Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-12-28

III proportion 10 MS means, thOugn an
economical manager of his own affairs,
as he was Of those of his country. In
his own State at the time of his de-
cease, he was regarded as her foremost
man, and his loss will be mourned by
the nation as the loss of one of it's great
men.
| believe ne desired to be regarded as
a Christian statesman, and any terms
added to these he would have considered
as terms or diminution. He preferred
TO be quietly right rather than TO be
conspicuous and wrong. He sought to
convince, not TO be eloquent. He was
impressive rather than impulsive. He
appealed to the reason of men, and did
not aim to excite their temper He tried
to make his audience understand the
weight Of the argument, not to please
them with the beatitudes of rhetoric.
The truths to which he gave utterance
were calculated in their naked simpiici-
ty, sometimes in their puritanic, gritty
LONELINESS OF phrase, to stand the tests
Of all time but he took no care to en-
balm his words with the ornaments of
the schools or the spOils of literature,
in order to win that fame which style
often secures even to shallow thinkers.
1t was breadth of view and not felicity
of diction he aimed at. He borrowed
little from others. His intellectual
structures were built of timber he had
freshly cut and hewn on his own do
mains, redolent of the perfume of the
forest, and were not piled up from dead
drift-woOd quotations which float on the
surface Of learning, so tempting to mere
ly literary wreckers.
Mr. Woodbridge (Vt.)-The crowning
glory Of Jacob Collamer's character was
after all best exhibited at home. You
all recollect the sweetness of his face.
He seemed, as Sydney Smith said Of
Horner, to have the ten commandments
written there. He was a devoted hus-
| band and father, kind and generous
neighbor, and in the highest sense of the
word Christian gentleman.
And now that he has gone across the
silent gulf which separates the living
from the dead, the pleadings of his life
are heard. 1t is for US to reverently lis
ten. Let us initiate his virtues, so that
when we are called to join our fathers
it may be said of US, as it can be safely
said of our departed friend, the world
is better that he has lived.
Mr.. Raymond n. Y.)-Vermont, Mr.
| Speaker, has been fortunate in the char
acter Of her public men, from time be.
| yond which my memory does not reach
! in her history. She has always had in
| her public councils men who conferred
luster upon her, and gathered honor to
| themselves by the manner in WHICH thew
| met every duty which deyOlved upon
| them. Some of their names in various
/ departments of the public service have
been cited by the honorable gentlemen
whose words preceded me. They are
names that will live in history. But
among them all she has no name that
/ will occupy a higher place in the respect
/ of all who knew him, and a more pro-
| found position in the love and esteem of
those who are intimately acquainted
with him, than that of Jacob Collamer.
Mr.. Grider (Ky,)-He was not only
man Of integrity and morality, but he
was a Christian man and Christian
| gentleman, and in this fact / trust his
friends, and especial ly the home circle
may find the power Of submission and
the power OF being Cheered and consoled.
A Christian gentleman, as he was, his
death, although it may be to his count
ry and his family bereavement and a
loss, to him it was great gain
may be excused for stating fact,
for facts are illustrative of character
more than words. When | had the
honor to be in Congress-in the House
with Judge Collamer, we had con
gressional prayer meeting. I remem-
Der distinctly that Judge Collamer, as a
Christian gentleman, was uniformly
there and participated in the devotional
exercises. They were of frequent oc-
currence, and he used to attend and
Judge Mclean, and circle Of the dis.
tingushed men Of the bench and Leg.
islature of that day.