Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1861-12-05
For the Herald.
EDGAR L. ORMSBEE, ESQ

L.
little emotion, and the sorrow and loss are
confined to a limited circle. But one sin
ole atom from the vast mass of breathing
| humanity is lost to view, and its place Is
easily filled by another. 1t is like peb-
BILE drOpt into the waters, leaving only
little ripple, eddying in a limited circle,
then disappearing and all Is smooth again.
But when q man OF mark. who has raised
his beacon-ight high above times waves.
is suddenly engulfed, we at once feel the
loss of that light. whether as beacon to
warn us frd Inn hidden shoals or as a star
TO gude d,through the trackless waters
to a desired haven. When a man OF tai
ents dies. no matter whether in afiluencc
or penury, it is a general lo-s-a loss 10
friends-a loss to community-a loss to
the world. And the world cast. about IN
soIicitude for one of equal talent to fill his
place. This Is no arbitrary feeling. 1t
is as established as the laws Of nature
One star is set above another in bright
ness.
In the estimation of the character of
man. while he is living, how much too
often are we influenced by the qualities
which he does not possess, than by those
which he does 20 much 10, that, Of those
virtues which he held in common with
others, we think nothing; while those
which he held pre-eminent over ourselves
we depreciate. But when he has bid
adieu to the scenes Of earth, when those
virtues no longer come into competition
with our hopes and ambition. how We then
change our estimation Of them, even 50
far a, to fall down into the fulsome adula-
ton of the tombstone.
Edgar l. Ormsbec. whose death oc-
CURED on Sunday the oath instant. was
born in ShOreham in this State IN 1908.
His boyhood was spent under the guar
dianship Of Ebenezer Bush. Esq, whose
estimable wife was Dir. Orm,bee- moth
er OF this period Of hi~ life We nave no
data for Information but such wa the
idiCsyncrasy Of the Orm-br, family. that
wc NAV well presume that there va
much originality and precOcity OF charac-
ter. lie graduated at Middlclury COL
lege in 1923, in Il cla- distinguished for
superior -tanding, among wA1m were
Mr.. j .-eph l3attelI, superior scholar
Julian &. Buell.. Esq, al eminent MEM
Der Of th4 legal profession; Hon. !. :.
Chapman, Member Of Congre-- from
Michigan DR.. T. !. Couaur Prof. OF
Madison University; Francis Narho".
ESQ Of the Diplomatic Bureau al WASH
ington add Doctor f. Il. Smith, Prot ia
the New Hampton Theological Institution
y. II. Among such men. Al hat time
Wa b.. d 1>iingui>hcd for talent. classical
and general scholarship.
NJ. Onn-bcc read law u .h, Office. ot
Rodney {. Rovct ,--4.. at Rutland.
who then stood at the lead OF tire Bar A.
an advoc ate. and b, al-n attended ,h~
Law Sch4ol At Litchtied He WA adj
mitted,to the Bar in April lo25. After
few wear, Of practice and sufficient time
mad elapsed 10 bring hi talents INTO play
and 10 befome known. he ro>r at One
and took d stand at the head OF the pro-
tc,sion, wh ich he held until he retired
, from practice. He was elected 10 the Of
, ice of State Attorney from lS43 Il
1S47.
Mr.. Ofmsbee manner wa not happi-
" such a rendered him very successful
as an advocate at .ttM Pri,,s His forte
E was the issue, at law before the Supreme
Court Hi, mind. although strongly i'm
aginativc, was peculiarly argumentative.
He wa, fond too Of metaphysical distinc.
. tons. Hi style was clear and pointed
+ ard ottentime> 80 suggestive were hi,
8 thoughts that parenthesis after parenthesi-
would be introduced. in,omuch that ont
feared that he had lost the train Of though
with which he started vet he would come
back again with clearne>>. and conclude
the thought with the happic>t effect OF
tentime> i'll an argument a hesitancy
would appear, and an distracted air. a il
he were casting about for a thought Of
which he had lost sight but not 30. "a the
intellectual man easily detect, Hi sug
, gestyc mind suddenly presented before
him 50 many different form, OF expression
that this he>ltanCy was occasioned by the
difficulty of selecting that which would besr
= clothe hi, thought. and when chosen it wa,
| apparent to all that he had adopted thai
phraseology which gave the purest. the
most classical and the happest diction Il
= the expression of his idea. In common
cases his angularity and rigiditv OF manner
diverted from the force OF his argument.
nor were they compensated for by the ease
grace and dignity OF Phelps or Bates
or the tiuency of a Williams. But when
the cause on trial was OF sufficient impor-
, lance to excite and call forth the powers
OF his mind, then would that rigidity dis
, appear, and he would rise in dignity and
grace and pour forth his thoughts in chaste
and manly diction, in eloquence unsur-
passed. His Wit was keen, his humor I'M
E bounded, his repartee always ready, his
satire irresistible. A an instance of his
readiness on every emergency, the follow
ing incident may be excused in trying
, to convey.
In chancery case before the supreme