USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Boscawen > The history of Boscawen and Webster [N.H.] from 1733 to 1878 > Part 38
USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Webster > The history of Boscawen and Webster [N.H.] from 1733 to 1878 > Part 38
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While he was at Dr. Wood's, his father sent for him in July, to help at haying.
" My father put me to work to turn hay. It was pretty lonely there, and after working some time I found it very dull; and as I knew my father was gone away, I walked home, and asked my sister Sally if she didn't want to go and pick some whortleberries. She said yes. So I went and got the horses, put the side-saddle on one of them, and we set off. We did not get home till pretty late, and I soon went to bed. When my father came home he asked my mother where I was, and what I had been about. She told him. The next morning, when I awoke, I saw all my clothes that I had brought from Dr. Wood's tied up in a small
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
bundle again. When I saw my father, he asked me how I liked hay- ing. I told him I found it pretty dull and lonesome. 'Well,' said he, ' I believe you may as well go back to Dr. Wood's.' So I took my bundle under my arm, and on my way met Thomas W. Thompson, a lawyer in Salisbury. He laughed heartily when he saw me. 'So,' said he, ' your farming is over, is it ?' "
A young man named David Palmer, a senior of Dartmouth col- lege, was employed by Dr. Wood to teach him Greek. He had less than six weeks to prepare in.
Mr. Palmer was from Windham, Conn., studied theology, and was minister at Townsend, Mass., from 1800 to 1831. He died in 1849.
During the spring and summer months, while keeping up his studies, getting so far in advance of his associates that Dr. Wood was " tired " of him, Daniel found time to visit Mill brook, with his fish-hook and line, and, cutting an alder for a rod, obtain fine strings of trout, which doubtless were always acceptable at Dr. Wood's table.
He wrote thus in regard to his college life :
" My college life was not an idle one. Besides the regular attendance on prescribed duties and studies, I read something of English history and English literature. I even paid my board for a year by superin- tending a little weekly newspaper, and making selections for it from books of literature and from the contemporary publications."
From Benjamin Clark, who was in college with Daniel, we learn that collegians then were not much different from collegians of all time-ever ready to play pranks upon the faculty and upon each other. There were strong ties between Daniel and his asso- ciates, so enduring that practical jokes never sundered them. It is related that these friends and brothers, as they called them- selves, occupied adjoining rooms, and, in order to facilitate social enjoyments without the cognizance of the Faculty, so fixed the panels in the ceiling that there was free passage from room to room.
" They had all things in common. The first to rise in the morning dressed himself in the best which the united apartments afforded, and so of the rest successively ; but woe to the latest riser, whose equip- ments might have been furnished at Rag Fair!"
Mr. Clark, who was from Princeton, Mass., who afterwards
441
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
lived in New York, and was known as the "Honest Quaker," was the fortunate possessor of a new beaver hat which cost some eight or ten dollars, and was the envy of the college. One day it was missing. He searched high and low, but could not find it. He found an old slouch felt hat, which he was obliged to wear. Sev- eral weeks passed. Daniel Webster was absent from college, keeping school. He returned at length, and with him eame the beaver hat, which he had borrowed for a few weeks ! He and Clark shook hands over the joke, and were better friends than ever.
Mr. Webster graduated in August, 1801, and studied law with Mr. Thompson, of Salisbury (Franklin), a near neighbor. His first " case "-not in court, but outside of it-occurred while he was with Mr. Thompson. A trader in New Chester (Hill) had failed, and his Boston creditors thought it was a voluntary suspen- sion, with the intention of making money. They placed their accounts in the hands of Mr. Thompson, who sent Daniel to New Chester with the sheriff to investigate affairs. They found the store closed-shutters up and door locked-and a process served upon the goods. Daniel pondered the situation, then seized a heavy log of wood and hurled it against the door. The lock gave way, and the door was open. He was careful not to put his foot inside the door, for that would have been "breaking and enter- ing," a criminal affair which would have sent him to Hopkinton jail for a term of years ; but breaking was only a trespass, a mat- ter of damage to the door and lock, an affair of a dollar or two. The sheriff could not batter down the door. That would be mal- feasance of office, and would send him to the jail ; but seeing the door was open he could go in, and serve his attachments. It is related that the Boston creditors were well pleased with the result.
