USA > Vermont > Rutland County > The history of Rutland county, Vermont; civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military, pt 2 > Part 52
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Among his classmates were William Slade, since consul at Nice, W. D. Griswold, President of various western railroads, and L. S. Lovell, now circuit judge in Michigan. At graduation, he delivered the Latin salutatory, and an ora- tion on "Homer-Poetical merit of the Iliad," which was published the next February in the American Quarterly Register, at Boston.
After a year of miscellaneous studies as a resident of Yale, Mr. Butler was elected a Tu- tor at Middlebury, and served there in that ca- pacity five terms. He then repaired to Andover, passed through the Theological Seminary and was graduated in 1$10. At the time of taking his degree he spoke on "Chrysostom-as a preacher," and the day before, as society orator, had discoursed on that " gelden mouthed father," as a scholar and man. Those productions with some modifications, were combined in an arti- cle which appeared in the Bibliotheca Sacra, Nov. 1814. Before the close of the Andoverian curriculumn Mr. B. was invited to become " Ab- bott Resident" there, that is to reside at the seminary for some years, pursuing such studies as he pleased, boarding and all incidental charg. es being paid from an endowment given by a Mr. Abbott. Accepting this invitation, he re-
mained in Andover till June 1842, when with Prof. E. A. Park, he embarked at New York for Hamburg. The passage, on a German sail-packet, was long, but not tedious to Mr. B., since it gave him 47 days among Germans, and as it were in Germany, before he set foot on its soil. The array of good words planted in memory, during the voyage, never deserted the traveler.
He saw Hamburg smoking in the ruins of its great fire. Railroads were then few and far be- tweeu; so Mr. B. made leisurely surveys of coun- try as well as city ; lingered in Hanover, Bruns- wick, Cassel, Marburg, on the Brocken, in the nunes of Goslar, and spent a fortnight on a pedes- trian tour from Mayence to Cologne. Ascending the Rhine by steamer, he had a week at Heidel- berg, and was then for some months a student in Jena, visiting, meantime, Halle, Leipzic, Ber- lin and Dresden. Early in February, 1843, he was in Venice, having on his way explored
When about 10 years old the boy James was member of a military school, then just opened in Rutland, by one of Capt. Partridge's cadets; but, being very small and thin, he was consid- ered consumptive, and in accordance with med- ical notions then in vogne, was often bled, but excused from all hard study and work. In 1829 he spent 8 monthis in Boston, as the low- est boy in a hardware store. Afterward, having decided on a life of study, rather than of busi. Prague and Vienna He reached Rome before the Carnival opened, and, giving Lent to Na- ples and its neighborhood, was in Rome again during Holy Week, and a month afterward. Then, rambling about northern Italy till July, and in Switzerland through that month, he pushed on to Paris, London, Edinburgh, and Dublin sojourning so long in those cities, or making so many excursions from them, that he did not arrive in America until December.
After temporarily supplying various pulpits, among others that of the Congregationalists in Burlington for six months, Mr. B. became Pro- fessor of ancient langnages, in Norwich Uni- versity, in 1845. After two years educational service he settled as pastor of the Congregation- al church in Wells River. In 1851 he accepted a call to the same office in Danvers (now Pea- body), Mass., and also, in 1852, in Cincinnati, Ohio. From January, 1855, to the close of the college year for 1858, he was Professor of Greek at Wabash College, in Crawfordsville, In- diana. For nine years following he was Pro- fessor of both Greek and Latin in the Univer- sity of Wisconsin. at Madison, the State capital
In July, 1867, Prof. B. went abroad again, landing in Liverpool on the 25th anniversary of his first European landing. Ile visited St. Pe- tersburg, Moscow. Constantinople, Damascus, Jerusalem, and almost all more western Capi - tals,-went up the Nile to the first cataract,- spent five weeks in the Parisian world's fair, and was home again at the end of fifteen months.
The next summer (1869), just after the open-
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ing of the transcontinental railroads, he jour- deyed to the Pacific slope, calling at Omaha, Ft. Saunders. Ft. Fred. Steele, Ft. Bridger, Salt Lake City, Lake Tahoe, the Yosemite, New Al- maden, San Francisco, &c. Proceeding in a sailing ship to Honolulu, and exploring Oahu, he made the inter-insular voyage to Hilo, in a schooner, and so ascended Kilauea, and de- scended into its crater. His return passage to California was by steamer.
