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DANIEL WEBSTER (1782-1852).--New England furnished in Daniel Webster one of
the world's great orators. He was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, and
educated at Dartmouth College. It was said half humorously that no one
could really be as great as he looked. Whittier called him
"New England's stateliest type of man,
In port and speech Olympian;
Whom no one met, at first, but took
A second awed and wondering look."
Before his death he was known as the best lawyer, the most noted statesman,
and the greatest orator in the country. He is still considered America's
greatest orator.
[Illustration: DANIEL WEBSTER]
A study of the way in which Webster schooled himself to become a speaker
will repay every one who wishes to use our spoken language effectively. In
Webster's youth, a stilted, unnatural style was popular for set speeches.
He was himself influenced by the prevailing fashion, and we find him
writing to a friend:--
"In my melancholy moments I presage the most dire calamities. I already
see in my imagination the time when the banner of civil war shall be
unfurled; when Discord's hydra form shall set up her hideous yell, and
from her hundred mouths shall howl destruction through our empire.
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