Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-09-01
REED MONUMENT DEDICATED
Continued from Page One)

repeat of Mr.. Reed what Rufus Choate
SAID of Daniel Webster at Dartmouth:
Others mourn and praise him by
his more distant and more general
titleS-tO fame and remembrance; his
supremacy of intellect, his statesman
ship Of so many years, his eloguence
OF reason and of the heart his love of
country. incOrruptible, conscientious
and ruling every hour and act"
We come. his neighbors, friends.
brethren, Ito own a closer tie. to in
dulgc an emotion more personal and
more fond" pride and exultation for
plished mingling with our sorrow for
his all too early death.
1 must pass by the years of patient
professional study in Portland. the ven
ture in California, the admission to
practice there, his appointment and
service in the Navy, his return to Port
land at the close of the war. the period
of valuable legislative service. his
brilliant career as Attorney General,
mis- work as City solicitor, the ten
years-hardly more than that-in
which he acquired the high standing
at the Bar, which was one of the
grounds of the constant and universal
admiration and respect for him in
Maine. These are but incidents which
preceded his election to Congress in the
fall of 1876, golden milestones, along
which may be traced the whole course
of his earlier life. But during these
years how deep had the foundation
been laid. far below the surface. on
which in the future great achievement
might surely be wrought, great fame
mighty securely stand.
i am fortunate in being able to speak
of Mr.. Reed from the intimacies of ear
ly childhood. We were boys together.
always friends, classmates in school,
classmates in college, young lawyers
with adjoining offices in the old, happy,
careless, briefless days when the ex-
pense of repairing the oftice-chairs
which broke down under him. or which
betrayed signs Of infirmity after he
was gone. was consideration not to
be regarded by either of us with entire
Indifference.
No boyhood ever more glOwed with
tine dream of greatness of greatness in
action, of high conduct and service and
usefulness in the world of men. None
ever more patiently bided it's time, ac-
from all intellectual re-
gions the vast resources which the
future was to charge with power. None
ever kept it's eye fixed more steadily
upon the goal or trod the pathway to
the goal with firmer or surer step. No
boyhood as it passed by ever left be-
hind it a. more shining example of
truthfulness, to itself and to others, of
uprightness. virtue, honor, of the sway
of high motives and noble sentiments
over its whole course There was no
waste of time and no hurry. To stran-
ger he might seem Indifferent or idle,
but there was always the aspiring
mind and the consciousness of power
and if the step was sometimes slow, it
was still the step of the giant. When
he spoke, the drawl was heavy and Ian
guild. perhaps: but from it, as from the
idle summer cloud. at any instant the
might flash and strike. He
WIS not wealthy; he was poor But his
severe methods brought within his
reach all the advantages wealth can
afford young man. He never in
dulged in an extravaganza that would
cripple his independence or mortgage
the labor of tomorrow to make it good.
All he wanted of money was to give
him opportunity, opportunity, might
er even than conquerors and proph-
ets:" and self-restraint, self-denial.
seif-control, high minded economy
and exactness in expenditure, diligence
and industry that never tagged. were
the instruments by which he wrung
from the narrowness of his situation
the golden opportunities of his youth,
which were the prelude and the prep
aration for the work of manhood.
This was the young man to whom in
March. 1877, the first district of Maine
sent as it's representative to the halls
of the American Congress, resolved to
act part there worthy of himself
and of his native state. useful to the
country and the world. and so to
snatch power and fame from the sum-
mlts of human life. What he did
there-the dreams of youth assuming
form in the solid outline and substance
of fact. in strength and stateliness of
character, in heroic conduct-what he
did there makes part of the fame of
our native land now as it will make
part of it's history forever