University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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To THE Genial, Witty, Chivalrous Southern Gentleman — the Best Friend, the Kindest Heart, the Gentlest Nature, the most Universally Loved Man in the University — JUDGE JAMES B. CLARK, This Cactus is Affectionately Dedicated.

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Judge James B. Clark. Rabbi Ben Ezra, who had tested the joys of youth and had grown old, once said: Come, grow old along with me, The best of life is yet to be, The last of life for which the first was made. The well-known and much-beloved subject of this sketch, the white-haired, ruddy-faced old gentleman, familiarly known as Judge, furnishes a striking exam- ple of the wisdom of the Eastern sage. He has learne d somewhere the secret of perennial youth. Eighteen years of service in a position where his work is largely of exacting detail has not dampened his ardor or dulled a naturally keen and lively mind. He is the youngest old man of his day. No one ever saw him with the blues. His companionship with young men is a source of delight, his gallantry proverbial. Both the young and the old seek his counsel. His friendship is the one connecting link that binds hundreds of students to their college days. They may forgetjall else and yet remember one man whose interest and friendship were disinterested and genuine — the spontaneous expression of a gentle nature that reflects kindness as the flower sheds perfume. Such a life confounds the wisest philosopher. Its power is hidden to the most reflective. Simplicity and genuine- ness deceive by their transparency. Often only death can reveal to us the man in his proper perspective. So, while we know we love the Judge, it is hard to define him. He doesn ' t fit into any of our preconceived pigeon-holes. His personality is bigger than any description. The affectionate regard of many hearts, we alone may presume to translate in one particular: The best of his life is in the present, though he is growing old in years. He is our model old man. We shouldn ' t mind age, if it led into the paths of peace and usefulness in which he daily walks. This Cactus is his, in response to a unanimous demand, and we honor it by printing a brief story of his life. James Benjamin Clark is a North Carolinian by birth, a Mississippian by adop- tion, a son of General William Clark and lyouisa Pearce Lanier. General Clark removed to Mississippi when the subject of this sketch was an infant. General Clark was a planter, owning many negroes, and for a time was Treasurer of the State of Mississippi. Judge Clark ' s mother died when he was five years old. He was next to the youngest of ten children, and his elder sisters were to him in loco matris. At the age of twelve he entered Franklin College near Nashville, Tennessee, from which he graduated after four years. Later he entered Harvard University in the Soph- omore Class, and graduated in 1855, being valedictorian. He studied law, and in i860 went to Europe, expecting to travel for several years before returning to the United States. How rudely these plans were mter- rupted and the dreams of youth dispelled, the history of that time will tell. He returned home, went on to Richmond, and to the front at Manassas He was enrolled in the Eighteenth Mississippi Regiment, Barksdale ' s Brigade; was at 9