CHAPTER II.
BENCH AND BAR.

THE first term of the Superior Court of Judicature in Merrimack County was held in Concord in January,1824. This was the first time that Concord had enjoyed the presence of a duly established court of law. The members of the bar of the county at this term convened and were duly organized as the Merrimack County bar, and during one of the first evenings of the session a bar supper was celebrated at the inn of J. P. Gass, which was located near the present site of Sanborn�s block, on Main Street. The venerable George W. Nesmith, of Franklin, is the only surviving member of those present on that occasion.

PETER GREEN, son of Nathaniel Green, was one of the earliest lawyers in the State. He was born in Worcester, Mass., 1746; opened an office in Concord, 1767. He was chosen State councilor in 1788 and 1789. He died March 27, 1798, aged fifty-two.

HON. TIMOTHY WALKER was the only son of Rev. Timothy Walker, and was born upon the paternal farm in Rumford, June 27, 1737. He is said, when a boy, to have been a great favorite of the Indians living in the vicinity. Entertaining a deep reverence and affection for his father, he naturally inclined to him, and, as tradition says,were wont to take him on visits to their wigwams,assuring his mother, who did not altogether relish such civilities, that �Indians no hurt minister�s pappoose.� This promise was never broken, and he was always returned in safety, although oftentimes modified much in appearance, from the Indians having painted his face in glowing colors, and garlanded his head with gaudy feathers.

His father gave early attention to his education, and sent him, when fifteen years of age, to Harvard College. He remained there during the regular course and graduated in 1756. The two years ensuing he spent in teaching school at Bradford, Mass. Upon leaving Bradford, having in the mean time chosen theology as his profession, he commenced a course of study and pursued it most probably with his father. Having completed his theological studies, he was examined at the association meeting in Haverhill, Mass., and licensed to preach September 11, 1759.

Mr. Walker was never a settled pastor, but preached occasionally for about six years. During the last absence of his father in England, in 176263, he supplied his pulpit in Rumford. He preached many times from 1761 to 1764 in Rindge, where he received a call to settle, which he declined. In the summer of 1765 he preached six Sabbaths at Pigwacket (now Fryeburg), Me., which seems to have been about the last of his preaching, soon after which he relinquished the profession of the ministry.

From his diary it appears that on the 25th of November, 1765, he concluded a partnership agreement with Colonel Andrew McMillan, and engaged with him in trade in Rumford, in the southerly part of the village. They continued in business together but for a single year. Soon after their separation Mr. Walker opened a store near the residence of his father, and there continued his mercantile pursuits until about the beginning of the Revolution. During this period he W*Y also engaged in the manufacture of potash, which was disposed of in the lower towns of the province. Some portions of the works erected for this purpose remained n&l within a recent period, the well, stoned up from the bottom, being in good condition today.

Mr. Walker was married, some time previous to 1764, to his cousin, Susannah Burbeen, daughter of Rev. Joseph Burbeen, of Woburn, Mass., who died in Concord, September 28,1828, at the age of eighty-two. They had fourteen children, ten of whom lived to mature life.

Upon the commencement of hostilities with Great Britain, Mr. Walker, like his father, warmly espoused the patriot cause, and seconded with zeal the measures adopted for the security of American liberty. His whole time seems now to have been devoted to the service of his country. The town of Concord chose him a delegate to the Fourth Provincial Congress, which assembled at Exeter, on the 17th of May, 1775, and he took an active interest in the very important measures which came before that body. On the 20th of May he was appointed a member of the Committee of Supplies, constituted to act in conjunction with the Committee of Safety, and procure supplies for the New Hampshire troops, at this time in the vicinity of Boston. On the 20th of August he, with Ichabod Rawlings, Esq., was sent to the army to ascertain the losses sustained at the battle of Bunker Hill by each of the officers and soldiers of the New Hampshire forces, and in behalf of the province to make them compensation, as well as to secure to them supplies and advance a month�s pay to such as had enlisted in the Continental service. The action of the Provincial Congress upon the report subsequently made of their doings affords evidence that those duties were performed to their acceptance.

About the 1st of September of this year the New Hampshire Congress passed an act creating four regiments of MinuteMen equal in number to about one-fourth part of the then existing militia of the province. These were to meet to drill once in every two weeks, and to be ready for service at a moment�s warning. Mr. Walker was commissioned colonel of the Third Regiment September 5, 1775, and exerted himself to train and fit for duty the forces under his command.

From the 4th to the 16th of October we find him acting as paymaster of the New Hampshire troops at Winter Hill, commanded by Colonels Stark, Poor and Reid, and again, on the 27th of December, he was appointed by the Fifth Provincial Congress paymaster of the same forces.

