The years which had brought me such interesting work were full years
also to my dear general. In June, 1888, he delivered an address to the
graduating class at the Albany Law School—an address so inspiring, so
highly commended at the time, that it should not be lost. He had been
all his life intimately acquainted with the great legal lights abroad.
They had given him his first aspirations, and been his inspired teachers
ever after. And yet he could truthfully tell the American student:—
"Nor need we travel abroad for examples and illustrations of forensic
oratory in its highest perfection; for in the sublime passion of
Patrick Henry, in the gorgeous vehemence of Choate, in the brilliant and
abounding fancy of Prentiss, and in the majestic simplicity of Webster,
we find at home every beauty and every power of eloquence displayed
with an effect not inferior to the achievements of the mighty masters
of antiquity."
Diligently as he studied his profession, he found time for lighter, but
not perhaps really more congenial, occupations. From time to time he
addressed college societies on literary themes. He wrote for the _North
American Review_, the _Forum_, and the "Encyclopædia Britannica." Like
his public addresses, his writing was said to display ripe scholarship
and a clear, polished style. The highest note was never too high for
him!
He would have had to be "made all over again," had he felt no interest
in politics. He was born, as he often declared, "a Presbyterian and a
Democrat," and he never faltered in allegiance to either. "Oh, God guide
us aright," prayed a member of the body that framed the Westminster
Catechism, "_for thou knowest we are very determined_." Having set out
in one direction, the worthy brother doubted the power of the Almighty
himself to alter his course!
Although my Husband refrained from political talk or discussion, he
was glad to be sent to the convention that nominated Mr. Tilden. But
probably his first conspicuous appearance on the political theatre was
the Gubernatorial Convention at Syracuse, of which he drew the platform,
and which resulted in the candidacy of Mr. Cleveland. That platform was
acknowledged to have aided materially in the election of Mr. Cleveland.
Its author's address in presenting it was much applauded.
Just as I closed my Jacksonville work, my general argued and won his
great Sugar Trust case. "Had he done nothing else," said one whose word
means much, "he could point to this case as an enduring monument." His
rapid rise to fame at the bar is well known. "His legal victories would
make a long list," says a contemporary writer, "but he never shrank
from a suit because it was unpopular or because the legal odds were
many against its success, however just it might be. His deep knowledge
of law, his readiness of resource, his care in preparing his case, his
unfailing good humor, his pluck, ardor, and clearness in pleading,
have made him influential and successful in the courts." Beginning
with the Tilton-Beecher suit, he was counsel in the Morey Letter case
and the Holland murder trial. He was also engaged in the suits against
Governor Sprague in Rhode Island, and the Ames impeachment proceedings
in Mississippi. He was the first to win a suit against the Elevated
Railroad Company for damages to adjoining property. He was also counsel
in the Hoyt will case, the Chicago anarchist trials, and now in the
Sugar Trust suit, in which he was successful in the New York City courts
as well as in the Court of Appeals. At the time of his direst distress
he _refused_ a suit against the good Peter Cooper.
It was in 1889 that my husband suggested and conducted the suit against
the Sugar Trust, the first litigation in any court or any state against
combinations in restraint of trade; and as he was successful against
powerful opposition, he acquired a prestige which was the immediate
occasion of his appointment to the bench.
On October 9, 1890, Mr. John Russell Young gave a dinner in his honor
at the Astor House—a dinner notable for the number of distinguished
guests. Among them, Hon. Grover Cleveland, General Sherman, General
Sickles, Henry George, Daniel Dougherty, Daniel Lamont, W. J. Florence,
Mark Twain, John B. Haskin, Joseph Jefferson, Thomas Nast, Judge Brady,
Judge Joseph F. Daly, Murat Halsted, Senator Hearst,—was ever such a
company? Laying his hand on my husband's shoulder, General Sherman said:
"We would have done all this for him long ago, but he had to be such a
rebel!"
He had been appointed to fill the unexpired term of a retiring judge.
The next year he came before the people for election, and was chosen
by a great majority of many thousand votes to be judge of the Court
of Pleas, and soon afterwards became judge of the Supreme Court of New
York.
He was welcomed to the bench by every possible expression of cordial
good-will, confidence, admiration. Again there was no dissenting voice.
At a celebration, not long after, of Grant's birthday, he was one
of those invited to speak, and was thus introduced by General Horace
Porter: "Gentlemen, we have a distinguished general here to-night who
fought with us in the war—but not on the same side. It has been said
that it is astounding how you like a man after you fight him! That is
the reason we have him here to-night to give him a warm reception. He
always gave us a warm reception. He used to take us, and provide for
us, and was willing to keep us out of harm's way while hostilities
lasted—unless sooner exchanged. He was always in the front, and his
further appearance in the front to-night is a reflection upon the
accuracy of our marksmanship. Not knowing how to punish him there, we
brought him up to New York, and sentenced him to fourteen years' hard
labor on the bench."
He brought to the bench the habits of self-denial and unremitting study
he had practised for twenty years. During all that time, and after,
nobody ever saw him at a place of amusement, theatre, ball, or opera,
and very rarely at a dinner-party. He knew no part of New York except
the streets he traversed to and from his office or court room. His brief
summer holidays were spent at the White Sulphur Springs in Virginia,
where his studies continued. In 1895 he there addressed the Virginia
Bar Association on the influence of Virginia in the formation of the
Federal Constitution, and I venture to say that whoever reads it in its
printed form will find interesting historical facts not generally known.
