Self-Made Men. (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1858 Excerpt: ... DANIEL WEBSTER This renowned statesman and eloquently intellectual man was born at Salisbury, Merrimac County, New Hampshire, on the 18th of January, 1782. In the immediate vicinity his ancestors (who were of Scotch descent) had lived from the earliest times. The house in. which he was born was the centre of a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land, on the produce of which the family depended. His father was a man of large and stalwart form, of swarthy complexion, and of remarkable features; of clear intellect, strong convictions, and indomitable will. Many of these traits, especially the last, survived in his illustrious son. From his mother Daniel Webster received the first rudiments of an education. Mrs. Webster is described as an unusually beautiful woman, of superior intellect and of the warmest affections. She prophesied that her son would become eminent, and lived to see a portion of the prophecy fulfilled. He was a member of Congress when she died. About half a mile from the farm was a log school-house kept by Master Tappan. To this primitive academy the little Daniel repaired when he could be spared from home. "He was the brightest boy in the school," wrote the master many years afterward, "and Ezekiel next; but Daniel was much quicker at his studies than his brother. He would learn more in five minutes than another boy in five hours. One Saturday, I remember, I held up a handsome new jack-knife to the scholars, and said, the boy who would commit to memory the greatest number of verses in the Bible by Monday morning should have it. Many of the boys did well; but when it came to Daniel's turn to recite, I found that he had committed so much, that, after hearing him repeat some sixty or seventy verses, I was obliged to give up, he telling me th...