Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-09-04

Ioi ntu, anu IrOWn1ng. SAID: w nat have
you been doing. Ezekiel?' Nothing,
sir, was the reply, We'll Daniel, what
have you been doing?' Helping Zeke,
sir. And there are many more queer
sayings OF his boyish days. 1t is said that
some years afte- Webster reached his
zenith he went out early in the morning
over his Marsh6eid home, and saw an old
woman picking cranberries. What are
you about?'' said the great jurist; don t
you khow It's against the law to do what
you are doing?3 She turned round upon
him. and fixing her feble old eyes upon
him, said
Men make laws but don't mind EN-:
pick cranberries wherever | find EN-.
Webster said not word, but turned upon
his heel, and the old woman picked cram
| berries there as long as she lived
When Webster was about seven years
Of age, his father kept a house of public
| entertainment, where the Transfers were
IN the habit of obtaining a dinner and
feeding their horses. and the in ipient ora
tor and statesman frequently entertained
| his father guests by reading aloud the
PsdIms OF David, to the great delight of
rs rustic listeners. and it was frequent
remark, when teamster pulled up his
| horses at the Webster tavern. Lets 90 in
| and hear pslam from Dan Webster"
| Only few months before his death. Web
/ Ster, bending under the weight Of years
and painful illness, told these and other
things at Marshfeld to his private secre-
| tary.
Then came Webster's college days, or
rather, first, his days at Exeter under DR..
BenJamen Abbott. when BE- recited his first
Latin lessons to the late Joseph Stevens
| Suckmlnester, at that time tutor at
Philips. His first attempt to speak in
pubhc Oh the stage WIS Il decided failure.
For the moment he b came embarrassed,
and then burst into ears. The man, af-
terward d giant in everything he under
/ took, who chould repeat psalms to few
taamsters at the age of seven, had an
antipathy to public defamation almost in
surmountable. But he overcame it, as
Lanman goes on to say, by the triumph of
his will, and from the laughing-stock of
the school, he became one of the best re-
citers
When Is years old he went to Boscawen
n. H., and his preceptor, Dr. Wood
thought proper to give Daniel a scolding
for spending to much OF his time upon the
| hills and along the streams, hunting and
| tishing-failings which he never got over.
for he has often been heard to say The
would rather fish than eat" On this
| particular occasion lie was assigned hun
dred lines of Virgil to commit to memory.
he spent the entire ight over his books.
| When the recitation hour arrived he recit-
ed his hundred lines with appreciation.
But | have few more lines that | can
| reclte, said the boy Daniel. ''Well, let
US have them, said the tutor, and forth
with the boy reeled or another hundred.
Very remarkable You are, indeed, a
smart boy. But have another hundred, -
| said Daniel, ''and five hundred of them if
you please.
Webster never took to farm work. His
father once sent him from Exter to 60 mp
to the old homestead and assist him in
haylng few days. He went up and start
ed In and worked until about ! o'clock III
the forenoon, He complained to his
mother that his hands were bistered and
he didn't like the work. His kind mother
excused her favorite son. and about an
hour after dinner (his father being away
young Daniel tackled up the family horse
packed two of his sisters in the wagon.
and drove off after huckleberries. This
ended his farming days Back to school
| went the incipient statesman
Webster was onl y few months prepar-
ing for college, during which brief period
he mastered the study of Greek, so that
his tutor said in that short time he acquir-
ed what it took other boys an entire year
to accomplish. Daniel was, as boy, the
sickliest and most slender of all his fathers
| children, yet from his earliest boyhood ne
was a great devourer of the standard
books of the day, such as Popes transla-
ton of Homer, the Essay on Man,
and Addison's Spectator" the second of
which he committed to memory in Dart
mouth college. Although he had not look
ed this through since his 18th year, he
was, says Lanman, a short time before
his death in 1852, able to recite most of it
from beginning to end. The Bible and
Shakespeare was his great favorites. and
he would almost to the day OF his death
recite from memory many Of the psalms
and hymns Of DR.. Watts.