Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-07-16
JUDGE BENJAMIN F. STEELE.

JUDGE BENJAMIN f. STEELE.
(By Hon. H. A. Huse, in ''Men of Vermont"
just issued by the Transcript Publishing Co.
of Bratt1eboro.)
Gov. Dale said Of him; "He had
early selected the road he was to take,
and was preparing earnestly for his
journey, teaching, studying, reading;
now the most ardent devOtee of the
Derby and Stanstead academies again
reciting Latin and French to the kind
Catholic priest; then busily learning
French five months at the College of
st. Pierre; rushing into course at
Norwich University, quickly hurrying
from there to Dartmouth College for
want Of time to complete course at
both institutions; prostrated by sick
ness, burdened with the care Of the
family which sickness and death threw
upon his capable and willing mind, he
ran towards the city of his destiny
with wonderful courage. Thus with
long arm and strong will, he hewed
his way through college, over the
threshold of which he was stepping
out into the world as the acknowledge
ed leader of his class, when first saw
him.
Graduating at Dartmouth with hon
Or in 1857, he continued studying law,
first in Barton (teaching in Barton
Academy at the same .time); typhoid
fever compelled him to stop, on re-
covery he went to Cambridge, Mass,
intending to pursue his studies at the
law school. He went into the Supreme
Court as spectator and was advis-
ed by his friends to apply for admis-
sion to the bar and at the age of twen-
ty one did SO, was examined by Ben
jamin F. Butler, commended by Cho-
ate, who heard part of the examina-
ton, and was admitted. He prepared
to go west, but his old friends were
loath to let him go and persuaded him
to begin at Derby Line. This he did
and at once by untiring application,
zeal and eloquence went to the fore
front as lawyer.
When Judge Poland, in the fall Of
1865, was appointed to the senate the
other judges each went up peg and
the place thus made vacant was filed
by Governor Dillingham's appointing
Steele a judge of the Supreme Court.
Only twenty eight when he went on
the bench he was one of the strongest
judges Of his day during his five years.
service. In 1870 he declined a re-
election at the bench, was appointed
a member of the board of education,
and in 1872 was a formidable candi
date for the nomination to congress
against Judge Poland. The canvass
was an active one and Judge Poland
was barely successful in convention.
Judge Steele was member of the
republican national convention in
1872, and the civil service and tariff
planks of the platform were from his
draft.
Judge Steele had an enthusiastic
following among the younger mem
bers of his party and his genius justi-
fed their admiration. Had he lived
would have taken his proper place in
the work Of national legislation and
would have stood second in national
fame to no other of Vermont's rep
resentative men. He was not only
thorough student and profound think
er, but an orator by mature and culti
vation. His early death was not only
a grievous loss. to his family and
friends, but to the state in good SER
vice and in the honor a worthy and
brilliant son gives her when he be-
comes on broader field statesman
and leader of men. No man can
write of him, even after the lapse of
more than score of years, without
quickening blood as he remembers