During his boyhood, the family lived in a large mansion house in Old
Cambridge, which has since been occupied by Professor Andrews Norton and
his son. In a large and amiable household, with a mother for whom he
always showed the deepest respect, his earlier years must have been
happy much beyond the lot of ordinary mortals. He was fitted for college
at the Boston Latin School, where he was distinguished both for
scholarship, faultless behavior, and fine declamations. Charles Sumner
was his companion there, as well as in college and at the law-school.
They are both said to have given striking proof of their oratorical
talent, though perhaps not more so than many others have before and
since. He entered at Harvard in 1827, while Sumner was a sophomore, and
Dr. Holmes and his celebrated twenty-niners were in their junior year.
His college life was a dream of wonder-land. Rich, gifted, full of
good-humor, handsome in form and feature, a brilliant scholar, he seemed
above all others to be Fortune's favored child. Work was easy to him,
and his play was the sport of genius. He was everywhere among the first;
president of the Porcellian Club, president and orator of the Hasty
Pudding Club--the Apollo Belvedere of his classmates. He also belonged
to a society called "The Owls," which only met at midnight, and the one
who could control his face so as to look most like an owl was considered
the best fellow.
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