Truly Yours
Amos Lawrence
R Andrews Print.

EXTRACTS
FROM THE
DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE
OF THE LATE
AMOS LAWRENCE;

WITH A

Brief Account of Some Incidents in his Life.

EDITED BY HIS SON,
WILLIAM R. LAWRENCE, M. D.

———

BOSTON:
G O U L D A N D L I N C O L N,
59 WASHINGTON STREET.
NEW YORK: SHELDON, LAMPORT & BLAKEMAN.
LONDON: TRUBNER & CO.
1856.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
WILLIAM R. LAWRENCE,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts

BOSTON:
Stereotyped by
HOBART & ROBBINS,
New England Type and Stereotype Foundery.
———
Press of George C. Rand & Avery.

To his

ONLY SURVIVING BROTHER,

A M O S A. L A W R E N C E,
OF BOSTON,

This Volume is Affectionately Inscribed,

BY
THE EDITOR.

PREFACE.

Among the papers of the late Amos Lawrence were found copies of a large number of letters addressed to his children.

With the hope that the good counsels there given, during a succession of years, extending from their childhood to adult age, might still be made profitable to their descendants, he had caused them to be carefully preserved.

These letters, as well as an irregular record of his daily experience, were scattered through many volumes, and required arrangement before they could be of use to those for whom they were intended.

As no one else of the immediate family could conveniently undertake the task, the editor considered it his duty to do that which could not properly be committed to one less nearly connected with the deceased.

The present volume, containing what was thought most interesting among those letters and extracts, was accordingly prepared for private circulation; and an edition of one hundred copies was printed and distributed among the nearest relatives and friends.

It has been thought by many that the record of such a life as is here portrayed would be useful to other readers, and especially to young men,—a class in whom Mr. Lawrence was deeply interested, and with whom circumstances in his own life had given him a peculiar bond of sympathy.

Although many, among both friends and strangers, have urged the publication of the present memorial, and some have even questioned the moral right of withholding from the view of others the light of an example so worthy of imitation, much hesitation has been felt in submitting to the public the recital of such domestic incidents as are treasured in the memory of every family; those incidents which cast a sunbeam or a shadow across every fireside, and yet possess little or no interest for the busy world without.

At the solicitation of the "Boston Young Men's Christian Union," the "Boston Young Men's Christian Association," and the students of Williams College, through their respective committees, and at the request of many esteemed citizens, the pages which were prepared for the eye of kindred and friends alone are now submitted to the public. Personal feeling is forgotten in the hope that the principles here inculcated may tend to promote the ends for which the subject of this memorial lived and labored.

The interest manifested in his life, and the tributes rendered to his memory, have been a source of sincere gratification to his family; and they would here tender their acknowledgments to all those who have expressed their interest and their wishes in regard to this publication.

The present volume is submitted with a few unimportant omissions, and with the addition of some materials, received after the issue of the first edition, which will throw light upon the character and principles of Mr. Lawrence during his early business career.

His course was that of a private citizen, who took but little part in public measures or in public life.

To the general reader, therefore, there may be but little to amuse in a career so devoid of incident, and so little connected with the stirring events of his times; but there cannot fail to be something to interest those who can appreciate the spirit which, in this instance, led to a rare fidelity in the fulfilment of important trusts, and the consecration of a life to the highest duties.

Mr. Lawrence was eminently a religious man, and a deep sense of accountability may be discovered at the foundation of those acts of beneficence, which, during his lifetime, might have been attributed to a less worthy motive.

It has been the object of the editor to allow the subject of this memorial to tell his own story, and to add merely what is necessary to preserve the thread of the narrative, or to throw light upon the various matters touched upon in the correspondence.

It is designed to furnish such materials as will afford a history of Mr. Lawrence's charitable efforts, rather than give a detailed account of what was otherwise an uneventful career.

Such selections from his correspondence are made as seemed best adapted to illustrate the character of the man; such as exhibit his good and valuable traits, without attempting to conceal those imperfections, an exemption from which would elevate him above the common sphere of mortals.

Most of his letters are of a strictly private nature, and involve the record of many private details. His domestic tastes, and his affection for his family, often led him to make mention of persons and events in such a way that few letters could be wholly given without invading the precincts of the family circle.

The engraving at the commencement of the volume is from an original portrait, by Harding, in the possession of the editor, a copy of which hangs in the library of Williams College.

It seems also fitting to include a portrait of the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, who, for forty-three years, was so intimately associated with the subject of this memorial in all the trials, as well as in the triumphs, of business life, and who was still more closely connected by the bonds of fraternal affection and sympathy. A few days only have elapsed since he was removed from the scene of his earthly labors.

The grave has rarely closed over one who to such energy of character and strength of purpose united a disposition so gentle and forbearing. Amidst the perplexities attending his extended business relations, and in the excitement of the political struggles in which he was called to take part, he was never tempted to overstep the bounds of courtesy, or to regard his opponents otherwise than with feelings of kindness.

His wealth was used freely for the benefit of others, and for the advancement of all those good objects which tended to promote the welfare of his fellow-men.

That divine spark of charity, which burned with such ceaseless energy in the bosom of his elder brother, was caught up by him, and exhibited its fruits in those acts of munificence which will make him long remembered as a benefactor of his race.

Boston, September 1st, 1855.

LETTERS,
REQUESTING PUBLICATION.

Rooms of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union,
6 Bedford-street, Boston, June 22, 1855.

William R. Lawrence, Esq.

Dear Sir: The undersigned, members of the Government of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union, some of whom have perused the excellent memoir of your honored father, feel deeply impressed with the desire that it should be published and circulated, knowing that its publication and perusal would greatly benefit the young, the old, and all classes of our busy mercantile community.

Remembering with pleasure the friendship which your father expressed, not only in kind words, but in substantial offerings to the treasury and library of our Society, the Union would be most happy, should it comport with your feelings, to be made the medium of the publication and circulation of the memoir, which you have compiled with so much ability and faithfulness.

Hoping to receive a favorable response to our desire,

We are most truly yours,

THOMAS GAFFIELD,
JOHN SWEETSER,
JOSEPH H. ALLEN,
CHAS. C. SMITH,
C. J. BISHOP,
F. H. PEABODY,
W. IRVING SMITH,
ARTHUR W. HOBART.
H. K. WHITE,
J. F. AINSWORTH,
W. H. RICHARDSON,
FRANCIS S. RUSSELL,
FREDERIC H. HENSHAW,
CHARLES F. POTTER,
THORNTON K. LOTHROP,
GEO. S. HALE.

Rooms of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association,
Tremont Temple, Boston, July 10, 1855.

Dear Sir:

The Committee on the Library of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association beg leave, in its behalf, to tender you sincere thanks for your donation of a copy of the "Diary and Correspondence of Amos Lawrence." It will remain to the members of the Association a valued memorial of one of its earliest benefactors. It will be yet more prized for its record of his invaluable legacy,—the history of a long life—a bright example.

The Committee, uniting with the subscribers, managers of the Association, are happy to improve this opportunity to express the hope that you may be induced to give the book a more general circulation. The kindly charities of your late lamented parent are still fresh in impressions of gratitude upon their recipients. They require no herald to give them publicity. The voice of fame would do violence to their spirit.

Yet, now that "the good man" can no more utter his words of sympathy and counsel,—that his pen can no more subscribe its noble benefactions, or indite its lessons of wisdom and experience,—the press may silently perpetuate those which survive him.

We must assure you of our pleasure in the knowledge that the liberal interest in the Association, so constantly manifested by your revered father, is actively maintained by yourself.

We remain, in the fraternal bonds of Christian regard,

Yours, truly,

JACOB SLEEPER,
J. S. WARREN,
SAMUEL GREGORY,
LUTHER L. TARBELL,
ALONZO C. TENNEY,
MOSES W. POND,
STEPHEN G. DEBLOIS,
HENRY FURNAS,
FRANCIS D. STEDMAN,
ELIJAH SWIFT,
B. C. CLARK, JR.,
JOSEPH P. ELLICOTT,
GEO. N. NOYES,
PEARL MARTIN,
W. H. JAMESON,
W. F. STORY.

FRANKLIN W. SMITH, }
E. M. PUTNAM, } Committee
CHAS. L. ANDREWS, } on
GEO. C. RAND, } Library and Rooms
H. C. GILBERT, }

To

William R. Lawrence, M.D.

Williams College, June 30, 1855.

Dear Sir:

The students of Williams College having learned that you have prepared, for private distribution, a volume illustrating the character of the late Amos Lawrence, whose munificence to this Institution they appreciate, and whose memory they honor; the undersigned, a Committee appointed for the purpose, express to you their earnest desire that you would allow it to be published.

