The Green Bag.
8o
ainiac, Franciae et Hiberniae primo": and the first order, declared Jonathan Bowman, clerk; and the next the establishment of a seal, thus: "At his Majesties court of gen eral sessions of the peace at Pownalboro, within and for the county of Lincoln, on the first Tuesday of June, being the first day of the month, A. D., 1762, it was further ordered, that a seal presented by Samuel Denny, Esq., the motto whereof being a cup and three mullets (being the lawful coat of arms of the said Denny's family) with said Denny's name at large in the verge thereof, be accepted, and that it be established to be the common seal of this court." In 1/86, the supreme court of Massachu setts began sessions in the old Pownalboro court house. In 1794, court holdings were changed from the Kennebec to the Sheepscot Pre cinct of Pownalboro, at Wiscasset Point, with alternate sittings at Hallowcll. Gush ing, Sewall, Sargent and Sumner, were jus tices presiding. The first session of this change had a formal and dignified opening. Three sheriffs in cocked hats, armed with swords and bearing long white staves, marched in procession before the judges, the bar fol lowing to the beat of a drum. From then till now, Lincoln bar has worked out the issues of law and justice here, at Wiscasset Point, a site of one of the old Sheepscot Farms granted by Governor Dougan, a governor of Pemaquid and depend ncies of the old ducal province of 1664.
THE CLIMAX. CLOSE OF THE ACORN TERM.
THE FAREWELL.
The planting a baby oak on the court house lawn at Wiscasset, and an evening banquet, in honor of ChiefJustice Peters, were the concluding exercises of the occasion. A thrifty three-foot sprout from the Penobscot Oak, had been carefully selected, prepared and nursed for the occasion by the Lincoln bar, to be set out and fostered as the "Peters Oak."
During the court recess of Friday the third of November, 1899, the bar gathered at the place of planting. Headed and led by the Wiscasset Cornet Band, the youth from the Wiscasset academy, the children of the grammar schools and primary depart ments of the village, and their teachers, two hundred strong, marched in procession to the planting ground, and formed a hollow square about the bar members and the little tree. George B. Sawyer, Esq., set the sprout with a new spade, cheered by cadences of appropriate strains of soft music from the band. He also explained the novel scene. William H. Hilton, Esq., formally dedicated the little tree as the " Peters Oak, " as the president and in behalf of the Lincoln bar; whereupon R.K. Sewall, Esq. .moved that the transaction be entered of record on the bar registry, which was adopted. R.S. Partridge, Esq., made a spirited address of thanks to the school children for their sympathy and aid, and in eulogy of the honored chief jus tice; and the whole closed with the song of "America," and three cheers for the Chief. At 9 o'clock, P.M., the banquet at the Hilton House was opened. There were a dozen courses. " The brains and fame of the State of Maine were there," to participate in the quiet heartfelt farewell of Lincoln bar to the justice. Most of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of Maine added to the eminence of the occasion, with the United States senator, Eugene Hale. The post prandial exercises were opened by President Hilton, in a brief appropriate address of wel come, as follows : — • BRETHREN A¡*D FRIENDS: — In behalf of Lin coln bar it affords me great pleasure to extend to you cordial greeting. We are glad to find you within our borders; we are happy to meet you around this board. It is well that we should oc casionally lay aside the cares and perplexities inci dent to our profession and cultivate the social side of life. While your neighborly, brotherly and social qualities are universally recognized, yet it is well known and understood that a special purpose