In more recent years Prof. B., having a nom- inal residence in Madison, has made many jour- neys. Among others one to Manitoba. But his time has been mainly devoted to writing, as well as to favorite studies, and occasional preaching. While traveling he has been cor- respondent for many papers : as the New York Observer, Chicago Journal, Boston Watchman & Reflector, Cincinnati Herald & Presbyter, as well as various others in Wisconsin.
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Among his publications, besides a variety of fugitive poems, are "Nebraska-its character- istics and prospects-1873." "Incentives to mental culture among teachers, 1853;" an ad- dress before the American Institute, at Troy, N. Y., and two annual addresses before the Vermont Historical Society, in 1846 and 1849. A sermon delivered at Norwich, Vt., Feb. 22d, 1848. at the funeral of Col. T. B. Ransom, killed at Chepultepec; farewell discourse at Danvers, Mass., 1852; Centennary oration at Rutland, 1870; Essay on the " Naming of America," read before the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 1873; " A Defense of Classical Studies," an address before the National Teach- ors' Association, Detroit, 1874; "Scenes in the Life of Christ," Chicago, 1866; "Catalogue of Coins and medals," Madison, 1874, &c. During two summers, in Hartford, Conn., Prof. B. wrote much the larger part of the letter.press in ARMSMEAR, a splendid memorial volume, of 399 pages, printed for private circulation, but not published, concerning Col. Samuel Colt, inveut- or of the revolver, and his enterprises.
Professor B. has addressed literary societies, in his Alma Mater, and many other colleges. Immediately after his first European travels he wrote lectures regarding " Naples and its Neigh- borhood," "St. Peter's at Rome, its Architect- ure and Ceremonies," "Roman Ruins," " Ram- bles in Pompeii," " What I saw in the Alps," and "German Life." He has delivered about five hundred lectures-rather more of them West than East.
Among his educational lectures, the one styl- ed "Common place Books, not common place,"
has been most popular, having been called for as many as seventy times. In this discourse the professor preaches nothing but what he has practiced for forty years. His own "Common place Book" begun so long ago, and "biving wisdom with each studious year," is now thick- er than Webster Unabridged,-yet more of its pages are crowded than blank.
Prof. Butler was married in 1845 to Anna, daughter of Joshua Bates, D. D., President of Middlebury College. His children are four, the two older ones, sons.
THE BLOOD DROPS OF CHRIST.
Lines penciled on horseback in a Syrian tour.
BY JAMES D. BUTLER.
When landing first on Sharon's plain, In walks by Jordan's stream,
On Jezreel's fields of waving grain, Where Hermon's glaciers gleam,
Above the crest of Olivet, And treading, many an hour, The Holy Land, I oft have met And plucked a blood-red flower.
" Blood drops of Christ," the peasants call The multitudinons gem, Which reddens thus the meadows all, From Dan to Bethlehem.
The stream that gushed from Jesus' breast, In golden legend sung, Lay not in dust, knew not of rest, But straightway upward sprung.
It rose this flower which, east and west, Neath Palestinian skies, Blooms earliest, latest, brightest, best, And wintry storm defies.
Gray rnin o'er Judea lowers, Jerusalem lies waste, Hler pnrest shrines, her strongest towers, By war and time defaced.
Outlasting Herod's walls of stone, This blossom we behold, More gorgeously than Solomon, Its purple robes unfold.
Its chalice ponrs in crimson flood, On each ensanguined sod,
The cup of sacramental blood Shed by the Lamb of God.
God, broadly on the common track This floral angel sent, That Palestine might nowhere lack The Saviour's monument.
But seeking Balbec and Beyrout No blood drop met my sight, As if to grow the emblem shoot Were only Judah's right.
Nor marvel I, the herb of grace Confines its influence sweet,
'To regions where, in dolorons race, Christ walked with bleeding feet.
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Yet, far remote from Palestine, The mystic floweret roains, For myriad pilgrims now combine To shrine in it their homes.
And farther than this ruby flower Pilgrims beyond the sea, The blood of Christ shall prove its power To make men truly free.
The Moslem crescent pales and dies, Hopeless the wizards weep ; But the sole blood that purifies On wings of fire shall sweep,
Through climes from which no pilgrim feet Have sought the sacred shore, . When the last flowers their course complete, And earth shall be no more.
When the Christ child to Egypt went, Eluding Herod's wrath, And palms, with fruit and foliage, bent Their boughs along his path.
The Holy babe bade heavenward bear A branchlet from those trees, And straight an angel soared in air To do his Lord's decrees.
That palm-spray, planted in the skies, There grows ani blossoms still, But, when the dead in Christ shall rise To stand on Zion's hill,
From its wide grove it then shall yield The branches to be waved, In homage on the crystal field, By nations of the saved.
Beneath those palms, let us believe, Blood-drops of Christ now bloom, And there angelic care receive, Till saints shall burst the comb.
One shadows forth his triumph, one His agony and war; The palms are grand but, to atone, : " Blood-drops are mightier far.
TO MY WIFE,
On our Silver Wedding.
BY JAMES D. BUTLER.
The love-light when I first espied Irradiate thy girlish smiles, That very hour tore us apart, To bear thee off unnumbered miles.
No keepsake had I then at hand, To beg thee as love's pledge receive, Only a knife,-but that I gave, Memento of our trysting-eve.
A knife's an emblem all too true Of destinies which cut so trist Our troth-plight rapturous but brief, And still to sever us persist.
A generation now has gone Since love thus sealed our two hearts one, Yet hope deferred long vexed our souls, Before the wedding's golden sun.
Light purses then made heavy hearts ; Strength'ning a mirch-loved sister's hands, Thou voyaged far on Southern seas, And patient toiled in feverous lands.
While I, an awkward, unlicked cub, In market lingered ont of favor, Till pilgrimage beyond the sea Had tinged my lore with classic flavor.
But while sea-severed years on years, Our union was of truer proof Than myriad couples ever know While dwelling always 'neath one roof.
Our wooing life and wedded life, Have both too much alike been spent; In both harsh fates thrust us apart, Three thousand leagues asunder sent.
Our lives repeat John Gilpin's race, Gilpin and sponse divided ever, Who neared and then struck out again, As planets only meet to sever.
Our separations sooth have been Like fearful death by keen-edged knife, But then our meetings all the more, Wake us new-born to joyons lite.
One day when home from Nile I came, Moscow, or lone Pacific Isles, Thrilled us with more of ecstasy Than homelings taste through years of smiles.
From thee and from our babes I've roved, Half round the mighty world aud more, In Arctic frost and tropic suns, Have sought to swell our needful store.
The plague, and sea-storm, bandits fierce, Arab, Italian,-Indian, Greek,- The avalanche,-fire,-vigil,-flood,- Have chased the smoothness from my cheek.
And thou, meantime, hast traveled too Within the walls of household care ; Our Paradise well hast thou kept, Training the darlings treasured there.
Yes, thou hast traveled too with me, As Beatrice by Dante's side, Through labyrinths of sorrow went, His angel-guardian, and guide.
Visions of thee have cheered me on Through wildernesses faint and weary, When tempted at a thousand turns, Homeless where all the world was dreary.
Thou 'st given me clues that led me safe In dolorous depths of purgatory, And nerved my soul the steep to climb, Excelsior to gates of glory.
Though courtship's gallantries depart And youthful buoyancy be past, Those fleeting flowers why do we mourn, Feasting on fruits that always last!
They've vanishe 1, but as Faith shull cease Transfigured in eternal light, And as the stars of Hope must pale In radiance of celestial sight.
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Somo tell us that in scores of years No words of crossness pass between them ; But, speaking thus, they vainly think, Envy to move in us who've seen them.
A namby-pamby style of life At best is all their lukewarm boast ; As if Dead Seas were better boons, Than ocean if in surges tossed.
In heat of day, and heat of heart,' Sometimes to quarrel we have tried ; But evening sun has ne'er gone down Before our lamb-like wrath had died.
If not yet mine, I'd woo thee now, Thine ark I'd seek like Noah's dove, And fettered love twixt thee and me, Transcendent FREE-LOVE still should prove. April 21, 1870.
I.
" Do you know, my poor Pat, when you enter a bar, That your guardian saint stands and weeps by the door?"
Asked a Temperance Priest when crusading afar. "That," replied the young Paddy, " I knew long be- fore, And I'll tell you the reason that moves him to cry, He's no sixpence a glassful of grog for to buy !"
IL.
"The boy in me will never out! " Says Ben, who threescore years has seen. "Your word," say I, " no man can doubt, At least, if you the ' Old Boy' mean."
III.
Have you been, boy, to church ? Yes, I have, sir, of course.
About what was the sermon of Reverend Strong?
I forget, but most said that the learned discourse Seemed to them about half of an hour too long. IV.
When the Teuton's best Kaiser was asked, "Shall the doctor or lawyer precede ?" "Let the doctor by all means go last !" The great emperor straightway decreed. Then the lawyers, elated with joy, Begged the monarch his reasons to tell For the words which physicians annoy, And which pleased all their rivals so well. But the autocrat's reason was such As proved bitter for either to swallow. He said, " Thieves, by the laws of the Dutch, Must go first, and the headsmen must follow !'. V.
Joe, Saturday had gambled late, But Sunday came to church in state, That thus a fair show he might make; But lucklessly he lost this stake. Cards with his kerchief came to view From pocket dropped outside his pew, And falling up and down the aisle, Provoked to many a solenin sinile. Joe wished himself among the dead, When people stared, and preacher said, In hopes to stauuch the wretch's wound, "Thy bible, friend, is badly bound."
VI.
" All others," says Pat " iu the sun may delight, But for the fair moon my applause shall be steady ; She shines in the night when we need beants of light, He only by day when there's too much already."
THE LAST * (More truth than parody.) BY A. B. FOOTE.
Tis the last buckwheat cake-I regret it is so- All its lovely companions are-gone down below ; No " batter" remaining, alas, and what's more, We've no more of the flour of its kindred in store.
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, cooped under yon cover, Thou'rt nicely done brown, thou wilt soon be done over ;
For what would one slap-jack be good for, I'd know, All cold as the winter, the world, or the snow ?
0, what will become, if the times be so hard, Of the children and wife of a newspaper bard ? What weapon, I wonder, hath fortune in store With which we may battle the wolf from the door ?
There's a good time a coming, the wiseacres say ; They bid us be patient, wait. labor and pray ;
I would own they are right, just to make out my song,
But if good times is coming, " why not come along !'
For it's hard when "a felly's" cooped np in a shop, To labor with shoe knife and hammer and strop. And gets for the week, to meet household expense, But the sum of one dollar and seventy-five cents 1
Yet let us be thankful : I hope that the fates At least will vouchsafe us corn meal and potates ; Still if not, we'll suppress all unchristian-like notions, Sit down to our plates and "go through with the motions."
Rutland, Jan. 1855.
OUR STEPHEN, &c. BY A. B. POOTE .*
The morning was dull and betokened a day Unsuited to curing and carting of hay ; So Stephen bethought him to take a trip down, And bring this thing and that and the other from town ;
So he harnessel the horse and proceeded to go forth, With a pail of pale butter, eggs, berries, &c.
Now it happened that Stephen (&c.,) came down On the day that the "show" was to enter the town ; And into the village he chanced to come forth As the caravan came into town from the north- (A wondrous collection they purposed to show forth, Elks, Elephant, Monkeys, Bears, Tigers, &c.)
*Not a native of the town or State, but resided in Rutland many years, and was for the time their favor Ite bard. He was one of the committee on selections in our " Poets and Poetry of Vermont," (1558) and his gronp has been called the wittiest and prettiest in the book. He was the literary editor of the Rutland Her. ald at this period. He now resides in Washington, D. C., has a wife and two daughters .- ED.
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And Stephen arrived opportunely, I ween,
For Stephen had never an elephant seen ; So he with " old sorrel" fetched np by the fence,
To see without paying the twenty-five cents;
And soon came the creature, uncouthly and slow, forth, With tusks, and with trunk, blankets, ribbons, &c.
But scared at the sight, or the scent, or the sound, " Old Sorrel " turned quickly and shortly around, And turning so quickly and shortly about, The wagon turned over and Stephen turned out; And into the gutter the berries did flow forth, Together with Stephen, eggs, butter, &c.
Įnoth Stephen aloud, as he arose on his legs :
'A fig for the berries, &c., and eggs.
" But henceforth I never can say it-of course-
"That I've not 'seen the elephant'-nor can the horse !"
And back to the homestead " Old Sorrel " did g., on, Leaving wagon, and Stephen, &c., and so on.
DR. JAMES PORTER.
FROM AN OBITUARY BY GEN. P. W. HOPKINS.
Dr. Porter was the architect of his own for- sune. His father, one of four brothers, who were all physicians, died when in the service, as surgeon in the British army, during the war of the Revolution. James was then about 14 months old. His mother soon re- noved, with her two sons, to Halifax, N. S., where she again married and died, leaving aim an orphan at 4 years of age. His step- ather immediately placed him under the guardianship of a sea captain, from which time we have nothing above the inference, chat, to the blunt and straight-forward man- her of a man of that class, he was indebted to that self-reliance, practical good sense and in. segrity, which have characterized him to the close of his life. For a period, we know not how long, he was sent to live with his ma- bernal uncle, at Charlestown, N. H., and ;hence to this place [ Rutland.] at the age of ;en years. Here, for a time, he remained in the family and under the care of his uncle, Dr. Ezekiel Porter, whose sturdy character, noble nature and professional skill, are emin- ently known to all who have heard. of his Lamie .*
When about 17, with a companion or two, with his uncle's consent, he went to sea as a steward or supercargo, to the West India lands. The vessel was captured by a French privateer. The privations and hardships, ad- ded to their fears of a French prison, pro- duced an agony of mind equalled only by their courage. They were however, deliv-
* A biography of Dr. Ezekiel Porter has been prom- Ised to this work, but has not yet come to the editor.
