New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-09-18
STUDIES IN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
by CHARLES t. CoNGpoN.
DANIEL WEBSTER.

criticism of his character naturally exaggerated
% whether ii was favorable or otherwise. have nc
stomach for reviving the sharp discussions of those
days. which doubtless inevitable and neces
Bary but which seem to me- in the discriminating
distance, somewhat disagreeable. Whatever were
the political mistakes of Mr. Webster, he was q
great man and notable central figure of his time
and there is in his pri yate life certain interesting
picturesqueness which may be enjoyed without
reference to his public career. The fact that he
wrote partial autobiography enables me to place
him in my gallery of sef-panted portraits The
literary history of this paper is somewhat curious
1t was written in 1929 for and at the request of
Mrs. Eliza Buckminster Lee, particular friend of
the hrst Mrs Webster. Mrs. Lee was sister of the
Rev. Joseph Stevens Buckminster, the eminent
pulpit orator, and was herself writer OF merit
The autobiography of Mr.. Webster appears TO have
been given TO her in confidence and he was not wall
pleased when she used it in her biography of her
aather ana brother Il fear" he wrote to her,
that 1t will set people to talking on things in re-
iation TO which wish nothing to be said in nv life
time am distressed whenever / see anything in
PRINT about myself which does not regard NV
public acts. conduct and character" Subseouently.
Mr.. Fletcher Webster included the autobiography
In his publication of the private correspondence of
MS father, in 1887. 1t is short, coming down no
further than to the time of Mr. Websier's removal
from Portsmouth, N H., to Boston, in 1916: but il
1t is a popularity of New England men of sense
10 be proud of w-Engand lineage. and of n
yeoman ancestry. In preceding article I have
mentioned old John Adamss sentiments upon this
point. Mr.. webster disavowed all knowledge of
any progenitor further back than Thomas Webster
who settled in Hampton, New Hampshire as early
as 1886. He believed the family to have been
originally Scotch. though it may have come last
from England. All the Websters he saws. "have
cOmDleXlOnS. sandy hal al of ;t
ana bushy eyebrows; and are rather slender than
corpulent" His own black CHARACTERISTICS of
person Mr. Webster inherited from the Bachelders
and directly from his maternal grandmother of that
name. He describes his father rather graphically
az six feet. or six feet within half an inch with
broad and full chest. hair still of an UNCHANGED
black, features rather large and prominent. n
Roman nose, and eyes of brilliant black" He had
"a decisive air and bearing, partly the effect of
early soldiership." When he settled in 1894 at
salisbury, N H.. his son says in his large way, the
smoke of his cabin assembled nearer to the North
Star than that of any other of his Maestys New
England subjects. His nearest civilized neighbor
on the north was at Montreal" The soldier father
commanded company at Bennington at White
Plains. at West Point, at the time of Arpolds do
lection Old Stark told Daniel Webster when last
ne saw him that his complexion was like that of his
FATHER and that "hs was of that cast so con-
Tenient for a soldier, that burnt gunpowder did
not change it,"
Mr. Webster says that he cannot and never could
fecolect the time when he could not read the Bible
ne supposes that he was taught by his mother OF
by his elder sisters; but his father also had M
higher object in the world than to educate his |
children. In the public schools nothing was taugbt |
bnt reading and writing. Young Webster usually |
read better than his teacher and he admits that the
BEST writing master could not make him good |
writer. The two things which he dearly loved were
reading and playing" passions which did NOT |
cease TO struggle when boyhood was oyerp Have |
.ney yetF he asks parenthetically He read the |
" Spectator; he was fond of poetry and committed
the greater part of DR.. Watts's Psalms and Hymns
TO memory No other sacred poetry afterward an |
peared 10 MIN so fscting and devout He could |
repeat Popes Essay on Man from beginning to !
end. lie says we had so few books that to read |
snem once or twice was nothing. We thought that |
sney were all to be got by heart l have thought |
oI tnls frequently since, when that sagacious adj |
monitor OF one of the ancients twas it Plny y has
been quoted legere mnltwm non multav Ihave scan |
tnis legend upon dozen old book plates: ! hone |
ehose VINO placed it there proted by its suggestion
out my motto would be multum ct ,auita; and for |
'"naIeiy the DOCKS worth reading and over |
again are by nc means few. Mr.. Webster always |
retained an afectonate feeling for his school |
masters. and particularly for Master Tappan tn |
whom he used, a great many years after to write |
stately letters sometimes inclosing bank-bills In
loo ne was placed in Phillips Academy at Exeter
N. H., where he recited his first Latin lessons to |
joseph stevens Buckminster, who is mentioned
ABOVE but III was curious that boy who was |
uestlned to become one of the greatest orators of
MS time could not make a defamation MANY |
D piece he says "did l commit to memory and !
fecite and rehearse, in my own ROOM over and |
'ver again; yet when. the day came when the
chool collected to hear declamations when NV
name was called, and saw all eyes turned To
ny seat, could not raise myself from it. When
ne occasion was over / went home and went
utter tears of notification"
L DO not remember anything finer of the kind than |
dr' WeDsters account of the first intimaton from
us iather that he intended to send him TO college
lie said that he then lived but for his children
"u u would 10 all could for myself, he would
% what he could for me. / remember that was
ute overcome. and my head grew dizzy. The
hing appeared to me so high and the expense and
My press hls hand and shed tears Excellent ox-
client parent! | cannot think of him even now
Without turning child again."
VI his life at Dartmouth College, Mr. Webster
ardly gives us glmpse but he seems ia have
card the report that he neglected his studios. and
eciares distinctly that lie was not idle But like
Their men of genius, untempered by exnerience he
Touid not be subjected to routine He was nrohahI
ne OIL those students whom whatever their abli-
es, the college faculty could not keep regularly
mining in the appointed course; he was fond of
Miscellaneous reading, which sometimes is of good
nport, and he delivered occasional addresses which
trusts are forgotten, as they were in very bad
'ste vi his first printed address, the title fortu
ately for book-collectors. has been preserved and
as ioiiows; An Oration Pronounced at Ham |