The Fifth Provincial Congress was succeeded, January 6, 1776, by the first House of Representatives, organized under the temporary constitution and composed of the same members. Its journal shows Colonel Walker to have been one of the committee of three appointed by the House � to make a draft of the declaration of this General Assembly for independence of the United Colonies.� The committee reported a draft June 15, 1776, which was at once adopted and a copy of it sent to the Continental Congress, then in session at Philadelphia.

At a date not long subsequent to this event Colonel Walker was made one of the committee to devise a systematic plan of finance, by means of which the payment of the debts of the State might be provided for and funds raised for present and future purposes.

When, on the 14th of March, 1776, the Continental Congress sent out the Association Test, to be signed by all friendly to the patriot cause, Colonel Walker most cheerfully signed the copy sent to Concord, and it was through his influence, in part at least, that, of the one hundred and fifty-six to whom it was presented for signature in that town, not one declined subscribing to it his name.

Colonel Walker was this year a member of the Committee of Safety and served in that capacity until the 20th of June, 1770. During the next three years -viz., from December 18, 1776, to December 15, 1779 --he was a member of the Council, associated with Meshech Weare, Josiah Bartlett, Nicholas Gilman and others of like character, men of the purest patriotism, whose names New Hampshire will ever cherish. On the 26th of March, 1777, he was chosen by the Legislature a delegate to the Continental Congress, and again, at three subsequent times, in 1778, 1782 and 1784, but it is not certain that he ever attended. He was sent from Concord a delegate to each of the New Hampshire Constitutional Conventions of 1778 and 1781, and also to that of 1791, to revise the constitution.

In 1777 he retired from the more stirring scenes connected with the war, and accepted the office of a justice of the Court of Common Pleas, which he continued to hold until 1809, being for the last five years a chief justice. The courts were held alternately at Exeter and Portsmouth, and Judge Walker made his journeys to and from those places on horseback.

Upon the organization of the Republican party in New Hampshire, in 1798, Judge Walker was selected for its first candidate for Governor, and was run against John Taylor Gilman, who had already been the incumbent of the office in previous years, and was one of the strongest men of the Federal party, at that time in large majority throughout the State. Governor Gilman was the successful candidate, receiving nine thousand three hundred and ninety-seven votes out of the whole number of twelve thousand one hundred and fifty-three thrown, and Judge Walker seven hundred and thirty-four. Twice afterwards--viz., in 1800 and 1801--he was the Republican candidate for Governor, receiving the former year six thousand and thirty-nine, and the latter five thousand two hundred and forty-nine votes, the whole number of votes cast being between sixteen thousand and seventeen thousand.

Although mingling largely in State affairs, Mr. Walker did not withhold himself from a participation in the management of the more limited business of his native town. In this sphere he was also prominent. He was moderator of the annual town-meeting in 1779 and every year afterwards, with the exception of ten, until 1809, serving in that capacity no less than twenty-one years. He was also town clerk from 1769 up to and including 1777, and one of the selectmen of the town for twenty-five years between 1769 and 1802, being chairman of the board every year during this period except four.

He ever took a lively interest in everything tending to advance the prosperity of Concord. Being a representative to the Legislature, which was holden at Exeter in 1781, and finding some dissatisfaction among the members relative to accommodations furnished there, he proposed to them that if they would adjourn to meet at Concord, they should be as well served and at one-half of the expense. The proposal was accepted, and upon his return home he informed his townsmen of the manner in which he had committed them, and they at once pledged themselves to make good his engagement to the best of their several abilities. The next year the Legislature assembled in Concord for the first time, meeting first at the meetinghouse, but adjourning, immediately after coming together, to a hall prepared for them in a building now standing near the southwest corner of Main and Penacook Streets.

In 1798 we find him greatly interested in the improvement of the sacred music of the town, and the records of the Concord Musical Association show him to have been its first president. Indeed, Judge Walker seems to have been intimately connected with most of the Concord enterprises of his day. He was one of the original proprietors of Federal bridge, which was incorporated in 1795, and crossed the Merrimac at East Concord village. Three years after, he became one of the members of �The Proprietors of the Concord Library.�

In 1806 the Concord Bank was incorporated by the Legislature, and irreconcilable differences of opinion arising at the meeting of the grantees for organization, two banks with different officers, but bearing the same name, were organized under the same charter,one located at the north end and the other at the southerly end of Main Street. Each did a successful business for twenty years, at the expiration of which period they were organized under separate charters. Of the upper bank Judge Walker was the first president, and continued for several years. Upon most, or all, of the old subscription papers for procuring money for local purposes,which have been preserved, his name stands prominent, evincing his constant interest in the public enterprises of his native town.

