Daniel Webster, too, was a fisherman--always in good and regular
standing. In marshaling the proof which his great life furnishes of the
beneficence of the fishing propensity, I approach the task with a
feeling of awe quite natural to one who has slept in the room occupied
by the great Expounder during his fishing campaigns on Cape Cod and
along the shores of Mashpee Pond and its adjacent streams. This
distinguished member of our fraternity was an industrious and attentive
fisherman. He was, besides, a wonderful orator--and largely so because
he was a fisherman. He himself has confessed to the aid he received
from a fishing environment in the preparation of his best oratorical
efforts; and other irrefutable testimony to the same effect is at hand.
It is not deemed necessary to cite in proof of such aid more than a
single incident. Perhaps none of Mr. Webster's orations was more
notable, or added more to his lasting fame, than that delivered at the
laying of the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument. And it will
probably be conceded that its most impressive and beautiful passage was
addressed to the survivors of the War of Independence then present,
beginning with the words, "Venerable men!" This thrilling oratorical
flight was composed and elaborated by Mr. Webster while wading waist
deep and casting his flies in Mashpee waters. He himself afterward
often referred to this circumstance; and one who was his companion on
this particular occasion has recorded the fact that, noticing
indications of laxity in fishing action on Mr. Webster's part, he
approached him, and that, in the exact words of this witness, "he seemed
to be gazing at the overhanging trees, and presently advancing one foot
and extending his right hand he commenced to speak, 'Venerable Men!'"