ter, the reward will come. Youthful Ambition, rightly directed and encouraged, never lacks the will, and while life is spared, it knows no such word as "fail!"

In the infancy of the State of Tennessee, as is always the case in new settlements, the opportunities of instruction were quite limited. The father of young Polk was not in affluent circumstances, though able to give all his children a good education. He regarded with favor the natural bent and inclination of his son's mind toward study, and kept him pretty constantly at school. Though afflicted for many years by a painful affection, from which he was only relieved by a surgical operation, James had been completely successful in mastering the English studies usually taught, when his health began to give way. Fearing that his constitution had become so much weakened as to unfit him altogether for a sedentary life, his father, not without many an earnest remonstrance from his son, placed him with a merchant, with the view of fitting him for commercial pursuits.

This was a severe blow to James. All his dearest hopes seemed about to be prostrated forever. He had no taste for the new duties that devolved on him, and their performance was irksome to him in the extreme. He had an antipathy, of which he could not divest himself, to the mercantile profession, almost as great as that of John Randolph, who could not endure "a man with a quill behind his ear." After remaining a few weeks with the merchant, James obtained the permission of his father, by much entreaty and persuasion, to return home; and in the month of July, 1813, he was placed under the tuition of the Rev. Dr. Henderson. Subsequently he was

sent to the Murfreesborough Academy, then under the superintendence of Mr. Samuel P. Black, one of the most celebrated classical teachers in Middle Tennessee.

Henceforward there were no obstacles in the way of his obtaining the education he so ardently desired. In less than two years and a half he prepared himself thoroughly for an advanced class in college; and in the autumn of 1815, being then in his twentieth year, he entered the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, at the beginning of the sophomore year. This venerable institution, at which so many of the most distinguished statesmen, and the most eminent divines, in the Southern part of the Union, have been educated, was then under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Caldwell, "justly styled the father of the University."* Colonel William Polk,

late of Raleigh, and the first cousin of the father of President Polk, was also one of the most influential and active of the trustees, and had been such from about the time of the first establishment of the institution.

At the University, Mr. Polk was most exemplary in the performance of all his duties, not only as a member of college, but also of the literary society to which he belonged. He was punctual and prompt in every exercise, and never absent fromr ecitation or any of the religious services of the institution. So high was his standing, so remarkable his character, in this respect, that one of his classmates, who was something of a wag, was in the habit of averring, when he desired his hearers to place confidence in his assertions, that the fact he stated,

Foote's Sketches, p. 530.

was "just as certain, as that Polk would get up at the first call."

He was no superficial student; he was perfect and thorough in everything he undertook. He well understood the difference between true merit and pretence. Untiring assiduity and close application characterized him throughout his whole collegiate course. Of the exact sciences he was passionately fond, though he was also an excellent linguist. At each semi-annual examination he bore away the highest honors, and at the close of the junior year the first distinction was awarded to him and Ex-Governor William D. Moseley, of Florida. He graduated in June, 1818, with the highest distinction, which was assigned to him alone, as the best scholar in both the mathematics and classics, and delivered the Latin Salutatory Oration. The second distinction, at this commencement, was awarded to William M. Green, who delivered the valedictory, and was afterwards Professor of Rhetoric and Logic in the University, which station he resigned in 1849 to enter upon his duties as Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Mississippi.

Mr. Polk did not forget his Alma Mater amid the busy scenes, the turmoil and confusion, of his active life; nor did she lose sight of one who reflected so much credit upon her, in every station that he filled. He often revisited her shrine, and attended the pleasant reünions of the Mother and her sons; and at the annual commencement, in June, 1847, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him, together with John Y. Mason, late Secretary of the Navy, of the class of 1816, and Willie P. Mangum, of the Senate of the United

States, and a member of the class of 1815,-a compliment, in each instance, most richly deserved, by good scholarship and correct deportment while in college, and by ability and fidelity displayed in the public service.

CHAPTER III.

Commences the Study of the Law in the Office of Felix Grundy-Secures the Friendship of Andrew Jackson-Admitted to the Bar-Success

in the Practice of his Profession-His Political Associations-Style and Manner as a Public Speaker-Chief Clerk and Member of the Tennessee Legislature-Duelling Law-Internal Improvements-His Marriage-Mrs. Polk.

WHEN Mr. Polk left the University, his health was considerably impaired by his constant and unremitting application to his studies. But the hopes and aspirations of youth, like the waters of the magical fountain which Ponce de Leon so longed to discover, are famed for their restorative powers; and the mind, as the body, in the spring-time of life, contains within itself a host of recuperative energies. A few months of relaxation and respite from study, were sufficient fully to restore him; and the choice of a profession was then to be considered and decided. This was not at all difficult. His thoughts had long been directed toward the law, and each succeeding year had served to confirm and strengthen the desire which he had half formed ere the time came for sober and serious reflection.

His final determination was made in accordance with his previous inclinations; and at the beginning of the year 1819, he entered the office of Felix Grundy, at Nashville. Mr. Grundy was then in the zenith of his fame at the head of the Tennessee bar-enjoying the