except the poor recipient, who was crestfallen and despondent. One night the girls had arranged to change shawls and hoods, as they came out of singing school, and each beau as usual selected his girl by her outer garments, and after going some distance silently all the girls burst out with a hearty laugh as the boys began

to talk sweetly to them, each boy finding to his disgust that he had somebody else's girl. No subsequent friendships and loving memories will cling to us like those formed when we were children and youth together in our school days.

FRANCIS C. SESSIONS.

ANY consideration of the Bar of the new State of Washington that made no mention of the services or personality of James McNaught, would be defective; and, although that pioneer lawyer of Washington, is at present located upon the far-away coast of the Atlantic, he is by memory and past labors a 1.wyer of the Pacific slope, and no small part of his present important labors for the great Northern Pacific, touch upon and closely affect the present fortunes and future hopes of the section where he commenced the real labors of life, and laid the foundation of his future successful

career.

Mr. McNaught has made his way in the world by his own indomitable will, and against disadvantages that would have discouraged one of a weaker. nature. He was born in McLean County, Ill., at the little town of Lexington, on September 9, 1842, the

second child in a family of six sons. His early life was passed upon a farm, and, because of trouble with his eyes, he was thirteen years of age before permitted to attend school. But the thirst for knowledge was all the stronger because of this enforced waiting, and he made good use of the time of youth remaining to him. He secured a good common school education, which was supplemented by a course at Wesleyan University, in his native state. He then attended the Law University at Chicago, from which he graduated at twenty-one, and was admitted to practice in the courts of Illinois. But his

purpose of an immediate entry upon practice was frustrated by the ill health of his father, and his being called home to assume the care of the family, and he there remained until his father's death and until the family were placed in comfortable circumstances, when he again turned his face toward his

chosen career. His thought turned toward the new West, as offering the best opening for a beginner. He crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and studied the course as he went, seeking the place that offered the best promise for the future. He reached the Puget Sound region, and his clear judgment told him that here was the scene for future events, and the point about which a great people would sometime be located. He determined to make it his home. He located at Seattle in 1867, at that time boasting less than one thousand inhabitants. One account of the arrival of this earnest young lawyer from the East, has been given with a touch of quiet humor: "The advent of a stranger at this time was a notable event, and the appearance of the tall, slender and youthful but dignified attorney, wearing a long frock-coat and silk hat, aroused more than usual curiosity. It was the period when the citizens of Seattle were accustomed to the sight of decidedly plain and unconventional attire, and any one coming among them dressed in the fashion then prevailing in the East, became a conspicuous character. Mr. McNaught recalls with a smile the sensation he created at this time, and the younger men of that day most vividly remember in this connection, his first appearance in Seattle." But it was not long before the young stranger showed them that he had brought from the East something more than clothes.

The little settlement upon Elliott's Bay was not, it may be imagined, the

most promising place in the world for a young attorney who, after paying his first week's board, had only a few cents left. Isaac M. Hall and John J. McGilva were the only attorneys then in practice there, and there seemed hardly business for these two, to say nothing of another. nothing of another. But Mr. McNaught determined to chance his belief as to the prospects of the future, and to abide by his first impulse to remain. It was for a time a severe struggle, but it was not in his nature to become discouraged. What little business came to him was most thoroughly and faithfully attended to, and, as a lawyer of Seattle has borne testimony, "He displayed at this time even in comparatively trifling cases that same careful and painstaking interest that in later years in great and important legal complications brought him such. well deserved success."

Natural

The inevitable followed. talent, steady application to business, and strict reliability of character, inspired confidence, and he was soon doing a large business.

In 1868 he formed a partnership with John J. McGilva, who was afterward the president of the Seattle Bar Association. This partnership lasted for one year. At that time Mr. I. M. Hall, the only other attorney at the place, temporarily removed therefrom, leaving Messrs. McGilva and McNaught in sole possession. As it seemed advisable to have one lawyer, at least, for each side of the cases to be tried, they decided to dissolve

partnership, and Mr. McNaught continued by himself until 1870, when he formed a partnership with S. S. Garfield, Esq., who was afterward elected a Delegate to Congress, when a dissolution of the firm followed as a natural consequence. He then formed a partnership with John Leary, under the firm name of McNaught & Leary, and for seven years they had a large and most lucrative practice. In 1878, Mr. Leary retired, and Mr. McNaught formed a partnership with his youngest brother, Joseph, under the firm name of McNaught Brothers.

This was in turn followed by one with Hon. E. P. Ferry, formerly Governor of the Territory, and now Governor of the State of Washington, and John H. Mitchell, Jr., who were admitted to the firm as then constituted, and from that time until its dissolution, this powerful legal combination. were engaged in all of the important railroad and corporation practice carried on in Washington Territory. During this period, a prolific one in legal controversies, involving many novel questions, James McNaught was not only the recognized head of the firm, but unquestionably held the foremost place among the legal fraternity of Washington Territory. His services were eagerly sought, and his success attracted general attention. He was selected by Mr. T. F. Oakes, then general manager, and now president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, as the best man in the West to care for their many great interests,

in 1889, and his office is in the Mills' Building on Wall and Broad streets. Mr. McNaught also holds the office of president of the Northern Pacific & Manitoba Railroad.

