The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-05-10
speak of him, because l knew him

well.
1t is hard to tell the simple truth
about Wiley Burford without appear
ing to exaggerate. No man better
equipped by nature and education to
study law has ever entered the law
school. And he studied it. He didn't
try to make his academic education q
substitute for the law. He used his
previous training as a mere instru-
ment to acquire law. He was intellec-
tually honest. No superficial explana-
ton or dogmatic proposition satisfied
him. He dug down to the bottom,
seeking the reason in the life of the
law and all things else besides.
And then he was so teachable!
Sometimes a man of liberal training
comes to the law school with an attf-
tude which says, 81 can eat up your
little system of laws without much
effort and without troubling you for
much assistance" Wiley Burford was
man of brilliant literary attain
ments, yet he wanted all the instruc-
ton he could possibly get. He never
occupied rear seat in the class room.
can see him now seated near the
front and to the right of me, notebook
and pencil in his hands, his keen eyes
following every gesture | made, every
diagram placed upon the blackboard.
Best of all he retained what he learn
ed. He made a part of himself not
merely the rules and maxims of his
profession, but also the social neces-
sity and the public policy from which
they spring.
! Wiley Burford had unusual mental
capacity and resourcefulness. Early
last year he was elected member of
| the Cooley Club, an honor society, on
condition that he pass the clubs ex-
animation. The club planned this ex-
animation as a sort of dignifed haz-
ing. 1t was conducted by DIR. Sum-
mers. Each member of the faculty
| was asked to contribute the hardest
hypothetical question he could devise.
/ spent about two hours writing a tort
question so complex | hardly knew
how to answer it myself. 1t wasn't
expected that any student would pass
the examination. 1t was designed
merely to show how big and battling
| the law is. Wiley Burford took the ex-
animation in good faith. He put his
| best thought into it. And when DIR.
Summers examined his paper, he said
| he thought it was entitled to over 80
| per cent. Such a man was destined
for success. Had death not cut him off
untimely, he would have realized a.
career of extraordinary usefulness
and distinction in his profession.
But there are other qualities of
greater value in the long run than
exceptional mental vigor and superb
concentration. To win unqualified adj
miration, one also must be good,
clean, honest, practical, courteous,
brotherly, chivalrous. He must, in the
fullest sense, be a gentleman. And
| Wiley Burford was. His opinions WERE
so right, his personality so attractive,
that have sought and acted upon his
| judgment. His character has left an
| impress on US that will not fade out.
l remember well the time and place
that I first learned he had died in
France. / was at a public gathering.
All the joy went out of the day for
me, and my heart was touched very
deeply as boy after boy came up to
me and asked. "Have you heard the
news about Wiley Burford?"
Yes, he is dead. But as think how
he died,
"Grim death has vanished, leaving in
it's stead,
The shining glory of the living dead"
For he lives. Somehow he lives. He
IN
now take him from us-our friend,
our cpmrade, who made the supreme
sacrifice that places him first forever
upon the university's roll of honor
that we shall keep inviolate
And if his mute lips could speak
to US, as of old, he would tell us
simply to do our duty; to hate wrong
and to love right; to love life but to
love justice more; and never, never
to compromise with evil, but to en-
dure every hardship until the world
menace which has caused his death is
utterly destroyed
/ am glad that we are to have his
picture. On behalf of my college in
which he exercised his best endeav-
ors; on behalf of the university which
he loved, accept this picture. And
every time look upon it shall say
to myself:
Lawyer, you gave yourself for JUS
tice.
Scholar, you have found truth.
Comrade, you have shown us the
love than which there is no greater.
American, you have dedicated to
the cause of freedom the last great
measure of devotion.
Funeral Services of Lieut.. Burford
An American correspondent writ
ing from the front under date of Feb.
16 gives the following account of the
last services rendered to Lieut. Bur-
ford by his comrades:
The last strains of Nearer, Ny
God, to Thee" had died away and a lit