Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-07-04
not an impeachment, Of

w SuiStttiOAs i AOU oil J. pC1SuLlSl1u Va
MIR. Webster.
Mr.. Ashmun declared on the floor Of
the House, by the authority of Mr.. Web
ster, that the statement of Mr.. Allen
was ''false in all itslength andbread6a,
and in all Its Details" but there was
doubtless q foundation for the state.
ment. The friends of MIR. Webster adj
United that q voluntary contribution
had been rendered him as a compense-
ton for the sacrifices he had made in
abandoning his profession to acceptthe
office of Secretary of State, and they
justified his acceptance of the money
on the ground that after having devoted
the labors of a long life to his PROBES.
sion, and attained it in a high rank.
which brought large fees, he should not
be asked to relinquish those profess
sional emoluments without, in Justice
to his obligations to his family. accept,
ing an equivalent. Without indorsing
this State-street view of the case, it is
to be regretted that the charges were
made, to trouble Nh. Webster's spirit
and sour his heart.
Mr.. Webster often sought consolation
in his troubles from the grand old
poetry of the Hebrew Bible, which
awakened peaceful echoes in his own
poetic soul. His chosen ''crony'' in his
latter years. though much younger
than MIR Webster, was Charles March,
a New Hampshire man. Well-edu-.
Gated, polished by travel and free from
pecuniary hamper, March was q most
delightful companion; and his wit, keen
as Saladin's cimeter, never wounded.
Fletcher Webster was also q great IA
vorite with his father, for he. possessed
what Charles Lever called ''the lost art
of conversation" Sometimes when
MI. Webster's path had been crossed,
and he was as black as night, March
and Fletcher would, by humorous
repartees and witticisms, drive the
clouds away, and gradually force
him into q conversation, which would
soon become enlivened by ''the mex
tinguishable laughter Of the gods"
One of the most memorable instances of
his imagination and his resignation was
Afforded by his parting words to the
crowd of Washington politicians, when,
on the night of the nomination of Cen
eral Scott, they disturbed his slumbers
by their call upon him to rejoice them
at the prostration of his lifelong hopes.
Rising superior to the ofice-holding
crowd and to the occasion, the noble
soul of the ''Expounder of the Constr
tution'' sought consolation in his own
high thoughts, while scornfully looking
down on the little man before him. a
will sleep sound this night" SAID he.
land if l wake I will know the hour by
the constellation, for it is a glorious
night"
That Mr.. Webster felt keenly the at
tacks upon him is undeniable, and
atonement can not now be made by
eulogizing him. 1t has been we'll said
that if charity is to be the veil to cover
a multitude of sins in the dead as we'll
as in the living, cam should not lift
that veil to swear that those sins were
virtues. Mr.. Webster. was sorcly
troubled by the attitude taken by many
Massachusetts men, some of whom now
seek to loudly eulogize him. He lost
flesh, the color faded from his cheeks,
the lids of his dark eyes were lived, and
he vas evidently debilitatcd and in
firm. At times he would be apparently
unconscious of those around him; then
he would rally, and would display his
wonderful conversational qualities. Yet
it was evident to those who knew him
best that he was a broken-hearted man,
who went stumbling down." as Car.
lyle said of Mirabeau, ''like a mighty
heather and Titan to his rest. Den
Pcrley Poore.