In accordance with my plan to permit his contemporaries to tell the
story of his public life, I copy one testimonial from a Richmond paper:
"Judge Pryor made a splendid address. It was an ornate, learned, and
eminently instructive production, and attested the jealous devotion of a
distinguished son of Virginia for the old commonwealth, and his careful
study of her political history. It did honor to the gentleman who made
the address and to the profession of which he is a shining light."
Whatever he wrote was always read aloud and copied at home, until my
daughter Gordon left us, even the legal arguments so dimly understood
by her. Apart from the technical difficulties, she could always
receive some impression from his argument, and the impression upon her
singularly clear, unprejudiced mind was what he wished to know. Our own
turn in reading aloud gave him a delicious opportunity to correct our
pronunciation. His patience could never brook a mispronounced word—and
alas, after Gordon married I found myself too old that I might learn.
However, he patiently continues to struggle with me.
Once, at the White Sulphur Springs, a beautiful Virginia girl was
under my care. My general was absorbed,—it was the summer he made his
speech,—and did not render the homage to which the pair of blue eyes
was accustomed. "I don't think the judge likes me," she complained; "he
never has a word to say to me. He looks as if he's always thinking about
something else."
"Lizzie," I suggested, "you must mispronounce a word or two, and we'll
see what effect that will have." We put our heads together and made
out a list for her to commit to memory. At dinner she fastened her
eye upon our victim, and commenced,—offering a flower,—" It's not very
pretty, but the perfume´,—" "I beg your pardon, Miss—, per´fume, accent
on first syllable!" he exclaimed. "Oh, you're _so_ kind, Judge! This
just il´lustrates—" "Illus´trate, my dear young lady!—accent on second
syllable, but pray go on." "I've never had anybody to tell me any of
these things," she moaned. "If _you_ only would—" "With pleasure! A
beautiful young lady should be perfect in speech, as in all things." The
little minx played her part to perfection. Presently, overcome with the
ludicrous situation, she excused herself, and my dear innocent remarked,
as his admiring eyes followed her, "An uncommonly sensible girl that!"
I enjoyed a bit of newspaper gossip about this peculiarity of my dear
general. A physician was testifying before him in a malpractice case,
and repeatedly used the word "pare´sis," accenting the second syllable.
The judge exhibited extreme restlessness, and finally ventured, "Excuse
me—the word you mean is possibly par´esis?" As the witness proceeded,
the offence was repeated and again corrected. "Now, your Honor," said
the offender, "I concede all wisdom to the bench in legal matters, but
I am a physician, and in the profession the word is pare´sis." "It is
par´esis in my court," was the decision promptly handed down, with an
emphasis that forbade appeal.
I am sorry I cannot record his services to his country and his
profession during the seven years before he was overtaken by the
age-limit prescribed by New York law—his championship of maligned women,
his decision that divorce cases should not be tried secretly but must
be held in open court—now become a law—his restriction of the right of
naturalization to at least knowledge of the English language. I cannot
go into these learned subjects as I trust some one of the profession
will do some day. I only record that my dear general, as was conceded
by every one, fulfilled the sacred trust—"he was a father to the poor,
and the cause that he knew not he searched out."
This public recognition of his ability and worth, with its opportunity
for larger usefulness, came at last as the crown of his long and heroic
struggle. The war had left him with nothing but a ragged uniform, his
sword, a wife, and seven children,—his health, his occupation, his
place in the world, gone; his friends and comrades slain in battle;
his Southern home impoverished and desolate. He had no profession, no
rights as a citizen, no ability to hold office. That he conquered the
fate which threatened to destroy him,—and conquered it through the
appreciation awarded by his sometime enemies,—is a striking illustration
of the possibilities afforded by our country; where not only can the
impoverished refugee from other lands find fortune and happiness, but
where her own sons, prostrate and ruined after a dreadful fratricidal
strife, can bind their wounds, take up their lives again, and finally
win reward for their labors.
BY MRS. ROGER A. PRYOR
Reminiscences of Peace and War
_Illustrated. Cloth, crown 8vo, $2.00 net_
"Few persons now living had a better opportunity to be in, and a part
of, the life of the national capital and mingle with its social and
political leaders during that period when the war clouds were gathering
to burst in 1861 than Mrs. Roger A. Pryor. Still fewer could have had
the power to absorb the vital and charming side of it, and to record
it so entertainingly as she has done. She was not only a keen observer
of all that transpired during those memorable days, but the manner in
which she has recorded her recollections is done with charming grace.
It is a pathetic story of woman's heroism and devotion, sad and amusing
by turns, and always interesting. It is told in a modest way by one who
bravely faced every deprivation and returned to her desolate home with a
cheery, hopeful spirit which manifests itself in every page, as it did
in the days following the war when by her self-sacrifice she aided her
husband to attain, in the face of great odds, eminent rank in the bar
and bench of New York."—_Boston Herald._
"Nothing which has yet been produced excels in charm of style, in
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Peace and War.'"—_Philadelphia Public Ledger._
The Birth of the Nation: Jamestown, 1607
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The Mother of Washington and Her Times
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fascinating than any novel.... The illustrations of the volume are
many and beautiful, particularly the portraits in color."—_Boston
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FOOTNOTES
[1] Rhodes's "History of the United States," Vol. I., pp. 231
_et seq._
[2] History of James Ford Rhodes, _passim_.
[3] Claiborne's "Seventy Years in Virginia."
[4] "Reminiscences of Peace and War," _passim_.
[5] Life of Joseph E. Johnston, by Bradley T. Johnson, p. 21.
[6] Rhodes's "History of the United States," III, p. 175.
[7] The _Herald and Empire_, Dayton, Ohio.
[8] Sherman's "Memoirs," Vol. II, p. 223.