[CHAPTER XXI.]
ACQUAINTANCE WITH PRESIDENT HOPKINS.—LETTERS.—AFFECTION FOR BRATTLE-STREET CHURCH.—DEATH OF MRS. APPLETON.—LETTERS.—AMESBURY CO.
At the commencement of the year 1844, President Hopkins, of Williams College, delivered a course of lectures on the "Evidences of Christianity," before the Lowell Institute, in Boston. Mr. Lawrence had previously seen him, and had thought that he detected, in some features of his face, a resemblance to the family of his first wife. In allusion to this acquaintance, he writes to his son about this period:
"President H. has the family look of your mother enough to belong to them; and it was in consequence of that resemblance, when I was first introduced to him many years ago, that I inquired his origin, and found him to be of the same stock."
The acquaintance was renewed, and an intimacy ensued, which was not only the cause of much happiness to Mr. Lawrence through the remainder of his life, but was also the means of directing his attention to the wants of Williams College, of which he eventually became the greatest benefactor. An active and constant correspondence followed this acquaintance, and was so much prized by Mr. Lawrence that he had most of the letters copied, thereby filling several volumes, from which extracts will from time to time be made. In one of his first letters to that gentleman, dated May 11, he says:
"If, by the consecration of my earthly possessions to some extent, I can make the Christian character practically more lovely, and illustrate, in my own case, that the higher enjoyments here are promoted by the free use of the good things intrusted to me, what so good use can I make of them? I feel that my stewardship is a very imperfect one, and that the use of these good things might be extended profitably to myself; and, since I have known how much good the little donation did your college, I feel ashamed of myself it had not been larger,—at any rate, sufficient to have cleared the debt."
To the same gentleman, who had informed Mr. Lawrence that an accident had befallen a plaster bust of himself, he writes, under date of May 16:
"Dear President: You know the phrase 'Such a man's head is full of notions' has a meaning that we all understand to be not to his credit for discretion, whatever else may be said of him. As I propose throwing in a caveat against this general meaning, I proceed to state my case. And, firstly, President H. is made debtor to the Western Railroad Corporation for the transportation of a barrel to Pittsfield. The bill is receipted, so that you can have the barrel to-morrow by sending for it; which barrel contains neither biscuit nor flour, but the clay image of your friend. In the head are divers notions that my hand fell upon as I was preparing it for the jaunt; and, when the head was filled with things new and old, I was careful to secure the region under the shoulders, especially on the left side, and near the heart, by placing there that part of a lady's dress which designates a government that we men are unwilling openly to acknowledge, but is, withal, very conservative. Within its folds I wrapped up very securely 'Pilgrim's Progress,' and stuffed the empty space between my shoulders, and near my heart, brim full, I hope my young friend will find a motive and a moral in the image and in the book, to cheer him on in his pilgrimage of life."
"July 22, 1844.—Sixty-seven years ago this day, my mother, now living, was married; and, while standing up for the ceremony, the alarm-bell rang, calling all soldiers to their posts. My father left her within the hour, and repaired to Cambridge; but the colonel, in consideration of the circumstances, allowed him to return to Groton to his wife, and to join his regiment within three days at Rhode Island. This he did, spending but a few hours with his wife; and she saw nothing more of him until the last day of the year, when he made her a visit. I have ordered a thousand dollars paid to the Massachusetts General Hospital, to aid in enlarging its wings, and to commemorate this event. The girls of this day know nothing of the privations and trials of their grandmothers."