Very truly yours,

SAMUEL B. FORBES,
E. C. SMITH,
FRED. W. BEECHER,
HENRY HOPKINS.

To

W. R. Lawrence, M.D., Boston.

CONTENTS.

DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE.

[CHAPTER I.]

BIRTH.—ANCESTRY.—PARENTS.

Amos Lawrence was born in Groton, Mass., on the 22d of April, 1786. His ancestor, John Lawrence, was baptized, according to the records, on the 8th of October, 1609, at Wisset, County of Suffolk, England, where the family had resided for a long period, though originally from the County of Lancaster.

Butler, in his "History of Groton," has, among other details, the following:

"The first account of the ancestor of the numerous families of this name in Groton and Pepperell, which can be relied upon as certain, is, that he was an inhabitant of Watertown as early as 1635. He probably came in the company which came with Governor Winthrop, in 1630. His given name was John, and that of his wife was Elizabeth. Whether they were married in England or not, has not been ascertained. Their eldest child was born in Watertown, January 14, 1635. He removed to Groton, with probably all his family, at an early period of its settlement, as his name is found in the records there in 1663. He was an original proprietor, having a twenty-acre right."

Of the parents of the subject of this memoir, the same author writes:

"Samuel Lawrence, the son of Captain Amos Lawrence, sen., was an officer in the continental army, in the former part of the Revolutionary War. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill, where a musket-ball passed through his beaver hat. He was also in the battle in Rhode Island, where he served as adjutant under General Sullivan. On the 22d day of July, 1777, being at home, on a furlough, for the express purpose, he was married to Susanna Parker. * * * *

"Having faithfully served in the cause of his country during the term of his engagement, he returned to his native town, to enjoy the peace and quiet of domestic life on his farm. He was elected by his townsmen to some of the highest offices in their gift; he was a deacon of the church, and a justice of the peace quorum unus. He took a deep interest in providing means for the education of youth, particularly in establishing and supporting the seminary in Groton, which now, in gratitude to him and his sons, bears the family name. Of this institution he was a trustee thirty-three years, and in its benefits and advantages he gave ample opportunities for all his children to participate. Here their minds undoubtedly received some of those early impressions, the developments and consequences of which it will be the work of their biographers hereafter to portray. No deduction, however, should here be made from the importance of parental instruction, to add to the merit of academical education. The correct lessons given by the mother in the nursery are as necessary to give the right inclination to the tender mind as are those of the tutor in the highest seminary to prepare it for the business of life and intellectual greatness. In the present case, all the duties incumbent on a mother to teach her offspring to be good, and consequently great, were discharged with fidelity and success. Both parents lived to see, in the subject of their care, all that they could reasonably hope or desire. He died November 8, 1827, æt. seventy-three; and his venerable widow, May 2, 1845, æt. eighty-nine."

Mr. Lawrence writes, in 1849, to a friend:

"My father belonged to a company of minute-men in Groton, at the commencement of the Revolution. On the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, when the news reached town that the British troops were on the road from Boston, General Prescott, who was a neighbor, came towards the house on horseback, at rapid speed, and cried out, 'Samuel, notify your men: the British are coming.' My father mounted the general's horse, rode a distance of seven miles, notified the men of his circuit, and was back again at his father's house in forty minutes. In three hours the company was ready to march, and on the next day (the 20th) reached Cambridge. My father was in the battle of Bunker Hill; received a bullet through his cap, which cut his hair from front to rear; received a spent grape-shot upon his arm, without breaking the bone; and lost a large number of men. His veteran Captain Farwell was shot through the body, was taken up for dead, and was so reported by the man who was directed to carry him off. This report brought back the captain's voice, and he exclaimed, with his utmost power, 'It an't true; don't let my poor wife hear of this; I shall live to see my country free.' And so it turned out. This good man, who had served at the capture of Cape Breton in 1745, again in 1755, and now on Bunker Hill in 1775, is connected with everything interesting in my early days. The bullet was extracted, and remains, as a memento, with his descendants. My father and mother were acquainted from their childhood, and engaged to be married some time in 1775. They kept up a correspondence through 1776, when he was at New York; but, on a visit to her, in 1777 (his mother having advised them to be married, as Susan had better be Sam's widow than his forlorn damsel), they were married; but, while the ceremony was going forward, the signal was given to call all soldiers to their posts; and, within the hour, he left his wife, father, mother, and friends, to join his regiment, then at Cambridge. This was on the 22d day of July, 1777. In consideration of the circumstances, his colonel allowed him to return to his wife, and to join the army at Rhode Island in a brief time (two or three days). He did so, and saw nothing more of home until the last day of that year. The army being in winter quarters, he got a furlough for a short period, and reached home in time to assist at the ordination of the Rev. Daniel Chaplin, of whose church both my parents were then members. His return was a season of great joy to all his family. His stay was brief, and nothing more was seen of him until the autumn of 1778, when he retired from the army, in time to be with his wife at the birth of their first child. From that time he was identified with everything connected with the good of the town. As we children came forward, we were carefully looked after, but were taught to use the talents intrusted to us; and every nerve was strained to provide for us the academy which is now doing so much there. We sons are doing less for education for our means than our father for his means."

