en he set out on foot for Buffalo where
he arrived with just $4 in his pocket. Ah! methinks people who saw that
boy must have felt that he was destined to be somebody in the world.
"Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a
candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."

How often are we so deeply impressed by reading the biographies of great
men that it really does in a great measure rest with ourselves whether
we amount to something, or worse than nothing, in the world. We have
followed this man from childhood and have seen him overcome all
obstacles thus far; will we then be surprised when we read that no
sooner did he arrive in Buffalo than he succeeded in making arrangements
with a resident lawyer, obtaining permission to study in his office and
supported himself by severe drudgery, teaching and assisting the post
master.

By the spring of 1823 he had so far gained the confidence of the bar
that by the intercession of several of its leading members he was
admitted as an attorney by the Court of Common Pleas of Erie county,
although he had not completed the period of study usually required, and
commenced practice at Aurora where his father resided.

In the course of a few years he acquired not only a large practice but a
thorough mastery of the principles of the common law, and he rose to a
place among the first lawyers of his State. In 1827 he was admitted as
counselor of the Supreme Court of the State. In 1830 he moved to Buffalo
where he continued in the practice of law until 1847, when he was
elected Comptroller of the great Empire State.

He had previously been in the State legislature and in the national
congress. In congress he rose gradually to the first rank for integrity,
industry and practical ability. As a State legislator he particularly
distinguished himself by his advocacy of the act to abolish imprisonment
for debt, which was drafted by him, and which passed in 1831. In
congress he supported John Quincy Adams in his assertion of the right of
petition on the subject of slavery. He opposed the annexation of Texas,
because it extended slave domain and advocated the immediate abolition
of the inter-state slave trade.

At the death of President Taylor, Mr. Fillmore, according to the
provisions of the Constitution in such cases, became President of the
United States, and the poor boy who had entered Buffalo on foot now
entered the National Capitol as the ruler