In 1774, largely through his influence and efforts, a township of land upon the Androscoggin River, in Maine, was granted by the General Court of Massachusetts to the proprietors of Concord or their descendants, to indemnify them, in part, for expenses and losses incurred in consequence of the long controversy with the alleged proprietors of Bow. This grant afforded good lands upon favorable terms to the children of the original settlers of Concord, and many emigrated to that locality and established the present town of Rumford. Of these lands Judge Walker eventually became a large proprietor and afforded substantial aid to many young families of limited means in establishing themselves in life. Some of these lands descended to his children and to his children�s children, while some are still held by his great-grandchildren, who are today among the prosperous farmers of Rumford.

Notwithstanding his multitudinous avocations of a more or less public character, Judge Walker always kept and managed with care the large farm left him by his father. He increased, rather than diminished, its original area. Situated, as this was, upon the very edge of the village, it afforded him a convenient residence, and at the plain mansion which sheltered him and his family he dispensed, for a long series of years, a plain hospitality to multitudes of friends and acquaintances who sought his society.

"My son, you must not pull down the old barn in my day,� he said, on one occasion, to his youngest son and successor upon the farm. �You can build as many new ones as you like. That was Parson Walker�s barn; it has never failed to afford shelter and feed to the horse of the visitor who has knocked at our door; let it stand as long as I last.� And a new barn went up, but "Parson Walker�s barn� remained standing until the worthy judge had rested from his labors a half-score of years and more.

In person, Judge Walker was of medium size, being about five feet ten inches in height and having rounded and well-developed limbs. In later life he was a little inclined to fulness. He had a placid, open countenance, a nose somewhat prominent and a full, blue eye. His walk was erect and his bearing dignified. He possessed an active, vigorous mind and a well-balanced judgment. He had keen perceptive faculties, which, aided by the experience gained by long intercourse with men, enabled him to form quickly correct opinions of the characters and motives of those with whom he came in contact. While cautious, he was yet of a sanguine temperament; hopeful, also, when others despaired, and rarely given to despondency. He had a cheerful disposition; he was reasonable in his expectationo and charitable in his judgments. Careful in the choice of his plans, as well as patient in their execution, he was generally successful. Democratic and affable, he was on familiar terms with all about him. Rejoicing in the welfare of his townsmen, he was ever ready to do them kind services. He manifested a particular interest in the young men of the town, and not a few, just starting in life, received from him counsel or encouragement or pecuniary aid, which assisted them greatly in overcoming first obstacles and nerved them to exertions which secured the foundations of future prosperity.

When at length old age came upon him, he met it cheerfully and manfully. For several years previous to 1822 he had been somewhat infirm, but still en-joyed life in a good degree. His children were prosperously and respectably settled in their different avocations, a part of them near about him. He had frequent evidence of the respect entertained for him by his fellow-citizens; he had an inward consciousness of having done what he could to be useful in his day and generation; he had entire confidence in the revelations of the Sacred Scriptures and an humble hope that the infinite atonement of the Son of God might attach to him. On the 5th of May, 1822, in the bosom of his family, he died, a virtuous and a happy old man, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Truly, �The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness.�

EDWARD ST. LOE LIVERMORE, son of Hon. Samuel Livermore, born in Londonderry, 1761, entered upon his profession in Concord, 1783; solicitor for Rockingham County, 1791-93; judge in the Superior Court of Judicature, 1797-99; then resided at Portsmouth. He was also member of Congress from Massachusetts. He was the father of the celebrated Harriet Livermore, born in Concord April 14, 1788. He died at Tewksbury, Mass., September 15, 1832, aged seventy-one.

THOMAS W. THOMPSON, son of Deacon Thomas Thompson, of Boston, born March 10, 1766; graduated at Harvard University, 1786; was tutor in college, 1789; aid to General Lincoln at the time of �Shay�s Rebellion;� commenced the practice of law at Salisbury, 1791; representative from that town in the State Legislature; chosen representative to Congress, 1805-07; in 1810 treasurer of the State, when he moved to Concord; speaker of the House in the State Legislature, 1813 and 1814; Senator in Congress, 1814-17; elected trustee of Dartmouth College in 1801, which office he held till his death. Mr. Thompson was an accomplished gentleman, distinguished for the dignity and urbanity of his manners, for integrity and piety. He held the office of deacon in the First Church in Concord from 1818 till his death. He died of pulmonary consumption, October 10, 1821, aged fifty-five years.

ARTHUR LIVERMORE, judge, brother of Edward St. Loe Livermore, opened an office in Concord in 1792; soon moved to Chester, thence to Holderness. He died July, 1853, aged eighty-seven years.