Of his mother Mr. Lawrence always spoke in the strongest terms of veneration and love, and in many of his letters are found messages of affection, such as could have emanated only from a heart overflowing with filial gratitude. Her form bending over their bed in silent prayer, at the hour of twilight, when she was about leaving them for the night, is still among the earliest recollections of her children.

She was a woman well fitted to train a family for the troubled times in which she lived. To the kindest affections and sympathies she united energy and decision, and in her household enforced that strict and unhesitating obedience, which she considered as the foundation of all success in the education of children. Her hands were never idle, as may be supposed, when it is remembered that in those days, throughout New England, in addition to the cares of a farming establishment, much of the material for clothing was manufactured by the inmates of the family. Many hours each day she passed at the hand-loom, and the hum of the almost obsolete spinning-wheel even now comes across the memory like the remembrance of a pleasant but half-forgotten melody.

[CHAPTER II.]

EARLY YEARS.—SCHOOL DAYS.—APPRENTICESHIP.

The first public instruction received by Mr. Lawrence was at the district school kept at a short distance from his father's house. Possessing a feeble constitution, he was often detained at home by sickness, where he employed himself industriously with his books and tools, in the use of which he acquired a good degree of skill, as may be seen from a letter to his son, at Groton, in 1839:

"Near the barn used to be an old fort, where the people went to protect themselves from the Indians; and, long since my remembrance, the old cellar was there, surrounded by elder-bushes and the like. I made use of many a piece of the elder for pop-guns and squirts, in the preparation of which I acquired a strong taste for the use of the pen-knife and jack-knife. I like the plan of boys acquiring the taste for tools, and of their taking pains to learn their use; for they may be so situated as to make a very slight acquaintance very valuable to them. And, then, another advantage is that they may have exercise of body and mind in some situations where they would suffer without. How do you employ yourself? Learn as much as you can of farming; for the work of your hands in this way may prove the best resource in securing comfort to you. The beautiful images of early life come up in these bright moonlight nights, the like of which I used to enjoy in the fields below our old mansion, where I was sent to watch the cattle. There I studied astronomy to more account than ever afterwards; for the heavens were impressive teachers of the goodness of that Father who is ever near to each one of his children. May you never lose sight of this truth, and so conduct yourself that at any moment you may be ready to answer when He calls!"

He did not allow himself to be idle, but, from his earliest years, exhibited the same spirit of industry which led to success in after life. With a natural quickness of apprehension, and a fondness for books, he made commendable progress, in spite of his disadvantages. His father's social disposition and hospitable feelings made the house a favorite resort for both friends and strangers; and among the most welcome were old messmates and fellow-soldiers, to whose marvellous adventures and escapes the youthful listener lent a most attentive ear. In after life he often alluded to the intense interest with which he hung upon these accounts of revolutionary scenes, and times which "tried men's souls." The schoolmaster was usually billeted upon the family; and there are now living individuals high in political and social life who served in that capacity, and who look back with pleasure to the days passed under that hospitable roof.

At a later period, he seems to have been transferred to another school, in the adjoining district, as will be seen by the following extract of a letter, written in 1844, to a youth at the Groton Academy:

"More than fifty years ago, your father and I were school children together. I attended then at the old meeting-house, or North Barn, as it was called, by way of derision, where I once remember being in great tribulation at having lost my spelling-book on the way. It was afterwards restored to me by Captain Richardson, who found it under his pear-tree, where I had been, without leave, on my way to school, and with the other children helped myself to his fruit."

