The times., 1901-03-17
WEBsTER's VISIT TO BANGOR.
Once He Thought of Settling Down
in That Town.

(From the Bangor, Ne. Commercially
II Bangor had been a little bigger and a
little bit more enterprising, and had had
just a few more people in it in the year
1891 it might have had what il IOst-when
the great Daniel Webster after coming
down here, decided not to settle in the
then infant town.
Daniel Webster was a poor bov who mad
TO struggle and sacrifice 10 give himself
and his brother. Ezekiel an education.
Daniel the younger Of the two brothers,
was born in Salisbury. y. H.. in 1882 He
grew UD there and managed. after his
parents had mortgaged their farm. to
work his way through Dartmouth College,
from which he was graduated in 1901. He
returned 10 his home and then entered the
office OF the PFeceptOr of Fryeburg Aca-
denny on q salary OF $3.50 a year. He board
ed with the register of deeds, paying 81
per week. and working out part of il by
doing clerical work in the evenings. Most
of the money he carried To Hanover,
where his brother Ezekiel was a college,
and contributed it to his education.
He read law in the Office of Senator
Thompson Of New Hampshire. and at the
age Of twenty-five. in 1904, he found IL
necessary to strike out for himself His
brother Ezekiel had finished his studies a Z
that time, so the two boys started for the
PenObscot Valley, making a tour of the
towns in Maine en- route.
Webster was always struck with the
advantages offered by the geographical
position of Bangor. and il was iowa rd
rode and tied all the way from FRYE
burg This expression seems strange
nowadays. but it was common enough 100
years ago. 1t means that the two boys
had but one horse between them. One
would ride on ahead and the other would
walk behind. After three or four miles
the mounted one would dismount. tie his
horse TO tree, and walk on. The man
who walked would come up with the
tied horse. mount. ride ahead of the man
on foot, dismount. tie. and walk on. and
so 1t would be kept up all day. II was
a rather lonely way of travelling, but il
was the only way.
They rode and tied all through Maine.
visiting Portland. Brunswick, Augusta,
and Belfast. Then the road lay along
the PenObscOt River bank. over the
bluff, Mount Ephraim, and the Frank
fort hills which were so steep that
pausing on the brink of one of them.
Daniel said 10 Ezekiel: You walk
ahead and lead him. and 1 will walk
behind and hold on to his tail to catch
him if he should tip over
AT last they reached Bangor. and put
up at HatchS Inn. on Main Street
which stood where the Bangor Exchange
now is. The brothers remained in Ban
gor for several days, and Daniel later
SPEAKS of going across KeRduskeag
stream on some floating logs to visit
an old friend. For some reason Daniel
was disappointed in Bangor and the
two boys. after resting from their long
journey. started on their return to New
Hampshire, where they settled in the
town of BoSCawen in 1904, and from which
place Daniel went to Portsmouth in 1907
So Bangor lost great man But who
knows whether he would have been so
great If he had begun life in a town " !th
twenty houses in II?
Daniel Webster revisited Bangor in 1875
on the occasion of the opening of the
Bangor House. He WAS a great man then,
and Bangor was a busy, progressive city,
quite different from the little village on
the banks of the stream that he had seen
more than thirty years before He was
rendered a banquet at the Bangor House,
and after dinner made speech. In ;llu-
sion To his first visit to the town he said:
1t so happened that at an early period
of my life | came To this spot. attracted
slightest glance on the map must satisfy
anyone that IL occupies.
Later in the same speech he said: 4
believe some twelve or twenty houses
were all that Bangor could euumerate
when / was in il before, and / remember
TO have crossed the stream which now
divides your fair city on some floating
logs for the purpose Of visiting a former
friend and neighbor who had Just then
settled here: a gentleman always most
respectable ana now venerable Tor age
and character. whom / have the great
pleasure Of seeing among Eou to-day / re-
member no steamboat nor canal to taNor
communication. nor do / reColleCt that
any public stage coach came within nifty
miles of the town.
Further in the speech Mr.. Webster
spoke enthusiastically of the advantages
as a port and as centre OF trade tnat
Pang0r possesses. and predicted that with
ssnod Judgment and public spirit on the
part of the citizens. the city would grow
great and prosperous, thus showing that
besides possessing other great natural
gifts he was also something of prophet.