Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-11-19
Hon. Leroy T. Carleton.


Hon. Leroy t. Carleton of Wintbron
spoke IS follows:
May it please the court: We were not,
In the providence of God, permitted to
watches the rounding out and perfection
of Bro. Heaths life
Unbounded faith in the goodness of
the Creator, teaches us that every life
is complete, that the great purpose of
existence has been accomplished no
matter how brief its span or how I'M
timely may seem its closing
But finite minds cannot grasp such
fnfnity of design, and we can only see
with. our imperfect vision.
We long for sign, and sometimes to
our doubling hearts a sign is given.
Such was not the case, however, in the
life and death of Herbert Milton Heath.
whose requiem is still sounding in our
ears, and whose funeral wreaths have
scarcely faded.
Cut down as he was in the very prime
of life. in the midst of his activities we
are left dazed. bewidered and mex
pressively sad.
He had long been blessing to his
family, he so dearly loved and his
friends. an ornament to society, useful
citizen. as well as one of the most ac-
eomplished members of his profession
in New England.
To those of us who knew him so well
. and admired him so greatly. and loved
him so fondy, no words can add lustre
TO his life.
! was fortunate with being hofored
with his warm unwavering friendship
for many years. which once given was
Interchangeable. r.
To me. personally, what to. the finite
mind, seems his untmely death, II was
n great SHOCK ~
II I was asked. what was Bro Heath's
chief characteristic as a lawyer, | think
/ would answer. one of them was GER
tainly his capacity for work He was n
great worker.
1t has been we'll said of him that che
was never idle when out of bed" and
often spent the dark hours of the night
in thought.
His attention to details in his work,
and his ability to carry them in mind,
placed him in this respect by the side of
the greatest lawyers in the country. He
seemed never to forget anything.
I think he cared little for the mere
graces of speech. but few men have been
so greatly endowed with the power OF
clear statement and unassailable argu-
ment. The path of his thought was
straight like that of a swift cannon
ball, "Shattering that 1t may reach.
and SCATTERING what II reaches He
grasped and simplified every question
driving home his points with power.
and often with an eloduenee that snever
failed to hold audiences as long as he
would talk to them.
have been engaged in the trial of
some important cases where he was the
opposing counsel. had great oppor-
tunity' to observe him in action, so to
speak
He seemed to me to be incapable of
deceit. or disguise, but conducted his
cause in the. most direct and manly
style.
One of the browning glories that char
acterized him, was his fidelity to friends.
answering devotion to principle, al
ways goes hand in hand with hdelity to
friends.
His nature was rugged, his ideals no
BILE his methods practical. He had con-
fidence in himself and he never disap-
pointed his own hopes nor the eXpecta-
tons of his friends.
1 have listened to some of his forensic
feats. when they impressed me as those
of mighty gladiator whose weapons
were an intense passion for the right
to prevail. coupled with the ponderous
trip hammer of eloquent logic
His life is a splendid contribution 10
the Industrious members of the legal pro-
fessjon of this county and state 10
those who are living and to those VINO
have passed to the Great Beyond.
NAV it please the Ceurt,--to those OF
us who knew him. it is Impossible 10
think of Bro Heath except as great
His ceaseless energy, suggests the
ceaseless motion of the sea Though not
permitted to live out LIES allotted span
of three score years and 10, hls pace
i'm history is seeure. and ne taxes iils :
place along side OF the most eminent
1urists of our tiHhH ~ -
May 1t please the court. mad not
thought I would have anything to say
on this occasion, but have efelt I'M
PEELED to say what | have said,
realize that the dead are as far pc
yond the reach of our short arms as are
the stars that shine above us in the
heavens at night
Shakespeare, that marvellous delineator
OF human character anu iihpot7e"'
rizing the tendency in man to excess
sively eulogize the dead, puts it upon
the tongue of his supreme orator to ex-
claim
az come to bury Caeser,
Not to praise him.
And so I have not INDUCED in any ful-
some fiattery, or lofty pangyric In TINS
presence all tongues are silent save
those of praise, all lips are mute save
Charles IL Andrews, ESQ
Full of the warmest personal 1eei-
ing and regard was the tribute to MI.
Heath the man and business asso-
ciate, paid by his former partner
Charles l.. Andrews, who was very
deeply moved during the delivery Oh
IT. Mr. Andrews said: