, and averse to quarrels. He was
very fond of books, and eagerly read all that came in his way. From his
earliest youth he possessed a remarkably retentive memory, and was such
a promising scholar that his mother determined to help him obtain a
liberal education, hoping that he would be called to the Baptist
ministry. With this end in view, he was fitted for college at the public
schools of Lowell and at Exeter Academy, and at the early age of sixteen
entered Waterville College. Here for four years, the formative period of
his life, his mind received that bent and discipline which fitted him
for his future active career.

He was a student who appreciated his advantages, and acquired all the
general information the course permitted outside of regular studies; but
his rank was low in the class, as deportment and attention to college
laws were taken into account. During the latter part of his course he
was present at the trial of a suit at law, and was so impressed with the
forensic battle he then witnessed, that he chose law as his profession.
He was graduated from the college in 1838, in poor health, and in debt,
but a fishing cruise to the coast of Labrador restored him, and in the
fall he entered upon the study of the law at Lowell. While a student he
practised in the police court, taught school, and devoted every energy
to acquiring a practical knowledge of his profession.

MILITIA.

While yet a minor he joined the City Guards, a company of the fifth
regiment of Massachusetts Militia. His service in the militia was
honorable, and continued for many years; he rose gradually in the
regular line of promotion through every grade, from a private to a
brigadier-general.

LAW.

In 1840, Mr. Butler was admitted to the bar. He was soon brought into
contact with the mill-owners, and was noted for his audacity and
quickness. He won his way rapidly to a lucrative practice, at once
important, leading, and conspicuous. He was bold, diligent, vehement,
and an inexhaustible opponent. His memory was such, that he could retain
the whole of the testimony of the longest trial without taking a note.
His power of labor seemed unlimited. In fertility of expedient, and in
the lightning quickness of his devices to snatch victory from the jaws
of defeat, his equal has seldom lived.

For twenty years Mr. Butler devoted his whole energies to his
profession. At the age of forty he was retained in over five hundred
cases, enjoyed the m