Document text
July 22 1939
Judge 414. F. Harding (white)
17431wyn Hotel
jherlotte„ 3. C.
Retired Sulerior 1/4;,.)urt Jude
h. Long, writer
arelr-rd, N. C.
a .4Y1„Jit
Uriginel tialtips
wa. F. Harding
çn
hawed tymes
ridnoy Baylor
MU &Ian SaLOR
Ste to.
region.
born in mall town in the eastern part of the
county eeet, and the outer of a good agrieultural
In my early days we lived on a farm and ilor brothers
and I worked in the corn and cotton fields. Later ay tether
was 'sleeted to a county office and we moved into tome. Ebro
heard one lawyers argue eases in the courthouse and I made
up my ain4 to be a lawyer. I noted that the ablest memLin
town were lawyers the men who lived best and the nen moot
looked up to. Where the bees go there most be homer" Poli-
tics and the itc7.el profession seemed to pravide the most
honey. The tobe000 business Iris then in its inranoy in this
re,lon and the growing and shipping of truck had scermay
begun.
small town oou14 not, of sourest support any lawyers,
so the men of the law attended court in several neighboring
counties, going by horse and buggy in my aarlier days. OW
roads and automobiles had not yet eove to *hang* the =went*
or so any lives. By attending several °courts the lawyers
not only gathered in more fees but they extended their acquaint
snot and enlarged the Aral* of their friends. The path to
public office was in this way made more smooth. La this earlier
oz.
days these lawyors impended mesh tins in travoliag over bad
roads with slow horses, but the oemarsiarie of the road was
theirs. Lawyers drank more whiskey in those days than they
do now. I know one brilliant lawyer who narrowly missed
being annin.ted for coagress par going to the eonvention sad
pitting an a protracted drank. I mad* up my mind I'd never
drink liquor; it seemed to bs soak a Madrona* to man who
wanted to got ahead. I newer even smoked in ny earlier days,
but I 004' a cigar now. I sometimes drink a 000ktall or a
spoonful of whiskey when, eon are gathered on social occasions,
but I don't oar* for alcohol. I never go out to hunt it.
swell, to go back, I made up my mind early to get a col-
lege education and to study law. But how was this to be done?
My father had (au: children to educate and he couldn't do it
all, While I was going through school I worked at anything
I could get to do during vacations, but was never obis to
earn much mars C.an enough to buy my sloth's; but that littlo
helped to lighten sr father's hard**, Later I taught a aoun.
try school for a year, saved up a little money, borrowed a
little more, and entered a good college. I was somewhat older
than the average of my alesonates, but that had its advantages;
my mind was more mature and I tare "vastly what I was theme for.
took most interest La ay literary opeiotiy, especially in do.
bating. I was obliged to drop out of college one year
and Use)* sobool, so that made me still later in greatest-
ing. I was twentp.four when I resolved my diploma* Then
I got a good position as a teacher in whet we then the
best graded school in the State; items in one of the largest
cities. I taught there two or three years, paid off my debts
and at the as time reed law in the evenings under the di
relation of one of the *blest lawyers in the oity. also
wile friends who were of help to no in later years*
*As soon as I was admitted to the bar, I returned to
my native town and hung out my shingle, but olientsdid not
flock in. The older lawyers had the orean of the practise,
and I'd be oblieotd to wait a long tine far a foothold* And
at best the field was not eery large; Ism no great rewards
in the a/stenos. Grawing restless, I finally decided to make
a break. My aim was high* I deoicied to try my fortune in
Wow York, know or Zoutherners who had does well there and
the prises to be won in the 4rost city had glitter. I scnow
almost nobody there, but I opened an officio. No clients
darkened my door. my money soon an low and I grew lon027
and homesick. I was lost. The loomsomenee.5 of a greet city
is worse than the lonesomeness of the wilderness.
"Peeking Up my belongings went back to my tittles town,
where I formed a law partnership with one of my brothers. We
did fairly well and I ot serried and settled down to what
may be called a country praeties. was ve,:.y happily married
end I %As among friends and kinfolks. The fitting up of a
are home gave me a thrills but I was obliged to borrow money
from the bank to buy household fureiture. Imast tell you
a little incident that a:-Iowed my ignoranos at that time. As
my note at the bank was falling duo, r turned and twisted in
every way to ,tet the money, but I eouldn't do it. I worried
and worried. talked it ove,;= with my wife after we had goal
to bed end we couldn't see our way out. She told me she felt
Oeme way would be provided. I an sure ebe preyed over it all
aiSht. Next day I went to the bank and confessed to the Gash
ter frankly that I couldn't pay oft the note. Feeling like
a culprit I feared my credit would be ruined forever; but the
cashier said I could renew the note and be treated the matter
simply es an item of routine. Wouldn't you think that a NM
who had practiced law several years would have had seas enough
to know a note could be renewed?
