JVilliam Campbell Preston. which we find within college walls. Jostling with the rough, outside world rubs off ex crescences and smooths down uneven places. It tries the temper but it proves the mettle. We are not at all surprised to find Mr. Preston deciding upon the law as his pro fession, and in the spring of 1813 entering upon its study. He belonged to a family which, almost from time immemorial, had been prominent in public life. He came from a State which, more, perhaps, than any other in the Union, loved politics and gen erated and fostered statesmanship. He had been educated in a college which took high rank as the foster-mother of orators and the nursery of statesmen. And then, again, he was a young man of fine natural endow ments, had already made a reputation for himself as an orator, and had graduated with distinction. It was the generally ac cepted and usual thing at that time in the South for young men, with the education and qualifications of Preston, to turn their attention to law, politics, and statesmanship. There seems to have been good judg ment displayed by some one all along through Mr. Preston's life. In many in stances no doubt the credit must be given to his father. When he began to study law, it was an exceedingly happy thought that he should enter as a pupil the office of the widely celebrated lawyer, William Wirt of Richmond. Intimacy and association with such a man is itself, I might almost say, a liberal education. A law-student learns sometimes almost as much outside of books as in them. The suggestions which an able old lawyer makes to his pupil are invalu able. And then, too, a friendship likely springs up between teacher and pupil, and we find the former lending to the latter a helping hand ever afterwards. We may rest assured that it was a wise step which Pres ton took, when he selected as his perceptor in the law William Wirt. On the approach of summer, however, we find his father removing him temporarily
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from the law office and dispatching him on a trip on horseback to the far West. I sus pect the father's tender regard for his son's health and constitution had a good deal to do with this change. And then we are told that Preston's father had another mo tive, — it was a part of his plan for the com plete education of his son. He wanted him to first become thoroughly acquainted with his own country and then to go abroad and spend a while in Europe in travel and study. The course which he mapped out for his son was wiser than that usually adopted by young men of means. Too many of our men, after graduating here, hurry to Europe to complete their course without first know ing something of their own country. The result is that they come home with their academic or professional degree and with the advantages afforded by travel abroad, and yet they have a very superficial knowl edge of their own land and people. Too frequently we have as the result an undue self-appreciation and an over-weening selfconceit. The course which Preston pur sued is far better. He built up his physical constitution, he acquainted himself with the habits and customs of his people, he added to his knowledge of human nature, he fami liarized himself with the extent, geography, climate, condition, and surroundings general ly of the great country in which he lived, and then he was in a condition to appreciate and enjoy life abroad. The trip which he took through this country was an extensive one. He traversed on horseback four thou sand miles, and it took him seven months, to make the journey. He travelled over the following States : Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. These were then rough countries, on the borders of civilization, abounding in natural resources, and teeming with future possibili ties, but, at that time, as far removed as possible from what Virginia had even then attained in point of refinement and culture. The benefit which he derived from the trip
