THE WEBSTER FAMILY.

… His argument was ready, practical, to the point, and of much greater length than our limits will allow us to occupy, in relating the story.

The father looked with pride upon his son, who became a distinguished jurist in his manhood “Now, Daniel, it is your turn; I’ll bear what you have to say.”

`Twas his first case. Daniel saw that the idea of his brother had sensibly affected his father, the judge, and as his large, brilliant black eyes looked upon the soft, timid expression of the animal, and as he saw it tremble with fear in its narrow prison house, his heart swelled with pity, and he appealed with eloquent words that the captive might again go free. God, he said, had made the woodchuck; he made him to live, to enjoy the bright sunlight, the pure air, the free fields and woods. God had not made him to, or anything in vain; the woodchuck has as much right to live as any other living thing – he was not a destructive animal, as the wolf and fox were; he simply ate a few common vegetables of which they had plenty and could well spare a part; he destroyed nothing except the little food he needed to sustain his humble life; and that little food was as sweet to him; and as necessary to his existence, as was to them the food upon his mother’s table. God furnished their own food; he gave them all they possessed, and would they not spare a little for the dumb creature, who really had as much right to his small share of God’s bounty as they themselves had to their portion? Yea, more; the animal had never violated the laws of his nature or the laws of God, as man often did; but strictly followed the simple, harmless instincts he had received from the Creator of all things. Created by God’s hand, he had a right, a right from God, to life, to food, to liberty; and they had no right to deprive him of either. He alluded to the mute but earnest pleadings of the animal for that life, as dear to him as their own was to them; and the just judgment they might expect if in selfish cruelty and cold heartlessness they took the life they could not restore again, the life that God alone had given.

During this appeal the tears has started to the old man's eyes, and were fast running down his sun burnt cheeks; every feeling on a father's heart was stirred within him; he saw the future greatness of his son before his eyes….