Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-08-06

were in despair. They had lost their mon
ey and their credit, and their faith in the
undertaking. They determined to aban-
don the enterprise.
In this emergency Lampson came to the
rescue. He called a meeting in his private
office at the Queen street warehouse. At
this meeting he declared his sure convic-
ton that a satisfactory cable could be laid
within a twelve month, and he asserted his
belief that the second cable would be re-
covered and restored. Then he urged the
holding of a public meeting by the stock
holders. His persistent enthusiasm won
sympathy and conquered distrust. The
public meeting was held, and it accepted,
without one dissenting voice, the series of
resolutions prepared by Lampson in favor
Of continued effort.
We know how triumphant was the final
vindicaton Of his judgment, and we may
believe that to him, more than to any
other one man, we owe the ultimate sue
cess of the cable scheme. That the value
of his aid was known and appreciated in
England is proven by the fact that it was
for his services in this direction that Queen
Victoria made him a baronet, and her act
was warmly applauded in England at the
time.
In person Sir Curtis Lampson was tall
and straight as an arrow, rather thin, but
OF commanding presence, with a face
that showed pleasantly both his character
and intellect. Certainly, his intellect was
remarkable, for it displayed itself not only
in business sagacity, but in his converse
ton, which was that of man accurately
and extensively informed. His knowledge
was such that none meeting him would
suspect that his only formal courses of
study had been those pursued in a few
terms at a district school.
On one occasion the two Americans
spoke commendingly of a new American
railway enterprise. Owing to their favor
able statements, the American company
was enabled to gain an extensive credit in
the purchase of iron and steel. The plan
was failure, and the company was unable
TO make its payments. Thereupon, with
out any appeal made to them, without be-
ing bound in any way, either legally or
morally, these conscientious men, Pea
body and Lampson, paid all the debts of
the company that had been incurred
through their recommendations-to the
great surprise and joy of the sellers of iron
and steel.
Beside being a director in the Cable
company, Sir Curtis was deputy governor
of the Hudson Bay company, and one of
the trustees of the Peabody fund He
married early in life, in New York, and
few years before his death, which occurred
March II, 1885, he celebrated his golden
wedding on his Sussex estate.
Sir Curtis's brother William, made his
! home in Leroy, New York. He, too, had
business energy like that of the Baronet,
and it is his accumulated wealth that has
just made Yale richer by a million dollars,
through his sons bequest.
A sister of Sir Curtis, who lived in
Ohio, showed the family perseverance, not
by accumulating money, but by living to
within fraction of the century mark
There is not much to attract the tourist
TO the hamlet known as the mills in
I New Haven, Vt. 1t is nevertheless dis
! tinguished by one extraordinary feature.
! In the centre of the scattered group of
/ houses is large and handsomely imposing
building, The visitor to that rural spot
must look on it with amaZement and won
/ der what on earth it is for, and why it is
thereof all places. 1t is a monument to
Sir Curtis's memory, and that monument
is district school house. After his last
| visit to America and to his birthplace, Sir
| Curtis sent $4,000 for this building, and he
added to his gift library of 1000 volumes,
his own selection. The act has its pathetic
side, for it reveals to the thoughtful that
this English baronet must have mourned
| over the scantiness of his own boyhood's
! opportunities for proper study. That
mourning found expression in his determi-
nation to do all that could be done to add
to the opportunities of others in his first
! home.
On the death of Sir Curtis, his son
George succeeded to the title and estate.
Sir Frederick Locker married Sir Curtis's
daughter, and took the Vermonter's name,
so that the distinguished poet and essayist
is now Sir Frederick Locker Lampson.
Such is the stimulating record of Yer
mont boys career.