On the 22d of August, Mr. Lawrence sent a cane to Governor Briggs, at Pittsfield, with the following inscription graven upon it:
FROM THE "OLD OAK" OF MOUNT AUBURN:
A Memento of Loved Ones gone before.
A M O S L A W R E N C E T O G E O R G E N. B R I G G S.
1846.
The cane was accompanied by the following note:
"My dear Friend: Your letter of Monday last came, as all your letters do, just right as a comforter through a feeble week; for I have been confined to the house, and unable to speak above a whisper, most of the time, and am still not allowed to talk or work much. The corresponding week of the last year, when our precious R. was your guest, comes over my mind and heart, at all hours of the night and the day, in a manner I need not attempt to describe to you; and it is only distressing when I see the suffering of his dear mother. But we feel that he is now the guest of the Supreme Governor, whose care and kindness takes from him all that can interrupt his perfect happiness through all time; and this surely ought to satisfy us. The good opinion of good men you know how to value, and can therefore judge how much I prize yours. Acting upon the public mind for good as you do, the memorial from the old oak will not be without its use in your instruction and advice to the young, whose special improvement and safety you have so much at heart. The cane is a part of the same branch as that sent to President H., and came to me since noon to-day. Accept it with assurances of continued and increased affection and respect.
Most sincerely yours,
"A. L.""August 28.—Called at —— shop, Washington-street, and there saw a nice-looking boy seventeen or eighteen years old, named T. S., to whom I gave a word of good counsel and encouragement. Shall look after him a little, as I like his manners."
"August 29.—A woman writes a figuring letter, calling herself S. M.; says she is sixty years old; has lost her sons, and wants help; came from New Hampshire. Also, N. T. wants aid to study, or something else. Also, a Mr. F., with a great share of hair on his face, gold ring, and chains, wants to travel for his health; has a wife and child. Those three cases within twenty-four hours are very forbidding."
In a letter of advice to a young gentleman who was a stranger to him, but who through a mutual friend had asked his opinion on a matter of business, he writes, on Sept. 19th:
"Your letter of the 17th is a flattering token of confidence and respect, that I wish were better merited. Such as I am, I am at your service; but there is nothing of me. I have been stricken down within a few days, and am hardly able to stand up. A kind Father keeps me vigilant by striking without notice, and when least expected; and on some one of these occasions I am to close the account of my stewardship, and no matter when, if the accounts are right. I cannot advise you except in one particular: Do with your might what your hands find to do; spend no man's money but your own, and look carefully after little items that tempt you."
The notoriety attendant upon acts of beneficence which Mr. Lawrence instinctively shrunk from, and which so often deters the sensitive from the good acts which, without this penalty, they would gladly perform, was, as has before been stated, a subject of serious annoyance. This is illustrated by the following note, written to Mr. Parker, the Principal of the Johnson School for girls: