authors who have wrote within these thirty years."[3]

We are more concerned to know the kind of reading which was at Webster's
command when a boy outside of his school hours. That the severer
literature dominated seems evident from the recourse which he has to it
in his writings when he wishes illustrations; for, like others of his
day, the classic authors, especially of Rome, were quoted with a sense
of their being final authority. The newspaper in Webster's youth had
scarcely yet asserted itself very forcibly. The few centres of
population had journals, which did not travel very far beyond the place
of publication. The Connecticut "Courant," a weekly newspaper, was
started in Hartford in 1764, and was of the better class, poorly
printed, but serving as a medium for communications from its readers;
the leading article was anticipated by the letter to the editor or
printer, and with the exception of a scanty abstract of news the
"Courant" may be said to have been edited by its subscribers,--a policy
which made such papers very good reflections of the feeling of the
community. Older and better established than the newspaper was the
almanac, which throve in New England and performed a familiar service in
every household. Mr. Ames or Mr. Lord, and their fellows, addressed
readers in the jaunty, unconventional style which was regarded as
appropriate to a class of literature which was neither fish, flesh, nor
fowl, and after their preliminary talk and their monthly calendar, with
its wonderful comments, gave the page or two that remained to anecdotes,
poetry, and miscellaneous literature. The calendar was headed by verse,
which was taken usually from English authors of the time, and sometimes
was treated serially. Thus in one almanac the poem of "Porsenna in
pursuit of the Kingdom of Felicity" trails along the head of the twelve
months, and at the end is announced to be continued next year; next year
it starts on its journey again, and overflows upon one of the extra
pages, but still is unfinished; a third year it makes a desperate effort
to come to an end, but the editor is obliged to announce, "Conclusion
omitted this year for want of room;" and only when a fourth year has
come is he able to get rid of this continued poem. Think of the
impatience of readers who had to wait from year to year for four years
before they could finish reading this work of art! As the years of the
war drew near, the contents of these little book