ered by a British vessel, and sent to Nor- folk. James soon arrived at New York, r- duced to but one penny in his pocket. He returned again to Rutland and commenced the study of medicine with his uncle: ani continued it until he was licensed as a physi- cian, by the Board of Examiners of the Mel- ical Society,-there being then no me lical college in the State. In 1812 the County Medical Society was incorporated, of which, at the decease of Dr. Porter, himself and Dr. Dana, of Brandon, were the only corporate members. The few first years of his profes- sional life he practiced with and under his uncle, who was, for a long time, the princi- pal surgeon in this part of the State. After- wards, when more advanced in his practice, and when the epidemic of 1312 and 1813 hal spread over the country, the call of Dr. Cleave- land to Plattsburg. as surgeon in the regi- ment, left Dr. Porter alone, to contend with the fatal disease which was sweeping away its hundreds to a sudden grave; he disonars- ed the duties devolving upon him with sta- gular ability, fearlessness, endurance anti- delity, (such the extent of country ani scarci- ty of physicians,) in days and nights of ab- sence from home. His skill increased pari passu with his experience and practice, so that, as remarked by one of his professional cotemporaries : " Many regarded the young doctor as the more safe and skillful operator, and considered him much the more scientific and thorough in his readings." His surgical operations were so successful, that pro.e -- ors of medical institutions consulted him upon his method and practice. Bus one only. of his many operations of trepanning the skall. failed of success. Within a few years an o. man, from a distance, called on Dr. Portes, and asked if he had forgotten bim ani bis case, showing him his head, which the doctor had trepanned, but had forgotten the fact from the time which had elapsed. " I am now go- ing," said he," to the far west, to leave these hills and these valleys forever, but I could not leave without seeing once more the face of the old doctor who had saved my lic."- In brief, he was " cautious and discriminating in his investigations of diseases," mode-t and unassuming in deportment, yet firm in h.s opinions-and he was always honorable. He never detracted from others in consequence of their inexperience or errors.
Dr. Porter died in this village about the
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tinha this was written, aged 74 years. When one of the profession to which the deceased belongs dies, when one in whose skill is our hope, in whose energy is our trust, on whose wisdom and prudence, under heaven, our ex- istence depends, is suddenly taken from us, our natures refuse to be comforted by the re- flection, that the good he has done will live after him. There is not one that so entwines himself around our hearts. We can spare all but him.
HON. ROBERT PIERPOINT.
Robert Pierpoint * died, at his residence, Sept. 23d, 1864, aged 73 years, without a personal enemy, full of years and full of hon- ors ; went down to the grave with Christian faith, leaving to the community in which he had lived the legacy of the influence and ex- ample.of one whose character and opinions commanded implicit confidence. In the na- tural order of cause and effect, men respected his simple, austere honesty and put faith in his opinions, which, from the rapidity of his reasoning, seemed almost intuitive.
Endowed with a subtle, comprehensive mind, he rose by his own industry, energy and integrity, no advantages of birth, wealth or education having aided his early struggles, in the time which decides and stamps the character of a young man.
He was born at Litchfield, May 4, 1791. His father, David Pierpoint, had a family of seven sons and two daughters. His mother's maiden name was Sarah Phelps, sister to the father of the Hon. Samuel S. Phelps, the late gifted Senator from this State.
Robert, at 7 years of age, came to live with his uncle Robert Pierpoint, at Manchester, Vt. Here, for 9 years, though much of the time sick, and almost a cripple from a rheum- atic affection, and occupying the position of a boy at a country inn, he learned to study character, and gained such a knowledge of books as occasional attendance upon common schools, and spare moments occupied in read- ing, could give him, aided by an iron memo- ry. This was his preparatory and collegiate course, and he illustrated the old maxim, that " the best, scholars are their own tutors."
At 16, he entered the law office of Gov. Richard Skinner and began the study of the
profession, with the enthusiasm of a boy, and the stea ly, persistent faith which discloses in the future that talismanic vision-success.
He remained with Gov. Skinner during the remainder of his minority, and, to ju lge by the written volumes of notes and comments upon the texts of various authors, during that time, or to judge by his ready applica- tion of principles in his professional practice, he must have been an indefatigable student. He began the study a stripling and continued it till early manhood.
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