The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-27

What he was to me cannot tell In
words. Those who may happen to read
the thoughts that crowd upon me to-
night cannot understand the place he
filled in my life. He was only a
youth and 1 but little more. when we
met and straightway there came to
me, and 1 dare believe to him, a feel
ing for which friendship Is hardly an
adequate name. We lived in To-
peka, the beautiful capital of a beau
tiful state, and for years we shared
the rewards and the disappointments
of the upward journey.
Good, Rich Blood in Him.
There was good, rich blood in him.
His father was an 1rishman, with the
quick intelligence and ready wit
which is the birthright of all who are
born In that happy-unhappy country:
a native of Cork, which has been the
birthplace of so many gifted men. a
scholar and a gentleman. His mother
was an American. of good birth and
of a gentle, refined nature which left
its impress on her only child.
When the Argonauts, in the memoir
able 1s49. beckoned by the gold discov-
cries in California, set forth on that
arduous overland journey to the Pa
cif1c. the baby Rossington was carried
in a covered wagon hauled by oxen
over mountain and plain to a rude
mining camp which was to be the fam
lily home, and in which he grew from
infancy to boyhood. His father be-
came a man of wealth and gave him
every advantage that could aid him in
his education. He was sent to Yale
and was pursuing his studies there
when. In 1864. a financial crash swept
away his fathers fortune and left
young Rossington penniless. Then the
father died, and the youth who had
never known want was left to face the
struggles of an unknown future
1t Is the old story. But he met mis-
fortune and poverty with undaunted
heart. and moved bravely forward to
the reward which is sure-or almost
sure-to crown those who are fit and
worthy to be crowned. For more than
quarter of century he has been a
large figure in the annals of the Kan
sas bar, we'll known in the courts and
to those who conduct great lawsuits
throughout the country.
His Professional Career.
1t is little to say that his profession
al career has been successful That
can be declared of many ordinary and
quite Indifferent lawyers; for while il
Is true that learning and character and
industry are almost indispensable to
anything like high achievement in the
legal profession, there are, unhappiIy
some who creep in unmindful of the
narrow path and the strait gate. Mr..
Rossington was a man of ideals-of
very high ideals-inclined to be scrup-
utOus, anu even punclllilOuS, upon
questions of conduct and the relation
ship of men to each other as citizens
and members OF communities. He was
of large mold. The little casuistry
which tries to make the worse appear
the better reason was distasteful to
him. and he never could endure the
petty excuses which mean men offer
for mean acts.
have never known a man more
spiritual and at the same time more
human. In a letter which came to me
today friend wrote of him: He was
one of Plutarch's men" 1t was a fine
appreciation Of him. for every one who
knew him recognized the lofty soul
which we are accustomed to believe
dwelt in the great figures of the
antique world.
The sense of the beautiful. which
next to the moral perceptions, most
largely separates man from the lower
animals, was in him almost a passion.
The oneness OF beauty and truth.
which with Keats was high poetic
imagery, entered into the very faith
of Rossington. He held communion
with nature and with art, and gave to
both the worship of which only such
souls as his were capable. His know
ledge of literature was we'll nigh uni
versaL From his youth he had loved
xxffn he