Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1909-07-07

the group was made in 1907. when
legacy contained in the will of the late
/ Colonel Charles A. Converse supplied
the means for the erection of the Con-
verse Art Gallery. The fifty persons
who in 1855 combined to contribute the
original fund for the establishment of
| this institution were as ar-sighted as
they were public spirited. But what
ever prophetic vision they or those
others who in the early years came to
| its help may have had of. the future
of the Academy, and whatever dreams
may have been theirs as to the SER
vice it would in years to come render
| to this community, it is safe to say
that not one of them had pictured to
himself in all its fullness what has al
| reay come to pass. Here. year by year
| a very large proportion of the sons
and daughters; of Norwich drawn from
| every walk in life. together with many
| from the surrounding country, have
| come under the influence of exception
| al educational advantages, been thus
led into a broader and better vision
of life and its possibilities, and been
| prepared for a worthy citizenship. The
| consequence has been, has it not, that
| the Academy has come to touch the
| heart and life of this people more
/ closely than any other institution here.
| Ample evidence of this is found in the
large number who have become its
i benefactors and the large total of
their benefactiOns, which appr0ximates
| three quarters Of a million of dollars.
| This is a generous. offering to a single
cause By a community no larger than
| this. The harvest has already been
bcun.iful one, and the end is not yet.
| Impressed by Prominent Men.
| 1t was during the years of my at
| tendance at the Academy, and the half
dozen Immediately following, that
received very distinct Impressions of
| the men who were prominent in the
financial and business circles Of this
! town. / still retain vivid recollections
of such men as the Nortons. the Buck
| inghams, the JohnSons, the OsgOodS,
! the Greenes, the Hubbards, John F.
| Slater. Lorenzo Blackstone j. M. Hunt
| ington, David Smith, Moses Pierce,
! James S. Carew, Amos w. Prentice, K.
| Winslow Williams, John Mitchell and
Edward Chappell. 1t seemed to me in
| those days that these men were of the
| very stuff of which. to borrow a mod
! Crn term. captains of finance and bust
] ness are made. now appreciate that
| may have painted them in too glow
/ ing colors But / am still convinced
! that / did not misjudge them in this,
| that IN their character, their dignity,
their self respecting ideals and their
sense of their private and public re-
sponsibilities they represented in a.
pre- eminent way that class which
makes business honorable, and its re-
wards public blessing.
During these years Norwich was
fortunate in the quality and power of
its clergy. The venerable Doctor Arms
was the pastor of the First church, as
he had been since 1886. In 1854 Doc
tor Bond, after nearly thirty years of
service at the Second, had sought a
well earned retirement, and had been
7ad M Dana
who in 1874 joined in the organization
of the Park church. In 1865 Doctor
/ CULVER had left the Broadway, and
in 1868 he was succeeded by the Rev.
Daniel Merriman, a preacher of un-
usual yower Doctor Samuel Graves
was at the Central Baptist the Revs.
David F. Banks and John Binney were
| in succession at Christ; and Father
Daniel Mullin was exerting far
reaching influence for good at st.
| Mary's.
If we turn to the bar. we discover
| in Norwich during the period we have
| thus far been considering a striking
group of lawyers. 1t included Senator
Foster, who after his retirement from
| the senate was summoned to service
upon the supreme court of the state,
| James A. Hovev, John T. Wait, Ed
mund Perkins, George Pratt and Jere-
miah Halsey. These men were of dis
/ ~
strength lay in different directions, but
they were all forceful factors in their
profession, and in the life of this COM
munity. In this connection mention
| should be made of John d. Park. In
| 1856 he was, at an early age, chosen
to a judgeship of the superior locurt
and in 1864 he became a member of
the supreme court. In 1870 he was
made chief justice which office he con-
tinued to hold until his retirement age
was reached in 1889. Thus withdrawn
| from the activities of his profession
/ during the best years of his life, he
was naturally less identified with local
affairs than those already named. 1t
should salso be remembered that in
| 1862 there enlisted from this town a
young man eOf %, who as a boy Of
/ had been brought here from his Scot
| fish birthplace by his widowed moth
| er, who grew up to manhood mere, and
who lived to become that honored and
able and beloved man, the late Chief
Justice Torrance. Following his re-
| turr from the service he settled else
where, and his professional and public
successes We're there achieved, shut the
Foundations of them were here firm
| w laid under conditions of self-denial
and struggle.
jeremiah HaIsey a Born Lawyer.
| l feel that 1 should fail in my duty
| upon this occasion if | dismissed this
| group of men without a fuller recogni-
| ton of the character and career of one
of them. Jeremiah Ha1sey was a born
| lawyer. Nature endowed him with her
choicest gifts of intellect and charac-
| ter, and he assiduously devoted his
many years of life to the service of
| his profession No one would more
| cheerfully acknowledge his primacy at
| this bar than the ablest among his
contemporaries. He was the ideal pro-
and of the life here which contributed
to fashion him, In my youth / was
taught to think that all the noblest
| qualities of manhood, and the highest
| legal erudition were met in him. The
| personal observations of my later years
| have not caused me to essentially mod
| ffy this early impression. And the
verdict of those of his contemporaries
| the state over VINO were best qualified
! to judge, was to the same general eff
| feet Was ever a man more simple in
| his life and manIier, more pure and
sweet in his living, more gentle and
| sympathetic In his spirit. more unself-
| ish and helpful in his conduct?~ He
went in and out among this people as
| humbly as the f1IImblest of them. And
| yet he must have known that he pos
sesSed a power within himself, and
welded an Influence over others which
was rare indeed. The secrets of that
power and influence are not hard to
discover. His vision was clear and
profound. He knew how to analyze
1 correctly. to discriminate justly and to
reason soundly and honestly. He was