SAMUEL GREEN, judge, son of Nathaniel Green, born March 7, 1770, read law in the office of his brother, Peter Green, Esq.; commenced practice in Concord, 1793; associate justice of the Superior Court from 1819 to 1840, when he retired on account of the constitutional limit of age. He was then appointed to a clerkship at Washington, where he continued till his death, March, 1851, aged eighty-one years.

PHILIP CARRIGAIN, son of Dr. Philip Carrigain, was born in Concord in 1772, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1794; studied law with Arthur Livermore, Esq., and settled in practice in his native town. He was Secretary of State, clerk of the Senate and was often employed in public business. He died March 15, 1842, aged seventy years.

MOODY KENT, son or Joseph Kent, was born in Newbury, Mass., May 22, 1779; graduated at Harvard College, 1801; admitted to the bar in 1804; practiced in Deerfield nearly five years; came to Concord in September, 1809, where he remained in practice till 1832, when he withdrew from business.

ISAAC GATES, graduated at Harvard College, 1802; was in Concord a short time in 1814; died in Harvard, Mass., in November, 1852.

LYMAN B. WALKER, from Gilford, while Attorney-General of the State, from 1843 to --, resided in Concord.

SAMUEL FLETCHER, born in Plymouth, July 31, 1785; graduated at Dartmouth College, 1810; opened an office in Concord, 1815; trustee of Darmouth College; trustee and treasurer of Phillips Academy and Theological Seminary, at Andover, from 1841 to 1850.

NATHANIEL GOOKIN UPHAM was born in Deerfield, N. H., January 8, 1801. His parents removed to Rochester the following year. He pursued his studies preparatory to college at Exeter Academy; entered Dartmouth in 1816; was a faithful student, and graduated with honor in 1820.

Immediately after his graduation, Mr. Upham commenced the study of law. After being admitted to the bar, he practiced his profession in Bristol until 1829, when he removed to Concord.

Four years later Mr. Upham was appointed one of the associate justices of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. This honor was the more complimentary as he was only thirty-two years of age. With the single exception of Hon. Levi Woodbury, he was the youngest man who had been placed upon the bench of New Hampshire. He discharged with faithfulness and ability the duties devolving upon him until 1843, when he resigned and was appointed superintendent of the Concord Railroad. Some years later, the business of the road having greatly increased, he relinquished the superintendency and was made president. In the management of its affairs for twenty-three years he used great wisdom and judgment, giving to it his best thoughts, his legal knowledge and experience, ever planning wisely and successfully for the enlargement of its business, with, remarkable prudence, foresight and perseverance. He held the office of president till 1866, when his connection with the railroad ceased.

In 1853, Judge Upham was appointed commissioner, on the part of the government of the United States, to confer with a similar commissioner appointed by the English government, and to decide upon certain claims brought by citizens of either country against the government of the other. These claims had been growing in number and amount for forty years. This commission met in London in September, 1853, Edmund Hornby, Esq., acting on the part of Great Britain. They considered all claims presented, pronouncing upon each a deliberate and final judgment, and in accordance with these decisions the claims were paid by the respective governments, amounting in the aggregate to many millions of dollars.

In 1862, Judge Upham was called to act in a similar service, that of umpire in the commission appointed by government for the settlement of claims between the United States and New Granada.

In politics Judge Upham was a Democrat for many years. Though decided in his political principles, he was not a politician. His influence was exercised rather by private suggestions and the weight of his general character.

In 1850 he was chairman of the business committee of the convention called to amend the Constitution of New Hampshire.

In 1865 and 1866 he was a member of the Legislature, and earnest in advocating the proposed amendment of the National Cionstitution. He was also at this time chairman of the committee to remodel the State-House.

In the struggle between the North and the South Judge Upham took an open and decided stand at once on the side of the government, in the exercise of all the influence he could exert, by addresses delivered on public occasions, as well as by letters and essays published in the leading newspapers. He accepted heartily the emancipation proclamation, both as to its expediency and constitutionality as a war measure.

There was in Judge Upham, beneath all the business and professional life, a strong literary taste. He wrote with ease, and wrote much. His style was clear and forcible, at times eloquent, and many valuable articles from his pen were published.

For more than forty years he resided in Concord, prosperity of the city. He was interested in all wise measures for the public good, and his was a leading mind in devising methods of improvement, and very efficient in carrying them into eflect. His fellow-citizens learned to place great confidence in his knowing that his opinions were given after a careful consideration of the subject. He was a man of uprightness, true to his engagements, faithful to erery contract, doing what he regarded as right in the sight of God and man. He was a leading member of the South Congregational Church from its organization, and did much for its stability and prosperity.

