Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 16.pdf/565

This page needs to be proofread.
512
The Green Bag.

Warm-hearted, generous, impulsive, he has all the best characteristics of hie race. His success in piloting government measures through the Commons is owing, I should say, to his temperament, which always pre fers the suaviter in modo, rather than the fortiter in re. In person he is about six feet high, straight as an Indian, with no surplus flesh. His movements are quick and vigor ous, and one can well believe that in earlier years he was distinguished for his superior ity in all manly sports and exercises. He has been known to swim across the St. Law rence at Quebec, no mean test of his physi cal powers. His greatest delight in summer is to explore in his canoe the northern wilds back of his native city, and if a dangerous rapid can be run, his spirit exults in such an adventure. Mentally, he is noted for quickness of perception and readiness of wit. He furnishes an example of the amount of work an active, industrious man can over

take. His Parliamentary and official work as Solicitor-General alone would afford scope for all the energies of most men, but when you add to this the fact that he is the head of one of the leading law firms in Quebec City, that he has the largest counsel work in his Province, and is retained at every sitting: of the Supreme Court at Ottawa in most of the Quebec appeals, some faint idea can be got of his industry and application, as well as of his success in the practice of his chosen profession." It remains for Mr. Fitzpatrick to round out his professional career in the near future by accepting a nomination to the Bench; but it is conceivable that his colleagues in the Administration at Ottawa would not look with complacency upon the early retirement of so useful a man from political life, and hence may prevail upon him to serve the State in his present capacity for a longer period. Xotis verrons.

SOME CURIOUS MUNICIPAL CUSTOMSIN Leicester, England, in days gone by, the mayor was chosen in this way: The al dermen sat round in the Town Hall, their hats filled with beans, and a sow was turned in. The first hat from which she took beans conferred on its owner the dignity of mayor alty. In Great Grimsby three candidates were selected, representing the different political or social parties, and they stood in the mar ket place, each holding a bunch of hay. A hungry calf was then turned into the market, and the first candidate approached by the calf to satisfy his appetite was declared mayor. The Mayor of Newcastle-on-Tyne sails down the river to claim the rights of the city . over the foreshore. When he lands he has to

kiss the prettiest girl present, and give her a sovereign as a compensation. At Bournemouth the new mayor has to be kissed by his predecessor, who is privi leged in turn to kiss the wife of the newlyelected official. A gold oar is given every twenty years, and silver oars every year to the mayors of Boston, Yarmouth and Southampton. The newly-elected Mayor of Cork hurls a dart into the sea, as an assertion of his au thority over the adjacent coast. On last Easter Tuesday the quaint old custom of letting a piece of land at Bourne, Linconshire, England, was again observed. The piece of land is known as "The White Bread Meadow," and is let annually at auc tion. The auctioneer stands on a bridge at