The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1867-02-15

winter; and both were out Of doors with
. the sun, each ut one emil Of long saw,
cutting wood for an appetite. The joyous,
uncouih singing and shouting Of tho new
conner aroused tho late slcepc1 Then in
to breakfast, where the homcly. captivating
humor Of the young lawyer kept the table
in roar, and detained every inmate
1Nevcr was there such an actor lost to the
stage" jeremiah Mason, his only rival at
the New Hampshire bar, used to say, "as
he would have made"
Returning in the afternoon from court
fstigued and languid, his spirits rose again
with food and rest, and tho evening was
another festival Of conversation and real.
ing. A few months after his settlement nj
Portsmouth he visited his native hills. say
ing nothing respecting the object Of his
journey; and returned with a wife, that
gentle and high bred lady, clergyman's
daughter, who was the chief source Of the
happiness Of his happicst years, and the
mother Of all his children. Tic improved
in health, his form expanded, his mind
grew, his talents ripened, his fame spread,
during the nine years Of residence at this
thriving and pleasant town,
At Portsmouth, too. he had precisely,
that external stimulus to eacrtioh which his
large and pleasure loving nature needed.
jeremiah Mason was, literally speaking, the
giant Of the American bar, for he stood six
fee, seven inches in his stockings Like
Webster, he was the son Of a valiant Rev.
olutionary officer like Webster, he was an
hereditary Fcderalist; like Webster, he had
a great mass Of brain hut his mind was
more active and acquisilive than Web
s,er's, and his nineteen years OF nrduous
practice at the lar had stored his memory
with knowledge and given him de1,erity in
tho use Of il. Nothing shows the eminence
Of webster's talent more than this, that,
very early in his Portsmouth career, he
should have been regarded at the bar Of
New Hampshire, rs the man to I've employed
against jeremiah Mason, md his only fit
antagonist.
Mason was vigilant, vigorous opponent
sure to be well up in the law and facts Of
the case, sure to detect flaw in the argu.
ment ofopposiug counsel. II was in keen
encounters with this wary and learned man
that Daniel Webster learned his profession |;
and this he always acknowledged. elf"
he once said in conversation-sif anybody
thinks am somewhat familiar with the law
on some points, and should be curious to
know how il happened, tell him that Jcre-
miah Mason compelled mo to study il. He
was my MASTER" II was honorable, too,
to both Of them, that rivals rs they were,
they were fast and aflectionate friends, each
yaluing in the other the qualities in which
he was surpassed by him, and each sincere
" believing that the other was the first man
OF his time and country.
"Thcy say" in Portsmouth, that Mason
did not shrink from demonstrating with his
friend upon his caelessness with regard to
money but, finding the habit inyeterate
and the man irresistible, desistctl. Web
ster himself says tina, two thousand dollars
n year was all that the hest practice in New
Hampshire could be made to yield; and
tina, that was Inadequate to the support OF
his family Of "a wife and three little children.
Two thousand dollars in Portsmouth. in
1912, was certainly equal, in purchasing
power, to siz thousand Of tho Intellectual
things that now pass by the name ofdolan;
and upon such an income large families in
a country town cOntrivc to live, ride and
save.