After teaching school at Fryeburg, and studying in Mr. Gore's office, in Boston, after declining the tempting offer of the clerk- ship of Hillsborough county, he came to Boscawen, in March, 1805, and opened his first office, in the house now occupied by Mr. Meader, in the north-west corner chamber. The furniture consisted of a pine table, a few shelves for books, and some chairs. He remained in Boscawen till September, 1807, and then removed to Portsmouth, turning over his business to his brother Ezekiel. How many cases he had in court is not known. At the April
445
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
term, 1807, he had the suit of Jacob Martin against Benjamin Carter, for debt. Mr. Martin was a shoemaker, and his account runs from 1802 to 1806 :
" Benjamin Carter to Jacob Martin Dr 1802
S
Dec. To pare of shoes for your Dafter 6-0
To pare of shoes for one children 4-6
To Caping and tapin your Boys' shoes 3-6
To pare of shoes for your Littel gall 4-0
January
1803 to mending your shoes
1-10
Febry to mending your galls shoes
2- 6
March To mending mikels shoes
3-9
To mending your shoes 3-0
June To mending pare of pumps for your Dafter 4-6
26 To hoing one Day 3s to making you a pare of shoes 4
7-0
To Bushel of turnops 2s to pare of shoes for yourself 9 11-0
Nov To making pare of shoes for your Wife
11- 0
To making a pare of shoes for Betsey & one pare for Naty 6-0
To making a pare of shoes for mik 3-0
To onions 7-6-to making pare of shoes 3-6
11-0
23 To making pare of shoes for you 3-6
December to making a small pare of shoes
2-4
1804 to making you a pare of shoes 4-6, to mend- ing 1-3 5- 9
Aug To 4 days of Mr Conor
to mending a small pare of shoes
1-0-0 1- 6 9
To mending miks shoes
To making your gal a pare of shoes
3-9
To mending your Boots
1- 4
Nov 2 To making your wife a pare of shoes To Cash
4-6
To mending pare of shoes 2- 6
Jan 1805 to making your wife a pare of shoes, 3- 6
to mending your shoes, 3- 0 To Baral of Cyder 9-0
To making Jeremiah pare of shoes
4-0
To pare of shoes for Doley 5-0
To your shoes
3-0
3-6
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
8 2
Jan 1805 To mending your Wifes 1-0 To galand of Cydar 1- 0
to half Bushel of Corn 2- 6
1806 To keeping your mare 5- 6
To Quarter Lam 2-7
. To House Rent 1-16-0
£10-12-5
Erros excepted
Jacob Martin
[In Mr. Webster's writing] Dols 35.41 25th April 1807
for service 23
travel 9
0-32"
There are many anecdotes extant of Mr. Webster during the two and a half years he resided in Boscawen. He loved to hunt and fish. He knew every brook and pond, the best places for trout, the choicest spots among the lily-pads for pickerel.
One of his companions on his hunting expeditions was Nehe- miah Clark. It was currently reported that one day, while gunning, a gray squirrel secreted himself among the thick foliage of a tree, and that Clark climbed the tree to rout him from his hiding-place.
"I see him," shouted Webster, from the ground, raising his gun to fire.
"Don't you shoot me !" said Clark.
" No, I won't; you just keep still and I will bring him down."
The story runs that the charge entered Mr. Clark's knee, and lamed him for life, which probably is an exaggeration. It is quite probable that a scattering shot hit Clark, but his lameness arose from other causes. Mr. Webster never lost his friendship for Clark, but was accustomed to call upon him whenever he visited Boscawen.
While a citizen of the town he had a volunteer military com- pany. At that period a large business was done in the mak- ing of staves, and there was an extensive coopering establish- ment on the west side of King street, where a dozen or more men were employed. These were Mr. Webster's soldiers, with others
-
Del Welter
447
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
on the street. In moonlight evenings, with hoop-poles for weap- ons, they were marshalled by the young lawyer, then twenty- four years of age, who wheeled, marched, and countermarched them up and down the street to the music of the fife and drum.
About the time of his coming to Boscawen, he sent $85 to Boston to purchase law books, by a Mr. - of Salisbury, who lost the money; but Mr. Webster did not allow the loss to trouble him. In a letter to Ezekiel, he writes, under date of April 30, 1805,-
"Mr. - 's family felt pretty sensibly Jonathan's misfortune, but I believe are now reconciled to it.
" Fol de dol, dol de dol, di dol; I'll never make money my idol ; Far away our dollars will fly all. With my friend and my pitcher I'm twenty times richer Than if I made money my idol- Fol de dol. dol de dol, di dol !"
