Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-09-08

I
of the session Monday Yesterday
Attys Neal Brown and M. B. Rosen-
berry of this city, and Burr w. Jones.
of Madison, were present and delivered
before Justice Winslow geographical
and enlogistic remarks. The exercises
were attended by nearly every member
of the Madison bar and many from
other cities, also friends of the dead
justice. Mr.. Browns remarks were as
follows:
LIZ 1T PLEASE THE COURT:
The Marathon County Bar has re-
corded the worth of Judge Bardeen In
these resolutions, and am directed to
join in presenting them, with some
words of my own, as memorial to this
| court, and to ask that they be made a
part OF the records of the cours.
Beneath the conventional phrase of
the resolutions lies a world Ct affection
ate remembrance of Judge Bardeen
that cannot easily be put into words
We assure you that this remembrance
is the vital living spirit that impelIed
these resolutions We cannot express
all this in ordered word and phrase, for
many of the dearest impulses and emo,
| lions of the heart are yoiceleSs before
the. great destroyer. Judge Bardeen
was endeared to the people of Marathon
county by many binding ties and we
| speak their sorrow in this memorial
| he came to Wausau when it was as
| yet but frontier village, mere out
post on the border line of the great for
| ests. L do not know what chance inn
| 70 Lot ~ II
munity, yet in its formative stage |
do know that no full grown fortune
welcomed him there. He did not be-
come debtor there to either wealth or
| power for his success. With strong
| hands he hewed it out himself He had
no expensive habits or pleasures. He
| did not permit the wonder and charm
of hill and forest and stream to distract
him from his meagre clientage. This
was before the heroic age of the North
| ern Wilderness had passed away. 1t
was the age of the stage coach, of the
| bateau of the voyageur, of red-shirted
! Argonauts who steered the RATED lum-
| Der over the fierce rapids of the Wis
| consin river to placid anchorage in the
far off Mississippi. The Indians still
| kindled their council fires close to the
village boundary 1t was a glorious
time and place for young blood and
| young manhood There were perils
an" nsrdships of forest and stream, and
many graves along the river marked
| the burial place of adventurous spirits
who had tempted the swollen flood too
often.
Yet life was warm, and throbbing
with vital force. Poverty alone cast
upon his life sombre shade, but he
| 10 TO Il 1nf,.
| pie gave the young lawyer pioneer
| welcomes; not welcome of pink teas
and gas-lit afternoon receptions, but a
welcome pregnant with all the ties that
! bind and knit men together. In point
of worldly goods they were all poor to-
| gether, but the wealth of natures be-
slowing lay about them obedient to the
mastery OF strong and willing hands.
When he hopefully hung up his
! shingle, he had but few books and few
clients. The river, with its annual toll
of lumber, brought him more clients
than shop or'farm. He made friends;-
who could know him and doubt that he
would make friends. They loved him
| alike for his faults and for his virtues,
| for his faults were human, inspired by
warm heart, quick Imagination, and
an mate love of justice and fair play.
He never counseled litigation for the
sake of litigation, and no client eyer
complained of his loyalty. He hated
! sham and pretence, and openly
| spleened at the empty mounting oracle
of the street corner, the society or the
church He was no diplomat to speak
softly to the fool and let him 90 his way
unrebuked. He had none of the arts of
| finesse and palaver, but dealt with all
| al flo i1,c cin,pIu nd diraatlu
'Lofty and sour to those that loved him not,
sweet as summer to those that loved him.
! Clients multiplied and he grew and
| prospered. He brought his young
wife to Wausau and built there a home.
Little children gathered at his knee
and sweetened his toll. If he was
sometimes too impatient of trifling
crosses, he bore the greater griefs OF
| life in pathetic silence. He built for
himself lasting fame as a lawyer. In
! the words of our resolution he was
faithful to every trust" IL his prac-
tice he was always careful, paiGstaking
and lawyer-like. When he made mis-
| takes either as a lawyer or a Judge,
they were always the mistakes of a
lawyer not those of a Ounce or a dull
lard No client ever failed to give
him the fullest trust and confidence
The qualities which made him strong
at the bar, made him strong on the
bench.
As the years passed he grew and
broadened, and was finally promoted
to place in this court. You, who
were his associates, will bear testimony
to his industry ana scholarship. The
product of farm and village life, he
grew into man of the world, apt and
skillfhl in Judging men and affairs
| meeting all men as one who was theiI
| fellow.
When death comes to such man
we seem inyoluntarily to trace his life
from the cradle upwards, and wish to
learn more of him that his public acts
can tell us. His boyhood years were
passed during the time of the civil war
when the tumult of great events and
great battles filled the air. Mems
watchwords were 1.-THE preservation OF
the Union and Freedom for the
slave" The mighty struggle lifted
their thoughts above the sordid things
of life and placed them close to the
stars of light This ferment of vast
forces and these inspirations must have
influenced his young mind. 1t was
| good to be living then, even the life of
the little child, who watched the troops
marching to the front, or saw their
| proud yet sad return. No doubt these
| early inspirations attended him in lat
er years for always with him,
"Manhood's MONDAY shadows held
The dews of boyhoods morning"
| In all great sorrows there is the COM
fort and solace of little things. When
we bury such friend as ours, If seems
to bring some comfort as we stand by
his grave, to think of his cradle time,
so remote and far from death.
And now, who can fifty record the
last and saddest chapter of his life? If
he could have chosen his historian he
would have adjured him in the heart
breaking words of the great dramatist,
IF thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
/ Absent thee from felicity awhile.
| And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain
To tell my story.
Matured in experience he was yet far
| from three score and ten years allotted
| to man. He was but little past the full
| 1902, ~ y,,aubaod urhan the hIiOht af