Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
--working double tides, and crowding the work of eighty years into
forty, Mr. Paine finds that, large as was his bank account with Nature,
he has been overdrawing it for years, and that he has now to repay these
drafts with compound interest. The lesson he would have young
professional men learn from his experience, is, that they should account
no time or money wasted, that contributes in any way to their physical
health,--that gives tone to the stomach, or development to the muscles.
Let them understand that, though suffering does not follow instantly
upon the heels of transgression, yet Nature cannot be outraged with
impunity. Though a generous giver she is a hard bargainer, and a most
accurate bookkeeper, whose notice not the eighth part of a cent escapes;
and though the items with which she debits one, taken singly are
seemingly insignificant, and she seldom brings in "that little bill"
till a late day, yet, added up at the end of three score years and ten,
they may show a frightful balance against him, which can have no result
but physical bankruptcy.
In Mr. Paine's physiognomy the most noticeable features are the broad,
massive, Websterian forehead, and the sparkling eyes.
In summing up the characteristics of Mr. Paine as a lawyer and as a man,
the writer, who was his pupil at Waterville Academy, and has enjoyed his
friendship to this day, cannot do better than to cite the words of an
acute observer who has known him intimately for many years. Chief
Justice Appleton, of Maine, did not exaggerate, when he said: "He is a
gentleman of a high order of intellect; of superior culture; in private
life, one of the most genial of companions; in his profession, a
profound and learned lawyer, as well as an accomplished advocate."
To conclude,--if the subject of this imperfect sketch has occasion to
regret his excessive devotion to his calling, he can have no other
regrets. At the close of a long, most useful, and most honorable career,
which has been marked throughout by the severest conscientiousness and
the most scrupulous discharge of every professional duty, he is happily
realizing that blessedness which Sir William Blackstone, when exchanging
the worship of the Muses for that of Themis, prayed might crown the
evening of his days:--
"Thus though my noon of life be past,
Yet let my setting sun at last
Find out the still, the rural cell,
Where sage Retirement loves to dwell!
There let me taste the homefelt bliss
Of innocence and inward peace;
Untainted by the guilty bribe,
Uncursed amid the harpy tribe;
No orphan cry to wound my ear,
My honor and my conscience clear;
Thus may I calmly meet my end,
Thus to the grave in peace descend."
* * * * *
PICKETT'S CHARGE.
BY CHARLES A. PATCH, MASS., VOLS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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