t
himself very well in this exercise at first, will not make a good orator
at last. Demosthenes, who was the most gifted orator of antiquity, had
an impediment in his speech in early life. But he determined to overcome
it, and be an orator in spite of it. He tried various expedients, and
finally went to a cave daily, on the sea-shore, where, with
pebble-stones in his mouth, he declaimed, until the impediment was
removed. By patience and perseverance he became a renowned orator. It
was somewhat so, too, with Daniel Webster, whom you all know as the
greatest orator of our land and times. The first time he went upon the
stage to speak, he was so frightened that he could not recall the first
line of his piece. The second time he did not do much better; and it was
not until he had made several attempts, that he was able to get through
a piece tolerably well. But a strong determination and persevering
endeavors, finally gave him success."

In the course of the winter Nat spoke a number of pieces, among which
were "Marco Bozzaris," "Speech of Catiline before the Roman Senate on
Hearing his Sentence of Banishment," and "Dialogue from Macbeth," in all
of which he gained himself honor. His taste seemed to prefer those
pieces in which strength and power unite. At ten and twelve years of
age, he selected such declamations and dialogues as boys generally do at
the age of sixteen or eighteen years. It was not unusual for the teacher
to say, when visitors were in school,

"Come, Master ---- [Nat], can you give us a declamation?" and Nat was
never known to refuse. He always had one at his tongue's end, which
would roll off, at his bidding, as easily as thread unwinds from a
spool.

About this time there was some complaint among the scholars in Nat's
arithmetic class, and Samuel Drake persuaded one of the older boys to
write a petition to the teacher for shorter lessons. This Samuel Drake
was a brother of Ben, a bad boy, as we shall see hereafter, known in the
community as Sam. When the petition was written, Sam signed it, and one
or two other boys did the same; but when he presented it to Nat, the
latter said,

"What should I sign that for? The lessons are not so long as I should
like to have them. Do you study them any in the evening?"

"Study in the evening!" exclaimed Sam. "I am not so big a fool as that.
It is bad enough to study in school."

"I study evenings," added Nat, "and you are as able to study as I am.
The lessons