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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��Ira F. Folsom (I). C, 1848), and one under Rev. Porter S. Burbank. In 1849 he was one term at the New- Hampshire Conference Seminary, in Sanbornton (now Tilton) , Rev. Richard S. Rust, principal. Then, for satisfacto- ry reasons, he gave up all academies, returned home, set himself down alone to his Latin, Greek, and mathematics, and with indomitable perseverance prepared for college. He entered Dartmouth in 1850, probably the poor- est fitted in his class ; but he had the fitting of a determined will, uncon- querable industry, a keen intellect, and the fiber of six generations of open-air ancestors, and in 1854 he graduated at the very head of his class, and was valedictorian. It is needless to say, perhaps, that the eldest of nine chil- dren had to practice economy, and teach district schools five winters in his native town ; and that what small advances he had from his father were repaid, to the last dollar, from his first earnings.
In the fall of 1854 he was appointed a clerk in the New York custom- house, and held the position for some years. He had taken an early inter- est in politics, being by education a Democrat. But he had always been positively anti-slavery in sentiment. He was dissatisfied with the Kansas- Nebraska bill ; and alone of all the clerks in the custom-house, fearless of the probable result to himself, he openly denounced the Lecompton constitution policy of Buchanan, and supported Douglas. In consequence he was removed from office in March, 1858.
Returning to Dover he resumed the study of law — which he had com- menced in New York — in the office of the eminent lawyer, Daniel M. Chris- tie, and on that gentleman's motion was admitted to the bar at the May term, i860. He afterward well re- paid Mr. Christie's kindness by a eulogy, upon his decease, delivered before the court, and subsequently printed. It was regarded as an elo- quent and appreciative tribute to Mr.
��Christie's remarkable qualities of man- hood, and extraordinary powers as a lawyer.
Mr. Hall, upon his admission to the bar, opened an office in Dover, and commenced practice. In the spring of 1859, just before the state election, in view of the great crisis coming upon the country, at an immense meeting in Dover, he (as did also Judge Charles Doe) withdrew from the Democratic party and cast in his allegiance with the Republicans. With them, where his conscience and political principles alike placed him, has his lot been cast ever since ; and it is not improbable that that one addition, in later and critical years, turned the scale in New Hamp- shire's political destinies.
It was an episode in his life that in 1859 he was appointed, by the gov- ernor and council, school commissioner for Strafford county, and was re-appoint- ed in i860. His early training in the country district school, his work as master in the winters, and his hard- earned higher education qualified him eminently for the practical duties of this office.
In the autumn of 1861 Mr. Hall was appointed secretary of the United States senate committee to investigate the surrender of Norfolk navy-yard. This committee consisted of John P. Hale, Andrew Johnson, and James W, Grimes. Soon after he was appointed clerk of the Senate committee on Naval Affairs, at Washington, of which Mr. Hale was chairman. He served in this capacity until March, 1862 ; but he wished for more immediate partici- pation in the great struggle then in progress. The conflict, which had its symptoms in the Lecompton strife, had become war, and the young man who had then sacrificed office for prin- ciple was ready for a still greater sac- rifice. In March, 1862, he was com- missioned aide-de-camp and captain in the regular army of the United States. He was assigned to duty with Gen. John C. Fremont ; but before he had time to join that officer Gen. Fremont had retired from command, and Capt.
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