and sentiments may now be uttered here in the presence and hearing of the courtly representatives of our neighbor across the Canadian border, a part of the English-speaking nation to which we belong, and of that greater England, from whom our common law is derived. Whatever of ruffled feelings may have existed have been smoothed by the hand of time; whatever wounds may have been made have been cured by the soothing balm of mutual interest in the current affairs of men; and it is now our pride and delight to be able to say mother and child, however great and strong the latter may have grown, are no longer estranged.

As usual, it is my place to gather the little ones who have had their annual picnic together, and see that they are in readiness for their homeward journey. Professor Danaher I call him "The Professor" because he is an authority in matters of which others have little knowledge, and has acquired quite a reputation that way, chiefly, I fancy, because of the meagreness of the intelligence of others, rather than the fulness of his own possessions gravely stated that this was the post of honor. With his conclusion I do not agree. My experience and observation have been that things begin to taper towards the end. I ought to know, because it has usually been my lot to get on the stage when the tapering process has already commenced or was in full swing. If a good time was to be had, I arrived just as the last sleigh was going over the hill, and, if good things were to be distributed, when I came on the scene it was to be showered with a million of regrets, but not a penny of tribute. (Laughter.) I was once nominated for County Judge, but when the votes were counted the other man was elected, and then it turned out those who asserted my "calling and election" was sure, knew I never had a ghost of a chance from the

beginning. (Laughter.) So they let me have a "ghost dance" through the campaign, with nothing substantial about it, except paying the expenses when the show was over. That was something substantial in burden, but not in result. Now, when my professional brethren have a particularly knotty problem they are quite willing to invite me to take a seat in the shell, and generally to pull the stroke oar, and, if things have got into a tangle, they are ready to have me try a tussle with the courts on appeal. I do not mind being beaten, but it is a little hard to be told you were right and ought to have won, but the driver at the first stage turned to the left rather than to the right. That word on the sign-board indicates the result. (Laughter.)

It does not, however, make so much matter, after all, what place we occupy. Whether to be at the front or rear depends on what is doing. If it is a dress-parade occasion, where fine clothes and ornaments are the order of the day, the front is the place, for such things are attractive to the male and female admiring eyes alike; but, if a breach is to be stormed, or a wall to be scaled, where grim and determined men are behind the one and on top of the other, ready to sheet, with deadly flame, the path of the oncoming column, those in the front are the ones who never have an opportunity to hear of themselves afterwards, while those in the rear may fight and not run away, yet live to fight another day.

What we will leave behind us when the curtain falls by way of treasured memories, or length of obituary notice is ever contingent, from the cradle to the grave. We never can know what may happen. Notwithstanding the generally-accepted notion that men at middle age have become settled in grooves from which they are not likely to depart, we do know that some who have held high and

honorable place and been brilliant luminaries in the moral firmament, suddenly sweep down from the zenith, leaving a broad trail of light and sulphurous smoke behind and are never more known of men; while one of the rounder class who has engaged in every dissipation and wasted the energies of an existence, may take a brace, stand as firm as though ribbed with steel, and round out with a creditable ending a life that had a sorry beginning. Nor does it depend on the advantages and opportunities of early life, for the child reared in luxury, upon whom the blossoms of opportunity are showered, may make a miserable failure, and drop out of existence with as little of ripple as is made by a pebble tossed into the heaving surges of the restless sea; while the urchin product of the narrowness of poverty may force himself into notice as grass blades crowd their way between the stones of an unused walk, become a man of worth and power and be decorated with the butterflies of fame. (Applause.)

This same contingency attaches to our profession. We never can tell what may be the outcome. Whatever of certainty may have at any time existed has disappeared. Our Judges have written much on the subject of contingent remainders, and not at all times in harmony. It is not for me to say they are inconsistent, for the judiciary are called our jewels; consistency is a jewel; therefore, the judiciary must be consistent. The earlier struggle seems to have been to reduce things to a certainty and avoid contingencies. We have changed all that. Contingencies are now the order of the day, are planted all over the lot, and remainders, after running such a gauntlet, are reduced in proportion from what they seemed to be at the outset, when viewed with the eyes of expectancy. Again, so much of controversy has existed over the direction to divide and pay at a future time, the present view seems to.

be to exact present payment, leaving as little of remainder as possible as the subject of future divisional dispute.

That this development of commercialism, this devotion. to material, to the exclusion of intellectual results, has lowered the standard of our profession with its members and the outside world does not admit of doubt. We who have approached dangerously near the eternal frost line of life feel weighted down and oppressed with these modern views. We would be free to follow the teachings of the fathers of the law, free as the air we breathe, free as the feathered songster of the forest, who cleaves the boundless realms of space with unclipt wing, and fills the leafy arches of his forest home with floods of song whose notes are as rich and pure as the waves of harmony that float from an angel's harp. That a change will occur we feel assured. The pendulum that ticks off the years of time has a returning swing, as well as a forward reach. At some period in the future, near or distant, it will certainly retraverse the ground over which it has passed. So we, standing now in the sunset glow of our lives, are pleased to think the youth who are to take our places will come into the profession with the highest of hopes and the loftiest of ideals, fully armed and equipped to lift it to its former higher level; and we fancy we can see them resolutely ascending the rugged steeps of professional success, scorning to search for paths trod by other footsteps, but making new lines and ways of their own, up to the higher and broader levels of intellectual development and power, higher yet to the loftiest summit of human ambitions and hopes, where, flushed with success and elated with triumph, they may survey the wide fields of controversy below over which they are master, and, from their commanding place, be permitted to greet the opening dawn of a perfect day. (Applause.)

ANNUAL BANQUET.

The annual banquet was held Wednesday evening, January twenty-second, at The Ten Eyck. President Hornblower presided. There were present, as invited guests, Governor Odell, Lieutenant-Governor Woodruff, His Excellency Jules Cambon, Ambassador of the French Republic to the United States; Hon. James M. Beck, Assistant Attorney-General of the United States; His Lordship Mr. Justice Davidson, Montreal; Mr. W. J. White, K. C., the Batonnier of the Bar of Montreal; the Hon. Th. Chase Casgrain, K. C., Montreal; Mr. R. D. McGibbon, K. C., Montreal; Hon. William K. Townsend, New Haven, Ct.; Chief Judge Parker, Judge Gray, Judge O'Brien, Judge Bartlett, Judge Haight, Judge Martin, Judge Vann, Judge Cullen, Judge Werner, ex-Chief Judge Andrews, Judge Landon, Senator Ellsworth, Senator Brackett, Speaker Nixon, Hon. Edward A. Bond, Dr. A. V. V. Raymond, Rev. John Rathbone Oliver and Mr. Harry H. Bender. A large number of ladies occupied seats in the mezzanine floor overlooking the banquet hall. The following members of the Association were present: