DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEBSTER. AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF GRAFTON AND COOS COUNTIES, By HON. HENRY P. ROLFE, AT THE ANNUAL MEETING AT LANCASTER. FEBRUARY 2, 1886. CONCORD: Republican Press Association, Railroad Square. 1891. DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEBSTER. AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE ION OF GRAFT AND COUNTIES, ,nd cor By HON. HENRY P. ROLFE, AT THE ANNUAL MEETING AT LANCASTER, FEBRUARY 2, 1886. CONCORD : Republican Press Association, Railroad Square. 1891. E3 ADDRESS. At the age of fifteen, Daniel Webster's health was not good, and he was far from strong. He conld do only the light work about the house, the stable, and the farm. On the other hand, Ezekiel, two years older, was a sturdy, strong, well made young man, who did his full share of hard farm-work with the " hired hands." He lisped considerably when talking, but Daniel spoke in a full, clear, deliberate manner. Both boys were studious : a lady who attended school with both of them has said that she never saw either of them idle in school. Their father did not have an abundance of this world's goods. He had been one of the first settlers in Salisbury, establishing himself on the extreme frontier ; and he had spent a large share of his life in the service of his country, with poor pay, or no pay at all. When he began to think about the education of his sons, his farm was under a mortgage, but he had determined to l ' raise his children to a condition better than his own." Conse'queutly he sent Daniel to Phillips academy in Exeter, then the capital of the state. Both boys had attended every day their own district school while it lasted, and the schools in adjoining districts frequently were arranged so as to afford one or two months mote instruction to pupils living near by. So, when at the age of fifteen his father sent him to Kxeter, Daniel was proficient in all English branches. His school-masters had been Master Chase, and, specially, the renowned James Tappan, whom he afterward mentions in the most endearing terms. His health improved with study, and his intellect brightened and 4 DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEBSTEB. strengthened as his body developed and grew strong. Exeter my was an expensive school fur the father's Btraitened means, and the Bon's intellectual growth seemed t<> outstrip the conditions and opportunities around him. So, after two terms, or Bis months, :it Exeter, the father determined t<» Bend lii- bou Bpeedily to college, and with this object made arrangements to place him at Boscawen under the instruction of the Rev. Samuel I, a most benevolent man and excellent teacher. He kept bis determinatioo from the boy for Bome time, and at length told him In- would carry bira over to Boscawen and place him in tuecare and nnder the tuiti f Mr. W 1. where he could ■• <1<> chores" and thereby pay :i good Bhare of bis expenses. Daniel bad beard :i great deal of Dartmouth college, and had onged for the advantages and delights that an education there would confer upon him, but bad never dared to expect, or even hope, that be could I"- the happy recipient of them. When be came near the end of the journey to Boscawen, and while ascending the long, Bteep bill that led to Mr. Wood's house, the father, for the first time, opened to hi> boh his deci- sion to Bend him to college. <> happy day for Daniel Webstei ! o happier day for Dartmouth collegi With :i heart full <>t" filial love and overflowing with filial gratitude, the boy laid liis dizzy bead upon the paternal Bboulder and wept, bnt Baid noth- ing. Late in after life he wrote, — "The thing appeared bo high, and the expense and sacrifice it would cost my father ><> great, [ conld only press bis hand and shed tears. Excellent, excel- lent parent! I cannot think of yon now without being a child again!" The lips that never afterwards failed to express the emotions of that great, noble, loving heart were dumb with overpowering thankfulness, and the tongue that afterwards thrilled tin- civilized world with its eloquence "cleaved to the roof of liis mout h." Later, his father sent for bim, and lie went home for the hay- making, — but the hay-field was lonely compared with Mr. W I's studv; turning the mown grass was dull work compared with turning tin' leaves of Don Quixote, or the translation of Vergil and Cicero. He thought his scythe bung more gracefully, and more to suit him, on the limb of an apple-tree than in his hands ! Daniel went to Hanover on horseback to enter college, and DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEBSTER. O carried his bed, bedding, clothing, and books with him. His way led through New Chester, Hill, Danbury, Grafton, Orange, Canaan, Enfield, and Lebanon. He was poorly prepared for college, his preparatory course having lasted only eleven months. He himself said, " I was not litted for college." There, as everywhere else, he was never idle. In addition to his prescribed studies and duties he read much, and paid his board for an entire year by superintending the publication of a little weekly paper : during the winter vacations he taught school. When he went away one winter he wore away Benja- min Clark's new ten dollar beaver hat: hats at that time were made