Ezekiel, leaving him and a sister in straight ened circumstances. Thus cradled in poverty and obliged to contend with hardship and privation, he found a friend in need in his uncle, the Rev, Levi Whitman of Wellfleet, who gave him his rudimentary instruction, and treated him with great kindness that was gratefully repaid in following years, when their relative circumstances were reversed. The training he there received had an im portant influence on his after-life, for had he been left to follow his own inclinations, he would have followed the sea, or gone upon the stage. Of this uncle he gives a charm ing description in a speech at the two hundredth anniversary of Bridgewater, June 3, 1856; Goldsmith's country parson " pass ing rich with forty pounds a year " was his prototype; and loving to dwell with those good old times he adds, " it may, however, have been flip or good old cider that 'went round,' instead of ale, in our ancestors' days." He does not appear to have been a diligent and enthusiastic student, although the ad venturous orphan was a lad of good parts. He entered Brown University in 179 1, with a class numbering twenty-six members, hav ing fitted himself for matriculation in fifteen months under the Rev. Kilborn Whitman of Pembroke. The standard of the college course in those days, however, as well as the expense, was low. He taught school during his first winter's vacation, in Marshfield, where it is related he got into trouble for audibly whispering in church, " Spell it," while the minister, Mr. Leonard, was stam mering over the utterance of a difficult word. He supported himself through college by teaching, and was graduated in 1795. Peleg Chandler, a classmate, gives in a letter an interesting account of his first meeting Whit man, and a vivid idea of his poverty. While on his way to Providence, Chandler over took a young man " with a large bundle tied up in a bandana handkerchief hung over his back on a cane; he had on no coat, nor jacket, or stock. He wore an old pair of
nankeen breeches, and I think he had his stockings and shoes in one hand, suspended by his garters." Entering into conversation with this youthful oddity, he soon found out that his name was Whitman, and that both were seeking entrance to the same college. They became fast friends, and agreed to chum together. Chandler adds in the same letter that " he was independent, eccentric, but never vicious. His regard for truth was sacred. His probity commanded universal confidence." Such a graduate was presumptively sure of success in life. He began the study of law absolutely penniless, in the office of Benjamin Whitman of Hanover, where he remained but a short time, and then went into the office of Nahum Mitchell of East Bridgewater. Mr. Mitchell soon found his student had solid judgment, keen perception, and unusual abilities, for he confided many cases before magistrates and referees to his care. While pursuing his study of law he was sent to Kentucky to settle the affairs of a de ceased citizen of Bridgewater. This employ ment occupied him about one year. He journeyed alone on horse-back and returned by way of Cumberland Gap and Washing ton, where he attended the special session of Congress convened to discuss French viola tions of American neutrality, visiting the Senate and listening to the address of Presi dent Adams. He used to delight to relate his experiences of this part of his life; and in after-years, when holding court at Paris, found willing listeners among the young members of the family of Doctor Cyrus Hamlin, Sheriff of Oxford County, where he boarded during term-time. He was admitted to the bar of Plymouth County, in 1799, but determined to seek a settlement in Maine. No one was better qualified by instruction, discipline and selfreliance than he to carve his way to fortune and fame in the wilds of Maine. He evident ly entertained a different view of the state than that by Webster, who said to his friend
