She got off very comfortably
without being detected.
Her story was that one time when Judge Washburn was Governor
the members of his Staff came to Worcester on some public
occasion and were all invited to his house to spend the night.
When he got up in the morning he found, to his consternation,
that the man who was in the habit of doing such services at
his house was sick, or for some other reason had failed to
put in an appearance, and none of the boots of the young gentlemen
were blacked. The Governor was master of the situation. He
descended to his cellar, took off his coat, blacked all the
boots of the youngsters himself, and met them at breakfast
with his usual pleasant courtesy, as if nothing had happened.
I do not undertake to give a full sketch of Benjamin F. Thomas.
He was one of the very greatest of American lawyers. But
such desultory recollections as these are apt to dwell only
on the eccentricities or peculiarities or foibles of men.
They are not the place for elaborate and noble portraiture.
Judge Thomas was the principal figure in the Worcester court-
house after Judge Allen's election to Congress in 1848.
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