The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1905-01-05
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CONTINUED From First Pagc.l


profession, yet his intellect was 81
active, and his store of knowledge 81
great and varied, that his mind wa
not content to be confined to one
channel, but reached out for a share
of the glory of other fields. And go
he gave of his time from the law Il
literature and became the author o.
several literary productions, mostl,
in poetry, which won him recognition
and praise from men eminent In let
tiers the country over
1.-THE occasion does not permit m,
time to recount and dwell upon al
those noble points of mind and char
actcr of the deceased, however profit
able study of them might be, and
hence, l shall speak of him more IL
his social and professional relations
those relations in which l, and the
profession for which ! speak, knew
him most intimately.
"Mr. Collins was what Is termed II
the profession, "born lawyer" He
possessed qualities of mind which car
not be acquired by personal efforts
The possessor must get them from
nature, and can get them from nc
other source.
at is true that intellectual endow'
mcnts of nature may be trained and
by training, their strength and use.
fulness vastly increased, but the foun
dation for great success in profess
sional career must be supplied by ma
ture and born with him who shall pos
sess 1t.
III the case of Mr.. Collins, nature
not only presented him with the
foundation, merely of his professional
strength, but with carefully selected
imbers, so framed and prepared as
to fit properly in the structure and
give it peculiar strength.
"Mr. Collins was not specially gift
ed with those powers of mind and
speech with which popular and delib.
erative assemblages may sometimes
be moved by an appeal to the passions
or emotions of those addressed, but he
did possess TO a rare degree, that
deeper and more solid intellectually
manifested in the power of clear,
logical, forcible statement by which
he convinced the judgments of men
His power in this respect was thor
oughly impressed upon me early in
my acquaintance with him.
"Whilc law student in this city
and when young man scarcely
twenty years old, chanced, one day,
to enter the court room during the
proposes of an important jury trial.
Mr.. Collins represented one side of
the case and on the other side was
my preceptor, who, as an advocate.
was probably the most brilliant man
who has ever held membership at our
local bar. | remember during the
delivery of his argument, his flashes
of eloquence, his tender pathos and
his biting sarcasm and ridicule, all so
interviewer in the presentation of the
case to the jury, that it seemed
waste of time and effort to attempt
to put phase upon the case contrary
to that presented But when Mr.. Col
Inns, in reply, applied to the evidence
and the law of the case his mastery |
,p33gers fl.sic and analysis, one could |,
readily see Nat eioquence-that sort !
or eloquence which consists in word
painting, for logic is eloquence-had
obscured the real merits of the con-
troversy, and that cool 'dispassion-
a,e Judgment would be compelled to
acknowledge conviction to Mr.. Col
Inns side. This argument of Mr.. Col
lins which was characteristic of him,
impressed me more than any effort
had ever heard, of the power of the
human mind toreason out conclusions,
and although, when | heard the ef-
fort, I was quite young man, yet the
impression it left will abide with me
while have life. And, in the years
which have sped by since the time of
which | spoke, have had the good
fortune to listen to arguments of
lawyers who stand at the head
of the bar of the state, If not
the nation, on questions involving
human life and liberty and momen-
tous property rights, yet in justice of
the great ability of Mr.. Collins in pre-
senting to courts and juries his side of
a law suit, be 1t said, that his efforts
will not suffer In comparison with any
of the others l have heard.
"Mr. Collins had friends within the
ranks of his profession and outside the
all because he proved him
self worthy of the friendship of worthy
men. He was no hypocrite, and did
not pretend to be friend when he
was not one. And 1t may be, that, at
times he spoke his feelings toward
others whom he did not admire, with
more severity, than, to some, might
seem necessary, yet, on the other
hand so ardent and con6ding was his
nature, he carried his friendships al
most to the point of extravaganza to.
ward any one whom he considered
worthy of his friendship and conf
ience. Toward bis professional asso-
ciates he was extremely fair and oblig-
Ing, and toward the court before
which he appeared, he invariably