THE HE history of the early life of Daniel Webster is as instructive to the youth of our land, as that of his mature life is to American statesmen. The events of his student life are imperfectly known. It is the aim of this article to supply some deficiencies, and correct some mistakes, in the published accounts of this period of his life. I have visited the place of his nativity, and conversed with the friends of his boyhood; I have corresponded with most of his surviving classmates and college friends; I have examined some hundreds of his letters; and the facts which I now record, are the result of my investigations.

Daniel Webster performed the ordinary services of a boy upon his father's farm, till the age of fourteen. His taste for agriculture, and his fondness for rural life, grew directly out of the associations

of his childhood.

Imagine to yourself a slender, blackeyed boy, with serious mien and raven locks, leading the traveller's horse to water, when he alighted at his father's inn; driving the cows to pasture, at early dawn, and returning them at the gray of evening; riding the horse to harrow between the rows of corn, in weeding-time, and following the mowers with a wooden spreader, in haying-time; and you have the true idea of the lad, and of his duties. In dress, in the means of social and intellectual culture, his condition was far below that of the sons of farmers and mechanics of the present day. Many anecdotes have been published of his incapacity for manual labor, or of his aversion to it. The testimony of his early companions and neighbors contradicts, in general and in particular, all stories of his idleness. He was an industrious boy. He labored to the extent of his strength. He was the youngest son, and, perhaps, on that account, received some indulgences. Men are now living who labored with him, in the field and in the mill-who shared his

toils and his sports. They affirm that "he always worked well, and played fair." Boys, in those days, were early trained to hard service. I have heard Mr. Webster say, that he had the charge of his father's saw-mill, and was accustomed to tread back the log-carriage,

when he was not heavier than a robin." An old schoolmate of his told me, that the mill was owned, in shares, by several of the neighbors, who used it in turn. Boys were put into the mill to tend it, when it required the weight of two of them to turn back the "rag-wheel," and bring the log-carriage to its place, to commence a

new cut. He informed me, that he had labored many a day with Daniel Webster, in this old mill, and that his companion was ever ready to do his part of the service. The same boy, Daniel, was accustomed to drive the team into the woods, where his elder brother, Ezekiel, cut the logs and assisted in loading them. Daniel's feeble health convinced his father that he could not endure the severe labors of a farmer. He therefore resolved to fit him to teach. This fact gave occasion to many facetious remarks from his brother Joe, who, as Mr. Webster said, was "a bit of a wag." His fame still lives, in all that region, as a rustic wit, at raisings and huskings; uttering his jokes in doggerels, which are still said or sung by his admirers; and some of them are found in the literary department of old almanacs. This same Joe loved to represent Dan as weak in body and mind, unfit for labor, and obliged to study that he might become as wise as the rest of the family. There was as much truth in the charge of mental imbecility as in that of his habitual indolence, and no more. Mr. Webster admitted that he could never learn to mow. He was too young to engage in that kind of labor when he left the farm for the school. No reasonable father would expect a slender, sickly boy to swing the scythe with much efficiency or skill before he was fourteen years of age. It has also been reported, that his love of hunting and fishing sometimes made him play truant at school. This is pronounced false by his surviving schoolmates. Their testimony is, that "he was always present when the school kept, and that he was always in advance of his associates." He loved books more than sport. He was not fond of the ordinary plays of boys of his age, and mingled with them in their diversions rather from a desire to please than to be pleased. He often spent the winter evenings in coasting down the long hill near his father's house. In this exercise, he economized his strength; "for," says one of his companions," he always had a knack of making us draw the sled up the hill."