Judge Upham was twice married, first to Miss Betsy W. Lord. of Kennebunkport, Me. She died in Concord, August 17, 1833, leaving two children, both of whom survive,--Rev. Nathaniel L. Upham, of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Joseph B. Walker, of Concord. His second wife was Miss Eliza W. Burnham, of Pembroke. The children of this marriage are not living. An infant daughter died in 1844, and Mr. Francis A. Upham, April 8, 1867, aged twenty-nine years. Mrs. E. W. Upham died April 14, 1882.

�But the most honored life must come to a close.� Never a strong or robust man, yet, with prudence and care he was ever able to perform well the duties of the hour. A few days� illness terminated a useful life, and Nathaniel Gookin Upham died December 11, 1869, aged sixty-nine.

STEPHEN C. BADGER, a native of Warner, born April 12, 1797; graduated at Dartmouth College, 1823; admitted to the bar, 1826; came to Concord from New London, 1833; was clerk of the courts of Merrimack County from 1834 to 1846; police magistrate several years previous to the adoption of the city charter.

DAVID PILLSBURY, born in Raymond, whence his father soon removed to Candia; a graduate of Dartmouth College, 1827; practiced law in Chester from 1830 to 1854, when he opened an office in Concord. Several years was a major-general in the New Hampshire militia.

HAMILTON HUTCHINS, A.M., son of the late Abel Hutchins, born July 10, 1805; graduated at Dartmouth College, 1827; admitted to the bar in Concord, 1830; was highly esteemed for his amiable temper and gentlemanly manners.

GEORGE MINOT, born in Bristol; graduated at Dartmouth College, 1828; admitted to the bar, 1831; practiced in his profession at Gilmanton, Bristol and Concord. He was cashier of the Mechanics� Bank in Concord.

CALVIN AINSWORTH, a native of Littleton, born August 22, 1807; admitted to the bar, 1835; came to Concord from Littleton, 1843; register of probate for Merrick County five years, and first police justice of the city of Concord, 1853.

EPHRAIM EATON, a native of Candia; graduated at Dartmouth College, 1833; studied law with Samuel Fletcher, Esq., and opened an office in Concord, 1837, where he continued in business until 1853.

NEHEMIAH BUTLER, born at Pelham, Fehruary 22, 1824; studied law with Asa Fowler, Esq., of Concord, and at the Law School in Harvard University; commenced practice at Fisherville, 1843; was appointed clerk of the Superior Court and Court of Common Pleas for the county of Merrimack, and removed to Concord, 1852, where he resided until his death.

HON. EZEKIEL WEBSTER, elder brother of Daniel, was born in Salisbury, April 11, 178O. The first nineteen years of his life were spent on his father�s farm, and it was settled in the mind of Judge Webster that he was to remain at home and be a farmer, while Daniel, who had less physical strength in childhood, who seems to have had little inclination for farming, was to be educated to one of the learned professions.

Daniel entered college in 1797. It troubled him, howovcr, to think that Ezekiel was at home plodding on the farm while he was obtaining an education. He says in his autobiography,--

   �I soon began to grow uneasy at my brother's situation. His prospects were not promising, and he himself felt and saw this, and had aspirations beyond his condition. Nothing was proposed, however, by way of change of plan. till two years later.
   �In the spring of 1799, at the May vacation, being then a sophomore, I visited my family, and then held serious consultation with my brother. I remember well when we went to bed we began to talk matters over, and that we rose after sunrise without having shut our eyes. But we had settled our plan.
   �He had thought of going into some new part of the country. That ww discussed and disagreed to. All the pros and cons of the question of remnining at home were weighed and considered, and when our council broke up, or, rather, got up, its results were that I should propose to my father that he, late as it was, should be sent to school, and also to college. This we knew would be a trying thing to my father and mother and two unmarried sisters. My father was growing old, his health not good and his circumstances far from easy. The farm was to be carried on, and the family taken care of; and there was nobody to do all this but him who was regarded as the main stay, that is to say, Ezekiel. However, I ventured on the negotiation, and it was carried, as other things often are, by the earnest and sanguine manner of youth. I told him that I was unhappy at my brother�s prospects. For myself I saw my way to knowledge, respectability and self-protection, but as to him, all looked the other way; that I would keep school, and get along as well as I could--be more than four years in getting through college, if necessary--provided he also could be sent to study.
   "He said, at once, he lived but for his children; that he had but little, and on that little he put no value, except so far as it might be useful to them; that to carry us both through college would take all he was worth; that for himself he was willing to run the risk, but that this was a serious matter to our mother and two unmarried sisters; that we must settle the matter with them, and if their consent was obtained, he would trust to Providence and get along as well as he could.�

The father laid the case before the mother. � The farm is already mortgaged, and if we send Ezekiel to college, it will take all we have; but the boys think they can take care of us,� he said.

