t of sight that town line of Blandford. He may
place one foot on Orion and the other on Arcturus, and seize
the Pleiades by the hair and wring all the water from their
dripping urns; but he can't wash out that town line of Blandford."
The local newspaper got hold of the speech and reported it,
and it used to be spoken occasionally by the school boys for
their declamation. Bishop is said to have been much disturbed
by the ridicule it created, and to have refused ever to go to
Springfield again on any professional employment.

Judge Aldrich was appointed to the Bench of the Superior
Court of Massachusetts by Governor William B. Washburn after
I left the practice of law for public life. I appeared before
him in a very few cases and must take his judicial quality
largely from the report of others. He was a very powerful
and formidable advocate, especially in cases where moral principles
or the family relations were concerned, or where any element
of pathos enabled him to appeal to the jury. The most tedious
hours of my life, I think, have been those when I was for
the defendant and he for the plaintiff, and I had to sit and
listen to his closing argument in reply to mine. He had a
gift of simple eloquence; the influence with juries which
comes from earnestness and the profound conviction of the
righteousness of the cause he had advocated, and the weight
of an unsullied personal character and unquestioned integrity.

Mr. Aldrich's appointment to the Bench came rather late in
his life, so he was not promoted to the Supreme Court, which
would undoubtedly have happened if he had been younger. He
was an excellent magistrate and the author of one or two valuable
law books. Although my chief memories of him are of the many
occasions on which I have crossed swords with him, and of
battles when our feelings and sympathy were profoundly stirred,
still they are of the most affectionate character. He had
a quick temper and was easily moved to anger in the trial
of a case. But as an eminent western Judge is reported to
have said in speaking of some offence that had been committed
at the Bar, "This Court herself are naterally quick-tempered."
So the sparks of our quarrels went out as quickly as they
were kindled. I think of P. Emory Aldrich as a stanch and
constant friend, from whom, so long as his life lasted, I received
nothing but friendliest sympathy and constant and powerful
support.

Judge Aldrich, as I just said,