"As time went on I grew restless again. I didn't see encash
ahead to satisfy me, so I mt,Ide up my m ad to pull up stakes and
go to the largeat city in the tat. I h5d just enough money
to get us there and get us settled in a rented house. I was
trusting to luck, to my good health, to my efficient and wpm..
thistle wife, to my feismds, and to a kindly Providence'. JOY
wife too in a =ivied couple as rowers, a •1.Avyer friend
offered 48 fifty dollars a ylir for my s,,mre time, and one
of my brothere-in-lw voluntarily loaned ma five hundred
dollers, :;lowly but surely I asommulated clients, but my
lire was soou darkened by the untimely death of my wife.
Thig, blow stunned me. It didn't masa worth while to try
to do enythiug., but in the course of time, urged on by
aecesE4ty, I plunged into my litw bueinees and made steady
drogress. I 7racti d )olitios a little on the side, as
most 10,vers d.), but t was a_ver n ,andidate for office
until I became b jud to. ,y appointment as a :Tuperior
Court ie camo about largely tUrou,:. eolitios. The
udee Are eloct.d by poiJulair vote in this ,te but
vicnci caused by death or resignation are filled by
the governore
I ee appo,n ad to fill a vacancy on the
recausr,dation or 6 •Juoll 3en wAo as Ay friend an who
owed me etJag for =y activities in behelf, For
the next twenty-five year, I had little difficulty in
Jag namiwt-d an ru-elactad at the expiretion of every
term.
"r have onjiyed llre while traveliag the circuit. I
heirehol' (1.)urt in zery county in the .tete, I ave
in ly travels AzIny or y oll coll,,e -4stes end I have en.
lert,;ed my cc,uaintence with intare tinF, win an' women in
many interesting spots. I was once offered the deanship
of the law school in one of our best colleges in the Stet.,
but I was afraid I'd bee,le bored and sleepy; T knew I'd
mi s tho variety end excitement of the road,
ince my scond marriage my wife and I have lived in
a hotel. Up judioial circuit we later 1.mitad o a small
group of counties nee- enough to my home city to enable me
to get hometearly eve -y night by automobile. This pleased
me greatly. I wst! tired of slee)lng in hotels, for in some
towns the hotels we;.e terrible. Ionce sentenced a man to
thirty days in the villetc:e hotel or in lail. fie chose the
Jail. In same counties the she:iff with his family lives
in the Jail. In same counties the sheriff with his family
lives in the jail building. Once a sheriff invited me to
spend the night with him, Wen reached home next day my
wife asked me where I hod stayed all niprht, 'then I told her
I had slept in Jail she seemed to think that wos not quite
the proper th114; for a juct;..e or for a man who taught a manta
Bible olaa,s In unday school.
Aftor servIn on the beneh for a quarter of a century,
it seemed the ?roper thine: for a man of seventy to retire
and ;1.1,e, somebody else .e ohance. I wPs gettinri a little
tired and r no longer needed the full salary, I am now
retired on two—thlrds of tho regular pay for life and that
is enough to supply my simple wants, Besides, I have saved
up something all along from my salary. my life is well ine
sured awl t feel reasonably' sure my wife and small family
will never suffer want.
"Young men eetts sk me ,e1 to the beat way to start
out as a lewyer. Thera is no formula that will fit all cases,
but I will tell you Wht one young lawyer did. 5e had a little
money and after eazsine the bar examination he rode the judioial
cirouit with an older lawyer for s veral mouths. He eaw the
actual operatioes of the law; he beeeme acquainted with men
and methods; and te listened to lawyers diseues their cases
at the dinner table or around the stove in the hotel office.
Unfortunately this young man died before he tLot fairly started,
bu thet is ene way of getting ereparatien„ end think it is
a good way.
I look ba ife I some imes wonder why I have
made the *oderats success that has come to me, )art of it
is due to luck. till more eerhses is the result of herd
eau
work. ;/must keep puahing. The world teees note or a mov.
int: object. The an who site still rarely !..ets anywhere. end
I semetimes thak heelth he tor te do with suecees than any—
thing else, I once heard sn able lewyer nay a eod set of
bowels was worth more than all the breine, man who !mew
Gladstone well once said much of his success wee due to his
good digestion and to the fact that at night he could take
off his trounes with his clothes. I have always had good
digestion and have been able to drop off to sleep as ewe
as my heed hit the pillows 4 troublea hpve never perched
on the headboard and squawked at me. And now that I no
longer have any troubles I am, not always able to aloe,.
This is still an uncertain and irregular world,.
"Like most retired men. I have dreamed of having me a
farm and of spending my la -t days in otium cum digmitatee
as my old Latin professor used to say. It might keep my
weight down and improve my appetite and sleep to spend hours
walking over my acres, but Itm afraid Ism getting too stout
and lany to enjoy that form of sport. Also, have been
aosustomed to mingling with people daily for so nany years
that Itm afraid Isd miss theze eonteots. So I reckon I'll
spend my declining years in a wheel chair being trundled
along the busy thoroughfares of the city. A judge in a large
Northern city who 146 still active on the bench at ninety
said his vitality was this to the bad air he breathed in the
aourtroas. Perhaps the dust of city streets will preserve