The Most Important Subject.
DANIEL WEBSTER on one occasion was spending an evening at the house of a friend, in a large company of invited guests. It was in his younger, purer days. His course had been criticised through the press, and that evening he appeared unusually silent, serious and profound. A little group hovered near, and one jocosely remarked that Mr. Webster was “doubtless busied again with his great thoughts.” Whereupon a lady asked the following rather puzzling question: “Mr. Webster, what is the most important thought you ever entertained?” All listened for the answer—the room grew still as death, and, with evident emotion, Webster replied, “The most important thought I ever had was my individual responsibility to God.” So let earth’s inhabitants be what they may, whether statesmen or slaves, princes or paupers, “every one of us must give an account of himself unto God.”