[CHAPTER IX.]
JOURNEYS.—LETTERS.—JOURNEY TO NEW YORK.
The sense of loss and the state of depression under which Mr. Lawrence labored were so great, that he was advised to try a change of scene; and accordingly, after having placed his three children with kind relatives in the country, he left Boston, on a tour, which lasted some weeks, through the Middle States and Virginia. He wrote many letters during this time, describing the scenes which he daily witnessed, and particularly the pleasure which he experienced in Virginia from the unbounded hospitality with which he was welcomed by those with whom he had become acquainted. He also visited Washington, and listened to some important debates on the admission of Missouri into the Union, which produced a strong and lasting influence upon his mind respecting the great questions then discussed.
In a letter to his brother from the latter city, dated Feb. 25th, after describing a visit to the tomb of Washington at Mount Vernon, he writes:
"Friend Webster has taken a stand here which no man can surpass; very few are able to keep even with him. He has made a wonderful argument for the United States Bank. If he does not stand confessedly first among the advocates here, he does not stand second. Tell brother L. of this; it will do him good."
On March 30, he writes to his sister, after his return to Boston:
"I am once more near the remains of her who was lately more dear to me than any other earthly object, after an absence of two months; my health much improved,—I may say restored; my heart filled with gratitude to the Author of all good for so many and rich blessings, so rapidly succeeding such severe privations and trials."