From the district school, Mr. Lawrence entered the Groton Academy, of which all his brothers and sisters were members at various times. As his strength was not sufficient to make him useful upon the farm, in the autumn of 1799 he was placed in a small store, in the neighboring town of Dunstable. There he passed but a few months; and, on account, perhaps, of greater facilities for acquiring a knowledge of business, he was transferred to the establishment of James Brazer, Esq., of Groton, an enterprising and thrifty country merchant, who transacted a large business, for those times, with his own and surrounding towns. The store was situated on the high road leading from Boston to New Hampshire and Canada, and was, consequently, a place of much resort, both for travellers and neighbors who took an interest in passing events. Several clerks were employed; and, as Mr. Brazer did not take a very active part in the management of the business, after a year or two nearly the whole responsibility of the establishment rested upon young Lawrence. The stock consisted of the usual variety kept in the country stores of those days, when neighbors could not, as now, run down to the city, thirty or forty miles distant, for any little matter of fancy, and return before dinner-time. Puncheons of rum and brandy, bales of cloth, kegs of tobacco, with hardware and hosiery, shared attention in common with silks and thread, and all other articles for female use. Among other duties, the young clerk was obliged to dispense medicines, not only to customers, but to all the physicians within twenty miles around, who depended on this establishment for their supply.

The confidence in his good judgment was such that he was often consulted, in preference to the physician, by those who were suffering from minor ails; and many were the extemporaneous doses which he administered for the weal or woe of the patient. The same confidence was extended to him in all other matters, no one doubted his assertion; and the character for probity and fairness which accompanied him through life was here established.

The quantity of rum and brandy sold would surprise the temperance men of modern days. At eleven o'clock, each forenoon, some stimulating beverage, according to the taste of the clerk who compounded it, was served out for the benefit of clerks and customers. Mr. Lawrence partook with the others; but, soon finding that the desire became more pressing at the approach of the hour for indulgence, he resolved to discontinue the habit altogether:

"His mind was soon made up. Understanding perfectly the ridicule he should meet with, and which for a time he did meet with in its fullest measure, he yet took at once the ground of total abstinence. Such a stand, taken at such an age, in such circumstances of temptation, before temperance societies had been heard of, or the investigations had been commenced on which they are based, was a practical instance of that judgment and decision which characterized him through life."[1]

In regard to this resolution, he writes, many years afterward, to a young student in college:

"In the first place, take this for your motto at the commencement of your journey, that the difference of going just right, or a little wrong, will be the difference of finding yourself in good quarters, or in a miserable bog or slough, at the end of it. Of the whole number educated in the Groton stores for some years before and after myself, no one else, to my knowledge, escaped the bog or slough; and my escape I trace to the simple fact of my having put a restraint upon my appetite. We five boys were in the habit, every forenoon, of making a drink compounded of rum, raisins, sugar, nutmeg, &c., with biscuit,—all palatable to eat and drink. After being in the store four weeks, I found myself admonished by my appetite of the approach of the hour for indulgence. Thinking the habit might make trouble if allowed to grow stronger, without further apology to my seniors I declined partaking with them. My first resolution was to abstain for a week, and, when the week was out, for a month, and then for a year. Finally, I resolved to abstain for the rest of my apprenticeship, which was for five years longer. During that whole period, I never drank a spoonful, though I mixed gallons daily for my old master and his customers. I decided not to be a slave to tobacco in any form, though I loved the odor of it then, and even now have in my drawer a superior Havana cigar, given me, not long since, by a friend, but only to smell of. I have never in my life smoked a cigar; never chewed but one quid, and that was before I was fifteen; and never took an ounce of snuff, though the scented rappee of forty years ago had great charms for me. Now, I say, to this simple fact of starting just right am I indebted, with God's blessing on my labors, for my present position, as well as that of the numerous connections sprung up around me. I have many details that now appear as plain to me as the sun at noonday, by which events are connected together, and which have led to results that call on me to bless the Lord for all his benefits, and to use the opportunities thus permitted to me in cheering on the generation of young men who have claims upon my sympathies as relations, fellow-townsmen, or brethren on a more enlarged scale."

Of this period he writes elsewhere, as follows:

"When I look back, I can trace the small events which happened at your age as having an influence upon all the after things. My academy lessons, little academy balls, and eight-cent expenses for music and gingerbread, the agreeable partners in the hall, and pleasant companions in the stroll, all helped to make me feel that I had a character even then; and, after leaving school and going into the store, there was not a month passed before I became impressed with the opinion that restraint upon appetite was necessary to prevent the slavery I saw destroying numbers around me. Many and many of the farmers, mechanics, and apprentices, of that day, have filled drunkards' graves, and have left destitute families and friends.