His fondness for books was very early developed. He could not himself remember the time when he could not read. The travellers who stopped at his father's tavern, used to call on little Dan to read a psalm, when he was too young to be of any service to his parents; and they listened, with delight, to the elocution of the young orator. These psalms he loved to repeat till the day of his death. He loved

to sing them, to the tune of Old Hundred, as he wandered over his farm, and often called John Taylor, at Franklin, to spend an hour in singing Watts's psalms and hymns with him, before the fire "fair blazing" on the old hearth, after his guests had retired. He once expressed his readiness to attempt to repeat any stanza of Watts if any one of the company would repeat the first line. "Wherever you find Watts," said he, "there you find true devotion." At twelve years of age, he could repeat "Pope's Essay on Man" from memory. Being once asked why he learned this philosophic poem by heart at that age, he replied, "I had nothing else to learn." A book was a "rara avis in terris;" even a new almanac was a treasure to him. A dispute once arose between him and Ezekiel, after going to bed, about some passage in the new Almanac of the year. They rose and kindled a light to decide the dispute; in their eagerness to read the record they forgot their lighted tinder, and thus set the house on fire. The few books which his father owned, were faithfully conned; still his attainments were very limited when he entered the academy at Exeter. His manners were unpolished, his dress unfashionable, and his whole appearance and deportment betokened rustic simplicity and honesty. His mind was his only treasure; this did not, at first sight, appear to plead in his behalf. His new associates had enjoyed superior advantages; they judged of the standing of their classmates by their dress, rather than by their intellect. James H. Bingham, Esq., of Washington, D. C., in a recent letter to me, thus speaks of Mr. Webster at that period: "Our first acquaintance was at the academy at Exeter, in 1796. I went there in July of that year, and found him there. He was then about fourteen; was attending to English Grammar, Arithmetic, etc.; always very prompt and correct in his recitations. He had an independent manner, rather careless in his dress and appearance, with an intelligent look; did not join much in the plays and amusements of the boys of his age, but paid close attention to his studies." Speaking of his residence at Exeter. Mr. Webster said: "I believe that I made tolerable progress in most branches that I attended to in this school; but there was one thing which I could not do I could not speak before the school." This fact, unexplained, is a perfect enigma in his history. We know that, within one year from this time, he was ready and willing to engage in public declamation in college; that he very soon manifested a fondness for extemporaneous speaking, and often volunteered, in society

debates and orations, to supply the place of an absent member. More than fifty years ago, he explained to his room-mate the secret of his diffidence at Exeter. His rustic manners and homespun dress called forth the ridicule of some of his classmates, who happened to have full purses and empty heads. The sensibilities of young Daniel were wounded by their unkind criticism. He therefore withdrew from their plays and shrunk from a public exhibition of himself upon the stage. He was precisely in the condition of the person (supposed to be the poet Virgil) alluded to by the Roman satirist :

"Your friend is testy and provokes

The humors of some waggish folks;
And fops may laugh;-for why?
His shoes are loose, his coat awry.
Yet Maro has a generous soul,

No man a better on the whole;

With wit how bright and heart how warm,
Beneath a rude unpolished form."

His situation was unpleasant to him, and he became discontented and resolved to leave the school at the close of the first term. His usher noticed his depression of spirits, and, by a private interview, restored his self-confidence, and taught him to despise the taunts of young men who cared more for sport than for books. He was assured of his ability not only to lead his class, but to leave those railers so far behind him, that they should never see him again." These," said Mr. Webster,

were the first truly encouraging words I ever received with reference to my studies."

They, undoubtedly, influenced his whole subsequent life. Judicious commendation is always the best reward of successful study. Daniel Webster remained nine months at Exeter, devoting most of his time to English branches. Latin was a subordinate study. He had learned the paradigms in the Latin grammar, before entering the academy. This he did, by way of occupation, while he sat in the office of Thomas W. Thompson, Esq., to inform his clients where he could be found, when absent from his usual place of business. The means of Judge Webster were limited, and his expenditures for the support of a large family compelled him to practise the most rigid economy. Those who knew him well say that his whole estate was never valued above two thousand dollars. To diminish the expense of his son's education, he placed him under the care of Rev. Samuel Wood, of Boscawen, who received one dollar a week for board and tuition. Here he remained six months, giving his whole time to the Latin and Greek languages. He was exceedingly fond of Virgil, and read the entire Æneid long before he was called

