Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/322

 292 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

mouth College all that I can. Yet I feel indebted to her — indebted for my early education, indebted for her early confidence, indebted for an opportunity to show to men, whose support I was to need for myself and family, that I was equal to the defense of vested rights against state courts and sovereignties. That land grant will make you rich, and if you think I was of any service to you in obtaining it, remember what Dartmouth College did for me, before I could do for you, and bestow upon her your pecuniary means as freely as I have my intellectual means." This canvass, by Mr. Webster, of the great efforts of his life, as well as his decision, was a surprise to us all. At first it was thought to have been partially premeditated, and that Prof. Haddock m'ght have a syn- opsis to fill up. But he shared in the general surprise. I have no remem- brance of ]\[r. Webster after this.

HE DIED

while I was in private life, Oct. 24, 1852, soon following Mr. Clay. The next July, at the Dartmouth College commencement, I heard that brilliant specimen of American eloquence, the eulogy of Rufus Choate, pronounced the greatest of all the great productions of that gifted orator. Mr. Choate was in the sen- ate the first two years of my congressional period, and in six years he followed his most admirerl friend to the grave. This was his last noted production. The evening after the eulogy I was describing the Webster dinner to him, when he exclaimed: ''Oh ! that I could have seen you last night. I would have made my eulogy a little longer, and impressed upon the students the sen- timents of Mr. Webster's grand exordium — that every young man should do his best at every effort, not knowing whence will come his fame and fortune." How sublime a spectacle ! Daniel Webster listening to a free discussion of the great productions of his life, and finally taking a part himself. Yet it was characteristic. His intimate friends could always talk with him about himself as freely as a parent to a child. His humility was equal to his greatness.

��SKETCH OF LITTLETON.

��LITTLETON has long been known as one of the most enterprising and prosperous towns in the state. Although of uneven surface, it ranks with the first in an agricultural point of view, the soil being strong, and producing excellent crops. Its manufacturing facilities are also good, abundant water- power being furnished by the Ammonoosuc River. It has been a central point in White Mountain travel ever since tourists and pleasure seekers commenced visiting this now celebrated region. Even before the construction of the rail- road, it was, in the summer time, a great stage depot, where centred the va- rious lines to the mountains from the western approach. It is, however, since the construction of the White Mountains Railroad, which was completed to this point in 1853, that the growth of the place in population and business impor- tance has mainly occurred. From 1853 until 1870, when the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad, having come into possession of the White Mountains

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