Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-02-13

| long ana so well as l did. AS attending
physician he helped to usher me into the
world, as he did many "A better man. |
remember him as far back as can re-
member anybody. After | became old
enough we were fast friends all the days
of his life. He was so closely associated
with what / may call old Middlebury,
with all its people and all its interests,
that he may be said to have been one of
its institutions. In time which pro-
duced there much and striking individu-
ality, and many noteworthy and distn-
guished persons, he was "A prominent
hgure, useful, active, GENIAL and respect
ed. He was not DR.. Bass, he was DIR.
Zach and the title tells the story. Ev-
erybody knew him. liked him and trusted
him, and never in vain. He had strong
good sense, a shrewd sagacity, an unfail
ing fund of the quiet humor that pleases
but does not wound; and he had in "A
marked degree the sympathetic nature
and quick sensiblity that are usually
near akin to such humor. He might
have adopted the language of Abou Ben
Adhem, "Write me as one who loves his
fellow men," He had kindly thought
and word for all the humanity with which
he came in contact, for Gods poor, and
the Devils poor, as well as for those of
happier degree; nay, had occasion Of
fered, he would have felt, with Burns. IA
lingering touch of pity for the Devil him
self.
For young men, especially, he had the
warmest sympathy. Generations of them
grew up under his eye, and wandered
away in due time to seek their fortunes
in more aluring fields. But he never
forgot the Middlebury boys wherever
they went. Their successes would hard
ly more have cheered his heart, or their
misfortunes touched it, if they had been
his children. Many one of them was
the better for his shrewd and quick hints :;
and when at commencement time-the
towns peculiar festival and reunion
they came back to revisit their birthplace
or their Alma Mater, "bringiEg their
sheaves with them in honest pride, no
welcome was more cordial, no apprecia-
ton more generous, than those they met
in DR.. Zach. Eminently social, he was in
request at all enjOyments of that sort
lie much enjoyed moderate glass with
Il friend. though never Incorporate, or a
game of cards, though he never gambled
He relished as well as told a good story,
but never unseasonably. None knew
better than he that there is time to
laugh and "A time to mourn.
With the bar of Addison county, who
were in those days very genial, he was
an intimate friend, a welcome and almost
Indispensable guest at all their symposa.
As a Puritan he was a failure, though
that gloomy faith was then predominant
in Middlebury and he set out in life I'M
der its auspices. But the milk of human
kindness was too strong within him. lie
would not have been willing that the
smallest infant should be damned, even
for the glory of God. In some other of
the more grisly points of doctrine he was
equally unsOund. SO, as he could not
agree with the saints, he sought refuge
among the sinners. in the shelter of the
Episcopal church. But he lived to see
that theological bitterness evaporate, to
be replaced in all the churches with Il
more catholic and charitable spirit.
As Il physician DR.. Bass was of the old
school, well educated and competent. He
was not highly scientific. nor great stu
dent of books. Good sense, keen powers
of observation, unwearied assiduity in
attention to his patients and the svmpa-
thetic qualities | have mentioned were
his strong points, and ripeneG by long eX-
perience into a widely-recognized medi-
cal ability. Into many Il sick room, and
to many declining life. he brought a
daily ray of sunshine, perhaps the only
He had large practice until old age
compelled him to give it up and through
it all few men in his profession did in the
same time so little harm, and, on the
whole, in quiet way, so much good.
lie was free from professional jealousy,
and, when cases grew critical, was al
, ways the first to call counsel and help OF
his brethren. And no man was more OPP
posed to all forms of quackery and hum
bug.
t In politics, his opinions were pro-
nounced and decided. He was an ardent
Wing in the palmy days of that splendid
party. the days of Webster and Clay and
their compeers. When 1t was destroyed
f in order to lay the foundation for ciyi
E war, fraternal strife was not so attrac
tive to him as to many, and he lapsed
inlo the ranks of the Silver Crews, a class
who were described by IA wit of the time
' as a set of gentlemen who took theiI
brandy regularly and voted
the Democatic ticket once in a while
The party was more respectable than nu
e merOus, since it had no offices to bestow
| and its reputation was considerably dam
aged by the suspicion that got abroad
that its members kept private conscience'
not regulated by caucus. lie never
G sought or held office except those of hi:
e town, to which he was often chosen anC
, in the duties of which he was Ii ost eff
cient
And so his long, tranquil, useful anC
t happy lie passed away, neither assum
e ing to be nor trying to be "A great man
, filling no high place, amassing no large
- wealth, but satisfied with his modes
earnings and the reasonable competence
A to which they led; rarely going from
? home except in his professional employ
, meIt in neighbOring towns, and content
, ed in the circle that surrounded him, for
1 tunate in all his family relations, nevel
5 losing friend or making an enemy, he
r lived to an extreme and honored ole
:, age. Many of those who now remember
him knew him only in his later years
5 when his eye was dimmed and his nat
: ural strength abated. Nearly all tn,
companions of his prime have passeC
=, away. They rest near him in the ole
burying-ground or somewhere in the dis
$ tant regions to which the restless enter
il prise of New England carried them. Blu
g all of them, | am sure, were they here t
= speak, would recall his memory will
z ! mill cancibilitx- 1,