was a grave and earnest man, but he was not stern nor ascetic. His strength was softened by good humor, and his massive features were often lighted up by a contagious laugh which endeared him to his family, who loved no less than they respected him. CHAPTER III. A MEMORABLE BATTLE. DANIEL, as well as his father, had a love of fun, and a sportive humor, which he always preserved. It is said that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." It is certainly a mistake when a boy is shut out from the innocent sports which boys delight in. John Stuart Mill, who was set to learning while little more than an infant, and who actually began to study Greek at four years of age-lamented in after years that he had never known what boyhood was. It was not so with Daniel. Though his father's poverty made it necessary for all to work, Daniel, partly because of his early delicacy, had plenty of time allowed him for amusement. The favorite companion of his leisure hours was not a boy, but a veteran soldier and near neighbor, named Robert Wise. He had built a little cottage in the corner of the Webster farm, and there with his wife he lived till extreme old age. IIe was born in Yorkshire, had fought on both sides in the Revolutionary struggle, had travelled in various parts of Europe, and had a thousand stories to tell, to all of which the boy listened with avidity. Though he had twice deserted from the English king, his heart still thrilled with pride when Daniel read to him from the newspaper accounts of battles in which the English arms were victorious. He had never learned to read, and Daniel becaine his favorite because he was always ready to read to him as they sat together at nightfall at the cottage door. 66 Why don't you learn to read yourself, Robert?" asked Daniel one day. "It's too late, Dan. I'm gettin' an old man now, and I couldn't do it." "What will you do when I am grown up, and gone away?" "I don't know, Dan. It will be dull times for me." When that time came the old man picked up a fatherless boy, and gave him a home and a chance to secure an education, in order that he might have some one to read the newspaper to him. Whenever Daniel had a day or a few hours to himself he ran across the fields to his humble neighbor's house. "Come, Robert," he would say, "I've got nothing to do. Let us go fishing." So the two would go down to the banks of the Merrimac, and embark in a boat which belonged to the old man, and paddle up and down the river, sometimes for an entire day. Daniel never lost his love of fishing, but in after years, when the cares of statesmanship were upon him, dressed in suitable style he would take his fishing pole and lie in wait for his finny victims, while perhaps he was mentally composing some one of his famous speeches, destined to thrill the hearts of thousands, or direct the policy of the government. These happy days spent in the open air corrected his native delicacy, and gradually imparted physical strength and vigor, and in time knit the vigorous frame which seemed a fitting temple for his massive intellect. Even the most trivial circumstances in the boyhood of such a man as Daniel Webster are noteworthy, and I am sure my boy-readers will read with interest and sympathy the account of a signal victory which the boy gained, though it was only over a feathered bully. Belonging to a neighbor was a cock of redoubtable prowess, a champion whose fame was in all the farmyards for miles around. One day Daniel, coming home from school, beheld with mortification the finish of a contest in which a favorite fowl of his own came off decidedly second best. The victorious rooster strutted about in conscious and complacent triumph. "It's too bad, Zeke !" said Daniel in genuine vexation, as he saw the crestfallen look of his own vanquished fowl. "I should like to see that impudent bully get well whipped." "There isn't a rooster about here that can whip him, Dan." "I know that, but he will meet his match some time." "At any rate I'll drive him away. He'll have to run from me.” Dan picked up a stone, and pelted the victor out of the yard, but the feathered bully, even in his flight, raised a crow of victory which vexed the boy. "I'd give all the money I've got, Zeke, for a rooster that would whip him," said Dan. There came a time when Daniel had his wish. He was visiting a relation at some distance when mention was made casually of a famous fighting cock who had never been beaten. "Where is he to be found?" asked the boy eagerly. 66 Why do you ask?” "I would like to see him," said Dan. |