444 ANNUAL REPORT. 



confident terms of their high hopes and exi)ectations concerning 

 him. 



Says his law partner: ''I found him to be well acquainted 

 with intricate legal questions, diligent and able. Possessing 

 these essentials of success, he won, and deserved it too, a high 

 rank and an enviable standing witli the bench and bar of this 

 district. His determination to leave us is a matter of much re- 

 gret. As a public speaker, Mr. Stearns is logical and eloquent; 

 as an associate, he is agreeable and courteous." 



Weary and worn, go 



Eest thee, Strangt-r, Brother, 



Thou art bereft, it may be. 



Of a few years of culture 



And of fruitage here, 



By the swiftness of slow disease: 



But thy harvests of well doing 



Whilst thou didst stay. 



Nor kings, nor thieves can take away. 



" W^heu all the things thou calledst thine — 

 Goods, health, pleasures, honors fall. 

 Thou in thy virtues shalt survive them all." 

 And the others, too, shall yet be garnertd there. 

 By One whose tender thought hath numbered every hair. 



EICHAED PORTER. 



Richard Porter was born at Vermilion, Ashland County, 

 Ohio, June 16, 1825, and at the age of 21 took up his residence 

 at Decatur, Indiana. Ten years later, and on the thirtieth day 

 of May, 1856, he arrived at Rochester, Minnesota, making that 

 city his home till the day of his death, which occurred Jan. 15, 

 1885, near Huron, D. T., where, together with his son, he was 

 trying to perfect a title to a piece of government land. 



The desire to perpetuate the memory of departed friends man- 

 ifests itself in various ways. Perhaps the use of the marble slab 

 is the most common; but a tree is a monument, and the most 

 fitting one for our friend, who was always so inuch at home 

 among trees, fruits, and flowers. ' ' How living and lasting an epi- 

 taph is a grove of trees planted by some early i>ioneer." In 

 1884 Mr. Porter was vice-president of the Olmsted County Hor- 

 ticultural Society, and delegate from that to our State Horticul- 

 tural Society, where he took an active part in everything per- 



