Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 2.djvu/435

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THE CITY OF PORTLAND
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lies.' Judge Boise acted well his part, for which praises and honor are due to his memory. Few men have been more fortunate than Judge Boise was in his life. He was fortunate in the enjoyment of the confidence and respect of all who knew him. He was fortunate in his family, fortunate in his friends, fortunate in those circumstances which conducted to his comfort and especially fortunate in retaining his faculties unimpaired to the close of his long and useful life. Judge Boise, when living, was the oldest lawyer in the state and now he is gone. I am the oldest lawyer and as my relations to him were quite intimate I feel like one who treads alone 'some banquet hall deserted.' When I came to Oregon, now nearly fifty-four years ago, Judge Boise was in active practice of his profession. He was prosecuting attorney, while I was judge in this district, and made an able and efficient officer. Since then for the most part of the time he has been judge of the supreme or district courts and at all times and under all circumstances he was an upright and impartial judge. Judge Boise in his private life was irreproachable and his public life was above suspicion. When a man has reached the great age of Judge Boise, honored and respected as he was, there is no occasion to mourn over his departure. It is just as natural to die as it is to live—all must die—every blade of grass, every flower, every tree, every living creature must die; it is the inevitable law of nature and it is our duty to acquiesce as cheerfully as we can in this unchanging and universal law. I know that when death severs the ties of family and kindred it is natural for the bereaved to experience a sense of sorrow, but this sorrow is greatly alleviated when those who are left behind can look back upon the record that the departed one has made with pride and satisfaction. Springtime is a suitable time for an old man to take his departure from this world. When the trees are putting forth their leaves and the buds and blossoms begin to appear and the sun is shining and the birds are singing, and when all nature is putting on the habiliments of a new life, it is fitting that an old man should pass out of the winter of his life into the springtime of another and better existence. When the sun goes down it reflects upon the clouds that hang upon the horizon a golden hue and when a man like Judge Boise dies the record of his life reflects upon those who survive a radiance that resembles the glory of the setting sun. Whatever may befall our friend in another state of existence we can have no reason to doubt that he will receive his reward for the good deeds done in the body and we can all join as we sit around his lifeless remains in saying in the sincerity of our hearts, 'Well done, good and faithful servant, rest in peace.'"


B. LEE PAGET.

Becoming identified with the Pacific coast country in the years of his early manhood, B. Lee Paget has, in the intervening period, made substantial progress in lines of labor where only effort and fidelity win reward, and is now active in financial circles as the secretary of the Portland Trust Company of Oregon. Born in Burnett, Somersetshire, England, on the 14th of June, 1864, he is a son of Edward and Sarah Paget. He attended the grammar school of Bristol, England, but put aside his text-books before his fourteenth birthday in order that he might enter a wholesale grocery house as apprentice. Recognizing the restriction of labor in his native land, he resolved to seek and improve the opportunities of the new world, and in 1888 arrived in San Luis Obispo, California, where for one year he engaged in business as a dealer in ten.

In July of 1889 Mr. Paget arrived in Portland, Oregon, and after acting for a time as bookkeeper for the firm of Cohen, Davis & Company, accepted a similar position with Kelly, Dunne & Company. He was next given charge of the office of the great department store of Meier & Frank Company, where he remained for several years, leaving that position of large responsibility to accept