"The knowledge of every-day affairs which I acquired in my business apprenticeship in Groton has been a source of pleasure and profit even in my last ten years' discipline."

The responsibility thrown upon the young clerk was very great; and he seems cheerfully to have accepted it, and to have given himself up entirely to the performance of his business duties. His time, from early dawn till evening, was fully taken up; and, although living in the family of his employer, and within a mile of his father's house, a whole week would sometimes pass without his having leisure to pay even a flying visit.

But few details of his apprenticeship can now be gathered either from his contemporaries or from any allusions in his own writings. He was disabled for a time by an accident which came near being fatal. In assisting an acquaintance to unload a gun, by some means the charge exploded, and passed directly through the middle of his hand, making a round hole like that of a bullet. Sixty-three shot were picked out of the floor after the accident, and it seemed almost a miracle that he ever again had the use of his hand.

[CHAPTER III.]

ARRIVAL IN BOSTON.—CLERKSHIP.—COMMENCES BUSINESS.—HABITS.—LETTERS.

On the 22d of April, 1807, Mr. Lawrence became of age; and his apprenticeship, which had lasted seven years, was terminated.

On the 29th of the same month, he took his father's horse and chaise, and engaged a neighbor to drive him to Boston, with, as he says, many years afterwards,—

"Twenty dollars in my pocket, but feeling richer than I had ever felt before, or have felt since; so rich that I gave the man who came with me two dollars to save him from any expense, and insure him against loss by his spending two days on the journey here and back (for which he was glad of an excuse)."

His object was to make acquaintances, and to establish a credit which would enable him to commence business in Groton on his own account, in company with a fellow-apprentice.

A few days after his arrival in Boston, he received the offer of a clerkship from a respectable house; and, wishing to familiarize himself with the modes of conducting mercantile affairs in the metropolis, and with the desire of extending his acquaintance with business men, he accepted the offer. His employers were so well satisfied with the capacity of their new clerk, that, in the course of a few months, they made a proposition to admit him into partnership. Without any very definite knowledge of their affairs, he, much to their surprise, declined the offer. He did not consider the principles on which the business was conducted as the true ones. The result showed his sagacity; for, in the course of a few months, the firm became insolvent, and he was appointed by the creditors to settle their affairs. This he did to their satisfaction; and, having no further occupation, decided upon commencing business on his own account. He accordingly hired a small store in what was then called Cornhill, and furnished it by means of the credit which he had been able to obtain through the confidence with which he had inspired those whose acquaintance he had made during his brief sojourn in Boston.

On the 17th of December, 1807, he commenced business, after having engaged as his clerk Henry Whiting, in after years well and honorably known as Brigadier-General Whiting, of the United States Army.

Mr. Lawrence writes to General Whiting, in 1849, as follows:

"I have just looked into my first sales-book, and there see the entries made by you more than forty-one years ago. Ever since, you have been going up from the cornet of dragoons to the present station. Abbott, who took your place, is now the representative of his country at the Court of St. James."

In a memorandum in one of his account-books, he thus alludes to his condition at that time:

"I was then, in the matter of property, not worth a dollar. My father was comfortably off as a farmer, somewhat in debt; with perhaps four thousand dollars. My brother Luther was in the practice of law, getting forward, but not worth two thousand dollars; William had nothing; Abbott, a lad just fifteen years old, at school; and Samuel, a child seven years old."

Of the manner in which he occupied himself when not engaged about his business, he writes to his son in 1832:

"When I first came to this city, I took lodgings in the family of a widow who had commenced keeping boarders for a living. I was one of her first, and perhaps had been in the city two months when I went to this place; and she, of course, while I remained, was inclined to adopt any rules for the boarders that I prescribed. The only one I ever made was, that, after supper, all the boarders who remained in the public room should remain quiet at least for one hour, to give those who chose to study or read an opportunity of doing so without disturbance. The consequence was, that we had the most quiet and improving set of young men in the town. The few who did not wish to comply with the regulation went abroad after tea, sometimes to the theatre, sometimes to other places, but, to a man, became bankrupt in after life, not only in fortune, but in reputation; while a majority of the other class sustained good characters, and some are now living who are ornaments to society, and fill important stations. The influence of this small measure will perhaps be felt throughout generations. It was not less favorable on myself than on others."

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."

[CHAPTER IV.]

BUSINESS HABITS.—HIS FATHER'S MORTGAGE.—RESOLUTIONS.—ARRIVAL OF BROTHERS IN BOSTON.

