title: Reflections of a Poetic Judge
author: Hon James J. Brown
description: Hon. James J. Brown is a retired Federal Administrative Law Judge living in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received his B.A. in History from the University of Texas in Austin, Texas in 1968. He received his Juris Doctor, law degree, from Boston College Law School in 1971. He is married to Alice May (Manningham) Brown, and they have four children and six grandchildren. Hon. Brown is the author of the novel, Will The Laughter Stop? Baby Boomer Chronicles, c. 2007, from Author House. See http://www.babyboomerchronicles.com. Hon. Brown is also the author of the best selling law book, Judgment Enforcement, c. 1994, 1999, 2010, now in its Third Edition, from Aspen Publishing and Wolters Kluwer with offices in Austin, Boston, Chicago, New York, and The Netherlands. This law book is also online electronically with Loislaw, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer. Judge Brown is the Editor of Scientific Evidence and Experts Handbook c. 1999, from Aspen Publishing/ Wolters Kluwer. He is the Managing Editor of Proving and Defending Damage Claims - A Fifty State Survey, c. 2007, 2010, from Aspen Publishing/Wolters Kluwer, which is also available on an electronic library from Commerce Clearing House (CCH), also a subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer. See: http://www.jamesjbrown.com. Hon. Brown had a thirty-seven year career as a trial lawyer and a Federal Administrative Law Judge, and retired from the Federal Bench on October 3, 2008. He still is engaged in writing and consulting. See: www.judgebrownconsulting.com. . Judge Brown is also a Fourth Degree Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Raleigh, NC.
zlib_text: "If I could go to Detroit, I might strike some clew; but I cannot leave the
  judge. Mr. Black, he told me this morning when I carried in his breakfast that
  he should see no one and go nowhere till I brought him word that Oliver was in
  the house. The hermit life has begun again. What shall we do? Advise me in
  this emergency, for I feel as helpless as a child,--as a lost child."
  
  They were standing far apart in the little front parlour, and he gave no
  evidence of wishing to lessen the space between them, but he gave her a look
  as she said this, which, as she thought it over afterwards, held in its kindly
  flame something which had never shone upon her before, whether as maid, wife
  or widow. But, while she noticed it, she did not dwell upon it now, only upon
  the words which followed it.
  
  "You say you cannot go to Detroit. Shall I go?"
  
  "Mr. Black!"
  
  "Court is adjourned. I know of nothing more important than Judge Ostrander's
  peace of mind---unless it is yours. I will go if you say so."
  
  "Wi