It did not take the strong-hearted, sagacious woman long to decide the matter: �We can trust the boys."

The question wae settled. Daniel went back to Hanover, while Ezekiel went, bundle in hand, to Dr. Wood�s, and began the study of Latin. He spent two terms at a school kept at Salisbury, South Road village, and returned again to Dr. Wood�s, where his expenses were about one dollar per week.

While thus studying and taking recreation beneath the magnificent beeches that stood before the house, he kept up a frequent correspondence with Daniel at Hanover. Ezekiel distrusted his ability to get on. Daniel made this reply to him, in a letter written April 25, 1800,--

   �You tell me that you have difficulties to encounter which I know nothing of. What do you mean, Ezekiel? Do you mean to flatter? That don�t become you. Or do you think you are inferior to me in natural abilities? If so, be assured you greatly mistake. Therefore, in the future say in your letters to me, �I am superior to you in natural endowments; I will know more in one year than you do now, and more in six than you ever will.�
   �I should not resent the language,--I should be very well pleased in hearing it; but be assured, as mighty as you are, your great puissance shall never insure you a victory without a contest.�

With such words Daniel endeavored to cheer the struggling elder brother.

In November, 1802, Daniel was at home in Salisbury, while Ezekiel was struggling with poverty at Hanover. Funds were getting low in the Webster homestead. Daniel writes under date of November 4th,--

   "Now, Zeke, you will not read half a sentence, no, not one syllable before you have thoroughly searched this sheet for scrip; but my word for it, you�ll find no scrip here. We held a sanhedrim this morning on the subject of cash. Could not hit upon any way to get you any. Just before we went away to hang ourselves through disappointment it came into our heads that next week might do. The truth is, father had an execution against Hubbard, of N. Chester, for about one hundred dollars. The money was collecting and just ready to drop into the hands of the creditors, when Hubbard suddenly died. This, you see, stays the execution till the long process of administering is completed.
   �I have now by me two cents in lawful federal currency. Next week I shall send them, if they be all. They will buy a pipe; with a pipe you can smoke; smoking inspires wisdom; wisdom is allied to fortitude; from fortitude it is but one step to stoicism; and stoicism never pants for this world�s goods;--so perhaps my two cents, by th1s process, may put you quite at ease about cash.
   �We are all here just in the old way, always behind and lacking. Boys digging potatoes with frozen fingers, and girls washing without wood.�

Two days later Ezekiel writes to Daniel. It is not an answer; the letters doubtless passed each other on the way. Ezekiel, after giving a just criticism on the writings of Horace, thus closes his epistle,-

   These cold, frosty mornings very sensibly inform me that I want a warm great-coat. I wish, Daniel, it might be convenient to send me cloth for one; otherwise I shall be necessitated to purchase one here. I do not care what color it is, or what kind of cloth it is--anything that will keep the frost out. Some kind of shaggy cloth, I think, would be cheapest. Deacon Pettingill has written, offering me fourteen dollars a month (to keep school). I believe I shall take it.
   "Money, Daniel, money! As I was walking down to the office after a letter, I happened to have one cent, which is the only money I have had since the second day after I came on. It is a fact, Dan, that I was called on for a dollar where I owed it, and borrowed it, and have borrowed it four times since to pay those I borrowed of.�

From a paragraph in a letter written by Daniel to his classmate, Bingham, of Lempster, it would appear that. Ezekiel taught school in Sanbornton in December, 1803,--

"Zeke is at Sanbornton. He comes home once in while, sits down before the kitchen fire, begins to poke and rattle the andirons. I know what is coming, and am mute. At length he puts his feet into the oven�s mouth, place his right eyebrow up on his forehead, & begins a very pathetic lecture on the evils of poverty. It is like church service. He does all the talking, and I only say �Amen! amen!��

Ezekiel�s funds failed in the spring of 1804, and by permission of the faculty he left Dartmouth, went to Boston, where he purchased the good-will of a private school, which he taught with great success till April, 1805. He was graduated at Dartmouth meanwhile, in 1804, having spent but three years in college.

