Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-01-25
MEMORIAL TO MAX BENNETT
THRASHER.

d6t "C0hOSOdy III ui0AOEy VI lU0
late Max Bennett Thrasher, whose
boyhood home was at Coventry. At
this meeting the following letters
were read. These letters are but
simple loving tributes to one who in
life received high honor from his fell
lows, and whose early departure
brought sorrow to many hearts
throughout the land. The papers and
letters follow in their natural order,
showing him as boy, teacher, business
man, home-comer, man of letters, and
finally as friend and helper to Booker
T. Washington.
Max Fennett Thrasher as a Boy.
Mr.. MODERATOR AND FRIENDS
The tribute which l bring day
would seem to come more fittingly
from one more nearly of his own age,
and naturally in closer touch with him
in his school days, as I must of neces-
sity have seen things from the stand
point of one much older than himself,
and shall no doubt omit many charac-
teristics, noticeable to his intimate
friends of those days.
One, which was very marked, was
the utter absence of that FOSTERING,
boisterous way which in most boys is
their normal condition. He was
essentially a student. His leisure
hours were spent with his books,
in making collections of curiosities
and in the society of his invalid
mother, to whom he was most
thoroughly devoted, and from whom
he received without doubt by inner
itance much of that gentleness of
manner and many of those qualities
of mind and heart which made him
loved and respected by all. Often I
| have seen him in his school days,
starting from his home just outside
the village, his books under his arm,
and his thoughts evidently deep in
| the contents of the books, and
although always ready to greet his
friends with nod or pleasant word,
his business was to reach the school
room, and the side issues which often
prove so alluring to the average boy
had no attractions for him. The same
thing was noticeable when at the close
of school he turned his steps home
ward, seemingly only anxious to reach
home and the society of the loved
ones there. His studies did not end,
when at the close of the term the
doors of the school-room were closed,
his arm making regular visits to the
parsonage for that instruction which
would discipline his mind and prepare
him for the life work which he had
marked out for himself.
Nor were his studies confined to
books. We find him often taking long
walks, using his powers of observation
studying field and forest, plant and
flower, noting all the details, and
storing up that information which
gave him reputation as a story
writer. Always courteous, always a
gentleman, he was even then laying
the foundation for that nobility of
character SO pronounced in his after
life. AS my memory goes backward,
I do not recall that I ever heard from
his lips coarse Or impure word, or
saw any outward indication that an
| inn nrrtn hi
mind, and would commend his ex-
ample to the young people of to-day
as we'll worthy of imitation.
| S. Ell. PEARSON.
Max Bennett Thrasher as a Teacher.
[ wish that this task might have
been given to some one who could
better do justice to the memory of
Mr.. Thrasher, and yet know that it
should be and it is privilege to me
to pay this little tribute to the mem
DRY of one to whom feel that I owe
so much.
Of those who attended school, with
Mr.. Thrasher as teacher at the same
time did, only few remain in the
place. Some have gone on before
and I trust were waiting to welcome
him to the mansions above, but be-
lieve We were all of US better boys and
girs and are to-day better men and
women because of having had Mr.
Thrasher as our teacher and friend.
To teach meant to him something
more than TO spend so many days in
the schoolroom that at the end of the
term he might receive certain sum
of money. He took personal inter
est in each one of his pupils and while
making plain the lessons of each day
he tried to lead US on to larger and
clearer view of what the object OF
school life and study was and to
awaken in each one a desire to