The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-01-11


OF mOuntaineers.
'NermOnt's chain Of Green noun
tains. extending from the hills Of old
Berkshire ON the south 10 the forty
fifth parallel on the north and forming
the physical backbone of our little
state, only typifies that moral spinal
column which runs through our entire
state history spinal column which
once curved in a righteous cause. no
amount of sophistry has ever been
able to reduce.
Within those bold pioneer settlers
who subdued our rocky hillside farms,
battling with the storms and enduring
the hardships of our northern winters
that Unborn spirit of personal liberty
and stubborn independence. that nat
ural love of right and justice, so grew
and developed that they became as
fixed and unyieldiug as the very hills
themselves.
Captain Leonard Proctor. the pa
ternal grandfather of Senator Proctor
was pioneer Of this type. Having
borne a most honorable part in the
War Of the Revolution, he came to
Vermont at the close of that war and
settled on the banks of little noun
tain stream, to which was given the
name Of Black River. Here the vii
lage, named for its founder, Proctors-
Vile, was planted, and here Redfeld
Proctor was born. Here he learned
to fish and trap and hunt. Vermont
had no truer sportsman, and his great
vigor of body and mind, as many of
the older members of this Senate
know, was in no small measure the
result of his love of the rod and gun.
II has been said that every man is
the sum of his ancestors and, if this
be true, Redfield Proctor had a right
to be strong. His father, Judge Jabez
Proctor, was one of the foremost cit
liens of Vermont during the early
part of the last century, having been
judge of the probate court, twice a
presidential elector and several times
member of the governors council.
His mother also came of strong an
eestry. From her parents sprang
those distinguished jurists and judges
Of our supreme court, Timothy p. and
Isaac f. Redfeld, the latter the well
known author of standard law works
and the chief Justice of the supreme
court of Vermont 1t is not often Civ
en- to one man, as to Isaac Parker the
maternal grandfather of Redfield Proc
tor, to be the progenitor of judge and
Of a chief justice of the supreme court
two governors of states, a United
States senator and a secretary of war
"Of Redfield Proctors career as a
statesman, of his distinguished ser
vice in this body, of the influence of
his strong personality upon legislat-
ion and in the national field of politics
1t is perhaps more fitting that his
brother senators speak; but | cannot
forego a brief word, giving my per
sonal estimate of a man upon whose
life my own has so closely impinged
for forty years.
"When in 1891, after twenty-five
years of distinguished service, that
great constitutional lawyer, George
+. Edmunds, rendered his resignation
as United States senator. it was my
privilege to appoint Redfield Proctor
as his successor. My opinion then
formed that the mantle of Edmunds
had fallen upon shoulders which
would wear 1t with honor to Vermont
and to our country has only been
strengthened by the events of inter
vening years.
His far-sighted, comprehensive
grasp of affairs, as shown in the up
building by far the largest marble
business in the world, was surpassed
by few, If any, OF our great captains
of industry. He was tireless work
err and a remarkable master of details.
He was cool, self reliant and resource
full In difficulties and wonderfully fer
tile in expedients in every emergency
calling for leadership. He formed his
opinions upon public matters with eX-
cellent judgment and with an earnest
purpose to promote what he believed
to be the best good of the whole peo-
pie and from those opinions once rip
ened into convictions he was not cas-
lily swerved.
Gle was a generous, large hearted
comrade and friend. It seemed TO
those who knew him most intimately
that the social side of his nature was
developed to a degree rarely found in
men whose lives were packed so full
of strenuous effort and eXacting dut-
les. His inexhaustible fund of humor
and of native wit made him a most
enjoyable companion. He attached
himself to those he loved with hooks
of steel and no man would fight hard
er to promote the welfare of friend
than Redheld Proctor.
During his many years of public
service, commencing with his enlist
ment in 1861, his patriotic, uncompro-
missing devotion to his country's wei
fare knew no limitations. AS soldier,
governor, secretary of war and sena-
tor, he served his state and the nat
ion with signal ability, and in his
death the country suffers an irrepar-
able loss.
zone of the most commanding fig
ures of our time has gone to his rest.
He has lived his life, he has fought
his fight, he has finished his work. In
the midst of one of our fiercest noun
tain storms, we bore him to his last
resting place. For a mile on either
side, and forming a double row as
guard of honor, stood the men who
labored in his workshops and in his
Quarries-men who had come to love
him with an affection begotten of long
years of generous acts and of thought
full regard for their welfare.
I'm a mausoleum built of his own
beautiful marble, we placed his body
and there he sleeps beneath the mon
ument erected to commemorate his
name; but his life shall have a mem