The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-06-04
THE DAILY STAR
A GATHERING OF NOTED MEN.
Webster, Irving, OsgOod, Bryant and
other Attendants at Cooper
Memorial Meeting Twenty.
five Years Ago.
Nav York Field Glass.l

Church, the other morning, amid a
stately procession of robed eceIeslastics,
my mind went back to scene between
twenty-five and thirty years ago, in
which he took memorable part
The friends of James Fenimore Cooper
ayailed themselves of the presence of
Daniel Webster in New York to give spe-
cial interest to public meeting in COM
memoration of him, with view to the
erection of monument to his memory.
Washington Irving was to preside, Will
liam Cullen Bryant was to deliver the
address. Daniel Webster was to be pres
ent, and all the literati of America, far
and near, were to occupy the stage OF
what was then known as Tripler, after
ward Metropolitan Hall, in Broadway.
The building was capacious enough to
hold a vast multitude, and, though
price for admission was charged, its
hoors and galleries were filled to over
flowing. The audience itself was repre-
sentative of the culture and refinement
Of the city. A more brilliant assem-
blage has seldom been seen. l was young
enough for the spectacle and occasion to
make great impression upon me.
The stage remained empty for some
time after the house was full, when the
folding doors in the rear opened and in
the vista of the Illuminated room behind
we caught sight of the tnrong of distin-
guished men who then filled the public
eye-the venerable contemporaries of
Cooper and the rising regulations of our
own time. But conspicuous above them.
all, in physical presence alone, was Mr.,
Webster. He stood among the foremost,
dressed in his favorite costume on great
occasions. like the Whig or Continental
uniform-blue dress.coat, with bright
gilt buttons and long buff waistcoat
reaching several inches below the waist
band. 1t was the year before his death,
and he had been very i'll. The effort had
been a great one which he had made to
be present.
Any one who remembers his stupen-
dous appearance when in health and
vigor, as could when boy, with his
dark complexion, black hair, and large
glowing black eyes, under the shelf of
that Olympian brow-the astonishment
and delight of phrenologsts-wil easily
conceive how he looked then, when ashy
pale, his hair scanty and iron-gray, yet
his figure erect and commanding as ever;
and, though moving feebly and slowly
to his place, bearing himself in that
thrown-back characteristic way in which
all New Workers are now accustomed to
see him in bronze on his pedestal in
Central Park. Under the blaze of the
gas-light his massive face took granite
look, the material of his own native hills.
l had seen him. often, close by, and
had talked to him when in my teens,
but the impression he made at this mo-
ment WIS the grandest l ever received,
and, doubtless, it was aided by the un-
designed dramatic accessories of the
spectacle. never yet beheld his equal
or personal presence. believe it was
once said of him that "no man ever was
20 wise as Webster looked" He was
was only s feet 10 inches in height, but
his breadth of chest, tremendous head,
and magnificent bearing made him ap-
pear gigantic amid the crowd that then
surrounded him. He was seated in the |
middle Of the sofa at the front of the |
stage, with Bryant close behind him on |
his right, and irving on his left
The face and figure of Bryant, 50 re-
Gently conspicuous among us for his
patriarchal beard and picturesque head,
looked almost Insignificant under the
shadow of the colossal statesman. and
Irving looked no better Bryant, small,
thin-faced and closely shaven at that
time, serious, cold and stiff in manner,
hardly gave promise of what long years
Of conscious public veneration and the
hoary crown of glory did afterwards to
make him, both in personal appearance
and benignity of aspect, to this
generation. Irving, kindly faced
aiways, plain, gentle, unassum,
ing, whose chestnut wig and forid
face denied his age, arose and came for
ward to speak. His earnest friends had
called him the spectator" because the
presence of auditors always struck him
dumb. But the assemblage did not ap-
pear to know it, and the hush was some
thing awful to any one who did. He
VPtHtu Ills uloutn, ANU Will .uOdISc
gasp, said something about public speak
Ing mot being among his gifts" and,
with nervous twist in his dear old
countenance, added something more
about "Daniel Webster" and shrank
back into his corner Of the sofa.
When Mr.. Webster arose there was
tempest. The applause rolled toward
him in volume after volume. If his
demi-god presence could not magnetic
the common mob, it could and it did
excite this multitude into demonstra-
ton Of shouting, stamping, and waving
of hats and handkerchiefs, long contin-
ued and oft-reiterated, which must have
been as astonishing to him as it was
gratifying. He spoke only two or three
minutes, or about dozen or twenty
lines of newspaper column, in his
characteristic way, evidently forming
each sentence complete before slowly
uttering it; his pronunciation old-fash-
ioned, with SAVIOR Of New England;
his voice. rather weak at first. rising