It is, therefore, of the highest consequence that you should not only cultivate correct principles, but that you should place your standard of action so high as to require great vigilance in living up to it.
In regard to your business transactions, let every thing be so registered in your books, that any person, without difficulty, can understand the whole of your concerns. You may be cut off in the midst of your pursuits, and it is of no small consequence that your temporal affairs should always be so arranged that you may be in readiness.
If it is important that you should be well prepared in this point of view, how much more important is it that you should be prepared in that which relates to eternity!
You are young, and the course of life seems open, and pleasant prospects greet your ardent hopes; but you must remember that the race is not always to the swift, and that, however flattering may be our prospects, and however zealously you may seek pleasure, you can never find it except by cherishing pure principles and practicing right conduct. My heart is full on this subject, my dear brother, and it is the only one on which I feel the least anxiety.
While here, your conduct has been such as to meet my entire approbation; but the scenes of another land may be more than your principles will stand against. I say may be, because young men of as fair promise as yourself have been lost by giving a small latitude (innocent in the first instance) to their propensities. But I pray the Father of all mercies to have you in his keeping, and preserve you amid temptations.
I can only add my wish to have you write me frequently and particularly, and that you will embrace every opportunity of gaining information.
Your affectionate brother,
Amos Lawrence.
To Abbott Lawrence.
In his politics, Mr. Lawrence was a Federalist, and then a Whig. He served for one term in the State Legislature as a Representative from Boston, with credit to himself, but afterward avoided any active participation in public events. When his nephew-by-marriage, General Pierce, was a candidate for the Presidency, he was very much gratified personally by the selection of the Democracy, but declined to vote for him. In a letter to a friend, written at this time, he said: "I had a charming ride yesterday with my nephew, Frank Pierce, and told him I thought he must occupy the White House the next term, but that I would go for Scott. Pierce is a fine, spirited fellow, and will do his duty wherever placed. Scott will be my choice for President of the United States."