The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-06


family. During the year. in which he re
manned under his care. he was so far ad
! yanced as to have commenced readin
horace and Livy. This was the amour
of his education. He knew nothing o
the advantages of a college education
nothing Of the evil or good resulting
from competition. In self-reliance h
quietly sought an education. and by hi
own potent efforts obtained a master,
over the classics. and built Up a mind a
American and analytical as any that ha
ever done honor to our country.
Reverting TO the facts and influences
that enter into his early training. we Sc,
IN MIN another instance of the superior
| lty or well-diTected home education
over every other form of training. Ma
ture and the family are our primary
schools. and where intelligent fathers oil
mothers undertake the duty of superin-
! tending the studies of their children il
| them we have an order of mind which the
| formal school and college seldom. if ever
| produce. Nature and the intelligent fam
| lily almost necessarily combine tuition
| and instruction with that kind Of inliu-
| ence which induces thought and trains il
for practical life. We are almost induced
| by this train of thought to believe that,
| although we have gained much in the
| machinery and art system of education,
we have lost more in it's truthfulness and
| spirit and power. Men and women, as we
now find them. are rarely educated. In
| dividual thought forms but little of the
! warp and wool of social conversation or
| public discourse.
While young Marshall was thus form
ing his character and giving fixity to
those habits of thought and feeling that
were afterward to impart solidity and
prosperity to the institutions of his coun-
try, the future United States we're shak-
ing off their dependence on the sovereign
viii of England and agitating the ques-
tion OF taxation and representation.
When he commenced his eighteenth year
the controversy between England and her
American colonies had assumed a serious
and even stormy character. He entered
into the dispute with zeal, espousing the
side of his country, and indicating her
rights with war mand well-directed en-
thusiasm. His feelings were practical
He studied the rudiments of military ex-
ercise. and engaged in training a militia
company in his own neighborhood. The
political essays of the day were read
the heralds of the rights and wrongs of
his country. Thus. in connection with
voluntary independent company, he began
his career as a soldier, and it may also
be added as a patriot.
In 1I75 he was appointed, at the age OF
twenty, the first lieutenant in a company
VI fneU. a rev months AFTER MS
appointment he marched according to or
ders to the relief of Norfolk. and was en-
gagged in the battle OF Great Bridge with
the English under Lord Dunmore, who was
s1gIally repulsed. Marching with the pro-
vincials to Norfolk, he was present when
1t was set on fire by detachment from
the English ships which. were lying in the
river.
In 17T6, when twenty-cne years OF age,
ba Cd
enth Virginia Regiment in the Continental
service, and marched according to orders,
10 the North In 1777, he was raised to
the rank of captain, and as such served
in the battles of Brandywine Germantown,
and Monmouth. He passed the winter OF
177S'I9. so memorable for the sufferings
and misery Of the continental soldiers, at
Valley Forge. He was one OF the parties
that covered the assault Of Stony Point In
1850, when Captain Marshall was ordered
home with the other officers, to take
charge of such men as the State Legisla- |
ture could raise for them. The course Of |
military events, over which he had no |
control, terminated with his recall, his !
service as a soldier. II we except short /
period at the close of 1880. and the be- |
ginning of 1871, but not before he had /
endeared himself to Washington He had |
seen and done enough in this capacity to /
prepare him for the nobler spheres of civil |
and judicial life.
During the season of inaction that fol- |
lowed his return home, he paid attention
to the study of law. He took up the Com !
mentaries" of Sir William Blackstone
which he had laid down for the more ex-
citing pursuits of military life. He at
tended a course OF law lectures, given by
Mr.. Wythe, afterward Chancellor OF Vir-
sinia: and also course on Natural Phi
osophy delivered by Mr.. Madison, the
President at that time OF William and
Mary College. II the summer of 1880, he
obtained a license to practice law. The
practice was. however. for a while sUs-
pended. first by his return to the army
Ior a few months. and then by the In
Tasion of Virginia by Lord Corvallis.
rhe courts were closed. and were not re-
opened until after the surrender Of Corn
wallis at Yorktown. After that event,
MARSHALL resumed the practice OF the law
md in a short time reached no ordinary
elevation at the bar.
He was elected in the spring of 1882
o the State Legislature. and soon after
yard became a member OF the Executive
,ounci The next year opened with an
vent that shed a sweet radiance over
early the whole of his future life of al
most fifty years. In January. 1873. he
married. Miss Mary Wills Amber. daugh-
err Vi the State Treasurer. with whom ne
ecamo acquainted while in the army-a
ady worthy of his affections. He resign
d the succeeding year his seat at the
ouncil board. and returned to the bar.
His services. however. were too much
eeded in legislation TO admit of his fol-
owing his own inclination. which dis
osed him for legal practice rather than
Official debate or executive council. and
C was again elected a member of the
legislature for his native county and /
fterwards for the county OF Henrico
lis sphere, which. up TO this period. had
cen somewhat limited and unstable, was
bout TO be enlarged and fixed; and in
he course of the Providential events
-hich had shaped his character and in |
'hich he had been neither an unfaithful
or disobedieDt servant, he was about to
e pressed forward to the full measure ,
f his life. Up to this period he had
one little more than develop his mind
llly, and become conscious OF his own !
nergies. He was prepared by the expe- !
fence and discipline OF the past. to rem
er to his country 4 service that is like I
: to be undcrvalued, but can never be
1rgotten.
The country at this time was in a dan {
erOus and difficult position. The genius !
I jefferson and his associates had pro-
ected the Declaration of Independence; {
he heart and hand and mind of Wash
lgton had achieved it. The Revolution Z
ry war had closed, and peace. like {
Dng- wished-for dawn. came at last. but I
anne to reveal the wretchedness of a !
eople whose only greatness seemed to d
e the glory Of eufranehised liberty. The c
forms of the open sea had been endured T
nd passed by the national ship; but now t
he lay among breakers, beating heavily I
Z