Mr. Lawrence had early formed, in the management of his affairs, certain principles, to which he rigidly adhered till the close of life. He writes:

"I adopted the plan of keeping an accurate account of merchandise bought and sold each day, with the profit as far as practicable. This plan was pursued for a number of years; and I never found my merchandise fall short in taking an account of stock, which I did as often at least as once in each year. I was thus enabled to form an opinion of my actual state as a business man. I adopted also the rule always to have property, after my second year's business, to represent forty per cent. at least more than I owed; that is, never to be in debt more than two and a half times my capital. This caution saved me from ever getting embarrassed. If it were more generally adopted, we should see fewer failures in business. Excessive credit is the rock on which so many business men are broken.

"When I commenced, the embargo had just been laid, and with such restrictions on trade that many were induced to leave it. But I felt great confidence, that, by industry, economy, and integrity, I could get a living; and the experiment showed that I was right. Most of the young men who commenced at that period failed by spending too much money, and using credit too freely.

"I made about fifteen hundred dollars the first year, and more than four thousand the second. Probably, had I made four thousand the first year, I should have failed the second or third year. I practised a system of rigid economy, and never allowed myself to spend a fourpence for unnecessary objects until I had acquired it."

It is known to many of Mr. Lawrence's friends that his father mortgaged his farm, and loaned the proceeds to his son; thereby enabling him, as some suppose, to do what he could not have done by his own unaided efforts. To show how far this supposition is correct, the following extract is given. It is copied from the back of the original mortgage deed, now lying before the writer, and bearing date of September 1, 1807. The extract is dated March, 1847:

"The review of this transaction always calls up the deep feelings of my heart. My honored father brought to me the one thousand dollars, and asked me to give him my note for it. I told him he did wrong to place himself in a situation to be made unhappy, if I lost the money. He told me he guessed I wouldn't lose it, and I gave him my note. The first thing I did was to take four per cent. premium on my Boston bills (the difference then between passable and Boston money), and send a thousand dollars in bills of the Hillsborough Bank to Amherst, New Hampshire, by my father, to my brother L. to carry to the bank and get specie, as he was going there to attend court that week. My brother succeeded in getting specie, principally in silver change, for the bills, and returned it to me in a few days. In the mean time, or shortly after, the bank had been sued, the bills discredited, and, in the end, proved nearly worthless. I determined not to use the money, except in the safest way; and therefore loaned it to Messrs. Parkman, in whom I had entire confidence. After I had been in business, and had made more than a thousand dollars, I felt that I could repay the money, come what would of it; being insured against fire, and trusting nobody for goods. I used it in my business, but took care to pay off the mortgage as soon as it would be received. The whole transaction is deeply interesting, and calls forth humble and devout thanksgiving to that merciful Father who has been to us better than our most sanguine hopes."

In alluding to this transaction in another place, he says:

"This incident shows how dangerous it is to the independence and comfort of families, for parents to take pecuniary responsibilities for their sons in trade, beyond their power of meeting them without embarrassment. Had my Hillsborough Bank notes not been paid as they were, nearly the whole amount would have been lost, and myself and family might probably have been ruined. The incident was so striking, that I have uniformly discouraged young men who have applied to me for credit, offering their fathers as bondsmen; and, by doing so, I have, I believe, saved some respectable families from ruin. My advice, however, has been sometimes rejected with anger. A young man who cannot get along without such aid will not be likely to get along with it. On the first day of January, 1808, I had been but a few days in business; and the profits on all my sales to that day were one hundred and seventy-five dollars and eighteen cents. The expenses were to come out, and the balance was my capital. In 1842, the sum had increased to such an amount as I thought would be good for my descendants; and, from that time, I have been my own executor. How shall I show my sense of responsibility? Surely by active deeds more than by unmeaning words. God grant me to be true and faithful in his work!"

Having become fairly established in Boston, Mr. Lawrence concluded to take his brother Abbott, then fifteen years of age, as an apprentice. On the 8th of October, 1808, Abbott accordingly joined his brother, who says of him:

"In 1808, he came to me as my apprentice, bringing his bundle under his arm, with less than three dollars in his pocket (and this was his fortune); a first-rate business lad he was, but, like other bright lads, needed the careful eye of a senior to guard him from the pitfalls that he was exposed to."