On the 30th of April he wrote to Ezekiel,-
" My residence here is tolerably pleasant. I live with Mr. French [Mr. Joel French, who lived in the one story house north of the present parsonage]. Some little business is done here, and I get a part. In time, perhaps, I shall gratify my moderate rational wishes."
To his classmate, Mr. Bingham, at Lempster, he writes :
" Boscawen, May 4, 1805.
"Dear Bingham: You must know that I have opened a shop in this village for the manufacture of justice writs. Other mechanics do pretty well here, and I am determined to try my luck, among others. March 25, I left Boston with a good deal of regret, I assure you. I was then bound for Portsmouth, but I found my father extremely ill, and little fit to be left by all his sons; and, therefore, partly through duty, partly through necessity, and partly through choice, I concluded to make my stand here. Some little business is doing in this neighborhood, and of that little I hope to get a little part. This is all I at present can say of my prospects. For one thing I ought to be thankful. If poverty brings me so near to the wind that I cannot stay here in duty to my stomach, I have only to take my hickory and walk. The disagreeable incumbrances of houses, lands, and property need not delay mne a mo- ment. Nor shall I be hindered by love, nor fastened to Boscawen by the power of beauty."
448
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
That Mr. Webster had started well is evident from a sentence in a letter written by Ezekiel :
" Boscawen, May 19, 1805.
" Dear Daniel: Before Mr. French [Mr. French was a trader, and visited Boston to furnish goods] had given me your letter, I had for- warded your trunk, with the blank books you so much need for the en- try of your fourteen actions."
He had been in Boscawen five weeks, and had fourteen cases.
His sister Sally came from Salisbury to see him in his new quarters, and wrote to Ezekiel in regard to him,-
" Daniel is at the other end of the room filling out a blank; he looks pleasant. I suppose he intends to get a dollar for it, towards the eighty he has lost. It has heen remarked that a bad beginning makes a good ending. If that is the case, I think he will undoubtedly have a good end."
Daniel to Ezekiel :
" Sunday, June, 1805.
" Dear Zeke: I got home alive last evening, although most killed by hot weather. Have not seen our folks, but hear they are well. Pray send me a pair of gaiters like Fifield's. In going to church to-day, I feel that man is dust, and can think of nothing to guard against sand better than they do.
"Adieu, which is a very affectionate term from the French a-dieu, and is synonymous with ' I commend you to God.' "'
On the 4th of July Mr. Webster gave an oration at Salisbury south village. Party spirit was running high. He spoke to the Federalists, while Mr. Pettingill addressed his fellow democrats at the centre village, a mile distant. The last of July Mr. Web- ster wrote to Ezekiel,-
"I shall make as many entries at the next court as I expected to, per- haps a few more. I pick up, however, but very little cash, hardly laying my hand on a single dollar."
In a letter to his classmate Bingham, dated Jan. 19, 1806, we get a glimpse of his business :
" It is now eight months since I opened an office in this town, during which time I have led a life which I know not how to describe better than by calling it a life of writs and summonses. Not that I have dealt greatly in those articles, but that I have done little else. My business
449
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
has been just about so, so; its quantity less objectionable than its qual- ity.
" I shall be able at the end of the year to pay my bills, and pay per- haps sixty pounds for books. I practise in Hillsborough, Rockingham, and Grafton. Scattering business over so much surface is like spilling water on the ground. * I make no poetry,-five lines to D. Ab- bott are the Alpha and Omega of my poetical labors for the year. In this particular I mean to reform. How would it do, think ye, to write writs in verse ? For instance, let one be clausum in his verbis-that is to say, being interpreted, wrapt up in these words, --
"All good sheriff's in the land We command That forthwith you arrest John Dyer, Esquire, If in your precinct you can find him, And bind him-&c., &c., &c."
He removed to Portsmouth in September, 1807, transferring his business in Boscawen to his brother Ezekiel.
