The Oskaloosa herald., 1912-07-04

names. SnOulQ L mention some III
order to illustrate conditions it will
mot be because there are not others
as worthy, or more worthy, to BIZ
named.
Judge Wright was like Palfrey, o.
whom Edward Everett Hale said:
"Palfrey made you believe that yor
were the best fellow in the WORLD
and that he was the next"
Il l once heard, most delightful lee
Iture by Judge George G. Wright, on
1.-THE Early Bench and Bar of Iowa.
He was one of the old bar and bench
as well. We love to think of him as
a great lawyer and a great jurist and
do not even refer to his honoret
term in the senate of the United
Estates. In fact Judge Wright des
cended into the senate. The lecture
l refer to l do not find to have even
been published. ......
Some years ago, after Judge
lWright's death, l took up with his
son, Thomas s. Wright, the matter Of
having 1t published and the manu-
script could not be found.
Judge Wright fairly reveled in the
,humor of the territorial days and his
unpublished report of the indictment
in the case of United States of Amer
lea against Judah Lemon, Jr., is an
irreparable loss. l remember one OIL
the early stories in the lecture, where
he told of an old-time justice of the
peace in Van Buren, county who call
ed up for trial the criminal case OF
State of Iowa versus John Thompson
alias Smith, alias Jones.
The judge said to the prosecuting
attorney:
shall we try the ladies' first?"
"Why, Alice Smith and Alice
Jones'" replied the guileless justice
of the peace.
1t makes the imagination ache tc
attempt to bring these old men again
upon the stage, They had no cal
louses on their minds like. some OF
our latter day specialists. There was
too much variety in their work fol
that. The Wise Men of old came from
the east, but they went west. The
old settlers were all like the pioneers
that James Fennimore Cooper tells Of
who wanted to go to heaven unless
there was some place further west.
In fact, many of Iowa's earliest
lawyers did go to the farmost west:
where rolls the Oregon,
And hears no sound save its own
dashing."
They were forceful men in theil
day and generation. They put ginger
in their work which you will concede
was very different from proceeding
gingerly. Some of those men were
good shots-they were men of mark
they took life easy.
The Russian priests delayed the
adoption of the habit of smoking fol
many years with the text of scripture
that 1T is that which cometh out o.
the mouth that defileth the man." bu
our old bar were generally smokers
and believed with the Totem tales tina
the smoke warmed their minds as thu
fire warmed their bodies" The!
lived in the cabins and old fash
toned houses of the early days.
I AS Grady says, these old houses
"whistled when the wind blew ant
wept when it railed." -s..a
Their clients were of the good ole
stock in early Iowa, of whom Hamlir
Garland (himself an Iowa product
says:
These farmers would go home from
town, put up their team, feed the
calves, hang up the lantern, say theil
prayers, wind the clock and put ou
the cat AID go to bed" They worked
hard and then slept as TRANQUILITY al
if the angels were tanning them will
their wings.
Some of these men furnished ex
amples to follow; others as to wha
to avoid. recall the coroner's Yer
dict as to the sudden death of on
of them: Died of an overdose of gin
administered by his own hand"
But the prejudice against lawyers
has always been recognized as thu
stock in trade of the agitator and re
ivolutionist. Said Dick, the butcher
to Jack Cade:
THE first thing we do. let's kill al
he lawyers" -s
That | mean to do" replied Cade
; Away, burn all the records of thu
realm; my mouth shall be the parlia
:ment of England" .
But Jack Cade's proposed enlarge
ment of the uses of his noisy moutl
} has had copyists down to the presen
day. History is always repeating il
: self. Who thinks less of Mansfield
. now because of the violent attack
] of Junius?
Jack Cade has gone into oblivion
, but the law still exists, and its en-
. forcement and the protection of tn
, rights of person and property continu
. to be the work of an honest and VI
right judiciary, with the. aid of ba
Independent of all passion and preju
dice. ....
, Intelligence, industry, courage an
} conscience have characterized the il
T dietary of the country from the day
/ of the revolution to the present time
. and any exceptions to this rule hay
. only emphasized the universally Q
+ the rule; lawyers at the risk of lif
and popularity have defended huma