n answering him, 1 expressed pleas
 ure that I was to be stationed in Scot 1 land, of all lands. That seemed to please
 him, and saying in his Scotch brogue: T was born at Fawkuck, midway be- tween Dumfarlin and Glesca,'
 Judge Bruce dropped into reminis- cence that was tender touching and
 beautiful, telling me of his childhood days | at famed Falkirk. between Dunferm- | line and Glasgow, in one of the most beautiful rural districts in Europe, as I afterwards came happily to know. The | judge was then not long past fifty, was | in the full vigor and strength of mature manhood, and as he talked there was a
 tender light in his eyes, a softened note | in his voice. It was clear that his spirit
 was back in the home of his childhood
 Being very young myself and filled with
 the romance of the Scotland had never
 seen, save through the eyes of Burns
 and Scott, by own emotions were stirred
 by the speech and emotion of the judge.
 He must have spoken ten or fifteen min utes. the lawyers, prisoners witnesses. l jury and spectators looking on in won 1 der at me standing with my back to them l as motionless as a statue and the judge bending toward me and speaking in low but intense tones, as if he might have
 been regretfully rebuking me for some | transgression of my own
 Suddenly recalling himself from his
 far-off native village, he strengthened in
 his seat and almost sternly began: Do you soemnly swear'-and so ran
 on with the oath of allegiance and duty. T, startled. responded, and then clos | ing the book before him with a snap, he | held out his hand impulsively, and taking
 my hand said:
 'Good-bye-good-b bye; I envy you, my son-I envy you
 'I bowed low, and turning to go l heard the judge demand sharply: And you say you arrested this de- fendant at his unlawful still in the coun- l ty of Etowah?
 ''It was many years before I saw Judge Bruce again, and not until after I had spent some five years in the district of Scotland where he was born. I dwelt in Dunfermline, which he, like most Scotch
 men of that district. called Dumfarlin,
 and often visited his native Falkirk, or Fawkuck. as they call 1t. some twenty
 miles east of Glasgow--the Glesca of the I Scotchman's musical brogue. Falkirk, | which is almost In sight of Stirling cas- I tle is set down in a paradise of field and wood, hill and dell, and the town and the 1 immediate district are of great historic ] interest. Near Falkirk Is the battlefield l of Bannockbum. for example, and not | far away is Prestonpans.
 The F'alkirk Tryst' is the most his- | toric cattle fair in Scotland. The Tryst | is held annually. and there may be seen some of the finest cattle in the world. | Cattle dealers from all over the kingdom | and from the continent gather there; and | the fair is one of the most interesting shows that an American traveller could | see in the old world. While Judge Bruce had much of the | outward gruffness of his race, he ever
 had a kind heart. an amiable spirit. a
 broad sympathy, and with 1t all he was an honest man with a high sense of jus l tice"