This is but the brief outline of a career of remarkable success. Space will not permit a synopsis of the important cases in which Mr. McNaught has been engaged, but suffice it to say that he could not have reached his present eminence, nor won the reputation that he possesses, did not the meritorious labors of years, lie between the humble beginning of but a few years ago, and the rewards of today. Something of the view held of him by his associates, and of their sorrow at losing him as a member of the Bar of Washington, may be gleaned from what was said of him by those associates, when he announced his purpose of departure from among them, in August, 1887, to locate in St. Paul. A special meeting of the Seattle Bar Association was called for the purpose of taking action, and after the adoption of appro

priate resolutions, adjourned in a body to Mr. McNaught's residence, and surprised him with the formal presentation of a gold-headed cane, bearing the inscription: "James McNaught, from the Seattle Bar, August 25, 1887."

Speeches of farewell were made by leading lawyers, and responded to by Mr. McNaught. Said Ex-Chief Justice Greene, among other things of like tenor: "It is the old story, that real worth is most appreciatively felt at the moment of parting. We are all very sorry to lose you from amongst us. Said J. R. Lewis, Esq., "You have achieved a very honorable position; you have the respect of your fellow members of the bar; the members with whom you have worked. We have had many a hard tussle with you, but we have always found you a worthy competitor, and whenever we could succeed in downing you, we have felt that we had accomplished a great result." The resolutions referred to above, were presented to Mr. McNaught, and an extract or two therefrom, will add profitable glimpses of the work he had done in Seattle, as outlined by those best able to judge.

"For twenty years," they recited, "Mr. James McNaught, now just entering middle life, has been a member of the Bar of Seattle and Washington Territory, in full practice, and is about to remove from Seattle to St. Paul, Minnesota, to take general charge of the legal business of the Northern

Pacific Railroad Company. It is therefore,

"Resolved, That the Bar of Seattle regretting his departure, and hoping, that his absence may prove of short continuance, embrace this opportunity to express their lively esteem and affection for their departing brother; their deep sense of the extraordinary ability, indefatigible industry, profound learning, and lofty integrity which have raised him to eminence in the bar of the nation, and their abiding hope that the highest prosperity may ever attend him.”

It was not chance, nor the combination of any circumstances of happy accident, that have placed Mr. McNaught where he is to-day. It was by natural ability, hard work, and a courage that was never put out of countenance. Few men have more persistently and exclusively devoted themselves to their profession, than has he. His devotion thereto is of that chivalric kind which has led him to follow it with gennine ardor, not alone for the rewards it has brought him, but because he has found in it an occupation perfectly congenial to his tastes. He has always been a most inveterate worker, and has a constitution which seemingly permits of an unlimited amount of mental and physical

labor. labor. This quality of intense application and study, united to a wonderfully retentive memory, have made his mind a rich store-house upon which he is able to draw at opportunate

never

times for laws and precedents, applicable to points which he is anxious to establish, such as to often astonish courts and disconcert his legal adversaries. His legal forces are always under perfect control; he overlooks no means of legal defense, and is remarkable for his tactical and strategic qualities. Always sedate, never losing the most perfect command of his temper, calm, placid, and imperturbable, he belongs to that class of lawyers who preserve their mental equipoise under all circumstances, who seem to be taken by surprise, and who are prepared for any emergencies which may arise in the practice of law. The care which he bestows on the critical niceties of the law is due to his mental activity, and to his habit of thoroughness in whatever he undertakes, and not to the neglect of the broad principles which make the study and practice of the law one of the most elevating and useful persuits of mankind. He never undertakes a case unless he is satisfied that he has a fair legal defense, and then he becomes one of the most persistent fighters, and no defeat is accepted as final until a decision is reached in the court of last resort. In the difficult task among lawyers known as "trying a case after

verdict," he has indeed no superior. In advocacy he carries conviction by his earnestness, his clear and logical reasoning, and his thorough mastery of the legal status of the case, while his own intellectuality causes him to address the head rather than the heart, and as a consequence he has the most weight in courts where simple wit and rhetoric are held in the least esteem. A most suggestive thing may be found in the fact that in all these years of many cases, he has never yet lost an important one, for the Northern Pacific, which has left so many important causes to be taken care of as his judgment thought best.

In conclusion, it may be safely said: At a comparatively early age, Mr. McNaught has gained a place among the formost members of his profession, and in a position requiring the highest order of legal talent, he has more than held his own, against many of the best known lawyers in America. Personally, he possesses the qualities which have surrounded him with warm friends, whose loyalty he warmly reciprocates. Mr. McNaught married Miss Agnes Hyde, of Seattle. They have two children, a son and a daughter.