"Who taught millions to read but not one to sin."
PORTRAIT OF NOAH WEBSTER, LL.D.
"Only two men have stood on the New World whose fame is so sure to
last. Columbus its discoverer, and Washington its savior, Webster is and will
be its great teacher ; these three make our trinity of fame."
This eminent lexicographer was born at West Hartford, Connecticut, October
16, 1758. He entered Yale College in 1774, and graduating four years after,
commenced the study of law, earning his support by school-teaching. In 1783,
he issued the first Spelling Book published in the United States ; he
was the author of an English Grammar, a History of the United States, and some
minor treatises ; but the great achievement of his life, that which will perpetuate
his name, was his American Dictionary of the English Language, which
is now known as " Webster’s American Quarto, Unabridged." He was connected
with the newspaper press in New York in 1793, subsequently he resided in Amherst,
Massachusetts, and finally settled in New Haven, Connecticut, representing the
two latter places in the state legislatures several years. Dr. Webster died
after a short illness on the 28th of May, 1843, in the eighty-fifth year of
his age. He will long be remembered by many as the youthful soldier, the thoughtful
politician, the laborious lexicographer, and the Christian moralist "
Who taught millions to read but not one to sin."
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