fications, and in all was supposed to do so, without which professional and public life could not be entered upon with any hope of success. In New England, at that time, it was not a common occurrence that any one attained a respectable position in either of the professions, without this advantage. In selecting the members of the family who should enjoy the privilege, the choice not unfrequently fell upon the son whose slender frame and early indications of disease, unfitted him for the laborious life of our New England yeomanry.

While Daniel Webster was preparing to enter college, his friend, Dr. Wood, who was a Trustee of Dartmouth, was preparing the Faculty to receive him. The Doctor went to them personally to recommend Daniel, "not so much for what he had learned, as for what" he told them, "he could learn, if he had an opportunity." Mr. Thompson was also a member of the Board of Trustees, and their joint influence, with that of Dr. Abbott, and the respect in which Mr. Webster's father was held, procured the application of the young man a respectful consideration, and predisposed his examiners to be lenient.

It is noticeable how much the self-reliance of Daniel Webster had been increased by success,

and by the knowledge of what he could effect if he bent his energies to the work. He saw the young gentlemen at Dr. Wood's, who were to enter with him at college, fully prepared, and leisurely reviewing the books which he was first reading, with all the disadvantages of haste and want of time. Nevertheless, he persevered in his original intention.

The incidents of his journey to Dartmouth are among the most interesting passages of his boy life; and we dwell upon such, because it is for youth we are writing. The details of the events of the manhood of such men as Webster cannot be compressed within our space. And, in the larger and more elaborate works, which are devoted to the public life and services of statesmen, the particulars which we seek to preserve are passed over.

Daniel Webster's first Dartmouth suit was true blue, domestic manufacture, coat, vest, and pantaloons. The writer of this memoir remembers that homespun manufacture well-literally redolent of the substances which gave it its hue, stealing and giving color as well as odors, for, where the perspiration oozed from the skin, the colors struck in. Those, as we have already remarked, were

not the days of public conveyances. Daniel set out from home on horseback, his books and wardrobe packed in saddle-bags. Hardly had he left the house when a furious storm burst upon the traveller. It continued two days, and swelled the mountain streams, which he had to pass, to torrents, washing roads, and carrying away bridges. The delays which this inopportune tempest caused, protracted his journey, and, on his arrival, he had no time to lose. The Faculty was in session for the examination of candidates, and his presence was required immediately.

Professor Shurtleff, now one of the Faculty of Amherst College, entered the institution at the same time, as a student. with others, at what is

He says: "I put up,

He says:

now called the Olcott We were con

House, which was then a tavern.

ducted to a chamber where we might brush our clothes, and make ready for examination. A young man, a stranger to us all, was soon ushered into the room. Similarity of object rendered the ordinary forms of introduction needless. We learned that his name was Webster; also where he had studied, and how much Latin and Greek he had read, which, I think, was just to the limit

prescribed by the law at that period, and which was very much below the present requisition.

Daniel found, on attempting his toilet, that the fast colors of his new suit were fast in discharging from their proper place, and no less fast in adhering where they were not desired. He was blue throughout-linen and skin, and all. He improved his plight as well as he could, but after all his efforts, he says of himself, that he was not only "black Dan, but blue Dan." He stated what opportunities he had had, what time he had spent in preparation, and what books he had read, and recounted his wayside disaster. "Thus, you see me," he said, "as I am; if not entitled to your approbation, at least to your sympathy." The diffident boy among boys, could hold up his head before men. He answered the questions addressed to him without embarrassment, and with full possession and command of his resources. Like many other lads of nervous sensibility, he found what he had feared as a fiery ordeal, a much less severe trial than he expected, and was entered as a Freshman at Dartmouth College.

Hon. John Wheelock, LL. D., was President of Dartmouth College at the time of Mr. Webster's entrance. Hon. Bezaleel Woodward, and Rev.

John Smith, D. D., were among the Professors. These gentlemen, and particularly the latter, were so much impressed with his character and talents, that his Dartmouth experience proved a good recommendation to his further progress, as we shall presently see. Professor Shurtleff, whom we have already quoted, thus bears testimony to Mr. Webster's habits while at Dartmouth :

"Mr. Webster, while in college, was remarkable for his steady habits, his intense application to study, and his punctual attendance upon all the prescribed exercises. I know not that he was absent from a recitation, or from morning and evening prayers in the chapel, or from public worship on the Sabbath; and I doubt if ever a smile was seen upon his face during any religious exercise. He was always in his place, and with a decorum suited to it. He had no collision with any one, nor appeared to enter into the concerns of others, but emphatically minded his own business. But, as steady as the sun, he pursued with intense application the great object for which he came to college. This, I conceive, was the secret of his popularity in college, and his success in subsequent life."

Another authority, the writer of a paper in