So he gladly accepted an appointment to the office
of Judge of Probate of Middlesex County which was absolutely
suited to him. He administered that important office to the
entire satisfaction of the people until his death. I think
George Brooks's smile would be enough to console any widow
in an ordinary affliction.
William Barrett Washburn, afterward Governor and Senator,
was Chairman of the Committee on Claims.
He is one of the best recent examples of a character whose
external manifestations change somewhat with changing manners
and fashions, but the substance of whose quality abides and
I believe will abide through many succeeding generations.
He was a New England Puritan. He brought to the service of
the people a purity of heart, a perfect integrity, an austerity
of virtue which not so much rendered him superior to all temptation
as made it impossible to conceive that any of the objects
of personal desire which lead public men astray could ever
to him even be a temptation.
There were few stronger or clearer intellects in the public
service. His mind moved rapidly by a very simple and direct
path to a sound and correct result in the most difficult
and complicated cases.
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