The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-12-29
CHIEF JUSTICE E. B. GARY
Continued from page one)

tiee, and he still occupies that high
office.
His has been successful life. We
often hear and read of the secret OF
success. This is a misleading and in
appropriate phrase. There is nothing
hidden nor mysterious about it. The
cause is plain to anyone who will look
for it. Success is a plant of slow
growth which requires constant and
most careful nursing. The price OF
success is the proper phrase. A man
makes up his mind to reach certain
goal; it may be far off, the road may
be a rough and thorny one, and pro-
gress may be by painful steps and
slow; but he trains himself by educa-
ton, he devotes all his powers to the
attainment of his aim; and in the end
he succeeds. That was the case with
Eugene Gary; he paid the price, ne
succeeded; and like all truly success
full men he deserved success. Let US
now look back and trace his course
from boyhood, and see what was the
price he paid.
It was in February, 1859, that
first saw young Eugene Gary. l had
opened q classical school in his native
town, Cokesbury. He and his two
younger brothers came on the open
ing day. He was in his fifteenth year.
I remember we'll how he looked, a
tall lad, slight in build, his pale COM
plexicn made to look more pale by
the intense blackness of his hair. For
three years he was one of my school
boys. Of the thirty or forty lads who
were his schoolfellows, it is pleasant
to remember that they all did good
work, that they all behaved unconl-
monty we'll, that several Of them
could not be surpassed for diligence
and progress in their studies, anc
none surpassed Eugene Gary. Regu-
lar in attendance, he showed each
morning that the lessons appointed
for study at home had been thorough
" learnt. If he had a fault, it was
that he was more of student than a
schoolboy; he seemed to have no
great liking for the active sports and
games of his school-fellows.
, It is to me a most gratifying re-
Election that so many of those school
boys turned out so well in after life.
Eugene Gary is not the only one
who has attained to high and honor
able position. From that group of
lads there came United States Sem
ator, q Governor of the State, a
Lieutenant Governor, Chief Justice,
two Circuit Judges, member of
Congress, q Speaker Of the House, a
President of the Senate, several men,
bers of the Senate and the House, be-
sides lawyers, physicians and bust
ness men successful in their various
callings. It is a record to be proud of,
not unworthy to be placed beside the
record of DR.. Waddell's school at
Wellington, so famous in the history
of Abbeville County.
Eugene Gary went straight from
the school to the University of South
Carolina, from which in due time he
was graduated. With his course there
! am not familiar, but I am sure he
was a most diligent student, that he
''lived the laborious days." and burn
ed the midnight oil.
After his graduation he read law
in the Office of his uncle, Gen. Mart
Gary, at Edgefeld, and was admitted
to the Bar in his 22nd year. He i'm
mediately opened an Office and "hung
out his shingle" as an attorney at law
at Abbeville Court House, and began
the practice of his chosen profession.
His determination to join the Abb
beville Bar showed that the young
lawyer had a brave heart. That Bar
at that time had no superior in the
State, and only one, or Perhaps two
that could match it. Armistead Burt !;
Thos. C. Perrin; Gen. MCGOWAN, (af-
terwards Associate Justice), Thomas
Thomson, afterwards Circuit Judge)
Edward Noble; VIM. H. Parker, w. A.
Lee; James S. Cothran, afterwards
Circuit Judge); these are the names