of real beaver fur. He was quite a swell as school-master, with this elegant new head-covering. His class-mate, Clark, supposed it was surely lost. Clark had searched high and low for his new hat, and was obliged to put up with an old one that he had. When Daniel came back to college with the hat, Clark shook hands with him over the joke, and they were good friends ; and so glad was the latter to find that his nice new hat, the envy of the college, had not been stolen, that they remained good friends ever after this so called " college prank." While Daniel for two years and a half was exulting in the enjoyment of educational advantages, Ezekiel, whom he loved with all the tenderness of youthful brotherly ardor, was at home, at work early and late on the farm helping his father and contributing to the support of Daniel in college, without mur- muring or objecting. The latter began to feel uneasy at his brother's situation. It troubled him to think that Ezekiel, with many gifts as great as his own, should be plodding at home on the farm, while he himself was obtaining a liberal education. Though Daniel was unhappy at his brother's prospects, what could be done? To educate one son at Dartmouth seemed almost more than his father, with limited means and a mortgaged farm, could do. When Daniel had been at college one year and two terms, and was paying many of his own expenses by the labors above described, he took courage for his ki brother Zeke " and went home to spend his May vacation. The two boys went to bed, and through the live-long night held serious consultation about the elder brother's chances to fit for college and complete his education. Daniel was two years his junior, and already 6 DANIEL ANI» K/.l.kll I. WEBSTER. nearly balf through his collegiate coarse: the elder brother was at least five years behind bim. They rose after Banrise without having Bhut their eyes, bul they had aettled their plans. All the pros and cone bad been weighed and considered, and, although it might Beem late in life for Ezekiel to commence In* prepara- tion for college, it was Bettled thai Daniel Bbould propose to bis father that Ezekiel ?-h«»uI«l be Benl to Bchool and to college. This was the first cause of importance that the great advocate undertook, and it was before a most appreciative tribunal, and be had a .Unit whom In- adored. The father was old, hie health I. hie circumstances not easy, the farm mast be carried on. tin- mother ami two Bisters tenderly cared for : when Ezekiel Bbould go away the mainstay <>f the family would be gone. • I athei "' -anl Daniel. " I am extremely unhappy at Ezekiel's prospects in life. Nature has been bountiful in gifts to bim. In personal appearance, in manly beauty, be la inferior to no >n thai 1 ever saw. It ia true he lisps a little, but, with me, thia only adds a charm to bia Bpeech. Bui be baa rare qualities both Of head and heart, and when his natural endow- ments shall be improved and polished by a liberal education, be will be a man that hi> father, hi- mother, bia brother, and his sisters will be proud of. I cannot bear to be enjoying advan- - denied to him. For myself, I can Bee my way through. Mv pathway to respectability, to knowledge and self-protection, ia clear before me. I am nearly half-way through college, and. by editing a paper al Hanover and teaching Bchool for the past two winters, I have been able thus far to pay more than balf mv bills. 1 am do longer despondent about myself. I am full •urage. I can keep BChool and stay more than four years in college, if necessary, if only my brother can have the advan- tages thai 1 am enjoying. I hope never to fail in affectionate veneration for you and mother, nor m tender regard for my >is- ters ; but 1 want Ezekiel to have the advantages which I have, and then they will afford me more than double enjoyment. It will sadden all my future life to have him denied the privileges which lie deserves as much as — yes, more than I." The reply of that father, who ** shrunk from DO sacrifice to serve his country through the fire and blood of :i seven years' revolutionarv war," entitles him to the appellation of "excel- DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEBSTER. I lent, excellent parent." "My son," said be, " I have lived and am living but for my wife and my children. I have but little of this world's goods, and on that little I put no value, except as it may be useful to them. To carry you both through college, my son, will take all that I am worth, and I am willing to run the risk myself ; but when it comes to your mother and sisters, it is a more serious matter. You are all equally dear to me, and had it pleased heaven to endow me with riches, there is no priv- ilege of education that should be denied any one of you. Eze- kiel and you must settle this matter with your mother aud sis- ters ; if their free consent is obtained, you shall both have a collegiate education, and I will put my trust in Providence and get along to the end of life as well as I can." There was a grave family council of father, mother, sons, and daughters. For a time the father sat in silence. At length he said to the mother,— " I have had a long talk with Daniel about Ezekiel's going to college, and the hearts of both the boys seem to be set upon it ; but I have told them that