Daniel Webster | Page 9

the day in this struggle for
education fell chiefly on the elder brother in the years which followed;
but here Daniel did his full part, and deserves the credit for it.
He was a successful teacher. His perfect dignity, his even temper, and
imperturbable equanimity made his pupils like and respect him. The
survivors, in their old age, recalled the impression he made upon them,
and especially remembered the solemn tones of his voice at morning
and evening prayer, extemporaneous exercises which he scrupulously
maintained. His letters at this time are like those of his college days,
full of fun and good humor and kind feeling. He had his early love
affairs, but was saved from matrimony by the liberality of his affections,
which were not confined to a single object. He laughs pleasantly and
good-naturedly over his fortunes with the fair sex, and talks a good deal

about them, but his first loves do not seem to have been very deep or
lasting. Wherever he went, he produced an impression on all who saw
him. In Fryeburg it was his eyes which people seem to have
remembered best. He was still very thin in face and figure, and he tells
us himself that he was known in the village as "All-eyes;" and one of
the boys, a friend of later years, refers to Mr. Webster's "full, steady,
large, and searching eyes." There never was a time in his life when
those who saw him did not afterwards speak of his looks, generally
either of the wonderful eyes or the imposing presence.
There was a circulating library in Fryeburg, and this he read through in
his usual rapacious and retentive fashion. Here, too, he was called on
for a Fourth of July oration. This speech, which has been recently
printed, dwells much on the Constitution and the need of adhering to it
in its entirety. There is a distinct improvement in his style in the
direction of simplicity, but there is no marked advance in thought or
power of expression over the Hanover oration. Two months after
delivering this address he returned to Salisbury and resumed the study
of the law in Mr. Thompson's office. He now plunged more deeply into
law books, and began to work at the law with zeal, while at the same
time he read much and thoroughly in the best Latin authors. In the
months which ensued his mind expanded, and ambition began to rise
within him. His horizon was a limited one; the practice of his
profession, as he saw it carried on about him, was small and petty; but
his mind could not be shackled. He saw the lions in the path plainly,
but he also perceived the great opportunities which the law was to offer
in the United States, and he prophesied that we, too, should soon have
our Mansfields and Kenyons. The hand of poverty was heavy upon him,
and he was chafing and beating his wings against the iron bars with
which circumstances had imprisoned him. He longed for a wider field,
and eagerly desired to finish his studies in Boston, but saw no way to
get there, except by a "miracle."
This miracle came through Ezekiel, who had been doing more for
himself and his family than any one else, but who, after three years in
college, was at the end of his resources, and had taken, in his turn, to
keeping school. Daniel went to Boston, and there obtained a good

private school for his brother. The salary thus earned by Ezekiel was
not only sufficient for himself, but enabled Daniel to gratify the
cherished wish of his heart, and come to the New England capital to
conclude his professional studies.
The first thing to be done was to gain admittance to some good office.
Mr. Webster was lucky enough to obtain an introduction to Mr. Gore,
with whom, as with the rest of the world, that wonderful look and
manner, apparent even then, through boyishness and rusticity, stood
him in good stead. Mr. Gore questioned him, trusted him, and told him
to hang up his hat, begin work as clerk at once, and write to New
Hampshire for his credentials. The position thus obtained was one of
fortune's best gifts to Mr. Webster. It not only gave him an opportunity
for a wide study of the law under wise supervision, but it brought him
into daily contact with a trained barrister and an experienced public
man. Christopher Gore, one of the most eminent members of the
Boston bar and a distinguished statesman, had just returned from
England, whither he had been sent as one of the commissioners
appointed under the Jay treaty. He was a fine type of the aristocratic
Federalist leader, one of the most prominent of that