Daniel Webster's entrance upon public life was not of his own seeking. Samuel Batchelder, of Cambridge, Mass., still living at the age of 94, was formerly a resident of New Hampshire, and was instrumental in securing Mr. Webster's first nomination to congress. He furnishes the following statement :
" For several years previous to 1812, the Democratic party was a ma- jority in the state of New Hampshire; but in 1812 the Federalists be- gan to have hopes that by the nomination of a strong list of candidates for members of congress, who were chosen by a general ticket, they might carry the election. For this purpose Judge Timothy Farrar was induced to consent to head the list. The judge had never been an active politician, and was not ambitious of distinction, having been a judge for more than thirty years, and at one time had resigned a place on the bench of the Supreme Court in order to take a place as judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
" In the course of the year 1812 political feeling was undergoing such a change that the Federal party felt confident of success, and there was a strong disposition to send Mr. Webster to congress ; and it was known that Judge Farrar had consented very reluctantly to his own nomina- tion, and would be glad to have Mr. Webster take his place, on account of friendship for him as well as for his father, who was a judge on the same bench with himself. Accordingly a meeting was hield at Concord during the session of the legislature, in June, and a committee was ap- pointed, consisting of Judge Jeremiah Smith, Ezekiel Webster, and 29
450
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
myself, to consult Judge Farrar, and make arrangements such as were known would be agreeable to him.
" The committee agreed upon a day to meet at New Ipswich and at- tend to their duty; and Judge Smith took the stage by way of Boston, and Ezekiel Webster got into my chaise and proceeded with me to New Ipswich, and arrangements were made with Judge Farrar to the satis- faction of all parties. Accordingly a meeting was held at Brentwood, in August, at which the famous Rockingham memorial and resolutions, drawn by Mr. Webster, were adopted. Mr. Webster's name was placed at the head of the list for congress, and Judge Farrar was nom- inated one of the electors of president."
WEBSTER, EZEKIEL, HON.
Ezekiel Webster, elder brother of Daniel, was born in Salisbury, April 11, 1780. The first nineteen years of his life were spent on his father's farm, and it was settled in the mind of Judge Web- ster that he was to remain at home and be a farmer, while Daniel, who had less physical strength in childhood, who seems to have had little inclination for farming, was to be educated to one of the learned professions.
Daniel entered college in 1797. It troubled him, however, to think that Ezekiel was at home plodding on the farm while he was obtaining an education. He says in his autobiography,-
"I soon began to grow uneasy at my brother's situation. His pros- pects were not promising, and he himself felt and saw this, and had as- pirations beyond his condition. Nothing was proposed, however, by way of change of plan, till two years later.
" In the spring of 1799, at the May vacation, being then a sophomore, I visited my family, and then held serious consultation with my brother. I remember well when we went to bed we began to talk matters over, and that we rose after sunrise without having shut our eyes. But we had settled our plan.
" He had thought of going into some new part of the country. That was discussed and disagreed to. All the pros and cons of the question of remaining at home were weighed and considered, and when our coun- cil broke up, or, rather, got up, its result was that I should propose to my father that he, late as it was, should be sent to school, and also to college. This we knew would be a trying thing to my father and moth- er and two unmarried sisters. My father was growing old, his health not good, and his circumstances far from easy. The farm was to be carried on, and the family taken care of; and there was nobody to do
451
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
all this but him who was regarded as the main stay, that is to say, Eze- kiel. However, I ventured on the negotiation, and it was carried, as other things often are, by the earnest and sanguine manner of youth. I told him that I was unhappy at my brother's prospects. For myself I saw my way to knowledge, respectability, and self-protection, but as to him, all looked the other way; that I would keep school, and get along as well as I could-be more than four years in getting through college, if necessary-provided he also could be sent to study.
" He said, at once, he lived but for his children; that he had but little, and on that little he put no value, except so far as it might be useful to them; that to carry us both through college would take all he was worth; that for himself he was willing to run the risk, but that this was a serious matter to our mother and two unmarried sisters ; that we must settle the matter with them, and if their consent was obtained he would trust to Providence and get along as well as he could."
The father laid the case before the mother. "The farm is al- ready mortgaged, and if we send Ezekiel to college it will take all we have ; but the boys think they can take care of us," he said.
It did not take the strong-hearted, sagacious woman long to de- cide the matter : " We can trust the boys."
The question was settled. Daniel went back to Hanover, while Ezekiel went, bundle in hand, to Dr. Wood's, and began the study of Latin. He spent two terms at a school kept at Salisbury, South Road village, and returned again to Dr. Wood's, where his expenses were about one dollar per week.
While thus studying and taking recreation beneath the magnifi_ cent beeches that stood before the house, he kept up a frequent correspondence with Daniel at Hanover. Ezekiel distrusted his ability to get on. Daniel makes this reply to him, in a letter written April 25, 1800:
" You tell me that you have difficulties to encounter which I know nothing of. What do you mean, Ezekiel? Do you mean to flatter ? That don't become you. Or do you think you are inferior to me in natural abilities? If so, be assured you greatly mistake. Therefore, in the future say in your letters to me, 'I am superior to you in natu- ral endowments; I will know more in one year than you do now, and more in six than you ever will.'
