Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1859 — Death of Prof, Larrabee. [ARTICLE]

Death of Prof, Larrabee.

[From the State Journal.

The news of the death of W. C. Larrabee was brought to this city yesterday, but not unexpectedly, for rumors of a like purport have several times been circulated. He had been in declining health for some months, and since the death of his wife had with- . drawn himself almost entirely from active ■ life. He died on Wednesday morning. Mr. j Larrabee must have been sixty years of age, or more, at his death, He was Maine, we believe. His career in this State dates from his connection with the Asbury University, in which he was for a longtime an active and esteemed teacher. His election to the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1852, drew him from his congenial occupation of teaching, and warped and misplaced Iris whole nature by forcing him into political life. But once in, he stayed in, and seriously, to the detriment of his reputation if not his character. Defeated . tor re-election to bis office by Prof. Mills in ; 1854, he still lingered till his purchase of the • Sentinel, and apnointment to the Blind Asiylum put him toil in the field again. Tnat I lie and his friends ail regret his failure to labandon politics entirely at this point, cannot be doubted. From that tiiue his fortunes waned. The Blind Asylum difficulty damaged his reputation, it may be unjustly, and his connection with the Sentinel damaged his purse. A re-nomination and election to his old office ol Superintendent, accomplished very little for him. He sank gradu- ' ually out of sight, and was not even thought 'of lor re-nommatioh in 1858. His great ■error was in ever allowing himself to be used by his party to give it a sort of reli- : gious strength, which was an element it sadly lacked in 1854, and has grown in lacking | ever since. He was unfitted for politics, land unable to keep clear of the entangleI ment which politics frequently create, and in which bis ministerial position made him a conspicuous object of censure. We believe Mr. Larrabee wanted to be right, and do right, and if he failed it was attributable more to the party influence about him than to his native tendencies and tastes. He was a good scholar, and a man of extensive reading and cultivated taste. His published writings were generally of the magazine class, though a few years ago he collected some of bis productions into a volume called “Rosabower,” of which our readers have all heard, and probably most of them have read more or less. He was not a man of great natural talents or great native strength of characte-, but he was amiable, kindly and cultivated, fond of quiet, and excessively afraid of opposition or hostility, so much so that he occasionally descended below the I level of his manly dignity to propitiate an opponent who nhe feared. But this was an outgrowth rather of a wish to move along in good will with everybody than of a weak fear of being attacked. As a writer he was! easy, graceful and entertaining, though, oc-.| casionally too stilted, as a glance at some of! his reportswill show. We presume he will! be-buried beside hfs wife in Greencastle. !