From Farm Boy to Senator

Let orphan tears bedew his sacred urn,
And fame’s proud trump proclaim the hero’s name
Far as the circuit of the spheres extends!’

“But, haughty Albion, thy reign shall soon be over. Thou shalt triumph no longer; thy empire already reels and totters; thy laurel even now begins to wither and thy fame to decay. Thou hast at length aroused the indignation of an insulted people; thy oppressions they deem no longer tolerable.

“The Fourth Day of July, 1776, has now arrived, and America, manfully springing from the torturing fangs of the British lion, now rises majestic in the pride of her sovereignty, and bids her eagle elevate his wings! The solemn Declaration of Independence is now pronounced, amidst crowds of admiring citizens, by the supreme council of the nation, and received with the unbounded plaudits of a grateful people! That was the hour when heroism was proved—when the souls of men were tried!

“It was then, ye venerable patriots,” there were some Revolutionary soldiers present—“it was then you lifted the indignant arm, and unitedly swore to be free! Despising such toys as subjugated empires, you then knew no middle fortune between liberty and death. Firmly relying on the protection of Heaven, unwarped in the resolution you had taken, you then undaunted met, engaged, defeated the gigantic power of Britain, and rode triumphant over the aggressions of your enemies!

“Trenton, Princeton, Bennington and Saratoga were the successive theaters of your victories, and the utmost bounds of creation are the limits of your fame! The sacred fire of freedom, then enkindled in your breasts, shall be perpetuated through the long descent of future ages, and burn with undiminished fervor in the bosoms of millions yet unborn!”

Further on we find the following passage:

“The great drama is now completed; our independence is now acknowledged, and the hopes of our enemies are blasted forever. Columbia is now sealed in the forum of nations, and the empires of the world are amazed at the effulgence of her glory.

“Thus, friends and citizens, did the kind hand of an overruling Providence conduct us, through toils, fatigues and dangers, to independence and peace. If piety be the rational exercise of the human soul, if religion be not a chimera, and if the vestiges of heavenly assistance are clearly traced in those events which mark the annals of our nation, it becomes us on this day, in consideration of the great things which have been done for us, to render the tribute of unfeigned thanks to that God who superintends the universe, and holds aloft the scale that weighs the destinies of nations.”

The oration was a long one, and touched a variety of topics, but the extracts already given will convey a good idea of its excellencies and defects. My college readers will understand me when I say that the style is sophomoric and ambitious, but these faults may be pardoned in a youth of eighteen. The tone is elevated, it is marked by gravity and earnestness, the sentiments are just, there is evidence of thought, and, on the whole, we may regard the oration as a hopeful promise of the future. The magniloquence gave place in time to a weighty simplicity, in which every word told, and not one could be spared. It was rather remarkable that so young a man should have been selected to deliver such an address in Hanover, and indicates that Daniel had by this time acquired reputation as a public speaker.

This was not the only occasion on which he was selected to speak in public. When a classmate, a general favorite, died, young Webster was unanimously selected to deliver an address of commemoration. He is said to have spoken with a fervor and eloquence which deeply stirred the hearts of the large audience that had assembled to hear him. “During the delivery the fall of a pin could have been heard at any moment; a dense audience were carried entirely away, and kept spellbound by the magic of his voice and manner; and when he sat down, he left a thousand people weeping real tears over a heartfelt sorrow. It is reported that there was not a dry eye in all the vast congregation which the event and the fame of the orator had brought together.”

CHAPTER XII.

STUDYING LAW

Daniel had now successfully accomplished the first object of his ambition. He was a college graduate. Though not the first scholar in his class he was very near the head, and probably in general culture stood first. There was a little misunderstanding which led to his declining to appear at Commencement. His friends desired him to deliver the valedictory, but the Faculty selected another, and Daniel remained silent. There is a report that he tore up his diploma in anger and disgust in presence of his classmates, saying, “My industry may make me a great man, but this miserable parchment cannot.” Had this story been true it would have done Daniel little credit. George Ticknor Curtis, who has written the most elaborate and trustworthy memoir of Webster states emphatically that there is no foundation for this story. Even if not entirely satisfied with the treatment he received at that time, Daniel’s loyalty to his Alma Mater was never doubted.

And now the world was before the young graduate. What was he to do?

His thoughts had long been fixed upon the legal profession. This was no proof of a special fitness for it, for at least half of the young men who graduate from our colleges make the same choice. But with Daniel the choice was a more serious one, for he very well knew that he could not afford to make a mistake here. Poverty was still his hard taskmaster, and he leaned beneath its dark shadow.

My young reader will remember that at the age of fourteen Daniel officiated as office-boy for a young lawyer in his native town—Thomas W. Thompson. Now a college graduate of nineteen, he re-entered the same office as a law student. Mr. Thompson was a man of ability. He was a graduate of Harvard, where also he had filled the position of tutor. While the boy was obtaining an education at Dartmouth, Thompson was establishing a lucrative law practice. He became in time prominent in State politics, and finally went to Congress. It will be seen, therefore, that Daniel made a good choice, and that Mr. Thompson was something more than an obscure country lawyer.

It is a little significant that the first law books which the young student read related to the law of nations. He read also standard literary works, and gave his leisure hours to hunting and fishing, the last of which was always a favorite sport with him. He gained some insight into the practical business of a law office. The reader will be amused at a humorous account of the manner in which he was employed during a temporary absence of his legal preceptor and a fellow-student.

“I have made some few writs,” he says, “and am now about to bring an action of trespass for breaking a violin. The owner of the violin was at a husking, where

‘His jarring concord, and his discord dulcet,’

made the girls skip over the husks as nimbly as Virgil’s Camilla over the tops of the corn, till an old surly creature caught his fiddle and broke it against the wall. For the sake of having plump witnesses the plaintiff will summons all the girls to attend the trial at Concord.”

