INFLUENCE OF DR. ABBOTT.

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his life in the execution of minor works, to which he attributed no value, only as they were studies preparing him for the grand design, and thus lived and died without ever touching the work which was to have immortalized his name.

After remaining in the school at Exeter about nine months, young Webster left, never to return to it; but the impressions made there upon his mind he never lost. He never lost any. thing, in fact, which he had once fairly possessed. Among the recollections of the academy, which he often mentioned, and which he carried with him to his grave, his early and continued veneration for his Preceptor took, perhaps, the most conspicuous place. Dr. Abbott was a wonderful man; he was universally respected by his pupils; and it has been thought by some, that he not only was the first to rouse the ambition of Daniel Webster to its utmost pitch, but imparted to him a portion of his own dignity of manner. He continued at the institution at Exeter till 1839; and, on his retirement, at the age of seventyseven, his scholars made it the occasion of a grand rally, from all parts of the Union, to the shades of the old academy. It must have been a scene of surpassing interest. The notices given of it in the public prints, though brief, and even meager, will help an imaginative mind to get an idea of the reality, and to look back, with an appreciating eye, on the influences so early at work on the destiny of Daniel Webster. "Having attained the age of seventy-seven years, and having filled the measure of his long and faithful services, Dr. Abbott announced his determination to resign his office at the conclusion of the summer term. This was to a large number of his pils, to all whose health or business would permit their attendance, a signal for a spontaneous rally once more around their venerable teacher and friend, to offer him a heart-felt tribute of gratitude and respect. His portrait, painted by Harding for the occasion, will faithfully transmit the lineaments of his countenance to after days. The dining hall, selected for the festival,

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was filled by a long procession of Dr. Abbott's former pupils, from all parts of the country, once more gladdened by the familiar salutation, and grown young again in the presence of their ancient instructor; renewing the friendships which time had interrupted; revisiting the homes of the hospitable inhabitants which had sheltered their early days; tracing once more the scenes of their boyish sports, and sadly bidding farewell to friends, whom most of them were to see no more. Political and all other divisions were, for the time, forgotten, as they listened to the eloquent and appropriate addresses of Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, and the other speakers, whom the occasion inspired. All eyes were directed to the man of the day. Dr. Abbott had prepared an address to the assembly. They clustered about him in breathless expectation. He arose to tender his acknowledgments and a parting benediction. The scenes and events of so many years came crowding upon his mind. His 'boys,' of days long gone by, were gathered in his presence with every demonstration of the warmest attachment. His eye fell upon those whom he had instructed, counseled, guided, and for whom his prayers had so often ascended to the throne of mercy. Some had fallen asleep. Perhaps at that moment of intense emotion, the image of his lamented son, taken from him in early life, might have passed before his mind, as it glanced from the present to the past. Overcome by the conflict of his emotion, he faltered and paused. His utterance was choked; his eyes were filled with tears; and he s uk into his seat, wholly unable to proceed, amid the sympa thy, the enthusiasm, and the overwhelming applause of the whole concourse."

The relative standing of Daniel Webster, as a scholar, while attending school at Exeter, will be sufficient to dissipate the idle stories set afloat by those who wish to give all the credit of his greatness to nature, and to depreciate the value of a thorough discipline, of a careful education. It was the practice, it would

FIRST SCHOLAR OF THE SCHOOL.

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seem, at Exeter academy, to place all new pupils at the foot of the lowest class, leaving each to demonstrate his fitness for a higher position. This regulation was always trying, and sometimes disheartening. It was so in the case of Daniel. He began at the bottom of the school; and, a poor country boy as he was, with a head too big for his slender body, and with eyes too large for his head, he may have made a laughable appear ance by the side of the boys from Boston, and other large towns, who came there well dressed, and with heads and eyes, probably, of no very remarkable expression. At all events, the city boys laughed at the country boy; and the country boy, with a soul as keen as the apple of an eye, was chagrined, discouraged, and almost despairing. All this, too, when en tirely unknown to himself, he was winning golden opinions from his teachers, and surprising them hourly by his masterly exhi bitions of mental power. After school, weary of his thoughts and sadly crest-fallen, he would go to his lodgings, to weep and study, to study and weep, in secret. His tutors encouraged him; but that availed him little, while the well-dressed boys laughed. His time, however, at length came. One morning, when he had been in school about a month, Mr. Nicholas Emery, who was then an instructor at Exeter, marshaled the boys of his department before him for a general recitation. It was then that the laughed-at boy, and the laughing boys, could meet face to face, and try the questions of laughing and of being laughed at, before a competent tribunal. When the recitation was over, and each one had done his best, the master gave his decision in the following language: "Webster, you will pass into the other room, and join a higher class. Boys, you will take your final leave of Webster, for you will never see him again!"

The next winter, after leaving Exeter, he devoted to study at home, and to teaching a class of young people of about his own age. His school assembled in the house of his uncle Wil

liam Webster, where he gave them all the instruction they re quired, without materially retarding the pro ress of his own in tellectual pursuits. The act of teaching, in fact, was doubtless of great benefit to him at that time. It gave him a fine op'portunity for reviewing his former studies; and it impressed upon his mind, more deeply than ever, the first rudiments of an English education, in which even our public men, and the greatest of them, are frequently deficient.

At the village of Boscawen, a place not far from Salisbury, lived the Rev. Samuel Wood, LL. D., a man of great learning, a patron of the young and aspiring, and an ardent friend of a liberal education. He graduated at Dartmouth, in 1779, with the highest honors of his class. His time, and talents, and means, were all devoted to the spread of piety and knowledge among the people of his charge. In the course of a long life, he is said to have helped, in one way or in another, more than one hundred and fifty pupils. Of these, more than a hundred entered college, nearly fifty became ministers of the gospel, about twenty became lawyers, some of whom were very eminent, and eight or ten became physicians. It is related, that, in his advanced years, he could count, among his older pupils, several governors, a number of councilors of state, some distinguished judges, and some members of congress. As an encourager of youth, as a mind to make his mark upon other minds, he was probably quite superior to Dr. Abbott. In his zeal for the cause of learning, he actually went about searching for the objects of his charity, and for those whose native abili ties gave promise of distinguished usefulness. Such a man could not fail to fall in with such a youth as Daniel Webster. The two met in Salisbury, and the result of the meeting could not be doubtful. Daniel soon after became a pupil of Dr. Wood, with whom he stayed several months, and who fully appreciated the remarkable capacities of his new acquaintance. The teacher had soon dore what was necessary to fit the scholar

IS TO GO TO COLLEGE.

47

for the university; but the idea of entering college, or of ever seeing more than the outside of one, had never dawned upon the highest summit of his ambition.

Dr. Wood, who was a prudent man, did not venture to men tion the matter of a college education to Daniel, until he had made due preparation for the announcement. He wrote to Dr Abbott. Dr. Abbott replied to Dr. Wood. Dr. Wood, with the letter of Dr. Abbott, and with his own warm heart and judicious head, went to Colonel Webster, the father of the youth, and laid his plan before him. It seemed to the father too great an undertaking. He was then poor, comparatively, at least not rich, when the size of his family is taken into consideration. He thought, too, that the act of sending one of his boys to col lege, while the others had had only the first rudiments of an education, would be an act of partiality. These, and all similar scruples, were finally overcome by the eloquence and zeal which accompanied the application. The question was at last decided. It was decided in the affirmative. Dr. Abbott and Dr. Wood were to open the door of Dartinouth; and Daniel Webster was to go to college.

The decision was made; but it was not reported to the one most interested. For several days, Daniel knew nothing of it. He was still studying his books, and pursuing his usual avocations, as if he was about finishing his literary course, pre paratory to his becoming a country schoolmaster. Colonel Webster seemed to be even coy about stating to Daniel the important result of his deliberations. The truth is, the father and the son were both exceedingly delicate in their sensibiliities; both would probably be moved by such a revelation; and a matter of this magnitude could not be mentioned by the one, or listened to by the other, excepting at a proper time, and under fitting circumstances. The time at length came. One day, as they were driving alone to Boscawen in a rude sleigh when the horses had slackened their speed in the ascent of a