The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1907-11-15
Member
Particpa Homage the Jurst
Members of the Bar



creed need sheer, no church criticise.
Acts, after all, are what count in
human life. The substance of the
tree is known by the quality of it's
fruit, and not by the appearance of
its foliage This mans heart was
right and his intentions always good.
As conversationalist Judge Sever
ance was especially charming. None
who knew at all intimate will ever
forget what delightful talker he was.
His accurate knowledge of many things
would appear to view at once. How by
some apt illustration or grotesque
sally of wit he would illumine the
subject in hand to the keenest en-
ioyment of his hearers. Then his eyes
would laugh and his winning smile,
which neither age could wither nor
custom stale, would spread over his
whole countenance. His look, his lu
cidity of expression or pointed phrase,
could incite the mind, could provoke
laughter or draw the tear, at will
Judge Severance was an omniver-
Gus reader and was endowed with
rententive, yea, marvellous, memory.
His tastes were for the classics and
for the best in literature and art. Froude
Gibbon and Plutarch were his favor
ties. Being a shrewd observer of men
and events, his fund of information
and anecdote seemed ineXhaustible. In
his hunting stories there was a tang
Of Peer Gynt, for they were the ex-
travagant creations of lively fancy
and broad but kindly humor. Such
a man as this man was is rare and
stories of him will linger long in the
public mind
Hated All Sham.
Hating shams and dispising fattery
he never INDUCED in either himself.
His advice and counsel were freely
sought, and as cheerfully given, and
valuable, first, because he was man
of sound judgement; and second, be-
cause he was absolutely honest in
giving expression to his opinions. His
outlook on life was broad and kindly.
He was indeed the friend of man. He
would wrong no one and freely gave
of his mind and substance. He thought
more of lowering his mind with the
riches of philosophy and knowledge
than to amass material means. There
was no more helpful and better neigh
Dor and friend. Such he tried to be,
and in the spirit of him whom we
and honor to-day we would
fain conceive this brief appreciation.
In moving the adoption of the
memorial Mr.. Flittie said he desired
to say few words about his last
recolIections of him who is the sub
ject of it.
The last thing of public nature
that Judge Severance wrote was bas-
ed upon an incident that took place
at the battle of Nashville, and is i'll
the form of tribute to American wo-
manhood 1t was written for and in
corporated with acknowledgment to
the author) into a memorial day ad-
dress given by myself in this city on
May 80 last. And this is what he
wrote:
During the Civil War, the women
of the north with true motherly in
stinct organized Relief societies in
every hamlet and did what humanity
and patriotism could suggest for the
soldiers of the Union army,-but there
was another class OF women, one of
the finest products of Christianity, no
respecter of persons, who went far in
to the battlefield only to assuage the
pain and tighten the miseries of the
wounded and DYING mean the Sis
tiers of Charity and Mercy. Whoever
fought in the battle of Nashville
will always remember how these de-
voted women, Needless of the thunder
and smoke of battle, fitted along
the winrows of the wounded and dy-f
ing, quenching their agony of thirst
with water and wine and breathing
on them the consultations of infinite
love. 1t mattered not to them whether
the PROSTATE form wore the blue
or the gray; wherever they heard a
moan, there they went, and the last
fading glance Of the dying rested on
these angels of the battlefield
Upon its reading the passage