Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
to me on that May morning that I never
saw a more imposing figure than Colonel
Fuller presented at that time while riding
down Fifth avenue.
Hn flDemoriam.
He began to be prominent in the politi-
cal affairs of Vermont, and was elected to
EVI K. FULLER, of Vermont, is no
the State Senate in 1880. In 1886 he was
more. On last Saturday morning, at
elected Lieutenant-Governor of Vermont,
his Brattleboro home, after a lingering ill-
and in 1892 became its Governor by a most
ness, he passed away.
complimentary majority. Had he lived,
In the death of Governor Fuller his
Governor Fuller would undoubtedly have
widow and near relatives suffer an irrepar-
represented his State in the Senate at
able loss, the bitterness of which time
Washington. His career as chief executive
alone can assuage and soften. In the
of Vermont was marked by a wise and con-
death of Governor Fuller the music trade
servative management of the State affairs,
of America loses one of its most distin-
and it is only a short time ago that I heard
guished members, a man who cast lustre
one of the most prominent businessmen in
and honor upon the trade and profession
Vermont say, "Governor Fuller was the
which he adorned.
best executive Vermont ever had."
Levi Knight Fuller was born in East
Governor Fuller had occupied consider-
Westmoreland, N. H., fifty-five years ago.
able
prominence in the different societies in
The confines of that little village were
which
he took an active interest. In the
too narrow to hold a youth with the inde-
Society
of Mechanical Engineers and the
pendence and with the genius of young
Fuller. His boyish mind longed for
broader fields, and at an early age he re-
paired to Brattleboro, Vt., where he learned
the printer's trade, at the same time at-
tending the high school in that town.
Young Fuller was what I might term a
natural inventor, and it was not long before
his genius began to make itself manifest in
the matter of electrical inventions. He ap-
plied himself to mechanics, and soon made
some important improvements in steam
engines. Also his observations upon elec-
trical influences served to bring him into
considerable prominence over the country.
He then devoted himself to mechanical
work in Boston for a while, at the same
time devoting all of his spare moments to
the study of science and higher mechanics.
It was thus he laid the foundation for an
industrious, conscientious and high-minded
career.
LEVI KNIGHT FULLER.
It was in i860 when his connection first
began with J. Estej 7 & Co. Six years later American Society for the Advancement of
he was admitted into the company, to whom Science, his views upon leading topics have
his inventive talents have been unquestion- always been looked for by the members
ably of great benefit.
with much interest. The geography of the
In 1873 he visited Europe, where he laid heavens possessed for him an intense inter-
the foundation of his firm's great system of est. His love for astronomy was such that
foreign agencies. He subsequently visited one of the most powerful telescopes in New
Europe many times in connection with his England was in his home at Brattleboro.
business affairs.
His interest in the matter of establish-
He was married to the only daughter of ing an universal pitch will long be remem-
bered by the music trades of America.
the late Jacob Estey, who survives him.
When, in 1872, a charter for the Estey Governor Fuller gave to this subject much
Organ Co. was obtained, Levi K. Fuller be- of his time, and brought to bear in its fur-
came vice-president of the corporation, a therance a ripe experience. He said to me
position which he has maintained continu- on one occasion, while I was conversing
with him regarding his work upon this im-
ously up to the time of his death.
He took a warm interest in the military portant matter, that to him it was a labor of
affairs of Vermont. He organized Fuller's love. He had even then returned from a
Light Battery, of which he held the commis- trip to Europe, which was taken solely for
sion of Colonel for many years. That mili- the benefit of gaining all the information
tary organization was always a particular which he could glean from European
source of pride to him, and I recollect well s mrces regarding the pitch of all countries.
the imposing figure which Governor Fuller,
Those of us who had the pleasure of lis-
then Colonel, made when he brought his tening to his lectures upon his researches
military organization with him to take part on the subject of international pitch, illus-
in the Washington Centennial parade in trated as they were with his wonderful col-
May, 1889.
lection of tuning forks, the rarest and most
He possessed a true soldierly bearing; complete in the world, will remember
riding at the head of his battery it occurred how exhaustively he covered the subject.
Levi Knight Fuller.
L
While listening to his lectures, I became
more impressed at that time with the
thoroughness and preciseness of the man.
He could not take a superficial view of
anything. He must examine it through
and through until he explored to the very
center of the structure upon which a theory
rested. If in no other way than this,
Governor Fuller has left the indelible
stamp of his individuality impressed for-
ever upon the music trades of this country.
He was the only man interested in the
manufacture of musical merchandise who
has ever reached the Gubernatorial chair of
any state in the American Union.
* *
sk
The final
remains of
afternoon.
ic fraternity
obsequies were held over the
Governor Fuller last Tuesday
The solemn rites of the Mason-
were accorded.
*
Levi Knight Fuller was in every sense a
noble type of American manhood. Kind,
gentle and firm, his whole life has been
such as to cast an ennobling influence upon
all those with whom he came in contact.
His life fro:n humble early environments to
the occupancy of the highest honor within
the gift of his State, should act as an on-
ward spur to the generations who succeed
—as an illustration that right and conscien-
tious endeavor still reap a commensurate
reward.
Governor Fuller was a true gentlemen—
a man in whom there was no guile.
When honors began to shower thick and
fast upon him, his nature never changed.
He was sincere, and sycophancy and flat-
tery gained no recognition from him. He
abhorred vulgarity in any form. His life
was pure and wholesome. There was a
depth of sentiment and poetic feeling in
his nature which was unfathomable. I
have seen, while sitting with him in his
library at his home in Brattleboro, his keen
blue eyes sparkle with fire as he related
some event of by-gone days, and I have
seen those same eyes soften and grow ten-
der as he has told me of some touching in-
cident. Never in my life do I recollect
meeting Governor Fuller but that he made
some specific inquiry regarding my busi-
ness and its success. I recollect when I
published my first book some years ago, he
was one of the very first to send me a letter
endorsing and praising the work. It meant
to me considerable in those days, and later,
when I launched my first purely literary
effort upon the world, Governor Fuller
was the first to write me a congratulatory
as well as a complimentary letter, and the
last time that I ever met him it was the same
kindly interest that prompted him to ask me
about another matter then in progess.
These illustrations only serve to show
the kindly, thoughtful nature of the man.
His life's work is completed, and he has
fulfilled his earthly mission.
Levi Knight Fuller was a great man, and
great men do not come of their own accord,
nor are they the product of circumstances
by a kind of spontaneous generation. They
are created for a purpose and are sent to