Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1874-03-02

/ boyish spectator in onc.of your countrys
forums, your mind was filled with rever-
ence for those men who were exercising
the awful responsibility of holding the
/ scales which were to determine the fate
of fellow man. whose very life was at
stake your cheek blanched and your
body. all fever. burning under the elo-
quent words of the advocate, who, nobly
pleading for his brother man. was toned
up to a pitch of mental anxiety. even
| beyond that of the victim. as if offering
his own anguish of mind as an atoning
sacrifice for him whose mind was night
and gloom
And so all young men are looking af-
ter and admiring these who are running
ahead, to determine which he shall fol-
low, which is the nearest road to his
success, his destiny. his Rome but in
one respect at least the comparison Is
bad. The ancients educated their sons
IN barbarous games and absorbed their
minds III useless exploits, fitting them
for wars, tumults. disturbances and all
/ the vicissitudes Of a barbarous age
while the purpose of young life to-day is
to struggle for higher civilization, for
the peaceful industries. profounder re-
/ spect fer the laws and institutions of the
land; as contrasted with the wager of
battle, in mass or in personal conflict
With these purposes, all young men look
| forward along more roads than ever led
to Rome. Each school of men. selecting
each his road, starts. Soon the voice of
one comes from the national councils.
He instantly ran to the very acme Of his
success that of another comes in digni-
/ fed tones from the bench another runs
in Freedom ways and perchance dashes
/ against deaths heralds, which proclaim
+ his race fnished-but not till he had
! plucked the highest honors which the
world Yields. Is the death that cut him
off in the midst of heroic deed q reward? ?
! Alas, we cannot tell. Another starts
without education, and in the faith that
/ as all roads led TO Rome, he would take
one by chance and with greater effort
reach the goal with others. but he soon
found himselfin a circuitous road-with
many others It's true-but it was so
+ grown up to weeds and entangling vines
/ as to exhaust him ere Yet one half the
I distance was gained. His despair and
+ chagrin brought TO him imprudence, and
/ bewildered, he lies looking forward and
/ upward through the entangling briars TO
the bright lights in which his fellows
are contending for honors which have
forever eluded his grasp. How mysteri-
ously interesting it is to imagine the re-
fections of the boy-man, as he stands
gazing on life's different roads, pausing
where he shall first begin whether he
shall turn with contented resolution to
where hiS 0acR trees in summer yield him
shade, in winter, fire. or run the nervous
road which leads through his countrys
forums. in which he may get very tenn
porary, yet lively honors, and the graft
tude which so soon passes away with
clients success or take the road he
must traverse YEARLY in the cold Decem-
Der midnight and the hot midday of
August, as well as in more pleasant sea.
sons, assuming the awful responsibility
of conducting his fellows from deaths
door back to health and strength, or
whether he shall select from the many
other roads before him.
| Wherever he may 90, it IS a pleasant
reflection that in our country all tie
ways are open none are excluded from
that employment in-iife most congenial !:
that there are no titled essentials. He
does not 60 into profession by purchase.
He maintains himself there only by work
and merit If he chooses TO till the
ground, he is absolute lord of his soil.
The highest positions and richest honors
are within his reach. But with all this,
in such a country, the life Of man has
a terrible meaning. 1t is no idle or un-
meaning ceremony. Its purposes can be
accomplished only by work, out of which
grows skill, learning and integrity.
''For the nights by brave men reached ard kept
Are not attained by sudden fight;
For they. while their companions slept
Were toilDg upward in the night.
, And he who earliest sees that life is ear
nest goes quickest to his work.
We are thinking of one who saw the
road he was to travel early. He prepar-
ed himself with a varied education, and
t early treasured up each thought and
! word he might want. and struck with
: immense energy and manly courage
: straight for his Rome. Generous, he
/ pushed none others from the road, but
ran right on with words of cheer to keeE
the rest along. ! would speak Of hin
= as ftIy illustrating the comparison I an
: feebIy making, not as enc having fl
words, but with that fair intent which
/, justice to his memory. love, gratitude
| and respect have given he. Benjamin
: Hinman Steele was born in Stanstead
0 on the 9th day Of February, A. d. 1887
0 He never was Of the healthy, hardy. 70
t bust organism. Although enjoying or
: dinary health, his make was Of the slen
: der. intellectual type. At six or sever
q years of age. he began to show grea
0 mental activity. From that time he wa
d rather a silent, thoughtful boy ; mucl
+ by himself. not seeking the society 9
others, yet drawing them to him by hi
4 peculiar manners. He was quite social
e but only when sought. Still, 10 gam
n was SO boisterous that he could not at
It tract the attention Of those engaged, an
If inteEest them with what he had to say
being, when engaged, quite animated i
II conversation. He had clear, analytic
5 al mind. and when boy, could stat
J. his propositions with remarkable clear
.e ness, skill and force. sften eliciting ez
: pressions of surprise and admiration b
le the manner he would vanquish older d.
,r baters at the village lyceum and else
ID where.
" His fondness for books and study va
t so marked that his parents and FRIEND
Of wisely gave opportunity for the develop
ID ment of the boy mentally. Althoug
,, r. I;fa vrar rbo-+ar tban that of Tho n