The

to recite it in the ordinary course of instruction. He also read Cicero with great delight. These were his favorite authors. Their beautiful thoughts he treasured in his memory, and quoted them, with remarkable facility, in after life. The eye of the classical scholar will also detect the influence of these ancient writers in the style, imagery, and costume of his immortal thoughts. He devoted less than two months to the study of Greek. His imperfect preparation, in this language, he always regretted. It made the study of it a task rather than a pleasure in college. As late as January, 1851, he said to a classmate, "would that I had pursued Greek, till I could read and understand Demosthenes, in his own language!" Official duties and professional engagements prevented his obtaining the object he so earnestly desired; and they have also deprived the world of the commentary of a critic, who was as competent to appreciate the Greek orator as any man that has lived since his day. Mr. Webster entered college in August, 1797. usual mode of travel was on horseback. Of course, his wardrobe and library were very limited. His dress was entirely of domestic manufacture. One of his classmates under date of November 12, 1852, says: "It is singular that I should remember any thing about his dress, respecting which you inquire. This, however, was a matter of conversation in the class. For two years, he dressed like other farmers' sons. But after the commencement of his junior year, he dressed decidedly better than the average of his class, but not foppishly." With respect to his habits of study, respect for law, and devotion to the required exercises of college, Mr. Webster's character has been grossly misrepresented. I have learned this from his own lips, as well as from many of his college associates. Tradition represents him as indifferent to the severer studies of the collegiate course, devoting much time to general reading, and to his favorite amusements of hunting and fishing. I have reason to know that his reputation, as a scholar, was very dear to him; that he felt as keenly the thoughtless misrepresentation propagated by interested idlers, respecting his student life, as he did the malicious assaults of interested partisans, upon his official acts. It has been so commonly reported, about our colleges, that Webster was not a laborious student, that many gentlemen who have written eulogies upon the illustrious statesman and orator, have felt bound to apologize for him as a scholar. This is all wrong. His early life was as strongly characterized by those homely virtues, in

dustry, perseverance, and punctuality, as his subsequent career. It may safely be questioned whether any undergraduate of any of our American colleges ever left behind him so many written and printed proofs of his talents and application as Mr. Webster. He always scorned the imputation of idleness. When informed that such a tradition prevailed among students, he exclaimed: "What fools they must be, to suppose that a man could make any thing of himself without hard study." He then gave an account of his habits of study when in college, and, by it, left the impression upon the minds of those who listened, that he regarded every hour of his student life as sacred to study and reflection; that his first object was a thorough mastery of his daily tasks, and his next purpose was to store his mind with useful knowledge. His solitary wanderings were devoted to reflection, and frequently to the composition of his themes; his social intercourse was rendered profitable by literary conversation. From gentlemen of the highest respectability, who were classmates or college acquaintances of Mr. Webster, I have the most decisive testimony to his high scholarship, his earnest devotion to duty, and his unblemished morals. One classmate writes: "Mr. Webster's habits, at college, were good. He had the highest sense of honor and integrity. He was sure to understand the subject of his recitation; sometimes, I used to think, in a more extended and comprehensive sense than his teacher. He never liked to be confined to small technicalities or views; but seemed to possess an intuitive knowledge of whatever subject he was considering. He did not find it necessary, as was the case with most of us, to sit down to hard work three or four hours to make himself master of his lesson, but seemed to comprehend it in a larger view, and would, sometimes, procure other books on the same subject, for further examination, and employ hours in close thought, either in his room or in his walks, which would enlarge his views and, at the same time, might with some give him the character of not being a close student. He was a favorite with the class generally; interesting and instructive in conversation; social and very kind in his feelings; not intimate with many. His compositions and college themes, exercises in the society and occasional orations, all showed the marks of great genius, and thorough study of history and politics, for one of his years." This gentleman was an intimate friend of Mr. Webster, and still retains more than fifty letters of his, written during his student life. He often wrote

