The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1906-07-12

| uTlIlS eltUeT dDONe Ut UeloW lIlt luupe
he will soon get the judicial range
and direct his fire accordingly.
'But the one element in the person
ality of the Judge which most affects
the case is that OF high serene moral
courage. A coward and Judge is a
fatal misjoinder of parties, to which
the profession and the public have a
right to demur. Without this quail
ity of high moral courage there can
be in times of storm and stress no
such thing as a trial by due process
of law. The distinction between Il
trial and a mass-meeting should al
ways be remembered and preserved.
Since the day that the wild clamor
of the Jewish rabble perverted Justice
in Pilates Hall, the wisdom and the
virtue of the race have decreed that
never shall either the voice or the
spirit of the mob penetrate that holy
| OF holes where the high priests of
justice minister before her sacred al
tars.
North Carolina is to be congratu-
lated upon the fact that she has a
judiciary which in the face of men
and devils has the courage to do the
right and ever make answer as be-
seemeth a Judge A few years ago,
up in the Piedmont section of the
State q crime was committed which
excited the people to very frenzy of
Indignation. When the case came on
for hearing, the people, wild and fu-
i'm Sf
around the court house. The Judge
came down from the bench, marched
out in front of the crowd and ordered
it to disperse, saying that he would
not proceed with the trial until it
had done so. And then followed that
immortal sentence, that it was far
better for the prisoner to be lynched
by the mob than to be mobbed by
the court. 1t was an inspiring scene,
worthy of the most glorious tradi-
tions of the bench, and worth going
far to see. The Judge was the very
incarnation of the majesty and sane
tity of the law as he fronted that
frenzied crowd; and as he made that
immortal declaration he must have
been transfigured by the light of his
holy office, even as was the great
Law-giver of Israel when he came
down from the mountain top with
the statutes of the Lord God AL
minghty in his hands. and 'wist not
that his face showne'"
But in the last analysis, the per-
sonality OF the Judge reflects the per-
sonality of the bar. He is essentially
| our job, and it is our business to
make the very best of him possible,
and then to stand squarely by him.
Entirely independent OF any re-
ligious significance, faith is the great
est force in human life. Like mercy,
it is twice blessed; it blesses him who
believes and him that is believed in.
| The faith of the people of North Car
ollna in the wisdom and integrity OF
the judiciary is one of the States
most valuable assets. Again weigh
my words: The lawyer or layman,
press or pulpit that needlessly says
aught to weaken or destroy that
faith, is menace to the public peace
and a traitor to the public welfare.
''The Judge is q priest, set apart to
a holy office. If he is corrupt, if he
is manifestly incompetent, let the
people smite and spare not; let him
| be impeached, unfrocked; but while
he is a judge, nothing but evil can
come from the constant taking of his
name in vain. Let the lawyer, then,
look to his own personality, and see
to it that the beam in his own eye be-
comes not the mote in the eye OF the
Judge. Let him prepare his cases with
rigid, uncompromising, intellectual
honesty; let the court house be to
him in very truth temple of justice,
upon whose sacred altars he may lay
no nnclean thing. Let him come to
the temple with clean hands and u
pure heart, and with q great faith in
the wisdom and virtue of the law to
| which he has sworn allegiance, a
faith steadfast, serene, imperishabIe
Though Thou slay me, yet will l
trust Thee -