Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-11-12

Senator IN Congress in October. 1854, To-
which office he was again elected in Oeto-
Der 1880 He was wearing his senato-
rial robes with ever increasing dignity
and grace, TIL on the evening Of the 9th
day OF November, 1865, he strapped
the drapery Of his couch about him, and
laid down TO pleasant dreams"
Can rhetoric add aught TO the eloluenee
OF such record, as an eulogy upon the
mani And Yet the occasion properly re-
quires that this outline sketch should be
rounded into the lneaments Of actual life.
Within the limits which have prescribed
to myself. | shall proceed, and speak OF
him with reference TO periods, positions, and
relations, that awaited upon, h,m aud gave
distinctive progression in the making up
Of the substance Of his visible,d emcns,ra-
ted, practical life and, in so doing, shall
make use Of facts as | know them from
others, as well as from my own observa.
ton, and shall interhlend them with such
views, speculative and otherwise, as en-.
terrain Of him necessarily giving, at the
best, but hurried and iragmen,ary delrn-
cation Of one who would grace, as well as
be deserves, a full and carefully written bi-
graphical memoir 10y some able and ade-
quately trained hand. OF course in many
thlns~o shall but repeat what others have
better said.
OF Judge Collamer's childhood auj life
before entering college, l have learned
nothing 10 distinguish him from the child
rem OF other poor parents, living in the
early, growing villages of the State, and
getting scanty substance by daily toll.
In college he encountered the customary
embarrassments Of poverty, in Il ne,sre
fitting, and in the inability 10 supply him
self with all the needed auxiiaries L. the
most successful prosecution of liberal ed
ucation during his college course.
As student, in the earlier portion of
his course, his boyish propensity for fun
and roguish playluluess operated adverse
" TO his assiduity and success in study.
not indeed indicating a tendency 10 vi
cious indulgences and habits, so much as a
fondncSs for ANNOYING his college mates
whom he could successfully tease for the
amusement of himself and others. In the
last two years OF his studentsaip, he de-
| voted himself with more assiluitv 20 the
prescribed studies and to general reading /;
and, as boyhood was yieldingto the in
creaslng considerateness and forecasts, Of
dawning manhood, be gave clear indica-
tons Of the superiority that was develop
ed by him in his professional and ,.iclal
life.
His professional siudentship and the
first years Of his lite as a lawyer We're sub
Jet TO the distractions and Interruptions
attendant upon, and resulting from, the
War Of 1872. The poverty IN which he
had been nurtured compelled him to seek
employment in matters outside Of the field
of strictly professional avocator for sev
eral years. Hence he did not find him
self able to give exclusive devotion to the
study and practice Of the law till after he
settled in Royalton, in 1916. The effects
Of the untoward circumstances that had
attended his professional career down 10
that time appeared in what the Hon.
Charles Marsh, then in the glory OF ms
professional ability and fame, SAID 10 ne OF
him,-namely, that when Judge Cola
mer first began practice in Windsor coun-
| ty, his knowledge of the law was . cut as
meagre and inadequate as that Of any man
Of his age, whom he had known at the
Bar that he manifested a confidence ~
his own ability. and a purpose 20 take
care Of his cases himself, that it soon ap.
peared that he was making himse.ima,,cr
Of his cases, both in their facts ani no the
law, and justifying his apparent sc.i-reh-
ance in coming before the Courts,-thal
he soon began to attract the attention., aud
enlist the favorable interest Of the moaa
mature members of the Bar, and Of lh.
Courts and, in no very long time, he wa.
regarded as ore Of the most promising
and soon became one Of the most success
full of the younger members of the Bar.
1t is a matter of common knowledge
that he rapidly advanced to the from, rauR
in professional prosperity, and steadily
: grew in strength and public esteem, tlil bC
was elected TO the Bench IN 1883. lie be
came leader, not only in Windsor, bu
in Orange County, and, as a consequence
had occasional employment in important
causes in other sections Of the state, q
the solldity and high order Of his merit
conclusive proof consists in the fact, that
on his coming TO the Bar Of Windso
, County, Charles MaCsh jonathan II, liub
= bard, Jacob Smith, Horace Everett at.
Titus Hutchinson, were III the maturity o
} their strength, and the full glow Of the,
professional fame and they continued e
rule the ascendent till Jacob Colamer i've
] came their peer, and Isaac y. Cushmen
and Carlos Coolidge, and Asa Aiken, hf
t cotemporarles and rivals, and Andrey
e Tracy was rising in that distinguished q
reer in which now he has so long sustain
ed himself.
i Judge Collamer was not a grains j.
r that undefnable, ideal sense that uo'o'
d comprehends, and specimens Of which ar
!, like Angels visits --meu of spontaueoa
r intuitions, and preternatural inspirations
e that relieve them from the ordinary pre-
e oesses of intellectual cultivation and con
!; scious laborious effort in attaining result
. that, with most, depend on the voluntar
n and vigorous cXertion Of the faculties :
s the mind. He had genius Of far mon
!, appreciate and practically useful chara,
: ter-the Genius of success, by dutfall
It bending all his faculties, by laborious an
VI persistent exertion to subjects and occas
d ions which his vocation and position
t. brought in his way and called on HIM
# encounter. The fact stated Of him by II
n Marsh, already repeated, as to his earl
IS manifestations at the Bar, is the secret {
d his vigorous growth to the professional, il
1t dicial and political eminence that he a
L tained-the making himself master Of tt
: cases, the subjects, the business that fel
t, his lot to engage in and carry through
d His course as lawyer, with the disciplin
e to which he was subjected in being asst