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Show I TODAY IN HJSTORy" TUESDAY, JANUARY 18. Daniel Webster. In many way the most distinguished of all American statesmen and Orators, was born today ono hundred and twenty-eight years ago, In a humble llttlo farmhouse at Sails-bury, Sails-bury, New Hampshire "It docu not happen to mo. gfintlomnn, to bu born In a log cabin," wild Webster In ono of his political speeches, "but my elder brothers and sisters wen), born In a log cabin, rained arnld tho snowdrifts at a period so enrly that, when thu smoko llrsi rose from Its rude chimney and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of white man's habitation habi-tation between It and the sottlomenta on tho rivers of Canada Jf over I am ashamed of It. If ever I fall in nffec-tlonato nffec-tlonato veneration from hi in who reared it and defended It against savage- violence vio-lence and destruction, may my name and the name of my posterity bo blotted forever from the momory of mankind." Webster, as a youth, was sickly, and was spared the early labor common on the New England farm. Ho soon developed devel-oped a love for books, and when set at light work, such as watching tho saw hi his .father's mill, ho read during tho minutes the saw was making Its pas- When Webster was 13 there came to his father's house a member of tho United Slates congress. After he had gone, his father said to Daniel; "My son, that. Is a worthy man; he Is a member mem-ber of congress; he goes io Philadelphia und gets Jil a day, while I loll bore. It Is because he had an education and I had none. I was not ablo to give your elder brothers tho advantages of knowledge, knowl-edge, but I can do something for you. Exert yourself, improve your opportunities. opportuni-ties. Learn, learn, and when I am gone you wllltnot need to go through the snmo hardships which I havo undergone, and which havo mado mo an old man beforo my time." The following year bo was sent to Exeter. Ex-eter. He was a quick scholar, but the great gift that was to make him famous was not thus early revealed. Many years after he had becomo a great orator ho said to a friend: "I could not speak beforo be-foro the school. Many a piece did I commit com-mit to memory and rehearse in my room over and over again, but when the day came, and the schoolmaster called my name, and I saw all eyes turned on my seat, I could not raise- myself from It." This circumstance Is all tho moro ro-njarkablo ro-njarkablo when wo consider that this Now Hampshire youth, who was outdone by almost all his school fellows, should finally develop Into ono of the greatest orators this country h;is ever produced. Webster lives In the minds of the people peo-ple as the nation's greatest orator, who first gave adequate expression to tho patriotic pa-triotic fervor of his people. His ora tions ronn a literature breathing the sentiments of a nation In Its youth. He expounded the Constitution as no other man eould. As a lawyer, he was ono of the greatest tho world has seen, and a statesman, but first of all ho was a man of heart, who felt In his bosom tho ten-dercst ten-dercst emotions, and who was ablo to arouse In the hearts of others the same emotion through tho gift of sympathy and golden speech. As an American he was tho noblest typo. On January IS, 1871, tho German empiro em-piro was ro-establlshod, and it was on this day that Richard C. Taylor, tho first maker of geographical maps, was born In 17S9. and the "gag law" was adopted by congress In 1S.'17. |