Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1910-07-06

pense lin defense of our rights and
properties" He died just before mid
night February %, 1875, wise, kindly,
and beloved man. His brownstone
monument, now stained and weather
worn. had not been long in its place
when the French alliance was made
and the regiments of Louis XVI came
marching across from Rhode Island to
their winter quarters at Lebanon, or.
in the following spring, to join the
American army on the Hudson. Very
probably some of them. at least, en-
tered the town by the neighboring
highway, and the white uniforms and
the lilies of France streamed past
within sight of the old minister's
was a stirring time for Lebanon-that
winter of the French occupation.
Vivid Word Picture.
Duke de Lauzun was in command of
the hussars that were encamped on
the village green. OF his sojourn in the
town Donald G.. Mitchell has drawn
vivid picture in words that were quot
ed by Dr. Leonard w. Bacon in a
Lebanon address, and that will bear
reprinting. And what a contrast 1T
is.'' he writes, this gay nobleman.
carved out, as 1t We're. from the dis
sauntered under the coIonnades of the
Trianon, and had kissed the hand of
the Pompadsur new strutting among
the staid DANES of Norwich and of
Lebanon. How they must have looked
at him and his fine troopers from un-
der their knitted hoods. There
is a life written Of Governor TrUn-
bull, and there is life written of the
Marquis of Lauzun. The first is full
of deeds of quiet heroism, ending with
a tranquil and triumphant death: the
other is full of the rankest gallantries.
and ends with a little squirt of blood
under the knife OF the guillotine upon
the gay Place de la Concorde.
Rev. xebuIon Ely.
TQr1t ri T.
taphs, and just. to the north of the
Trumbuu tomb Is another stone that
interests us The Rev. Zebulon Ely
did not die soen enough to enable his
epitaph to become candidate for Mr..
Alden'S collection Indeed, he was
still preaching in the Lebanon church
where after the lapse of a few years
he succeeded DR.. Williams, when Mr..
Alden visited the town. His marble
headstone informs US that he died.
November 20, 1894, in the sixty-sixth
year of his age and the forty-third OF
his ministry. Beside his grave is that
of Sarah Apame Mills. who, as the in
scriptton testifes, became his wife and
the blessed mother of his twelve chill
dren." After his decease," her cpl
taph continues, e'she remained a widow
indeed
II Mr.. EIy's epitaph were the only
record of his personality, our specula-
lions as to the kind of a man that lies
buried here would necessarily be built
a SCm6W
for in 1924 the fashion OF rather or
nate euiogy in these matters had given
place to a rather briefer style, and Mr..
Eiy's grave-stone gives little more than
a bare outline of his life and leaves
character entirely to the imagination.
But some other records of his survive
the years. for, while he was not per
haps SO distinguished a divine DIR.
Williams, nevertheless he was an emil
nent man in his day. Like his prede-
cessor in the Lebanon pulpit his minis
try was lifelong, and his out wardly un-
eventfui. although there is a tradition
that while q student at Yale college he
was one of the body OF undergraduates
that opposed the British attack on the
town. After his gTa duation in 1879
and a post graduate study of theology,
followed by desqltory preaching and
brief tutorshfp at Yale he accepted a
call to Lebanon in the autumn of 1879.
The chief local event of his pastorate
was the destruction by part of the con-
sregStfou OF the meeting house and
bitter dispute as to the location of
new enc The controversy got into the
courts and finally to the general as
sembiy, which constituted new boun-
DIARIES OF the parish Soon thereafter
Ito be exact, in 1SeD. the present
of early nineteenth century church ar
chitecture-was built, and here Mr..
E4y continued his preaching till inca
pacitated by the Illness that culminat-
ed in his death.
Mighty in the Scriptures.
Such is the brief record. But what
sort of a man was he? Here we must
hazard some guesses, but on the whole
we can form a very fair idea. Appar-
emily not so broad in his views DIR.
in doctrine a Calvinist, and during his
pastorate the halfway covenant fell
into dfsuse in his church Professor
Dexter in his Yale Biographies and
NJ Iof 81
him by the Hon. George s. HilIsrd.
The good old man." writes Mr.. Hill
lard, was mighty in the scriptures.
To his simple faith the events and
and distinct as the scenes of his own
life and the men and women of his
own parish The word of God
was the object of his daily and rev
mons but his letters and common
speech had a large infusion of the Ian
guase of the Bible" He must. too
have had large share of Yankee
thrift, for, Mt Hillard continues,
Upon q salary of less than five hun
dred dollars a year, aided by a small
farm and the tuition fees of few pu-
pills, he reared family of twelve chill
dren. and left a comfortable property
at his DEATH These twelve children
it may be said in passing, all lived to
maturity. One at least died before
her father for his grave-stone says
ana there Ia a palhoS IN the naivete OF
the wording, that '.it is believed he was
welcomed among the spirits of the just
made perfect by his daughter Abby
Eliza Ely. who died in Clinton, Geor-
sia. September 20. 1922"
Other notes of his life bear witness
that he was good preacher and pas
tor, reserved in manner. characterized
by soundness and strength of intellect
rather than by imagination and it is
mentioned as somewhat singular
fact that he preached at the funerals
of both the first and second Governor
Trumbulls and of William Williams,
''the sfgner."
Fire Flags on Trun1buIl Tomb.
With SO little of outward eventful-
ness in these lives il may be wondered
that they made any special appeal to a
casual wanderer among these old mon
uments OF the dead. The graves of
others. the incidents of whose lives
were far more stirring lie all about
the little national flags, scattered
Tricky, showing what a large proper
ton the graves of soldiers. On
the grassy top of the Trumbull tomb
stand five of these flags. in oommemo-
ration of the service of the two Trum-
bull governors, of Joseph Trumbull,
first cou1miSsa5y general of the Cont