The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-08

to bar meetings year in and year out, and in the court below, keeping on in the work of his profession until al- most the call of the grim messenger came, He was always cheerful. al- ways ready for work. always ready to give and take hard blows. Although his strength seemed to fail in later years. his mind was as bright and clear as ever.
 He had been in the practice of tho law. as you will see. for almost half a century. When l was admitted to the bar, which ] think was in 1872. he had already been in practice some ten years. and he already had large practice. He was regarded at that time, I think. as one of the leading younger members of the bar, l might perhaps say that he and John w Alling were regarded as the leading younger members of the New Haven County bar He had already met in legal contests the men whose portraits you see hanging in the court below Dexter R. Wright, F. K. Foster, Triton Ils ltOplilllt, anu lltli VI lHdl lhllh, It was the testimony of all those who came in contact with him, and partic- ularly that of his opponents. that he was an excellent lawyer. He was strong trier, a good examiner. always had his eases thoroughly prepared, and he was, as the resolutions we have proposed to you. say, especially force full in his arguments.
 Those of us who knew him in his best days will certainly admit that he had claims to real oratory You know, in every generation of the bar there are some one or two members of the bar that the people flock to hear. That was the case with him in his best days. Whenever he arose. es- pecially to address the jury. people came in particularly to hear him speak He addressed the jury in that sort of style which was in vogue per haps couple of generations ago, Of course we all know that the style Of addressing the jury has changed with in a generation. Flights of rhetoric and bursts of eloquence, If l may so term 1t. were indulged in by those ven erable men whose portraits you will see below, which might be regarded as somewhat exaggerated in these days. MT. Fowler took his style from those men and his style was of, that sort It was rhetorical, and when case was tried. people expected oratory from Mr Fowler.
 Tt is not perhaps often that quali- ties of that sort are united but he was 8 man who was scholarly. clear and lucid in his presentation of legal ques- tions, and to my mind his addresses to the court on questions of law were much more interesting than even his speeches to a jury. He was scholarly and forceful in that respect. a we'll read lawyer. and everybody regarded his as a strong and vigorous lawyer. Aside from his rank in his profession he was a man of wide reading. He was not versed in academic culture. but he was a man, | think we all agree, of nature force; he had made himself
 T forgot to mention that he was. think, the first lawyer who maintained the doctrine that a woman might bring suit for the alienation of her husbands affections. He was the first man who presented that question, | think, to the supreme court. His rec ord in the supreme court the cases show that he was engaged often and vi fh1ttn tnl .N e. .f.- law of this state.
 Now. as to his reading as an indi- vidual he was always an interesting man to talk with on account of the originality of his thinking and the force with which he ordinarily put it. He was, I recollect, a good French scholar, and made himself so by his individual study, and had quite an ac- qualntance with French literature He was, as we all know, interested in poll tics, and made many forceful addresses in the campaigns which took place |, the country during his years. He was interested in local affairs, and his word counted for something in those ma: ters. He was particularly interested the campaigns we have had in New Haven about the school question, al way iiititSttU III NIAl SPPnlfG 10 pen eft children and improve the conditio. of women. Almost at the close of his life he was interested, I understand in preparing an article upon the aboli- tion of the death penalty He was man of wide sympatlies. but essential, domestic in his affections. very mucl devoted tc his family, and adorcd b, all the members of it.
 He was attached 10 his old com panions at the bar. have heard hin often express to me his deep regret and sorrow as one after another of his old acquaintances passed away: aud l am sure that no man can pass to the limit of three score years and ten without the world beginning to seem somewhat lonely to him NotwithStand ing he might keep in the stream of battle. as Mr. Fowler did. there arr many men that he was interested ir so many men that formed such a part of his life, in fact q part of hIm that he must have thought. as man. others do, that the greater part of his life, and perhaps the better part of
 lay wonder in the mystery which is to come.
 Mir. Hotchkiss spoke of Mir. Fowler as 3 man of the same school with tn, late Charles R. Ingersoll. governor of the state. and the late Hilton Doolittle the state attorney He said MT Fowl CT had a remarkable gift of oratorr