Mexico weekly ledger., 1902-06-19
OId-Tims Missouri lawyers.

june AsVE, Dy Judge Jonn r. Phillips,
OF Kansas City, who was born and
reared in Boone county, No:
Mr.. POSTMASTER.
Whenever my feet touch the soil OF
old Boone ! feel like exclaiming with
the undaunted Scot: my foot is on
my native heath and my name is Nc,
Gregor."
1t has been SO years since ] matricu-
lated In the University, and although
] claim Center College, Kentucky, as
my "Alma Mater l have not outliy.
ed my first love. / return here ia a
green old age, 10 lay at her feet the
richest golden sheaf Of the harvest Of
life as a~grateful, vative offering and |
was in 'the epoch of the watery eye
and educated whisker'' when l first
entered the University, l was SICK at
heart we ''the girl / left behind
me- How l like a vision OF beauty, a
a very angel in dimity.
She floats before these dimmed
eyes; Isee her pale hair just touched
with the golden rays Of the sun; her
eyes rejecting the azure OF the skies;
her cheeks where the dimples come
and went, like ripDles on the placid
lake formed by gentle bFeezes; her lips
like two roses blooming on the same
stem; a laugh as full Of melody as
summer woods as full of singing birds;
a step as 1.-the as the fawns and q
breath as sweet as odors waited from
the garden Of Hesperus. How hard
and dull was my mathematics, with
Its equations, and Caesar with his
''Gallia Amni diyisa est tresportes. My
soul was for poetry and / ransacked the
volumn Of ''poetical quotations in
formulating my first letter to that
girl, with malice pretense to take her
n the liquid amber Of speech. How
[ hung around the post Office, at the
Of the old swinging stage, in
consuming expectancy for an answer
70 that letter. But the stage came
Ind went and the days Jagged by and
10 letter came. Fortune favors him
who waits as well as the brave.
One bright Saturday morning, the
etter came. recognized the hand
hat addressed the envelope. / put it
the pocket nearest my heart, and
the solitude OF nature, as the
iilent witness OF my ecstaey. ] wonder
I that old elm tree, then in the
Woodland to the southeast Of this hall,
ret lives as a witness TO that sceneg ii
at down beneath its wide, spreading
ranches and leaned against it for
rupport, for I was growing weak I'M
Ter the nervous strain. All nature
eemed to be zen rapport" with my
lappy self, The sky was Of course
amlean, and the trees were gorgeous
n the yair colors Of autumn.
1.-THE jay bird saton a growing limb,
He winked at me
And / winked at him.
The ~glorionsly red headed wood
as he played his beak on a
cad tree hard by, seemed TO be keep.
ng time with the beatings OF my
cart playing a tattoo against my ribs.
but cautiously, l broke the
Of the letter, so as not 10 rend
be mucilage, for l wanted 10 press
hat mucllage TO my lips, as | knew
he had licked 1t with her red tongue.
)ut come the letter and "mirabIle die
u IL was my own letter returned 70
ne.
When ! looked up it seemed that ii
hat anne jay bird was haunting me,
nd / tried 70 kin IL with the first
Tub In reach started to tear that
into shreds, when my eyes
aught something on the margin. It
vas 1. Chron., Chap. 10, 5, last
lause.
For the first time since l left home
recalled the fact that my dear old
mother had placedhn my trunk a Bible
With the Injunction. Search the
criptures, for lin them are the words
4 eternal life" With hope still alive
n this human heart / fastened to my
Dom at Judge Woodson's, yet
landing in the beautiful lawn, just
asst Of the college campus, and got out
hat Bible and, turning / Chron 10 IS,
read: ''Tarry at Jerico until your
grows out and then return. "
iy beard soon began to grow, but /
id not return soon. After a year at
his university | went to Center Col
eye, Kentucky, where l tarried for
wo years; and after l had read law
me GEAR, OF 50, / met that girl-the
mother Of two red headed boys, and
the rise" and seeing what a narrow
scape / had made ] was pursuaded
hat that red headed wO0dpecker
hould ever be regarded as a bird Of
God omen, sOundinga note OF warning.
rs some Of you know, ] am a calanis-
ic Presbyterian, believing somewhat
n the doctrine Of predestination. II
all boys have an inclination
which, as q general rule, it we're well
DOugh to let them follow, II the in
lination be not essentially vicious.
The first lawyers Of note / ever saw
nd heard were In the old court house
D this city. / could not keep away
rom them. Every time Circuit Court
onvened here ! would steal of, when
opposed 10 be at my studies, and
Isten 10 the lawyers. And there were
iants In those days. Judge W. A..
IAN was on the bench. He was
mong the great men Of Missouri, a
lear-cut intellect quickO Of perception,
xact in his analysis; possessing that
dmirable qualityO OF a wise judge, never
angling in the atmosphere Of uncer-
aInty and doubt, but deciding at
nee and for aye. From Fayette come
.biel Leonard, the nestor Of the bar,
nd General John b. Clark, although
ct burdened with "black-lettered
riSdom'' he knew men and much Law
nd was a power in his day. From
'oOnville came Hayden & Adams
he Boone county bar presented foar
zen worthy Of the steel Of the visit
~ knights. Here were the Godons.
Jim" Godon was a man Of wonderful
quipoise staid 10 judgment, lucid,
and pleasingly plausible.
Iere, TOO, IN the full armed yigor Of