ies
of Daniel Webster, belong to the same period. I will not
try to separate them.

The story I am to tell may seem trivial enough to my readers.
But it is to me a very tender and sacred memory. The time
was ripe for the great movement that abolished slavery. If
no one of the eminent men of that day had ever lived other
men would have been found in abundance for the work. If Massachusetts
had failed in her duty some other State would have taken her
place. But in the Providence of God it was given to Massachusetts
to lead in this great battle and it was given to these men
whom I have to name to be leaders in Massachusetts. I thank
God that it was given to my eyes to behold it. The American
people have had many great affairs to deal with since that
day. They have had great trials and great triumphs. They
have won renown among the nations. They have grown in wealth
and in power. They have subdued a mighty rebellion. They
have carried their flag in triumph to the ends of the earth.
They have wrested the last vestige of power in this hemisphere
from an old and proud nation who once occupied the place that
England has since occupied and which it seems likely we are
to occupy hereafter. They have resisted many strong temptations
and acquired much glory. I am afraid they have of late yielded
for a time to one strong temptation and missed an opportunity
for still greater glory, that never will come back. But there
was something in that struggle with slavery which exalted
the hearts of those who had a part in it, however humble,
as no other political battle in history.

Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive.

And, surely, to be young was far nearer Heaven than Wordsworth
found France in the opening of the French Revolution.

I became of age at just about the time when the Free Soil
Party, which was the Republican party in another form, was
born. In a very humble capacity I stood by its cradle. It
awakened in my heart in early youth all the enthusiasm of
which my nature was capable, an enthusiasm which from that
day to this has never grown cold. No political party in history
was ever formed for objects so great and noble. And no political
party in history was ever so great in the accomplishment for
liberty, progress and law.

I breathed a pure and bracing atmosphere in those days. It
was a time of plain living and high thinking. It was a pretty
good education, better than that of any university, to