Young Webster, whose career we have thus far followed in detail through the successive stages of his struggle with penury, was now no longer a farmer’s boy, but a full-fledged lawyer, of whom eminent men expected much.
Another important question was to be decided, Where should Daniel put up his shingle, and commence the practice of his profession? In Boston the field was larger, and the chances of attaining professional eminence were greater. Many of his friends counseled his remaining in the city. But up in New Hampshire was an old man whose life was nearly over, to whose last days his company would bring solace and comfort. What prospects, however brilliant, could overbalance this consideration? With filial devotion Daniel decided to settle in New Hampshire, in Boscawan, but a few miles from Salisbury, where he could see his father almost daily. Boston could wait, professional opportunities could wait. His father’s happiness must not be disregarded. So in the spring of 1805 he became a country lawyer in the same town where he had prepared for college.
Thirteen months later, in April, 1807, his father died.
[CHAPTER XVIII.]
D. WEBSTER, ATTORNEY.
This was the sign that our young lawyer attached to his office, in the town of Boscawan. The office was humble enough. It was on the second floor of a store, painted red, and the staircase leading to it was on the outside. His office rent was fifteen dollars a year, which certainly could not have been considered an extravagant sum.
Here it was that the future great lawyer commenced practice. Though his fees amounted to but six or seven hundred dollars a year, his practice extended over three counties, Hillsborough, Rockingham and Grafton. We infer from his meager income, though it was ample for his needs in a place where living was so inexpensive, that his clients had no occasion to complain of immoderate charges.
Judge Webster had the satisfaction of hearing his son make one speech in court, but he was so near the end of his earthly pilgrimage that he never heard another, being for the last few months confined within doors. The father listened with satisfaction, and regarded his son’s effort as a very creditable one.
Daniel’s sole object in establishing himself in an obscure country place was to be near his father, who he knew could not live many years. The end was nearer than he supposed, for he died little more than a year later. It may have been a sacrifice, but probably he lost nothing by it. The quiet seclusion gave him more time for study, and he was laying a broad groundwork for his future fame to rest upon.