" I should not resent the language,-I should be very well pleased in hearing it; but be assured, as mighty as you are, your great puissance shall never insure you a victory without a contest."
.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
With such words Daniel endeavored to cheer the struggling elder brother.
In November, 1802, Daniel was at home in Salisbury, while Ezekiel was struggling with poverty at Hanover. Funds were getting low in the Webster homestead. Daniel writes under date of Nov. 4th :
" Now, Zeke, you will not read half a sentence, no, not one syllable before you have thoroughly searched this sheet for scrip ; but my word for it, you'll find no scrip here. We held a sanhedrim this morning ou the subject of cash. Could not hit upon any way to get you any. Just before we went away to hang ourselves through disappointment it came into our heads that next week might do. The truth is, father had an execution against Hubbard of N. Chester for about one hun- dred dollars. The money was collecting and just ready to drop into the hands of the creditors, when Hubbard suddenly died. This, you see, stays the execution till the long process of administering is completed.
" I have now by me two cents in lawful federal currency. Next week I shall send them, if they be all. They will buy a pipe; with a pipe you can smoke; smoking inspires wisdom; wisdom is allied to for- titude; from fortitude it is but one step to stoicism; and stoicism never pants for this world's goods ;- so perhaps my two cents, by this process, may put you quite at ease about cash. * * *
" We are all here just in the old way, always behind and lacking. Boys digging potatoes with frozen fingers, and girls washing without wood."
Two days later Ezekiel writes to Daniel. It is not an answer ; the letters doubtless passed each other on the way. Ezekiel, after giving a just criticism on the writings of Horace, thus closes his epistle :
" These cold frosty mornings very sensibly inform me that I want a warm great-coat. I wish, Daniel, it might be convenient to send me cloth for one, otherwise I shall be necessitated to purchase one here. I do not care what color it is, or what kind of cloth it is-anything that will keep the frost out. Some kind of shaggy cloth, I think, would be cheapest. Deacon Pettingill has written, offering me fourteen dollars a month [to keep school]. I believe I shall take it.
"Money, Daniel, money! As I was walking down to the office after a letter, I happened to have one cent, which is the only money I have had since the second day after I came on. It is a fact, Dan, that I was
Everal Webster
453
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
called on for a dollar where I owed it, and borrowed it, and have bor- rowed it four times since to pay those I borrowed of."
From a paragraph in a letter, written by Daniel to his class- mate, Bingham, of Lempster, it would appear that Ezekiel taught school in Sanbornton in December, 1803 :
" Zeke is at Sanbornton. He comes home once in a while, sits down before the kitchen fire, begins to poke and rattle the andirons. I know what is coming, and am mute. At length he puts his feet into the oven's mouth, places his right eyebrow up on his forehead, & begins a very pathetic lecture on the evils of poverty. It is like church service. He does all the talking, and I only say 'Amen! amen !'"'
Ezekiel's funds failed in the spring of 1804, and by permission of the Faculty he left Dartmouth, went to Boston, where he pur- chased the good-will of a private school, which he taught with great success till April, 1805. He was graduated at Dartmouth meanwhile in 1804, having spent but three years in college.
While earning a livelihood by teaching, he studied law with Gov. Sullivan, then attorney-general of Massachusetts. In 1806 lie studied with Parker Noyes, Esq., of Salisbury, next door to Judge Webster's house. Daniel having decided to leave Bos- cawen and take up his residence in Portsmouth, turned over his practice to Ezekiel, who entered upon his profession as a lawyer in Boscawen in the month of September, 1807. His legal knowl- edge and moral worth soon became known, and acquired for him an extensive business. He was not ambitious to excel as an orator, and it was only the urgent appeal of duty or the imperative obliga- tion to liis profession that overcame his instinctive aversion to a crowd, and called forth his highest powers of eloquence. He never encouraged litigation, but always used his personal influence to bring about a private adjustment of most of the contested matters originating in the town. He repeatedly represented the town in the legislature. He was educated a Federalist by his father, a Whig of 1776. He was old enough to remember the administra- tion of Washington, and believed with all his heart in the politi- cal principles adhered to by the Federal party, which was in a minority in the state after he came into public life. This adher- ence to political principle prevented his election to congress, and from holding other offices in the gift of the people.
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