St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-03-29

we'll as from his purse. AS we look
about we say,-these things he gave
US, but more, he gave us himself. We
have as our richest treasure the giver
with his gift. A few days since in a
letter to one who knew him better
than any one upon the face of the
earth, in the open honesty of love, he
said, GAS the years roll on we cling to
those we hold most dear, but they are
leaving US one by one, or we are in the
way of sooner leaving them, but ace aoitt
keep right on IN our ministry Of service
to the end" Thus this soul Obeyed the
"voice at eve obeyed at PRIME" and
went forth into the great secret sup
ported by the law learned from Him
who came among us as Zone that serv-
eth.n
He loved real things, and as we allow
our memories to review for us the
movement of his life we feel the real
power of his Inheritance, his educa-
ton, his business, his public spirit, his
religion.
The first reality of this life that
bound together so many real things in
one, is found in his obedience to the
old commandment, "Thou shalt honor
0Hy IdJICi ctHu tiIy hoCHOA. hO IOh~
or he gave was not the honor of a
youth that escapes from law as soon as
it receives the gift of liberty, he made
the law of his fathers life his own by
a conscious and sympathetic adop-
ton. In manhood he was tender and
respectful to the authority whose lips
were silent in death. He said, [ will
perpetuate the blessing of my fathers
life, will be his continued existence
among men. You who knew the man
illness and love of man in Erastus Fair
banks know that he has lived many
years through the life of his son. And
the son has made his own life long by
his appropriation of the gift of his
fathers spirit. By thus honoring his
Inheritance he has realized in himself
the promise, "Honor thy father and
thy mother that thy days may be
long in the land which the Lord thy
God giveth thee" We give to father
and son different names but who shall
separate the unity of those lives.
The second reality is found in his
education. While he had never pass
ed through the complete routine of
what we call ''education," he was in a
high and genuine sense an educated
man. He was not "self made man."
no life that has any value for us is self
made. One must be made by power
better than self to be worth making at
all. He was made by power not his
own. He acknowledged himself through
life pupil of those great and advanc-
ing thoughts that give strength and
grace. Two things he felt were always
to be Joined in the real man, fneness
and power. The might that had no
delicacy was to him unmanly, no less
so than the delicacy that had no light.
The human mind he felt to be sane
tuary in which there should exist in
happy union "strength and beauty"
He loved thoughts, great thoughts and
the thoughts that transfigure men, he
met them at the level of their worth
and was at home with them. They
educated him. Through them he
gained the object of all education, self
knowledge, self control and self for
getfulness. Child or man in his pres
ence felt that he had been under the
holy spirit of discipline. Without the
college he was literally educated, for
he stood free among his own powers.
He knew both the worth and the worth
lessness of books, and a book that was u
revelation of thought or spirit was to
him like friend. His mental powers
grew through all his life and grew
symmetrically. Thought and heart
and will gained day by day II clearer
vision, a warmer and purer affection,
and a deeper intensity. His mind had
eyes that could see "truth steadily and
see it whole AS you looked upon
him you have felt-he sees me through
and through, but that penetrating
vision is illumined by love, and behind
all there is purpose strong as justice.
He loved art because it was a beauti-
fnl way by which spirit expressed it
self through color or form; he loved
literature because it was an art, the
art through which the best thought of
the world reached men in the best way.
Is education mental power? Then he
was educated. Is it soul so refined
that it can have communion with the
best He had this. Is it the capacity
of communion with the best life 2 This
mans fellowships were with the best
society of the earth. But the supreme
beauty of his education was in this,
that he wished it's joy and power to be
given to all men. He gave us our gal
ery of art that our eyes might be made
clearer for the vision of all beauty. He
gave us a library, and said, let the
building be so made and the books so
bound that all who enter shall be re-
fined by the truth that thought is
beautiful. He said, let the village be
made more attractive, let the trees re-
main upon the three-domed mountain
at the south of his home; let the GEM
etery, the dormitory of the dead, sug-
gest by it's beauty the eternal garden
of life into which God calls our waking
souls let the school and the church in
this community, as they are establish |
ed to achieve the best, be fitted in the |
best way for their high and holy work.
This is the hight of the best education,
the spirit that so appreciates it's gifts
that it is possessed by passion to
give them to all men. He was an ed
heated man.
Another reality with him was the re-
llity of his business. He was stu
lent of the laws of trade and the larg-
er movements of the wants and the
wealth of the world. 1t was not the
habit of the man or the firm of which
he was a part to make known the
quality, the greatness, or the anxieties
Of their business, but those who came
lear their life felt something of the
and the exhausting claims
Of their duties. The name of his house
vas to him sacred and its work seri-
,us concern. More and more, as the
business world changes its methods
md forms, are the claims made upon
he thought and vitality increased. He
recognized those claims and met them
n those achievements with which his
lame will long have a close and hon
Ila