Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

6

MEMOIRS OF JOHN ADAMS DIX.

throughout the Union for their great abilities-were among
our village school-masters. In the summer we had female
teachers, and they were of the same high rank in talent and
character. One of them became the wife of a jurist and
statesman who has had few equals in public reputation.* It
was in this school that I received the rudiments of my education. I was a favorite with them all, and I cherish the remembrance of their good opinion as a distinction to be proud of.
The teachers being sometimes inmates of my father's family,
I was almost constantly with them; and when I was sufficiently advanced to be sent to an academy I became sensible
of the great advantage I had derived from the influence of
these excellent persons. Indeed, I think I have felt it strongly in every period of my life.
The village, as I remember it after the lapse of fifty years,
consisted of some thirty dwelling-houses, standing, in about
equal number, on opposite sides of the long, straight street.
A few were white, but they were for the most part painted
in Spanish brown or a dirty red. There were a tavern and
a blacksmith's shop near the centre of the village. The
school-house was also midway between the two extremities,
and directly back of it was the burying-ground. I think the
school-house lot was originally a part of it. It was an odd
fancy to put them in this close contact-to bring together
* My father, in a private letter referring to the early family history,
says: "I remember an oration delivered by Daniel Webster on the 4th
of July, 1806; at Concord, ibefore the Federal gentlemen of Concord and
its vicinity,' as set forth on the title-page of the pamphlet copy. He was
then in the practice of the law, and an inmate of my father's family.
They were zealous political opponents, but personal friends, although the
lines were at that period very sharply drawn between the Federal and
Republican parties. My father took great interest in the village school,
and in many instances procured the teachers. I have a distinct recollection of General Fessenden, the father of the late Senator Fessenden of
Maine, as one of them, and also of Grace Fletcher, one of the loveliest of
women, with whom Mr. Webster became acquainted at my father's house
while she was teaching, and whom he afterward married."