While earning a livelihood by teaching, he studied law with Governor Sullivan, then Attorney-General of Massachusetts. In 1806 he studied with Parker Noyes, Esq., of Salisbury, next door to Judge Webster�s house. Daniel having decided to leave Boscawen and take up his residence in Portsmouth, turned over his practice to Ezekiel, who entered upon his profession as a lawyer in Boscawen in the month of September, 1807. His legal knowledge and moral worth soon become known, and acquired for him an extensive business. He was not ambitious to excel as an orator, and it was only the urgent appeal of duty or the imperative obligation to his profession that overcame his instinctive aversion to a crowd, and called forth his highest powers of eloquence. He never encouraged litigation, but always used his personal influence to bring about a private adjustment of most of the contested matters originating in the town. He repeatedly represented the town in the Legislature. He was educated a Federalist by his father, a Whig of 1776. He was old enough to remember the administration of Washington, and believed with all his heart in the political principles adhered to by the Federal party, which was in a minority in the State after he came into public life. This adherence to political principles prevented his election to Congress, and from holding other offices in the gift of the people.

Although devoted to his profession, he loved agriculture, and retained the homestead at Salisbury after his father�s death, which occurred in 1806. He was one of the projectors and an active member of the Merrimack Agricultural Society, and was active in advancing improved methods of husbandry.

He was simple in his tastes, kind, genial, polite, and a perfect gentleman. He attended to all the details of life, served as assessor in the religious society, and as committeeman for the school district. He looked upon Dr. Wood as a loving child looks upon a devoted parent. A member of the bar spending a Sabbath with Mr. Webster and hearing Dr. Wood, took occasion to disparage the sermon. Mr. Webster replied, pointedly and with spirit, that he doubted the gentleman�s ability to appreciate the performance. He was ever Dr. Wood�s confidential friend and adviser. Together they planned the establishing of Boscawen Academy. Mr. Webster contributed fully three hundred dollars to the institution, and by his heartiness and zeal stimulated his fellow-townsmen to carry on the project, while Daniel, than almost in the zenith of his fame, contributed the bell.

He was an exemplary member of the church, and his influence was ever on the side of right. He was a constant attendant upon religious services, and always maintained religious devotions in his home.

On the 10th of April, 1839; he was making plea before the Merrimack bar at Concord. He was standing erect. The court-room was crowded, for whenever the lawyer from Boscawen made a plea the people flocked to hear him. The court, jurors, lawyers and audience were listening to his words, and noticing the play of his clear-cut features and the manly dignity of his commanding presence. He was speaking with vigor and earnestness. His periods were rounded as usual, his utterance clear, his enunciation perfect. He closed one branch of his argument, uttered the concluding sentence and the final word distinctly and with his accustomed cadence, his form erect as ever, his eyes clear and bright, his arms hanging naturally by his side, and then, without a murmur, a groan, a lisp, raising not a hand, clutching at nothing, with no bending of a joint or quivering of the eyelids, he fell backward upon the floor-dead! With the quickness of the lightning�s flash, from the full vigor of a manly life, at the age of forty-nine, he died-one of the most remarkable deaths on record.

His funeral was attended on the following Sunday by a vast concourse of people, and he was mourned by the entire community.

A writer in a public journal describes his appearance,-

�He was nearly six feet in height, finely proportioned, with a very commanding presence. His was a magnificent form, crowned with a princely head, that in his last year was thickly covered with snowy hair. His complexion was just the opposite of Daniel�s. His countenance was open as the day; his heart was warm and affectionate; his manners kind and courteous.�

Daniel, in a letter written in 1846, thus spoke of him,--

�He appeared to me the finest human form that ever I laid eyes on. I saw him in his coffin, a tinged cheek, a complexion clear as the heavenly light.�

One who saw him at church, on a cold day the winter before, speaks of his appearance. It was before the introduction of a stove. Mr. Webster came in, wearing a jacket, or �Spencer,� as the garment was called, over his coat, bringing a footstove in his hand, which, with princely politeness, he placed at the feet of Mrs. Webster, and then took his seat, and joined reverently in the worship.

He held important trusts: was trustee of Dartmouth College from 1819 till his death, and repeatedly represented the town in the Legislature.

DANIEL WEBSTER,^[1] whose fame is world wide, lived the earlier half of his life in New Hampshire. The son of a Revolutionary patriot, Capt. Ebenezer Webster, and of New Hampshire descent for four generations, he was born in Salisbury, January 18, 1782. A feeble constitution pointed him out as fitter for education than for the sturdy labors of the farm, and with self-denial on the part of his parents, and struggle on his own part, he accomplished his wishes, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1801 with honor. His legal studies he completed under the direction of Hon. T. W. Thompson, of Salisbury, and Hon. Christopher Gore, of Boston, where he was admitted an attorney in 1805. He took up his residence at once in Boscawen, and remained two years a close student of his profession and of general literature. In 1807 he made Portsmouth his place of abode, and lived there until 1816, when he removed to Boston. While a resident of New Hampshire he served two terms as representative in Congress.

