To observe the holiday, here’s a legend from the childhood of
American statesman Daniel Webster. He was born in New Hampshire
in 1782, the baby of his family. I’ve found versions of this
tale in print as early as 1852, the year Webster died;
apparently it first appeared in the Boston Traveller newspaper.
This text comes from an 1895 edition of Sheldon’s Primary
Language Lessons. DANIEL WEBSTER’S FIRST CASE.Boston 1775 takes
no responsibility for the accuracy of legends involving
woodchucks. Daniel Webster’s father was a poor farmer, and
besides Daniel he had an older son, Ezekiel [born 1780]. Both
boys used to help in the farm work. One day Ezekiel set a trap
to catch a woodchuck which had for a long time been stealing his
breakfasts from the garden of the Websters. At last the
woodchuck was caught. “Now,” cried Ezekiel, “you’ve done harm
enough to die, Mr. Woodchuck; and die you shall!” Daniel, who
had a kind heart, begged his brother not to kill the poor thing,
but to take him into the woods, and let him go