Mr. Lawrence was remarkable through life for the most punctilious exactness in all matters relating to business. Ever prompt himself in all that he undertook, he submitted with little grace to the want of the same good trait in others. He writes to a friend:
"And now having delivered the message, having the power at the present moment, and not having the assurance that I shall be able to do it the next hour, I will state that I practised upon the maxim, 'Business before friends,' from the commencement of my course. During the first seven years of my business in this city, I never allowed a bill against me to stand unsettled over the Sabbath. If the purchase of goods was made at auction on Saturday, and delivered to me, I always examined and settled the bill by note or by crediting it, and having it clear, so that, in case I was not on duty on Monday, there would be no trouble for my boys; thus keeping the business before me, instead of allowing it to drive me."
Absence from his home seemed only to strengthen the feelings of attachment with which he regarded its inmates.
"My interest in home, and my desire to have something to tell my sisters to instruct and improve them, as well as to hear their comments upon whatever I communicated, was a powerful motive for me to spend a portion of each evening in my boarding-house, the first year I came to Boston, in reading and study."
During the same month in which he commenced his business, he opened a correspondence with one of his sisters by the following letter:
"Boston, December, 1807.
"Dear E.: Although the youngest, you are no less dear to me than the other sisters. To you, therefore, I ought to be as liberal in affording pleasure (if you can find any in reading my letters) as to S. and M.; and, if there is any benefit resulting from them, you have a claim to it as well as they. From these considerations, and with the hope that you will write to me whenever you can do so with convenience, I have begun a correspondence which I hope will end only with life. To be able to write a handsome letter is certainly a very great accomplishment, and can best be attained by practice; and, if you now begin, I have no hesitation in saying, that, by the time you are sixteen, you will be mistress of a handsome style, and thrice the quantity of ideas you would otherwise possess, by omitting this part of education. At present, you can write about any subject that will afford you an opportunity of putting together a sentence, and I shall read it with pleasure. I mention this, that you need not fear writing on subjects not particularly interesting to me; the manner at present being of as much consequence as the matter.
"For our mutual pleasure and benefit, dear E., I hope you will not fail to gratify your affectionate brother
Amos."
To show the nature of the correspondence between the parties, extracts are given below from a letter dated within a few days of the preceding, and addressed to another sister:
"From you, my dear sister, the injunction not to forget the duties of religion comes with peculiar grace. You beg I will pardon you for presuming to offer good advice. Does a good act require pardon? Not having committed an offence, I can grant you no pardon; but my thanks I can give, which you will accept, with an injunction never to withhold any caution or advice which you may think necessary or beneficial on account of fewer years having passed over your head. * * * *
"Many, when speaking of perfection, say it is not attainable, or hitherto unattainable, and it is therefore vain to try or hope for it. To such I would observe, that, from motives of duty to our Creator, and ambition in ourselves, we ought to strive for it, at least so far as not to be distanced by those who have preceded us. Morality is strict justice between man and man; therefore, a man being moral does not imply he is a Christian, but being a Christian implies he is a moral man. * * * *
"We ought to use our utmost endeavors to conquer our passions and evil propensities, to conform our lives to the strict rules of morality and the best practice of Christianity. I cannot go further, without introducing the subject of evil speaking, which you will perhaps think I have exhausted. * * *
"I do not, my dear M., set myself up as a reformer of human nature, or to find fault with it; but these observations (which have occurred to me as I am writing) may serve to show how apt we are to do things which afford us no pleasure, and which oftentimes are attended with the most disagreeable consequences. If you receive any improvement from the sentiments, or pleasure from the perusal, of this letter, the time in writing will be considered as well spent by your affectionate brother
Amos."