Page 81 - Cornelius Hedges Story

For This And Succeeding Generations Gardiner 68

He had a fine sense of devotion to duty in any endeavor he
undertook. This is a direct outgrowth of his charitable giving of
time, talent, and intellect.

An outstanding example of the devotion to duty was recorded
in 1876. In preparing the report on Fraternal Correspondence, he
noted the receipt of the Proceedings from Brazil. Instead of entirely
disregarding it, he wrote:

“We are not familiar enough with Portuguese to read it readily,
and not finding a dictionary of that language in the limited stock
of our book stores, we shall have to defer a proper attention to
our foreign brethren till we have leisure to learn that language
or can secure the services of a polyglot assistant.”243
Another trait most noticeable in the lives of both Judge Hedges
and the rest of his family was unselfishness. Oscar O. Mueller, son-
in-law of Charles W. Cook (both Mueller and Cook were Masons)
of the 1869 Folsom-Cook expedition to Yellowstone, wrote the
following about that trait of the Hedges:

“In all his activities Hedges was primarily motivated by the
best interests of the state, and Montana citizens speak of the Hedges
family as “unselfish to the extreme.” They enjoyed working for
the public even to the disadvantage of their personal matters. This
is the one criticism that has been made of them!”244

And by Judge Hedges’ own admission in 1882:
“Seem to be spending most of my time working for other and
doing little for myself.”245
This spirit of unselfishness again can be traced to charity, charity
which at times demanded all the talents he possessed. Because of
his many and diverse interests, Hedges enjoyed doing a variety of
work, and he sometimes expressed wishes for more variety when
the pace of activities seemed to slacken.246

Total compassion for all living creatures, “as well as for human
beings, was another of his character traits. Cornelius tells of one
incident involving a fish in Yellowstone Lake. The incident took
place on the 1870 Yellowstone Expedition, and briefly it was this: