Daniel Webster. ing the house, a young woman answered his call, of whom he asked for Abigail East man. She replied that that was her name, when he handed her his letter, was invited to enter, and before he left the house the business was satisfactorily concluded. They were married Oct. 13, 1774. She was a tailoress by trade, going from house to house as her services were needed. Her father was the owner of a small farm a short distance from Newburyport on the opposite side of the river. The family came from Wales, and settled first in Salisbury, Mass. She had two brothers, Ezekiel and Daniel, for whom she named her boys. Both of Mr. Webster's parents were of humble origin, inured to toil. Yet they gave birth to a son by whom they have been more honored than if they could have traced their blood through a thou sand titled and senseless ancestors. The father died in 1806, too early to know of his son's fame, though he heard his first effort at the bar. His mother survived till 1 8 16, and lived long enough to be proud of her son. Mr. Webster died Sunday morning, as the day was breaking, Oct. 24, 1852, and old people well remember the sadness that passed over the land with the tidings, to most unexpected. The papers for days were full of his life, his intellect, and his services. One paper said, " His greatness and fame have become such a part of our country, we did not think we could ever lose him." To quote from Mr. Choate, "His plain neighbors loved him, and one said as he was laid in the grave, ' Howr lonesome the world seems! ' " Eulogies were delivered all over the country, and party feeling was hushed in the wish to honor his memory. His failings — for he had them — were for the time forgotten. The most remarkable eulogy was that of Rufus Choate, whose heart was so full of love for his great personal friend, before the Alumni of Dartmouth College, the
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DANIEL WOSTER. (From a daguerreotype by Brady).
common Alma Mater. It was a fine speci men of the style of this gifted orator. One sentence fills over four pages of the printed copy. He traced Mr. Webster's career, and dwelt, specially, on the rare spectacle of great eminence at the bar and in public life. "When he died he was the first of American lawyers, the first of American statesmen." He spoke of the charm of his social inter course, and no one could testify better than one whose relations with him had been so close as Mr. Choate's. " From these con versations of friendship no man — no man, old or young — went away to remember one word of profanity, one allusion of indelicacy, one impure thought, one unbelieving sug gestion, one doubt cast on the reality of virtue, of patriotism, of enthusiasm, of the progress of man — one doubt cast on right eousness, or temperance, or judgment to come." To this moral tribute from one who knew him so intimately, it may be added that when a young man he united with the Con gregational Church at Salisbury, and never severed his connection. He inherited re spect for religion. Prof. Roswell D. Hitchcock, the eminent
