Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-11-14
From The National Intelligencer-
a Letter NJ nnnieI HVehsfer.

We copy by permission, from the sheets OF
a revised and forthcoming edition OF Mr.. |
Lanman's Private LiJs Of Daniel Webster"
now in the press of Harper & Brothers, the
suljoined familiar letter of the lamented states
man. 1t has been said of this great man, whose
loss the country day after day only the more
deeply deplores, as the unified vacuum be LETT
10 our public and political affairs becomes day
after day only the more apparent. that 1t is
difficult 10 decide whether he was more dis
tingnished as lawyer or q statesman, unsur~
passed, if not unrivaled, as be was in either
character; and it has been justly held to con-
stitute the peculiar distinction of his greatness
that he was thus able to combine 10 his single
person the attributes which, if restricted to a
single one of these walks of life, would have
been fully sufficient to earn for their subject
no common fame. But, in addition to this
double -natured Development of Mr.. Webster's
mind, it is not unknown TO many readers,
that be who was thus ''proudly eminent" IN
The two highest arts of civil life was hardly
less happy or less admirable when, unbending
from the cares Of State and relaxing the mas
sive brow, he threw aside alike the gravity OF
the Senator and the Advocate to don the "easy
dress" OF home scenes and of daily life.
Those who think of Mr. Webster only as
Statesman or Lawyer have sometimes ex-
pressed surprise that one so much numbered
with the weighty cares of clients and affairs
of State should yet have found time to culti-
vate the genial veins of friendly and private
correspondence, ottentimes infusing into such
epistolary correspondence, as much of spor~
tiveness (''huge gamesomeness" we think Lord
Bacon calls it, as of gravity in his State pa
pers and legal arguments. To those, however,
who were familiar with Mr.. Webster's daily
life and private habits the explanation of this
mental trait, as exemplified in familiar notes to
friend or in business letters to John Tay
lor" or his Marshfeld manager, will not be
difficult. Indeed, they may be said toghave
grown ont of habit which, in one of such LETT
tiers, he assigns as Va motive for writing it
the habit of early rising, and the demand for
mental exercise during the time which was
thus redeemed from sleepy Incidence. He had
maxim, indeed, that nothing great was ever
achieved by late riser. In this he resembled
his eminent cotemporary and fellow states
man, John Quincy Adams, whom TIE sun new
er caught in bed and Mr. Webster's celebrated
despatch to the Mexican Minister, BOcGnegrG,
was begun at FIVE o'clock in the morning and
finished before bis dinner hour.
When, however, his time was taxed with
no such extraordinary demands the leisure
stroll through the market, with kind word
for the friends he met, and pleasant greeting
| to familiar faces among the country folk with
produce to SELL" then home to skim the morn
ing papers, and, some familiar friend, perhaps
| an invitation to dinner in terms of grave plea
santry, or letter struck off in sportive mood
| upon some incident in social intercourse,
| which gave to the missiye charm known on
| " to the favored recipient; or it might be o
letter to "John Taylor" or like that we now
subioin, to Porter Wright, his manager at
| Marshfeld. Such letters may be truly said to
illustrate the "Pri0ate Life Of Daniel Webster"
since they grow out Of it and are tracy Of the
soil,n
WASHINGTON, Nov. l2, 1851.
| PORTER WR1GHr: | think you will find places
somewhere for the turnips There is the floor of
tbs sheep barn, well the cellar, and the floor
and hovel of the new barn, (f we have no cattle
| there) where turnips can be placed and covered
! up with hay or straw Indeed, / suppose if you
were to make platform, foot from the ground
with loose plank, you might lay turDips upon it two
| or three feet thick aud cover ali up with bay or
! straw and that in this manner they might be kept
] till spring.
am willing you should sell the Jumpers if you
can get a full fair price for them-not under hun-
! bred dollars and much more as you think they
are WORTH / do not exactly remember their size,
| but they are a handsome pair, now in good order,
will be six years old in spring, and if you do not
need TO work them this winter we have hay and
turnips to give them, and they may easily be made
good beef by July, when good beef generally
brings a good price. Exercise your own judgment,
hut do not sacrifice my favOrites.
Iwish you to get three or four nice half barrels
by the time you kill the hogs. Marshfeld pork is
very popular here, and l shall want much as
three half barrels sent to me. | should like to
know how the beef cattle get along suppose you
will slaughter the hogs aud the beef cattle about the
week after Thanksgiving.
If Mr.. Baker has any Of the common geese left
more than he wishes to keep, he may send them
up from time to time to Mr., Appleton, and so Of
the white turkeys, ii he can make them fat en-
| ough.
Do not fail to remember the oil casks for thu
calves. Take one of the best turkeys for your
Thanksgiving dinner, and tell Mr.. Baker to take
one for his. The barrels Of vegetables have not
arrived, bat suppose they are on the way. W,
have now east wind enough to bring them along
When you have got in the turnips let me know the
quantity. How does Mr.. Wilson get on with hi
bridge and bis barns?
/ enclose draft for a little money! which
suppose you will consider the very best part Of th
very lorg letter. DANIEL WEBSTER.
"A pair OF oxen. tThe amount WAS $3.50