for the treachery of Lee he would have completely crushed Clinton's army. This was the last important battle at the north. With noble and persistent effort for the next three years, he, the mainstay of the Revolution, kept his forces together around New York, enduring both the vacillating support of Congress in supplies and the uncertain continuance of his troops, cut to the heart by the treachery of Arnold, yet undismayed by the severe trials of the winter of 1780-1781 at Morristown. At length the end came. Washington, with admirable skill, kept Clinton in fear of attack in New York, while he with six thousand men found his way to Yorktown, Virginia, and there, in union with Lafayette's forces and the French fleet, caused, on October 18, 1781, the surrender of Cornwallis. Thus the power of Great Britain in America was broken. Slowly the steps for peace were taken, but upon April 19, 1783, Washington declared to his army that the War of the Revolution was ended, and upon the 23d of December, before the Congress in Annapolis, he laid down his commission in a noble speech of simple grandeur.

Washington, now at his home at Mt. Vernon, was the first citizen in the United States. In every way that he could, he labored for a stronger union and a better

government. By innumerable letters to men throughout the country, by the reception of visitors at his hospitable home, by learning of the needs of the new West from a personal visit, by planning for the opening of the Potomac as a means of communication, by sympathizing with all efforts for mutual advantages of the states, he was advancing the cause that was leading from the weak confederacy to a real central power. Therefore, when the convention gathered in 1787 to make "the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the Union,' Washington was the leading delegate from Virginia, and became the president of the convention. Under his dignified direction the body accomplished its object, and presented to the country that wonderful document, the Constitution of the United States, which, on its ratification by eleven of the states, was declared in force September 13, 1788.

Washington was the logical candidate for the presidency, and was unanimously chosen the first president. By his dignity of manners and by his grandeur of moral character, he established the position of that office and brought respect to the government. He was found to be as great in matters of peace as of war. He bound the country together

in himself through extensive tours in the North and in the South. Surrounded by competent advisers, he led the country through difficulties in finance, and, if possible, greater dangers in connection with the French Revolution. Feeling that his work of establishing the nation was not done, he allowed himself to be reëlected. The troubles with France hardly finished were followed by those with England. The treaty which John Jay made with that country brought upon Washington slander and abuse. But he stood unmoved yet sorrowful at his post, until, as his term of service ended amid general prosperity, men were ashamed of their disgraceful conduct. With his sincere Farewell Address, in 1796, he showed his character and love of country, as he indicated his retirement from public service in 1797.

Affecting was the scene of Washington's departure, when John Adams was inducted into the office of president. Tears rolled down Washington's face as the people bade him good-by at the threshold of his abode. He returned to his beloved Mt. Vernon, and entered upon his old life. He had devoted much of his fortune and the whole of his heart to his country. At one time when there seemed to be a spark of war, he was called to be commander-in-chief again.

But it passed by. While still following his country's problems, he found pleasure in his home-life and the marriage of his granddaughter. Calmly and nobly, on the 13th of December, 1799, be met his end, after but a day's illness. His countrymen, everywhere struck with grief, mourned and praised him as the Father of his Country.

II

DANIEL WEBSTER

THE family of Daniel Webster was probably of Scotch origin, but from England the Puritan ancestor, Thomas Webster, came to New Hampshire in 1636. In a few generations the Websters were numerous in the colony, and one of them, Ebenezer Webster, after gallant service in the French and Indian War, built a log house on the northern borders of settlement in the town of Salisbury, near the Merrimac River. From this place he went forth as captain of two hundred fellow-settlers to fight in the battles of the Revolution. Imposing in stature, vigorous and courageous, self-sacrificing and affectionate, though without a day of schooling acquiring learning enough to

be a judge in his own town, of forceful mind and noble character, Ebenezer Webster became the ideal father for his richly endowed son. In a framed house, near by the log cabin, the child of a second wife and the next to the last of ten children, Daniel Webster was born on the 18th of January, 1782.

The next year the father moved to another part of the town, afterward named Franklin, and there, at a place upon the Merrimac, later called "Elms Farm," under the fond care of a self-sacrificing mother and the noble influence of a masterful father, in the midst of an affectionate family, Webster passed his childhood days. As he appeared to be quite frail, he was sent as much as possible to school and was allowed to play in forest and field. He learned from nature lessons that he never forgot. If the schools were poor, he learned by reading everything that he could find and by committing good literature to memory. When fourteen years old he was sent to Phillips Exeter Academy, where he rapidy advanced in his studies and began his Latin. In February, 1797, he was transferred to the care of a private teacher, Rev. Samuel Wood, of neighboring Boscawen, and was overcome with joy as he learned that his father in his straitened circumstances intended to send him