TO
MY FRIEND AND COLLEGE CLASSMATE,
JUDGE ADDISON BROWN,
OF NEW YORK,
THIS VOLUME IS CORDIALLY INSCRIBED.

[CONTENTS.]

CHAPTERPAGE
I.The Cotton Handkerchief[9]
II.Daniel and his Father[17]
III.A Memorable Battle[25]
IV.An Important Step[33]
V.Daniel at Exeter Academy[41]
VI.Preparing for College[49]
VII.Daniel’s College Life[59]
VIII.Daniel Receives some Valuable Advice[67]
IX.Brotherly Love[71]
X.The Two Brothers[76]
XI.Daniel as an Orator[84]
XII.Studying Law[92]
XIII.How Daniel went to Fryeburg[97]
XIV.The Preceptor of Fryeburg Academy[101]
XV.The Next Two Years[109]
XVI.A Great Temptation[117]
XVII.Daniel Refuses a Clerkship[125]
XVIII.D. Webster, Attorney[133]
XIX.Daniel Overcomes a Bramble[141]
XX.“The Little Black Stable-Boy.”[150]
XXI.Why Daniel was sent to Congress[158]
XXII.Mr. Webster as a Member of Congress[166]
XXIII.John Randolph and William Pinkney[174]
XXIV.Mr. Webster in Boston[184]
XXV.The Oration at Plymouth[190]
XXVI.The Bunker Hill Oration[199]
XXVII.Adams and Jefferson[207]
XXVIII.Home Life and Domestic Sorrows[218]
XXIX.Called to the Senate[225]
XXX.The Beginning of a Great Battle[232]
XXXI.The Reply to Hayne[240]
XXXII.The Secret of Webster’s Power[256]
XXXIII.Honors Received in England[267]
XXXIV.Called to the Cabinet[275]
XXXV.Life at Marshfield[283]
XXXVI.The Seventh of March Speech[289]
XXXVII.Closing Scenes[296]
XXXVIII.Centennial Tributes[301]

[PREFACE.]

But thirty years have elapsed since the death of Daniel Webster, and there is already danger that, so far as young people are concerned, he will become an historic reminiscence. Schoolboys, who declaim the eloquent extracts from his speeches which are included in all the school speakers, are indeed able to form some idea of his great oratorical powers and the themes which called them forth; but I have found that young classical students, as a rule, know more of Cicero’s life than of his. It seems to me eminently fitting that the leading incidents in the life of our great countryman, his struggles for an education, the steps by which he rose to professional and political distinction, should be made familiar to American boys. I have therefore essayed a “story biography,” which I have tried to write in such a manner as to make it attractive to young people, who are apt to turn away from ordinary biographies, in the fear that they may prove dull.