the Choate of the Kennebec Bar. Strong, and not brilliant and showy qualities, gave him a good standing among the able law yers of that Bar, so that on the resignation of Judge Rice, it turned with unanimity to Judge Danforth as his successor. Its recom mendation was well received by the State, and Gov. Cony made the appointment ac cordingly. This appointment was thrice re peated in recognition of the unbounded confidence had in him as a man as well as the satisfactory discharge of his duties as a judge. It is not too much to say that the "love and affection of the whole community went out to him" as long as he was on the bench. His ideal, both at the bar and on the bench, was to be as just as Daniel or Moses, for he believed that the law had its birth in Holy Writ, and he administered it as the judges in Israel, with uncompromis ing impartiality and signal justice. During his long and useful career on the Maine bench he had for associates, ChiefJustices Appleton and Peters; AssociateJustices Cutting, Kent, Walton, Davis, Dickerson, Barrows, Tapley, Virgin, Libbey; Symonds, Emery, Foster and Haskell. My knowledge of his nisi prius work is only that of an observer; but I soon dis covered that he had the felicity of an incomparable temper, and that without an enemy in the world his sweetness and kind ness won friends always and everywhere. So I was not surprised after the long trial, at which he presided, in Eaton v. E. and N. A. Ry., 59 Maine, p. 520, to hear the late James W. Emery of Portsmouth, N. H., an able lawyer of large experience, say that "in 'his manner of conducting a trial he reminded him more of Judge Benjamin R. Curtis than any other judge he had ever met." The same impression made upon another friend is expressed in these words : "There is always a clear, wholesome judi cial atmosphere about him." Besides good judicial judgment, for he was not often over ruled, he had good common sense. The
absence of metaphysical subtleties and curious refinements in his written opinions make his style commonplace: but common place, when used with cleverness and aptness, is always the most telling and useful thing in a judicial opinion. His homogeneous pages are like the air we breathe. There is little color, little variety, but there is an interior harmony and fitness which we find there like a constant quantity in an alge braic formula. Judge Danforth's daily motto was that of Goethe, " Without haste and without rest." While not noticeable for vivacity, he had an admirable singleness and continuity. His seriousness never permitted him to indulge in wit or humor, yet with his simplicity he fulfilled his purpose with a completeness that satisfies. His formal, published opinions are three hundred and thirty-five in number. They average nearly seventeen per annum, and embracing all the topics that arise in common law courts. Upwards of thirty of them have passed into the list of oft-cited cases, — a good test of his judicial powers and their value as precedents. Their range is remarkable. I append a list of them. Frost v. Ilsey, 55 Maine, 376 (removal of cases); Rankin v. Goddard, ib. 389 (foreign judg ments); Cratty v. Bangor, 57 Maine, 423 (Sunday law); State v. Lawrence, ib. 574 (homicide, insanity); Green v. Lunt, 58 Maine, 5 18 (tax title sustained); Holbrooke. Connor, 60 Maine, 578 (false representa tions of cost of land); Harmon v. Harmon, 61 Maine, 227 (when threats of criminal prosecution do not constitute duress); State v. Reed, 62 Maine, 135 (exceptions); Bartlett v. Tel. Co., ib. 209 (void regulations); Holden v. Robinson Mfg. Co., 65 Maine, 215 (what are floatable streams, and rights of the public to use improvements made on water courses); Snow v. R. R., ib. 230 (evidence, damages); Rumsey v. Berry, ib. 570 (dealing in futures); Lowell v. New port, 66 Maine, 83 (pauper); Seed v. Lord,
