our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered." The character of Webster's style has previously been referred to. His vocabulary was strongly Saxon, influenced no doubt by his early reading of the Bible and Shakespeare, and by his habit of committing these to memory. In his youth he had not learned the simplicity and force which he afterward attained. His style was inflated and bombastic; he was fond of big words and of high-sounding phrases that in reality meant nothing. He soon learned, however, to observe other men and to adapt what was best in their style and method to his own use. He was especially interested in Jeremiah Mason, and he watched Mason's direct, conversational method, and saw how effective it was. "This led me," he says, "to examine my own style, and I set about reforming it altogether." The results of this reform were shown in many ways in his maturer expression. The simplicity and clearness which characterize Webster's style result first, perhaps, from his choice of words. He is always exact and careful, never using a word that does not fully express his meaning, and never using a big word when a smaller one will do as well. His illustrations are always homely and vivid. His organization, also, adds much to his clearness. No matter how long and complicated his chain of reasoning may be, the organization of his ideas is so logical and so coherent that the reader is able easily to follow. There is seldom any doubt as to his meaning. Whatever he said he felt strongly. He spoke to men as face to face with an individual,-frankly and directly; appealing to their common sense and to their common emotions. No matter how strongly he felt, however, and the times in which he lived were times of strong feeling, there was a dignity and a grandeur, a self-restraint, and a moderation in his speech that carried with them powerful force and conviction. The effectiveness of his style is influenced as much by the character of his sentence structure as by anything else. When he wishes to convince, he is direct, to the point, and speaks in short, forcible sentences. Often he makes use of antithesis, or the balanced sentence; though he is perhaps more often given to the climax than to any other rhetorical device. In his perorations, or when he is especially wishing to arouse the emotions, he often uses long, rhythmical sentences that fall from his lips like music. Whatever method he uses, however, he is always strong, individual, and convincing-the greatest master of oratory that America has ever known. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE THIS BUNKER HILL MONUMENT HIS uncounted multitude before me, and around me, proves the feeling which the occasion has excited. These thousands of human faces, glowing with sympathy and joy, and, from the impulses of a common gratitude turned reverently to heaven, in this spacious temple of 5 the firmament, proclaim that the day, the place, and the purpose of our assembling have made a deep impression on our hearts. If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit to affect the mind of man, we need not strive to repress the 10 emotions which agitate us here. We are among the sepulchres of our fathers. We are on ground distinguished by their valor, their constancy, and the shedding of their blood. We are here, not to fix an uncertain date in our annals, nor to draw into notice an obscure and unknown 15 spot. If our humble purpose had never been conceived, if we ourselves had never been born, the 17th of June, 1775, would have been a day on which all subsequent history would have poured its light, and the eminence where we stand, a point of attraction to the eyes of successive 20 generations. But we are Americans. We live in what may be called the early age of this great continent; and we know that our posterity, through all time, are here to enjoy and suffer the allotments of humanity. We see before us a probable train of great events; we know that 25 our own fortunes have been happily cast; and it is natu ral, therefore, that we should be moved by the contemplation of occurrences which have guided our destiny before many of us were born, and settled the condition in which we should pass that portion of our existence which God 5 allows to men on earth. We do not read even of the discovery of this continent, without feeling something of a personal interest in the event; without being reminded how much it has affected our own fortunes and our own existence. It would be 10 still more unnatural for us, therefore, than for others, to contemplate with unaffected minds that interesting, I may say that most touching and pathetic scene, when the great Discoverer of America stood on the deck of his shattered bark, the shades of night falling on the sea, yet no man 15 sleeping; tossed on the billows of an unknown ocean, yet the stronger billows of alternate hope and despair tossing his own troubled thoughts; extending forward his harassed frame, straining westward his anxious and eager eyes, till Heaven at last granted him a moment of rapture and 20 ecstasy, in blessing his vision with the sight of the unknown world. Nearer to our times, more closely connected with our fates, and therefore still more interesting to our feelings and affections, is the settlement of our own country by 25 colonists from England. We cherish every memorial of these worthy ancestors; we celebrate their patience and fortitude; we admire their daring enterprise; we teach our children to venerate their piety; and we are justly proud of being descended from men who have set the 30 world an example of founding civil institutions on the great and united principles of human freedom and human knowledge. To us, their children, the story of their labors and sufferings can never be without interest. We shall not stand unmoved on the shore of Plymouth, while the sea 35 continues to wash it; nor will our brethren in another early and ancient Colony forget the place of its first establishment, till their river shall cease to flow by it. No vigor of youth, no maturity of manhood, will lead the nation to forget the spots where its infancy was cradled and defended. But the great event in the history of the continent, which we are now met here to commemorate, that prodigy of modern times, at once the wonder and the blessing of 5 the world, is the American Revolution. In a day of extraordinary prosperity and happiness, of high national honor, distinction, and power, we are brought together, in this place, by our love of country, by our admiration of exalted character, by our gratitude for signal services 10 and patriotic devotion. THE Society, whose organ I am, was formed for the purpose of rearing some honorable and durable monument to the memory of the early friends of American Independence. They have thought that for this object no time 15 could be more propitious than the present prosperous and peaceful period; that no place could claim preference over this memorable spot; and that no day could be more auspicious to the undertaking, than the anniversary of the battle which was here fought. The foundation of 20 that monument we have now laid. With solemnities suited to the occasion, with prayers to Almighty God for his blessing, and in the midst of this cloud of witnesses, we have begun the work. We trust it will be prosecuted, and that, springing from a broad foundation, rising high 25 in massive solidity and unadorned grandeur, it may remain as long as Heaven permits the works of man to last, a fit emblem, both of the events in memory of which it is raised, and of the gratitude of those who have reared it. We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious actions 30 is most safely deposited in the universal remembrance of mankind. We know, that if we could cause this structure to ascend, not only till it reached the skies, but till it pierced them, its broad surfaces could still contain but part of that which, in an age of knowledge, hath already 35 been spread over the earth, and which history charges itself with making known, to all future times. We know |