Mr. Webster acquired a high reputation as a lawyer and a statesman (for he never was a politician) before he quitted his native State. When he went to Portsmouth, at the age of only twenty-five years, he was a mature man, armed at every point for the battle of life. Mr. Mason, then in the prime of his unrivaled powers, describes his first encounter with Webster. He had heard of him as a formidable antagonist, and found on trial that he was not over-estimated. Young and inexperienced as he was, Webster entered the arena with Mason and Sullivan and Bartlett, and bore away his full share of the honors. And before he quitted his New Hampshire home his reputation as a lawyer and as an advocate of eloquence and power ranked with the very highest in the land.

Those who heard his addresses to the jury in his early prime testify that none of his later great efforts surpassed them--if, indeed, they equaled them as examples of earnest, impassioned forensic oratory. There was a youthful brilliancy and bloom about those earlier productions that is not found in the stately works of his maturer years.

In those days, when practitioners made reputations by special pleading and sharp practice, Mr. Webster relied little upon mere technicalities or adroit management. He tried his causes upon their merits, and with his logical power and eloquent tongue made short work of trumped up claims and dishonest defenses. Many traditions attest his commanding influence over court and jury at this period of his career. Without being authentic in all particulars, they all concur in demonstrating that on no legal practitioner of his time was the popular confidence and admiration so universally bestowed as on Webster.

The events in the life of Mr. Webster from the time he reentered Congress from Massachusetts are too familiar to require special repetition here. He continued in public life, with the exception of very brief intervals, up to the time of his decease in 1852. He was a senator in Congress for seventeen years. He was twice Secretary of State, and died in possession of that office. Every public position that he held he adorned and dignified by eminent patriotic service.

Now that nearly a generation has passed since Mr. Webster�s death, his character is beginning to be estimated more justly, and the value of the work he did for the country has been tested. We see that his sagacity and foresight were far beyond those of his time; and his apprehensions for the safety of the Union were well founded; that his exhortations to his countrymen to stand by the flag were honest, necessary, and vitalizing to the patriotism of the people.

The petty assaults that seemed temporarily to obscure his fame have had their brief day, and posterity will recognize the true grandeur of the man, and value at their just worth the great deeds of his lifetime. As a statesman and a diplomatist, as a vindicator of the Constitution, as a lawyer and an orator, and, most of all, as a patriot, the country will be fortunate if the future shall furnish his peer.

SYLVESTER DANA graduated at Dartmouth College in 1839. He is son of the late Rev. Sylvester Dana, and is a native of Oxford. He studied law with Pierce & Fowler and at the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. He soon after opened an office in Concord, where he has since resided. He is the present police justice of Concord.

JOSIAH MINOT graduated at Dartmouth College in 1837. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1840, and opened an office in Concord. He was appointed, in 1852, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which he resigned, in 1855, to accept the appointment of commissioner of pensions. He is still in practice in Concord.

ARTHUR FLETCHER was a native of, Bridgewater. He graduated at Yale College in 1836, and was admitted to the bar in Concord in 1840. where he remained in practice until his death.

HENRY P. ROLFE is one of the older attorneys of Concord. He is a son of Benjamin Rolfe, and was horn in Boscawen, February 12, 1823. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1848, and in 1851 commenced the practice of law in Concord, where he has since resided.

HENRY ADAMS BELLOWS,^[2] chief justice of New Hampshire, was born at Walpole, N. H., October 25, 1803, and died at Concord, March 11, 1873.

On the paternal side he was descended from Gen. Benjamin Bellows, one of the first settlers of Walpole, and on the maternal side his immediate ancestors were members of the Adams and Boylston families of Massachusetts, his grandfather, Rev. Zabdiel Adams, of Lunenberg, Mass., being a double cousin to President John Adams.

His father dying, the care of the family devolved upon him at the age of sixteen years, and for two years he was engaged in teaching, after which he read law in the office of Hon. William C. Bradley, of Westminster, Vt., and commenced practice in Walpole shortly after, removing to Littleton in 1828 and thence to Concord in 1850, where he continued in active practice until he was appointed an associate justice, in 1859, and on the resignation of Judge Perley, in September, 1869, he succeeded him as chief justice, which office he held at the time of his death.

He represented Littleton in the legislature in 1819, and was one of the representatives of Ward 5, of Concord, in 1856-57. While occupying a seat on the bench he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Dartmouth College.

Judge Bellows was a sound lawyer and an excellent judge. He was one of the purest-minded men who ever held public office in the State; a large-hearted man in thoughts and deeds, taking an active interest in benevolent enterprises. A public-spirited citizen, genial and courteous in his intercourse with men, he enjoyed the respect and esteem of his associates of the bar and bench and the community at large.

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