ticut, and from Connecticut to New England, while the historic aspect of all lands was attractive to him.

Yet strong as was his love of history, his love of nature was even stronger. His frail, delicate figure was a familiar image in the streets of Hartford, but our typical picture of him is roaming through some wood, or gathering flowers in some field, or sauntering through his beloved Bushnell Park. He loved the native flowers and shrubs and trees of Connecticut. The lilac, he once remarked, was one of our oldest door-yard flowers, and still one of our best. Passing by a noble oak while on a drive one day in the country he observed that it was the right species to plant for a shade-tree. He was just the companion to drive with along our country roads.

The historic, the natural and the artistic all appealed to him, and one could not be his associate without becoming wiser and better. At all seasons he was gathering "The harvest of a quiet eye."

He could give you the Latin names like a professor of botany, but he could give you far more-the virtues of herbs, the qualities of trees, the significance of flowers.

For a number of years, he was a member of the Board of Park Commissioners of Hartford, and Bushnell Park became the object of his dearest affection. He enjoyed nothing better than bringing some tree or shrub or flower from its habitat, and transplanting it in the Park.

One day meeting the Judge near the water garden, the creation of which was at his suggestion, a friend inquired if a certain flower growing on its margin was the rose-mallow.

"Yes," he modestly replied, "I brought it from the shore." And so he was constantly adding to the varied beauty of the Park by gathering from far and near whatever attracted his discerning eye.

For readers of this Magazine it is interesting to know, that in the first issue of the Connecticut Quarterly, Judge Adams wrote a historical sketch of Bushnell Park which was concluded in the following number. In a wholly different vein is his poem, What the Drinking Fountain Said, which appeared with illustrations in the second number of 1897. Articles of his on The Andros Government, The Militia, The Settlement of Hartford, The Bench and the Bar, Wethersfield and Rocky Hill, can be found in the invaluable Memorial History of Hartford County.

For over twenty years, he was an honored member of the Connecticut Historical Society where his exceptional abilities were highly appreciated. He was fond of sauntering into the Society's rooms, picking up information here and there, and learning with genuine pleasure, of every new acquisition to its library or

museum.

A glance at the yearly donations to the Society, will show what a constant contributor he was.

He was a regular attendant at the monthly meetings of the Society, and took a leading part in the discussions there, besides furnishing a number of scholarly papers on congenial themes. Though modest and shrinking from the conflict of debate, he did not hesitate to utter his convictions, when the time came for him to express them.

Slow and diffident of speech, he made no attempts at oratory, but was content to lay his opinion quietly before his hearers who could accept it or not. But his views always came with the authority of one who had carefully mastered his subject.

He was a lawyer, but he was more fond of studying the law than of practicing it. He revelled in poring over odd and quaint volumes of lore.

What a fascination books had for him! The manifold life of nature was dear to him, but so was the manifold life of books. He was no mere bibliophile, miserly hoarding books. Few really took a keener delight than he in getting hold of rare volumes and pamphlets, but beyond their rarity, their historic and intrinsic value appealed to him. It was always a treat to chat with him in his office, lined with his rich collection of books.

In his boyhood, he was known as a walking dictionary, and all his life he was. extending his vast range of knowledge. The flora and fauna of this state were known to him, as well as its ancient history. Yet other fields of investigation allured him, and he spent a year abroad, studying the French and German languages, while the Dutch and the Danish, the Spanish and the Portugese tongues were familiar to him. He was interested in art, in civil government and in science. He might explain to you the workings of the French municipal system which he admired, and later on in the conversation tell you how to destroy the insects that might be ravaging your shrubbery.

When symptoms of the malady began to appear which was, after long months of

pain, to prove fatal to him, he made an exhaustive study of its nature, and as thoroughly understood it, as the disease which might be injuring some favorite tree.

He was at all times philosophical, and none more so than at the approach of death. It had no terrors for him; it was the key which would unlock many a mystery he would fain know. He had that rare quality of regarding personal matters with the disinterestedness of an outside observer.

He

His friends can only tell of a certain, indefinable winsomeness of character which has vanished with his death. was so gentle, so tender-hearted, so simple; at home with all but the artificial; so chivalrous in all social and business relations; so free from the taint of self-seeking; so pure in all his tastes. The fresh, sweet feelings of childhood, he kept unsullied to the end. He was humble with the humility of a great nature, reverent before the eternal mysteries of life. And so we leave him, thankful for all that he was, confident that in other realms, he is still advancing in knowledge and the love of truth.

EDWIN STANLEY WELLES.