I could promise nothing without the free consent of their mother and sisters. The farm is already mortgaged, and if we send Ezekiel to col- lege it will take all we have ; but the boys think they can take care of us." Parents and children mingled their tears together. Daniel had gone, and now Ezekiel, the strong staff upon which the aged father and mother and the unmarried dependent sisters were leaning, must be separated from them and their home no longer be cheered daily by his presence. It was a moment of intense interest to all the family. The mother was a high-minded, stout-hearted, sagacious woman, and it did not take her, the mother of two such boys, long to decide the matter. She at once saw the reasonableness of the request, and the great advantage to be derived by her sou if his request should be granted, and she gave her decision in these words : " I have lived long in this world, and have been happy in my children. If Daniel and Ezekiel will promise to take care of me in my old age, 1 will consent to the sale of all our prop- erty at once, that they may enjoy with us the benefits of what remains after our debts have been paid." O excellent, excellent father ! Noble, noble mother ! Dear > DANIEL AND EZEKTEL WEBSTER. devot - ! The die was cast, and with tears and benedic- tions the family submitted to a temporary separation. But the farm was not Bold, and the parents continued in comfortable circumstances to the end of life. One of the Bisters was happily married and became the mother of the well known and accom- plished scholar, diplomat, and orator, ( ibarles B. Haddock, while both spent useful and happy lives and left behind them good and honored nan • Daniel went back to Hanover; Ezekiel took his bundle of clothes and bo >r. W I's, and began the Btudy of Latin and Greek, for he, like Daniel, was well up in the English branches. There was an excellent academy at Salisbury, and miel bad been allowed two terms at Exeter, Ezekiel was to be allowed two terms at Salisbury, after which be was to return to Dr. W I's. !!<■ spent »i\ months at the academy, and thru completed bis preparatory course with Dr. Wood, where his i \- penses were about one dollar a week. It is fair to presume the elder brother was as well fitted as the younger, for he was quite as studious, althongh he distrusted bis ability to get on. But Daniel wn.tr liiin frequently from Hanover, cl red him up, and allured him al In the Bpring of 1801, Ezekiel entered Dartmouth, before his brother bad graduated. In Augusl of the Bame year Daniel took his diploma, his brother having already accomplished one vear of his collegiate education. [t has often been said thai Daniel was exasperated with the treatment of the faculty in not giving him the valedictory, and indignantly tore ap and threw away his diploma, exclaiming, '• Dartmouth college will hear from me hereafter." This Btory has do foundation in truth whatever, and no graduate of the col- lege ever cherished more personal regard for the professors and more veneration for his alma-mater than did Daniel Webster. Theodore Parker, in his sermon on Mr. Webster's death. preached in the Blelodian in October, 1852, remarked that "Dr. Wood had small Latin and less Greek." Mr. Parker was misin- formed. Dr. Wood graduated at Dartmouth in 1797 with the highesl honors of his class, and was awarded and delivered the valedictory address at commencement. He studied theology, was licensed to preach, and began his ministry in the October DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEBSTER. 9 following. He prepared four score of young men for college, and was considered a ripe scholar for his time. The writer of this article was born and reared in the same school-district where Dr. Wood resided during all his life in Boscawen, and knows he was an excellent linguist and an eminent divine. It will not be supposed that Daniel Webster was taken from so distinguished and competent a teacher and classical scholar as Dr. Abbott of Phillips Exeter academy to complete his prepar- atory course and put on the finishing touch with Dr. Wood, if the latter had " small Latin and less Greek." He was, as I have said, an excellent classical scholar and a learned man, and the degree of doctor of divinity was conferred upon him at a time when that honor signified something'. DIPLOMA. I desire to call attention to another mistake of Mr. Parker's, made in the same sermon, and which was current as a tradition a long time before Mr. Webster's death. He said,—" He grad- uated in his twentieth year, largely distinguished for power as a writer and speaker, though not much honored by the college authorities. So he scorned his degree, and, when the faculty gave him their diploma, he tore it in pieces in the college yard in presence of some of his mates, it is said, and trod it under his feet." I heard this a great many times when a boy, and while fitting for college and in college, and always considered it an invention of some idle, careless, disappointed person who had neither earned or deserved collegiate honors. I shrank from contradicting this story, but at the same time had the best evidence that it had no shadow of a foundation, for if Daniel Webster had, more than a year after his graduation, shown and translated his diploma to one of his loved and cher- ished