The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-10-26

| mos,benes down. have failed in the beginning,
and failed too, from excess CT feeling the very
ingredient. of al others. most necessary 10 Inc
composition Of an accomplished public speak
or. The difficulty is only TO be overcome by a
determined will, and il you have It not, you
had best burn your Jaw books and take TO the
| plough, for you can never cut figure on the
stage Of the world.
| After remaining, at the Academy a few
months, he was placed under the tuition
Of the Reverend Samuel Woods,in the town
| of Boscawen, and as his father had told him
| that he intended, in spite of his narrow means,
| TO give him college education, he devoted
| himself TO his studies with an ardor which no
principle less abiding than gratitude to pa
rent who was so willing to sacrifice his own
comfort for the advancement of his son, could
have excited. While at Boscawen, he came
| across Don Quixote, in English, for the
first time, and so completely did he be-
come absorbed in this wonderful creation Of
genius, .that he never slept until he had read it
| entirely through. In the summer OF 1877, he
entered the freshman class, at Dartmouth Col
lege, and two years after he persuaded his ia
Their to give his brother Ezekiel classical ed
ucaton. Of the latter it is sufficient for our
present purpose to say, that he justified the
opinion formed Of him by his brother, having
risen to great eminence at the bar, before his
death, which took place suddenly, while argu-
ing cause in Concord, in 1929. The atten-
ton of Mr.. Webster to his collegiate studies,
as we'll as to literature in general, during his
sojourn at Dartmouth, was intense, unremit-
ting, and eminently successful. During his
last term in the winter months, he taught
school to assist in defraying the expenses of
himself and his brother. He graduated in Au-
gust, 1901, and Immediately entered the law
office of MIR. Thompson, in his native vii
lage. Being pressed by poverty, he accepted
an invitation to teach a school at Fryeburg,
Maine, at salary of $3.50 per annum. While
here, he supported himself, by acting as asss-
tant to the Register of Deeds for the county,
and saved the whole Of his salary. Here, for
the first time, he saw and read Blackstone's
Commentaries. In 1902, he returned to the Of
fee of MIR. Thompson, who is described a
good man and good lawyer, but as having no
talent for smoothing the difficulties of new
beginner. He put him to reading, as a first
book, Coke upon Litteton, q process which
the author of Mr.. Webster's Memoir. compares
to that of teaching boy arithmetic by begin
ming with the differentiul calculus. 1t may not
be uninstructive, upon the long-mooted ques-
ton respecting the best elementary work for
the youth just beginning the study of the law,
to set forth the opinion ofthe greatest lawyer
this country ever produced. "a boy of TWEEN
ty," says Mr. Webster with no previous
knowledge on such subjects, cannot understand
Coke. 1t is folly to set him upon such an au
thor. There are propositions in Coke SO alb
stract, and distinctions so nice, and doctrines
embracing so many conditions and qualfca
tons, that it requires an effort, not only of a
mature mind, but of a mind both strong and
mature, to understand him. Why disgust and
discourage boy, by telling him he must break
into his profession through such a wall as
this 7" He, himself, laid aside Coke, as he
expressed it,"til more convenient season."
We are told by his biographer, that while
not engaged in his legal studies, he devoted
portion Of his time to the Latin Classics, and
another portion TO hunting and fishing. Like
most boys Of genius, he was fond Of soli-
tude, and Of river and woodland scenery,
and even in later years, was in the habit
of composing the most remarkable passages
in his great orations, on such occasions.-
"The great argument in the case of Dartmouth
College was principally arranged in q tour he
made from Boston to BarnsabIe and back
J ohm Adams's speech before the PHILADELPHIA
Convention, in '76, was composed by MIR Web
ster while taking drive in New England
chaise. His favorite sport of angling gave him
The Address for Bunker Hill (for instance)
was all planned out, even to many of its best
passages, in Mdrshpee Brook; the orator
catching trout and celebrating sentences at
the same time" at is said, tina, when the
orator drew in some trout, particularly large,
he was heard to exclam Venerable men
you have come down to us from former gen.
Grafton. Heaven has bounteously heightened
out your lives, that you m & hit behold this JOY
GUS day. As these Identical sentences ap-
peared afterwards, in the Bunker Hill Ad-
dress, it would seem as if there was some
plausibility in the story" So true is the re.
mark ofCurran made TO Philips, that there is
no inspiration in these latter days, and that
those bursts ofeloquence which establish tho
fame of an orator, and seem like improvisa
lions, are often the fruit of long and mature
meditation! Curran told Philips, that the lar
ger portion Of his splendid forensic displays,
had been concocted in his garden, before he
went into the Courtroom. Our youthful can
didates for forensic reputation should remem-
Der these things. If intense meditation was
necessary to pave the way TO Immortality for
such men as Curran and Webster, what infe.
rior genius can hope to obtain it at lower