speakers at both the junior exhibition and the closing or "Commencement" exercises at the graduation of the class. He then entered Columbia Law school, studying at the same. time in the office of Emott, Murray & Harris, the well known firm of lawyers, in New York. He was admitted to practice before obtaining his degree, soon thereafter being appointed to the position of managing clerk for the firm of Emott, Van Cott & Jenks, then the most noted firm of lawyers in the Second Judicial District. From the first, Mr. Ward applied himself with great persistency to his studies, and soon became well known as an able and rising attorney. In 1866 this firm dissolved partnership, and the young counsellor was tendered and accepted a partnership with one of its members, the late Granville T. Jenks, Esq., one of the ablest lawyers of his time. This continued until the death of Mr. Jenks, in 1870. During its continuance the firm had a large and lucrative practice, and was connected with many important cases in the various courts. Mr. Ward made a visit to Europe in the same year, 1870, and upon his return formed a partnership with Hon. George G. Reynolds, who had been for many years judge of the city court of Brooklyn. This firm was very prominent until the re-election of Judge Reynolds to the city court caused its dissolution. Mr. Ward practiced alone until 1878, when he took as a

partner, the eldest son of his old associate, Mr. Almet F. Jenks, at present corporation counsel of Brooklyn.

Frederic A. Ward is an enthusiast in his profession. He has been a diligent student, and is well posted in all branches of the law, rendering. him exceptionally well fitted to decide as to the strength of the case before he undertakes it, and therefore to quickly map out his course of proceedure. His strongest faculty seems to be in the care and system with which he prepares his cases before going to trial. There is nothing. left to chance, but all the testimony is brought out in its proper place and where its free strength will be felt. It has been said of him by one of the older members of the bar, that "He is very adroit, and, though ardent, yet cool, and never disconcerted, but quick as a flash in making or repelling with consummate skill, any unforseen assault during the contest." It is these qualities together with a remarkably clear mind that have made Mr. Ward much more than unsually successful, and have caused the majority of his cases to be decided in favor of his clients, and lead to his being constantly sought as associate counsel by other attorneys in important cases. He is invariably

conscientious and faithful to his distinguished clientelle, and may well feel proud of the high position he holds in the profession, although still a young man. In the adjustment of

a

cases out of court, he is particularly successful, and he never presses case to trial if it can be decided without that alternative.

Personally, Mr. Ward is of a most pleasing and approachable nature, and a man whom it is a pleasure to meet and converse with. Warmhearted, intelligent, and refined, he numbers his friends and admirers by hundreds; not a few of whom are those who are his opponents at the bar. In politics Mr. Ward has always been a Republican and has never sought political preferment, his inclinations being in the line of his

chosen profession, in literature and in foreign travel, in which opportunity has frequently allowed him to indulge. Music is another of his favorite entertainments, and he is a member and director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Society, the New England Society of Brooklyn, the Greenwood Cemetery, in the Long Island Historical Society, and the Brooklyn Free Library. He is VicePresident of the Yale Alumni Association, and also belongs to a number of financial institutions and enterprises.

YET another member of the New York bar, who has won fame and professional success in a marked degree, is Stillman Foster Kneeland, who was born in Canada, near the Vermont line, on May 17th, 1845. He comes of a family that traces its history back to the Norse invaders of Scotland in the tenth century, and is marked for its high moral and intellectual qualities, and whose members have filled various places of usefulness and prominence, since the founder of the American branch, Samuel Kneeland, sailed with a ship-load of grain and other supplies for the relief of Plymouth and Bay colonies, early in the seventeenth century; and, liking the country and its chances, settled here.

and made it his permanent home. Gardner Kneeland was one of his direct descendants, and was the father of Stillman F. Kneeland, and to his teaching and example, the latter owes much of the high character, good principles, and physical strength that have enabled him to win so large a portion of professional success. He began the real labor of life at an early age. When but eleven years of age, he became an apprentice in the printing office of the Hon. L. S. Huntington, prosecuting in his leisure hours. the work of self-education, with such success, that five years later he passed the entrance examination of McGill College, in Montreal. But before he entered upon his collegiate studies,