friends, it would be rather convincing proof to me that he did not tear it up and trample it under his feet. But within one year, Mr. Stephen M. Allen, president of the Webster Histori- cal Society, in the Spectator, has reiterated the story as a tradi- tion. At an agricultural fair, where George W. Nesmith was present, his attention was called to a decision upon the merits of two animals, wherein one had an award in money and the other, a In DANIEL \M' EZEKIEL WBBBTBB. diploma. A person remarked that the money award was made to the wrong animal, and he further Baid, — " It' 1 were that ani- mal that has received the diploma, I would d<> with it as Daniel Webster w it. much more to tear up my diploma, which I then prised as the most choice treasure a young man could possess. Be- sides, I should have been obliged to decline the honor, for I bad already been selected by my class to deliver an address before the Fraternity, which 1 preferred al that time to the honor of being valedictorian." This has been told me within two years by Mr. Nesmith, and be bas assured me thai the late Professor Shurtlefl told bim the same in refutation of this Btory. Judge . of Rutland, Vermont, had bis attention called to this mailer by the publication of Mr. Allen"- article in the Spectator, and he replied to it in the Century Magazine, and relate- there the -am.- thing told him year- ago by Professoi Shurtlefl, in complete refutation of the diploma fabrication. Bat to return to the subject : After this episodical defence of Dr. Wood's Classical fame. Ezekiel taught BCl 1 one winter in Salisbury and two winters in San born ton. In the Bpring of L 804, three years after he entered college, he began a private school in Boston, which he taught for a year. So Btudious was he. that three year- from hi- entrance into college he went to Boston, and returned at commencement, passing his examina- tions and earning hi- degree, thus accomplishing in three years what Daniel did in four. So reduced did his father'.- finances become, that he could no longer furnisb the boys with funds. Ezekiel was sent money by Daniel during his last year at Han- over, and Daniel earned thi- money at Conway, by copying deed- in the Register's office. The father continued t<> hold the ofBce of .Indue of the Court of ( iommon Pleas, to which he was appointed in 1791, till his death in 1806. DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEBSTER. 11 In the discharge of all the duties of citizen, soldier, magis- trate, parent, Christian, Judge Webster was a man of whom his neighbors, his townsmen, his country, and his illustrious children might be justly proud. Of all the brave men who stood watch and ward over the frontier of civilization in New Hampshire, none displayed more fortitude than he. He had the heart of a lion, and the sweet, tender sympathy of a girl. When Daniel was admitted to the bar in 1805, he came to Boscawen and opened an office in order that he might be near his honored father, to administer to his wants and to comfort him in his old age. In 1807, having paid the debt of gratitude as well as he could to these " excellent parents," and having laid them tenderly away to that rest which remaiueth for them, he transferred his office and most of his business to Ezekiel, and moved to Portsmouth to continue the career that in the end made him the most illustrious son of this republic. The beautiful and tender tribute which he paid to his father at Saratoga on August 19, 1840, is the sweetest and most fra- grant expression of filial love and childlike veneration within the limits of language. Speaking of the log-cabin in which the "elder brother and sisters were boru," he said,—" If I ever fail in affectionate ven- eration for him who reared it and defended it from savage vio- lence and destruction, cherished all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and, through the fire and blood of a seven years' revo- lutionary war, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice, to serve his country and to raise his children to a condition better than his own, may my name and the name of my posterity be blotted forever from the memory of mankind." In the history of Boscawen and Webster by Coffin, there is what purports to be a likeness of Ezekiel Webster. It bears but little resemblance to him. It has not the princely head of the original. It has a stiff "tape and buckram " appearance. It lacks the full, thickly covered head of snowy-white hair, and the open, manly countenance and clean-cut features, of the original. Daniel, looking with eyes of brotherly tenderness, saw in him, as he lay in his coffin, "the finest human form he ever laid eyes on." At the age of forty-nine, when his hopes and prospects were 12 DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEB8TER. ripening, the Bilent Bummons was Berved upon him, and he I from earth to lieaven, from the inferior court below t.. the supreme court above. Standing erect before a jury in Merrimack county, with the judge, the bar, and a large audi- ence listening intently to hie words, his arms banging gracefully bv his Bide, he ended a branch of bis argument, and instantly closed bis eyes in death. In the midst of the Bolemn scene, Sullivan, the eloquent attorney-general, who was to fol- low him in bis argument, exclaimed " What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue I " Ephraim Hutchins, then twenty-three years of age, whom Daniel Webster well knew, and at whose father's tavern be was accustomed to Btop when in Concord, Btarted immediately in a private conveyance for Boston to carry the sad intelligence to Daniel. The roads were muddy, and badly cut np by heavier traffic. Frequent changes of horses enabled him to reach Boston late in the nighl of the Bame day or early in the morning of the next. Young Hutchins knew where Mr. Webster lived, and, driving directly to his bouse on Summer Btreet, knocked at the door. A window in the chamber above was immediately raised, and .Mr. Webster was visible. The wagon Btopping in front of hi- house in the Btillness of the night bad given notice of the arrival of some one before the signal knock at the door. ■•Who is it?"said Mr. Webster. "Ephraim Hutchins," was the reply. •• I- Ezekiel dead?" came the enquiry from the win- dow. "Yes," was the response; "while addressing the jury in the COUrt-house in Concord, he fell dead in an instant with- out a moment's warning." "] thought," replied Mr. Webster, ••that must be the errand you came on when I heard the wheels of your carriage stop in front of my door." There was no tele- graph, no railroad then, and no public conveyance except the Btage-coach, and the condition of the road- April 10th, in the night, made the journey, over seventy-live miles long, a severe one. Mr. Hutchins related to the writer forty years after, with teai- Btanding in his eyes nearly all the time, the incidents of this journey, and the never-to-he forgotten interview wit h Mr. Webster jUSt described. Nineteen years after the death of their loving and beloved brother, Daniel Webster, in kind remem- brance of this service, requested President Taylor to appoint DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEBSTER. 13 Major Hutcbins post-master of Concord, and it was done. From 1849 to 1853, the man who through the darkness of the lone night had hurried over the long and weary way with early tidings of this lamented death, most faithfully and most accept- ably discharged the duties of the office. NEW HAMPSHIRE A GOOO STATE TO EMIGRATE FROM. In October, 1844, being then a member of Dartmouth college in the freshman class, I was obliged to visit Boston on business, and on my way took in a Democratic mass meeting at Salis- bury. It was a cold, bleak, dreary day, and the meeting was in an open field at the South Road, aud Charles H. Peaslee and Levi Woodbury were the Held orators. It was so cold that au adjournment was had to the hotel, and the last speaker was Franklin Pierce. I had never before seen him, and I was capti- vated by his manners, his personal appearance, aud the beauty and elegance of his diction. In the course of his speech he said, — " It was the remark of a distinguished son of New Hampshire, who was born and reared on your soil, aud who hasn't drawn a free breath for the last fifteen years, that New Hampshire is a good state to emigrate from.'''' He put especial emphasis upon the word from, and I think I am not saying any- thing extravagant, when I affirm that no man could give more significance to a word or a seutence by his manner and the snap of his head, than Franklin Pierce. He did not call Mr. Webster's name, but every person in the crowd knew perfectly well that the distinguished son of New Hampshire, who was born and reared on the soil of Salisbury, was Daniel Webster, and many knew that he referred to his having been paid a lib- eral sum to accept a position in the Senate of the United States with a salary of eight dollars a day there, when he could obtain in the practice of his profession in Boston many times that amount. At a kt colored beverage " entertainment in Franklin in 1850, after Daniel Webster had made his celebrated 7th of March speech, General Pierce said to Mr. Webster, when specu- lating a little upon the probability of the Whigs' dropping him on account of that speech and other speeches supplementary to that, — - k If the Whigs drop you the Democrats will take you up, 14 DANIEL AND BZBKTBL WEBSTER. and they will raise yon bo high that your feel will Bcorn to kick the stars." \- a public dinner given at the Eagle hotel, <>n its completion in 1852, when Franklin Pierce had been shown to be the choice of the people for the presidency <>f the United States, Col. John H. George, who always ech 1 liis friend's declarations, re- marked when called upon for some postprandial remarks. w ister ased to Bay that New Hampshire was a a State t" emigrate from," not emphasizing the word from. Mat- thew Harvey, < I »gg, Asa McFarland, General Pierce, Charles 11. Peaslee, and many other gentlemen distinguished in pnblic affairs, were present, and no one Beemed to doubl that Daniel Webster mad.