to his friends in poetry. Some of these epistles are perfect gems of their kind, written in his happiest moods, and with the warm, gushing affections of his great heart. Many of them are confidential, and will never meet the public eye. Others are playful and humorous; and, perhaps, on that account, will be excluded from the biography of the great statesinan. Another classmate, under date of November 12, 1852, writes as follows: "In a class of about thirty, Webster, from the beginning, was one of the best scholars. But, for two years, I doubt whether he was singled out as the best by any authority. As the class gave more attention to English branches, the latter part of the sophomore year, and the junior year, Webster's character, particularly as a writer and extemporaneous speaker, became developed; and he was unquestionably the best belles-lettres scholar in the class. The fact that when a junior, he was appointed to deliver a Fourth of July oration to the villagers, shows in what estimation he was held as a writer. He also wrote a long dialogue or drama of an hour or two in length, which the society with which he was connected exhibited on the evening of commencement at the close of his junior year." This gentleman also knew him intimately, and corresponded with him for many years. The early letters of Mr. Webster which he has preserved show the depth and sincerity of his friendship, whose fires he never suffered to expire, and even kindled them anew but a short time before his decease. The tone of these early letters is sometimes grave and sometimes gay; but no one of them is destitute of instruction. In all his youthful correspondence are found elevated sentiment and well-digested opinions whicn would not dishonor his riper years. An extract of two or three sentences from letters written at widely different periods, will show the characteristic sincerity of Mr. Webster's friendship.

In 1803, he wrote to his young

friend:

"I thank you for the expressions of friendship your letter contained, and for the assurance that a part of your time is devoted to me. At this period of our acquaintance, I need not tell you what pleasure I received from your letters; nor with what exultation my heart glows under the impression, that our early congenial attachments will never be sundered." To the same gentleman, in 1849, he wrote: "It gives me very true pleasure to hear from you, and to learn that you are well. Years have not abated my affectionate regard. We have been boys

together, and men together; and now we are growing old together; but you always Occupy the same place in my remembrance and good wishes." Mr. Webster never forgot an early friend. The terms of endearment employed by him, in addressing them, during the last years of his life, are as cordial and affectionate as those employed in his youth. Another classmate of Mr. Webster, in a recent letter to me says: "Mr. Webster's habits of study were good. I never knew him to waste the hours of study. He was constant at the recitation, and always well prepared. You ask, 'how did he recite? To the best of my recollection, always well-no one before him. He was peculiarly industrious. He read more than any one of his classmates and remembered all. He would accomplish more business in a given time than any one of his associates. You ask, how did he rank?' I say the first in his class, and so would four-fifths of the class say. He was good in every branch of study, and as a writer and speaker he had no equal. The truth is, that, by his thorough investigation of every subject and every study, whilst in college, together with his giant mind, he rose to the very pinnacle of fame; and since he left college, all he had to do was to sustain his elevated position and fame would roll in upon him from all quarters; and all his classmates have been compelled to look up high to see him, which I have always been proud to do." This language shows us that the friendship formed, before their majority, between the prospective clergyman and lawyer, has not been broken by lapse of years or diversity of pursuits, nor chilled by the frosts of age. Another eminent divine, who knew Mr. Webster well in college, says: "As a classical and belleslettres scholar, and as a speaker and debater, he stood far above all the other members in the college. Though young, he gave such unequivocal evidence of a powerful genius, that some, I remember, predicted his future eminence." Another gentleman who has occupied the highest official stations in his native State, and held a seat in the Senate with Mr. Webster, though an opponent in politics, writes from his own knowledge as follows: "He was so decidedly beyond any one else, that no other student in his class was ever spoken of as second to him. The students who knew him best, and judged of his merit impartially, felt that no one connected with the college, at the time of his graduation, deserved to be compared with him. His habits and moral character were entirely stainless. I never heard them questioned, during our college