eft the example
of high powers nobly used
and the remembrance
of a spotless name.
[End of Footnote]

Besides these more conspicuous leaders, there was to be found,
in almost every town and village in Massachusetts, some man
eminent among his neighbors for purity of life, for philanthropy,
and for large intelligence who was ready to join the new party.
The glowing hopes and dreams and aspirations of youth were
inspirited by the muse of Whittier and Longfellow and Lowell
and Bryant. The cause of free labor appealed to the strongest
sympathies of the mechanics of Essex and the skilled laborers
of Worcester.

Four years afterward Daniel Webster, as he lay dying at Marshfield,
said to the friend who was by his side: "The Whig candidate
will obtain but one or two States, and it is well; as a national
party, the Whigs are ended."

The Whig Party retained its organization in Massachusetts
until 1856; but its intellect and its moral power were gone.
Mr. Winthrop, as appears from the excellent "Life" published
by his son, had no sympathy with Mr. Webster's position. Mr.
Webster died, a disappointed man, in the autumn of 1852. He
took no part in political affairs in Massachusetts after 1850.
Mr. Choate, who was to follow his great leader to the grave
within a few years, transferred his allegiance to the Democrats.
Mr. Everett, after a brief service in the Senate, a service
most uncongenial to his own taste, resigned his seat in the
midst of the angry conflict on the Nebraska bill, and devoted
himself to literary pursuits until, when the war broke out,
he threw himself with all his zeal, power, and eloquence into
the cause of his country.

CHAPTER IX
LIFE IN WORCESTER

After leaving college I studied for a year in my brother's
office in Concord, then for two years at the Harvard Law
School, and afterward for four months in the office of Judge
Benjamin F. Thomas in Worcester. I was led to choose Worcester
as a place to live in chiefly for the reason that that city
and county were the stronghold of the new Anti-Slavery Party,
to which cause I was devoted with all my heart and soul. I
have never regretted the choice, and have spent my life there,
except when in Washington, for considerably more than half
a century. In that time Worcester has grown from a city of
fifteen thousand to a city of one hundred and thirty thousand
people. I can conceive of no life more delightful for a man
of public spirit than t