- this remark. I have heard it on other public occasions, more ont of the state than in. I have Been it in p r i D t : but Daniel Webster never made the remark. No such idea ever entered into bis brain. He doubtless did think that it was a credil to a man to bail from New Hampshire. He might Bay ' We i aise men up in New Hampshire ;" and be might have said, " 1 am a New Hampshire man." the Barae as the Roman was accustomed to Bay, -I am a Roman citizen," but that he ever -aid or intimated that New Hampshire was not a g i and noble Btate to be born in, to live in, and to die and be buried in, is untrue. No man ever manifested more love, or cherished more affectionate regard, for his native Btate than Daniel Webster, and it was one of the studies of his lite how he might the more appropriately declare his devotion to the land of his birth, the home of his childhood, and the Btate where the triumphs of his early manh 1 were achieved. But 1 am not left without a witness in this matter. My lamented friend, General Walter Harriman, said to me many times during the four or five years before his death, that he had a conversation with Peter Harvey upon this Baying, and .Mr. Webster denied with much feeling that he ever publicly or privately mad.- any such remark in that form or anything that could lie construed into it. and that every word of it was a pure fiction. Peter Harvey is gone, General Harriman has just stepped over the threshold of immortality, hut George W. Nesmith •• >till lives." He has told me many times, and within a few months, that he had several interviews with Mr. Webster, and he -aid. "I never DANIEL AND EZEKIEL WEBSTER. ' 15 said it, nor anything of that import. My utterances have been rather public, and it seems as though some one could tell the time, the place, or the occasion where I made such a remark, or any other remark not respectful to the land of my birth. The remark was many years ago attributed to Jeremiah Mason, but I do not think he ever made it." About 1815, Ezekiel Webster and Richard Fletcher were arrayed against each other, before a board of referees in Sal- isbury, where a young school-master was complained of for unmercifully punishing one of his pupils. The referees were Andrew Bowers, Benjamin Pettengill, and Jabez Smith. The trial excited a great deal of interest, and it is not too much to say that these attorneys were the best advocates in that section of the state. Webster was for the little lad, and Fletcher for the school-master, and the following is the exordium of Web- ster's argument: "May it please you, gentlemen referees: It has got to be the case now-a-days, that when a young man gets to be sixteen or seventeen years of age, goes to an academy school six weeks, gets a five-dollar French watch in his pocket, a rattan as long as your arm, and a ruffle shirt as wide as a hand-saw, he is fit to teach school." Ezekiel Webster has been dead fifty-four years, but the school-master still lives, and Daniel Webster, in 1841, caused him to be appointed United States attorney for the district of New Hampshire. In the columns of an old newspaper published in the northern part of New Hampshire, is the following story, entitled "Daniel Webster and the Teamster." "Near the end of the last century a teamster from Grafton county came to a hill near the house of Ebenezer Webster, father of Daniel, in what is now Franklin, formerly Salisbury. This hill was too hard for his team, and he sought aid at the house of Mr. Webster. Daniel, then a youth, and not very well clad nor very genteel, was sent to his assistance. Years passed, and the teamster's property was in peril. An eminent lawyer, Moses P. Payson, of Bath, was employed as his counsel. In the trial of the cause he needed the aid of aide associate counsel, and secured the ser- vices of Daniel Webster, then a rising young lawyer in New Hampshire. When told by Mr. Payson who it was that was to assist him. the teamster replied that he had little hope of their 16 DANIEL AND EZEKIEL VTEBSTEB. is be recognized in him the swarthy boy whom be had in. t years before, and he did not look as though be would make it lawyer. At the opening of the case the desponding client took a seal in a remote corner of the court room, feeling apparently as little interest in the resull of the trial as any of the spectators. When Mr. Webster opened his argumenl the client found that this lawyer was really something of a man. As he proceeded, bis estimate of his ability increased. When he closed it was evident to everybody in the court-room that Mr. Webster bad won the case, and had convinced all present that he was no ordinary man. The jury returned a righteous verdict, and the grateful client, who twice in early life had lost his all. said to Mr. Webster with deep feeling,—" I regard you as an angel Bent for my deliverance. My wife and children will bless you to their latest day for what you have done for us." itlemen, brothers, and members of tin- bar of Grafton and , counties : I have long Bought some public occasion to give these utterances in respectful regard t" the memory of him who was Bchool-mate, neighbor, and friend of my mother; who was genial, gracious, and kind to his townsman, my father; and it is fitting and proper that I should utter them here before this glow- ing ma-- of intelligence, before these cultured gentlemen, among the great mountains, whose gleaming peaks and towering heights tell me of majesty, Bublimity, grandeur, and beauty, where genius 'hew in the inspiration of a great life beneath these extreme northern skie>. from whence this Jupiter Tonans of America first drew down the bolts of that matchless thunder which eventually went reverberating around the world. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011 897 952 7 *