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“ Yes, Austin Adams is dead; but, as I move that these resolutions be spread upon the records of this court, there comes unbidden to my mind a thought voiced upon a similar occasion. No, he is not dead. The effect of such a life as he lived cannot pass away. His deeds do not go down into the grave with him. ”

“ I doubt if any man in Iowa has received greater recognition of his intellectual endowments and scholarly attainments than Judge Adams. For many years he was president of the non-partisan board of education of his adopted city, and in its entire history it never had a more valuable member than he. He was instrumental in the organization and maintenance of The Round Table, a gentlemen's literary club, which flourished in Dubuque for nearly, if not quite, a quarter of a century. ”

“ Affectionate friends may rear to his memory marble column or granite shaft, but the most enduring monument to his fame is found in the thirty-two volumes of the decisions of this court, which contain his opinions. Whilst letters endure, and civilization remains, his fame is there secure. ”

“ The relation of judges in the same court is sometimes designated as that of brother. The nature of the occupation is such that the term is not inappropriate in a social sense. It involves close and almost continuous personal association. Judge Adams impressed a stranger as a man of great dignity, amounting almost to austerity, and yet, when approached, he was the most genial, companionable and unselfish of men. No man excelled him in his consideration, sympathy and charity for others.
He was a most valued member of the court in consultation. ”

“ On one occasion an attorney engaged in presenting his case to the court was very vehement in his language and gesticulations, and failed to present any points worthy of consideration. While the argument was in progress, I said to Judge Adams, in a whisper: "Why can't we see ourselves as others see us?" referring to the effort of counsel. The reply was, "It would never do; if we did, many of us would go out and hang ourselves."
Judge Adams was always of frail physical organization, and yet he retained all of his mental vigor until within a few hours of his death. ”

“ The young men of the Dubuque bar ever found in him a kindly adviser and a considerate friend. The ordinary marks of rank, such as are conferred by wealth and the like, were nothing to him. By the simplicity of his living he proved that the best things in this life can be enjoyed with very little money, and that it is not necessary to spend all one's energies to amass wealth in order to acquire culture and refinement. ”

“ No such maxim needs be invoked by him who speaks of the life and character of Judge Adams. No one who truthfully speaks can say aught but good of our departed friend. His life was exceptionally pure and blameless. ”

“ That in the death of the Honorable Austin Adams, a member of this bar for over thirty-six years, and a judge of the supreme court of this state for twelve years, the bar and state have lost a fellow member and citizen, distinguished alike for uprightness, purity and unselfishness of character, for simplicity and courtesy of manner, for great industry and learning both within and without his profession, and for the highest attainments and usefulness as lawyer, judge and man. ”

“ He has there "a monument more lasting than brass, and more sublime than the regal elevation of pyramids, which neither the wasting shower, the unavailing north wind, nor an innumerable succession of years, and the flight of seasons shall be able to demolish." ”

“ When he was thirteen years old, his teacher urged upon his father that the son should receive a better education than he could procure at the district schoolhouse which, with the small Baptist church, stood in the edge of a grove upon the father's farm. This counsel resulted in his being sent to an academy at Townsend, Vermont, and to Black River Academy at Ludlow, Vermont, where he prepared for college. At nineteen, he entered the sophomore class of Dartmouth, from which he graduated in the class of 1848. I have no doubt that at college he was an indefatigable dig. ”

“ It was his misfortune to ask a continuance of popular favor at a time when popular prejudices were in the ascendant, and when the tempest of popular passion was accustomed to uproot everything that did not bow before it. ”

“ In his family he sought to show, by precept and example that every thought and act, whether good or bad, must bear fruit, that excellence was attained only by constant attention to the present, and that the acme of excellence was open to all. ”

“ Ordinarily, in the death of a man, the only losers are the members of his family. Not so in this case. The legal profession and the state at large are sufferers by the death of Judge Adams. Lawyers of his rank are too rare, the need for men of his caliber is too great, to permit his death to take place without consciousness of great loss.
A meeting of the bar of Dubuque county was at once held, and thereat, among other proceedings, were adopted the following resolutions, which, on behalf of the bar, I present to this court for its official action:
Resolved 1. ”

“ He believed that as the English language was employed in the courts of this country, it was pedantry to attempt the use of any other. He never at any time put his scholarly attainments on parade. His natural modesty and simplicity of character precluded an exhibition of learning, unless for some reason it became necessary. ”