The Supreme Court of Maine. His best and largest contribution to soci ety and government has been his allegiance to the law. The loyalty of that allegiance went with him upon the bench, where supremacy of the law is the indispensable condition of all justice. The object of these brief sketches of the courts and judges of Maine has been to col lect and help perpetuate in some compact and convenient form, in the Green Bag, the lives of the men who deserve remem brance and gratitude for all time, both on account of their eminent character and also the high service they have rendered the State. In gathering the data of those who have passed beyond this life, the occupation has been pleasant and agreeable. These pen portraits of my contemporaries, and for the accuracy of which I am alone respon sible, are drawn from daily observation and contact. I have not thus far undertaken to forecast their future, because their past has already " made assurance doubly sure." And this remark applies equally well in the case of Judge Wiswell. Sewall Cushing Strout, the eighth associate justice, was born in Wales, An droscoggin, formerly Kennebec County, Maine, February 17, 1827. He is the only child of Ebenezer and Hannah (Cushing) Strout. His ancestors came originally from England and settled in Cape Elizabeth; thence his grandfather moved to Wales, and lived there the remainder of his life. Ebenezer Strout was born in Wales, and was a trader. In 1834 he removed his family to Topsham, and in 1841 went to Portland, the son then being fourteen, and of suitable age to enter Master Libby's High School. When he was eighteen his health failed and his parents decided to discontinue his studies, and he entered David J. True's dry goods store, but remained there little more than a year. It is a fortunate thing for a young man when he himself chooses his calling in life,
23
especially when his choice and talents coin cide. While employed in the store of Mr. True, he decided to enter the legal profession, and had begun already a course of reading that occupied all the time that he could command, day and night. His parents de sired that he should become a doctor, but the young man took a firm stand for the law, and in the end they yielded to him. He then entered the office of Howard and Shepley, who afterwards became distinguished judges, and was admitted to the Bar in 1848, when twenty-one years of age. He began the practice at Bridgton, where he remained until 1854, having secured a good business. He then removed to Portland, and after a year's practice alone formed a partnership with Hon. Joseph Howard, under the style of Howard and Strout, his former preceptor having retired from the bench of this court after a service of one term. This firm con tinued until 1864, and Mr. Strout was alone until 1866, when he formed a partnership with Hanno W. Gage, which has continued until he was appointed an associate justice of this court. In the mean time his eldest son was admitted to the firm, and upon the latter's death in 1888 his second son became a partner. From the beginning Mr. Strout has had a large practice of the highest grades of legal business. He has taken part in impor tant cases beyond as well as within the limits of the State, and, thoroughly versed in all the legal literature of the day, he has been favor ably known as one of the leading lawyers of the Maine Bar. While at the bar he was a representative lawyer both in the State and Federal courts, and did not allow himself to deviate from his profession by entering into politics or business enterprises and specu lations. Adhering to the general practice of his profession, but never engaging in pension and patent cases, he has made no specialty of any one branch, and has been considered a good all-round lawyer in all its departments, preferring, perhaps, the civil to
