the criminal side of the courts. He was equally effective in the law court as before a jury. His jury arguments combined plausibility as well as intelligenceof thought and clearnessof statement. His perfect self-possession, free dom from temper and irritability, and agree able and engaging manners, made him a difficult, but never a disagreeable opponent, in or out of court. He has suffered no interruption in his practice except once, in 1863—4, when he was prostrated with a critical illness, having taken no vacation up to that time. Upon his recovery he sought out-door recreation under his physician's advice, and became a follower of the gentle angler Izaak Walton. He takes a vacation regularly each year at Moosehead Lake, and is an expert fisherman, scorning to lure the speckled trout with an angle-worm or anything but the fly. His forty-five years at the bar have been active, busy and happy, almost without any eventful incidents that sometimes create epi sodes in one's life. The current of his daily life has flowed like a peaceful brook, smoothly and tranquil. When Judge Lowell resigned from the Circuit Court of the United States, the Bar of Maine almost unanimously recom mended Mr. Stroutto the vacancy. Although the appointment went to another State, it was the ardent wish of all who knew his ability and fitness that he might succeed to the position. At that time such testimony of the approval of those who knew him best was more gratifying to Mr. Strout than any other honor that could have been accorded him. In the meantime his associates in the Cumberland Bar elected him their president, and he retained this honorable office for nearly ten years, fulfilling all its duties in a satisfying manner. There are many cases both interesting and amusing in such a long practice. Of the latter one occurred when he was fresh with his new honors as an at torney and counselor at law. He appeared for an eccentric old bachelor who com plained of some boys for malicious mischief
in throwing down his stone wall. At the trial it appeared that these young men and some girls were out on a lark, and some of them, probably the girls, threw down his wall for the purpose of teasing the old gen tleman. The trial took place in a schoolhouse, which was filled with young people who demonstrated quite plainly that their sympathies were not with the complainant. For want of evidence the justice decided in favor of the defendants, and shouts of ap proval followed the announcement of the decision. The complainant was surprised at the result, and, sitting quietly on his chair near the door, neither stirred nor made any effort to move. Thereupon six or eight of the girls started to go out, and to show that there was no malice in their hearts, each one in turn, on passing the old bachelor, kissed him. Quite a different case was another one, State v. Charles H. Witham, charged with homicide of a child immediately after its birth, and tried in 1879 before Judge Bonney in the Superior Court for Cumberland County. The theory of the State was that the defendant was the father of the child; that he procured an abortion, being a physician; and that the child being born alive, he killed it. The present Judge Has kell was the prosecuting attorney and tried the case with zeal and ability, being at the time persuaded of the defendant's guilt. The defense was that the child was born dead, while the government claimed the contrary, and that Witham cut its throat. To prove these facts the government called a woman who was present at the birth and testified that the child's throat was cut, and that she saw the wound. The trial occurred about four weeks after the birth, — a six months' child, and the foetus had been thrown into a manure heap. A careful search having been made, the foetus was found and produced in court. The throat was not cut, the verdict was " not guilty." When the case was opened to the jury, Mr.
