He must have done well in Mr. Gore’s office; for, in a few months, he was admitted to the practice of law in the Court of Common Pleas in Boston.

It was at some time during this same winter that Daniel was offered the position of clerk in the County Court at home.  His father, as you will remember, was one of the judges in this court, and he was very much delighted at the thought that his son would be with him.

The salary would be about fifteen hundred dollars a year—­and that was a great sum to Daniel as well as to his father.  The mortgage on the farm could be paid off; Ezekiel could finish his course in college; and life would be made easier for them all.

At first Daniel was as highly pleased as his father.  But after he had talked with Mr. Gore, he decided not to accept the offered position.

“Your prospects as a lawyer,” said Mr. Gore, “are good enough to encourage you to go on.  Go on, and finish your studies.  You are poor enough, but there are greater evils than poverty.  Live on no man’s favor.  Pursue your profession; make yourself useful to your friends and a little formidable to your enemies, and you have nothing to fear.”

A few days after that, Daniel paid a visit to his father.  The judge received him very kindly, but he was greatly disappointed when the young man told him that he had made up his mind not to take the place.

With his deep-set, flashing eyes, he looked at his son for a moment as though in anger.  Then he said, very slowly: 

“Well, my son, your mother has always said that you would come to something or nothing—­she was not sure which.  I think you are now about settling that doubt for her.”

A few weeks after this, Daniel, as I have already told you, was admitted to the bar in Boston.  But he did not think it best to begin his practice there.

He knew how anxious his father was that he should be near him.  He wanted to do all that he could to cheer and comfort the declining years of the noble man who had sacrificed everything for him.  And so, in the spring of 1805, he settled in the town of Boscawen, six miles from home, and put up at his office door this sign: 

D. WEBSTER, ATTORNEY.

* * * * *

X.—­LAWYER AND CONGRESSMAN.

When Daniel Webster had been in Boscawen nearly two years, his father died.  It was then decided that Ezekiel should come and take charge of the home farm, and care for their mother.

Ezekiel had not yet graduated from college, but he had read law and was hoping to be admitted to the bar.  He was a man of much natural ability, and many people believed that he would some day become a very famous lawyer.

And so, in the autumn of 1807, Daniel gave up to his brother the law business which he had in Boscawen, and removed to the city of Portsmouth.

He was now twenty-five years old.  In Portsmouth he would find plenty of work to do; it would be the very kind of work that he liked.  He was now well started on the road towards greatness.