Evening star., 1932-01-12

ton as a member of the firm of Shat
tuck, Holmes & Monroe until 1882,
when he became a Justice of the Su-
preme Judicial Court of Massachusetts,,
of which his maternal grandfather,
Charles Jackson, had been member.
For two of the years devoted to prac-
tice he was an instructor in constltu-
tional law at Harvard.
At the age of 81 he married Miss
Fanny BixWell of Cambridge, Mass.
She died April 80, 1929. They had no
children.
The Civil War lives vividly in the
memory of Justice Holmes He once
said: When the ghosts Of dead fifers
begin to play in my head, the laws are
silent"
After the battle of Antietam, tele-
gram went to Boston which caused
officer. 1t read, Capt Holmes wounded,
shot through the neck; thought not
mortal; at Keedysville."
Wanders in Maryland.
His distinguished father the bard Of
the same name, started at once for the
bedside of his wounded son. He failed
to find him at Keedysville, however nor
could he get definite word of him in any
other hospital or camp. He wandered
through Maryland and down into Vir-
gInia, and was advised that his boy had
been sent to hospital in Philadelphia,
whereupon he backtracked to that city.
His search was fruitless there as WELL
He returned to the field of military
operations in the South, eagerly, but
by this time almost hopelessly, still
seeking his missing son. Then one
yryI1jlo I1n q
troop train, bedraggled soldier ad-
dressed him with quiet, How do you
do, dad" to which was given the
equally calm reply of, How do you do,
SON."
This stoicism and absence of hysteria
was characteristic of the relation of
father and son as long as the father
lived. Yet, the father could preach in
his Army Hymn:
Thy hand hath made our country
free;
To die for her is serving Thee"
Justice Holmes always has supported
the rights of man as paramount to
property rights. He has interpreted laws
as vehicles for effecting mans will, and
has consistently maintained throughout
his long judicial career an attitude
which stamped him as progressive as
distinguished from that school of
thought commonly called conservative
or reactionary.
Fought for State Rights.
He had not only championed what he
considered the welfare of the people, but
he has fought to preserve State rights
against the constant trend to extend
Federal control
In the Interpretation of laws, he al
ways regarded as the object what the
people sought through them, rather than
strict construction of the language of the
statutes. He has opposed giving weight
to language in a law over the motive
and intent of its enactment A legal
principle, once established, always has
received his reinforcement against tech
nicalities
His personality is a remarkable COM
bination Of aristocratic habit and DEM
ocratic mentality. Socially aloof, shy of
publicity to the extent of stunning
newspaper representatives, he always
has been accessible, however, to any one
with court business.
Justice Holmes established a record
for attendance on the sessions of the
court. Meticulous in the discharge of
his ludicial. duties, he kept a record of
all motions and made generous notes
curing the oral arguments of each case.
Ihat oata was so complete that he had
no difhculty In writing his opinions,
which ne prepared in long hand and
never dictated.