Here is another extract from a letter to the same friend which will amuse: “I thank you for your receipt for greasing boots. Have this afternoon to ride to the South Road, and in truth my boots admit not only water, but peas and gravel-stones. I wish I had better ones. As for ‘my new friend, tobacco,’ he is like most of that name has made me twice sick, and is now dismissed.

“Heighho! a man wants a remedy against his neighbor, whose lips were found damage-feasant on his—the plaintiffs—wife’s cheek! What is to be done? But you have not read the law against kissing. I will write for advice and direction to Barrister Fuller.”

So the young man appeared to be enjoying himself while pursuing his studies, and would probably have wished nothing better than to have gone on till he was prepared for admission to the bar on his own account. But there was a serious obstacle. His good father had well nigh exhausted his means in carrying Daniel through college, and Ezekiel through his preparatory studies, and was now very much straitened for money. It was felt to be time for Daniel to help him. He, therefore, “thought it his duty to suffer some delay in his profession for the sake of serving his elder brother,” by seeking employment outside.

As a general thing when a college graduate is pressed by hard necessity, he turns his attention to the task of teaching, and such was the case with Daniel. Fortunately he soon found employment. From Fryeburg, Maine, there came to him an invitation to take charge of the academy there, and the young man accepted it. He was to be paid the munificent salary of three hundred and fifty dollars per year, and he felt that the offer was too dazzling to be rejected.

CHAPTER XIII.

HOW DANIEL WENT TO FRYEBURG

When a young college graduate of to-day sets out for the scene of his dignified labors, he packs his trunk and buying a ticket for the station nearest the favored spot where he is to impart knowledge, takes his seat in a comfortable car, and is whirled rapidly to his destination.

Not thus did Daniel go. Railroads had not been heard of, and no stages made the trip. He therefore purchased a horse for twenty-four dollars, deposited his limited wardrobe and a few books in his saddle-bags, and like a scholastic Don Quixote set out by the shortest path across the country for Fryeburg. In due time he arrived, and the trustees of the academy congratulated themselves on having secured Daniel Webster, A.B., as their preceptor. How much more would they have congratulated themselves could they have foreseen the future of the young teacher.

Let me pause here to describe the appearance of the young man, as his friends of that time depict him. He was tall and thin (he weighed but one hundred and twenty pounds, which was certainly light weight for a man not far from six feet in height), with a thin face, high cheek bones, but bright, dark, penetrating eyes, which alone were sufficient to make him remarkable. He had not wholly overcome the early delicacy which had led his friends to select him as the scholar of the family, because he was not strong enough to labor on the farm. His habitual expression was grave and earnest, though, as we have seen, he had inherited, and always retained, a genial humor from his father.

Three hundred and fifty dollars seems a small salary, but Daniel probably didn’t regard it with disdain. Expenses were small, as we are told that the current rate of board was but two dollars per week, less than a third of his income. Then his earnings were increased by a lucky circumstance.

Young Webster found a home in the family of James Osgood, Esq., registrar of deeds for the county of Oxford. Mr. Osgood did not propose to do the work himself, but was authorized to get it done.

One evening soon after the advent of his new boarder, the registrar said, “Mr. Webster, have you a mind to increase your income?”

“I should be exceedingly glad to do so, sir,” answered the young man, his face brightening with hopeful expectation.

“You are aware that I hold the position of registrar of deeds for the county. It is my duty to see that all deeds are properly recorded?”

“Yes, sir.”

“This work I do not care to do myself, having sufficient other work to occupy my time. How would you like to undertake it in the evening? It would not interfere with your school duties.”

“I am not a very good penman,” said the young man doubtfully.

“Handsome penmanship is not required. It is sufficient if the deeds are copied in a plain, legible hand, and this may be attained by effort.”

“How much compensation would be allowed?”

“I receive two shillings and threepence for each deed recorded. I will allow you one shilling and sixpence, and you can average two deeds in an evening. What do you say?”

One shilling and sixpence was twenty-five cents. Two deeds therefore would bring the young teacher fifty cents, and four evenings’ work, therefore, would pay his board, and leave him his salary clear. This was a tempting inducement, though it would involve dry and tedious labor.

“I will accept,” said Daniel promptly.

“Then you can begin at once,” said Mr. Osgood, well satisfied.

It was a hard way of earning money, but money was very much needed. So, after the fatigues of the day, when supper was over, Daniel sat down to record dry deeds. The curious visitor to Fryeburg can still see two volumes of deeds, a large part of them in Daniel Webster’s handwriting. Though not a good writer, he forced himself to write well, and in his autobiography he says, “The ache is not yet out of my fingers, for nothing has ever been so laborious to me as writing, when under the necessity of writing a good hand.”

I may be permitted to call the attention of my young readers to this point—that what he had undertaken to do he did well, although it was a task far from congenial. A young man or boy who observes this rule is likely to succeed in the end: Whatever you have to do do as well as you can.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE PRECEPTOR OF FRYEBURG ACADEMY

It may be supposed that between his school in the daytime and his duties as copyist in the evening, Daniel found his time pretty well occupied. As we know, he was not drawn to the teacher’s office by any special love of that honorable vocation, but simply by the pecuniary emolument. But, though this was the case, he discharged his duties with conscientious fidelity, and made himself a favorite both among his pupils and in the village, where the new preceptor was, as is usual, a person of importance.

He was accustomed to open and close the school with extemporaneous prayer, and those who remember the deep solemnity of manner which he could command at will will readily believe that this exercise was made impressive by the young teacher.