Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1874-06-17
4 HARD WORKING STUDENT.

In this State and these influences Charles
Sumner was born sixty-three years ago, while
as yet the traditions OF Colonial New England
were virtually unchanged. Here were the
town meeting the constable, the common
school, the training day. the general inteli-
genec, the morality, the habit Of seli-goyern.
ment, the homogeneity of population, the am.
pie territory, the universal instinct OF law.
Here was the full daily practice of what De
Tocqueyille atterward called the two or three
principal ideas which form the basis of the
social theory of the United States, and which
seemed to make q republic possible, practica-
BILE, and wise Ii was one OF the good fortunes
Of Sumner life that, born amid these influences,
he used TO the utmost the advantage Of school
and college. To many men youth itself is 50
sweet a siren that in hearing her song they
forget all but the pleasure Of listening to II.
But the sibyl saved no scroll from Sumner he
had the wisdom to seize them all, His class
mates, gayly returning late at night, saw the
studiOus light shining in his window. The
boy was hard at work, already in those plastiJ
years storing his mind and memory, which
seemed indeed an inability to forget, with
the literature and historic lore which gave his
later discourse such amplitude and spendor o
illustration that, like royal robe, it was stitl
and cuInbrous and awkward with exaggerated
richness and embroidery. lie never lost this
1 VAST NhluNlAl VI Nblh hnA liA0 huA hu iait
hours. Long afterward, when he was in Paris
recovering from the blow in the Senate, or
dered not to think or read, and daily, as his
physician lately tells us, undergoing torture
of treatment which he refused to'mltigate By
annsthetics, simply unable to do nothing he
devoted himself 10 the study and collection ol
engrayings, in which he became an expert
And | remember in the midsummer OF 1871
when he remained, as was his custom, ir
Washington, after the city was deserted by al
but its local population, and when | saw hin
daily, that he rose at seven in the morning, ant
with but a slight breakfast at nine, sat at hi,
desk in the library, hard at work until five
in the afternoon Ii was his vacation the
weather was tropical and he was sixty years
old. The renowned Senator at his post wa'
still the solitary mdnightstudent of the college
But other influences mingled in his educa
tion, and helped to mold the man. While his
heart burned with the tale Of plutarch's heroes
with the story of ancient States, and the poll
ties Of Greece and Rome and modern Europe
be lived in this historic city, and was therefore
familiar with many Of the most inspiring scenei
of our American story. | know not II thu
people of this neigbb0rhood are always con
scious OF the hallowed ground upon which the,
daily tread We who come hther from othe
States, pilgrims to the cradle Of American in
dependence, are moved by emotions such as VI
cannot elsewhere feel. Hers is the " 0l,
South - Meeting -house-and here may il lonl
remain where, however changed, still il
Imagination Sam Adams calls the SONS OF Lib
erty to their duty. There is the old State
J house where James Otis, with electric elo
quence, brings continent to its feet. Beneat
is the ground where Crispus Attucks fell
Beyond Is faneuil Hall, the plainest and mos
reverend political temple now standing in tn
world, aud upon the principles which are It
inseparable traditions has been founded tn
most humane republic in history. There
the Old North steeple, on which Paul Revere
lantern lights the land to independence. BE
/ low is the water on which the scarlet troops .
Percy and of Howe glittered in the June sun
shine Of ninety-nne years ago and 10 me
mortal Of battle lost and cause won, tn
tall, gray, melancholy shalt on Bunker Hill rise