The most notable figure of the judiciary of this country is undoubtedly Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller, of the Supreme Court of the United States. He is in every way the ideal dignitary of the bench, impressive as to appearance, forceful in forensic oratory, learned in the law and unblemished as to reputation, personal and professional. He was born February 11, 1833, at Augusta, Maine, coming of sterling New England stock. Graduating from Bowdoin college in 1853, and later educated at Harvard law school, he, in 1855, was admitted to the bar. Forming a law partnership in the town of his birth, he later established there a Democratic paper known as The Age, of which he became assistant editor. The venture was successful and The Age became a power in political circles in Maine. Young Fuller was also elected president of the common council, and city attorney for the town. But Augusta was too small a sphere for the rising young lawyer, so in 1859 he went to Chicago, where he opened a law office. Simultaneously he took an active part in Illinois politics. It was not long before he became a recognized political leader locally. In 1863 he became a member of the Illinois legislature, in which capacity he confirmed the beliefs of those who regarded him as a coming man. He was delegate to a number of Democratic national conventions, in each of which he was a prominent figure. President Cleveland appointed him chief justice on April 30, 1888, and he was confirmed and seated the year following. JOHN WILLIAM GRIGGS. John William Griggs was born at Newton, New Jersey, July 10, 1849. He was graduated from Lafayette college in 1868, and, after studying law, was admitted to the bar in 1871. He practiced law at Paterson until 1876, in which year he was elected a member of the New Jersey general assembly. In 1886 he was president of the New Jersey senate. He was elected governor of New Jersey in 1896, which office he resigned to accept the office of attorney-general of the United States. He resigned the attorney-generalship in 1901. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the son of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the poet and essayist, was born at Boston, March 8, 1841. He graduated from Harvard in 1861, and from the Harvard law school in 1866. During the Civil war he served three years with the Massachusetts volunteers, and was wounded in the breast in the battle of Balls Bluff, and again wounded at the battle of Antietam. At the close of the war he engaged in the practice of law in Boston, and was editor of the Law Review from 1870 to 1873. In 1882 he became professor at the Harvard law school. In the same year he was made assistant justice in the Supreme judicial court, Massachusetts, and on August 2, 1899, he was made chief justice of the same court. WILLIAM TRAVERS JEROME.