In his diary of February 10, 1847, he writes:

"In the autumn of 1809, I boarded at Granger's Coffee House, opposite Brattle-street Church; and, in the same house, Mr. Charles White took up his quarters, to prepare his then new play, called the 'Clergyman's Daughter.' He spent some months in preparing it to secure a run for the winter; and used to have Tennett, Canfield, Robert Treat Paine, and a host of others, to dine with him very often. I not unfrequently left the party at the dinner-table, and found them there when I returned to tea. Among the boarders was a fair proportion of respectable young men, of different pursuits; and, having got somewhat interested for White, we all agreed to go, and help bring out his 'Clergyman's Daughter.' Mrs. Darley was the lady to personate her, and a more beautiful creature could not be found. She and her husband (who sung his songs better than any man I had ever heard then) had all the spirit of parties in interest. We filled the boxes, and encored, and all promised a great run. After three nights, we found few beside the friends, and it was laid aside a failure. In looking back, the picture comes fresh before me; and, among all, I do not recollect one who was the better, and most were ruined. The theatre is no better now."

In 1849, he resumes:

"About this time, my brother William made me a little visit to recruit his health, which he had impaired by hard work on the farm, and by a generous attention to the joyous meetings of the young folks of both sexes, from six miles around, which meetings he never allowed to break in upon his work. He continued his visit through the winter, and became so much interested in my business that I agreed to furnish the store next my own for his benefit. Soon after that, I was taken sick; and he bought goods for himself to start with, and pushed on without fear. From that time, he was successful as a business man. He used his property faithfully, and I trust acceptably to the Master, who has called him to account for his talents. Our father's advice to us was,

"'Do not fall out by the way, for a three-fold cord is not quickly broken.'"

[CHAPTER V.]

VISITS AT GROTON.—SICKNESS.—LETTER FROM DR. SHATTUCK.—ENGAGEMENT.—LETTER TO REV. DR. GANNETT.—MARRIAGE.

During these years, Mr. Lawrence was in the habit of making occasional visits to his parents in Groton, thirty-five miles distant. His custom was to drive himself, leaving Boston at a late hour on Saturday afternoon, and often, as he says, encroaching upon the Sabbath before reaching home. After midnight, on Sunday, he would leave on his return; and thus was enabled to reach Boston about daybreak on Monday morning, without losing a moment's time in his business.

In 1810, Mr. Lawrence was seized with an alarming illness, through which he enjoyed the care and skill of his friend and physician, the late Dr. G. C. Shattuck, who, shortly before his own death, transmitted the following account of this illness to the editor of these pages, who also had the privilege of enjoying a friendship so much prized by his father:

"Feb. 28, 1853.

"More than forty years ago, New England was visited with a pestilence. The people were stricken with panic. The first victims were taken off unawares. In many towns in the interior of the commonwealth, the people assembled in town meeting, and voted to pay, from the town treasury, physicians to be in readiness to attend on any one assailed with the premonitory symptoms of disease. The distemper was variously named, cold plague, spotted fever, and malignant remittent fever. After a day of unusual exercise, your father was suddenly taken ill. The worthy family in which he boarded were prompt in their sympathy. A physician was called: neighbors and friends volunteered their aid. Remedies were diligently employed. Prayers in the church were offered up for the sick one. A pious father left his home, on the banks of the Nashua, to be with his son. To the physician in attendance he gave a convulsive grasp of the hand, and, with eyes brimful of tears, and choked utterance, articulated, 'Doctor, if Amos has not money enough, I have!' To the anxious father his acres seemed like dust in the balance contrasted with the life of his son. He was a sensible man, acting on the principle that the stimulus of reward is a salutary adjunct to the promptings of humanity. God rebuked the disorder, though the convalescence was slow. A constitution with an originally susceptible nervous temperament had received a shock which rendered him a long time feeble. An apprentice, with a discretion beyond his years, maintained a healthy activity in his mercantile operations, to the quiet of his mind. He did not need great strength; for sagacity and decision supplied every other lack. Supply and demand were as familiar to him as the alphabet. He knew the wants of the country, and sources of supply. Accumulation followed his operations, and religious principle regulated the distribution of the cumbrous surplus. A sensible and pious father, aided by a prudent mother, had trained the child to become the future man. You will excuse my now addressing you, when you recur to the tradition that I had participated in the joy of the house when you first opened your eyes to the light. That God's promises to the seed of the righteous may extend to you and yours, is the prayer of your early acquaintance,

"George C. Shattuck."

But few details of Mr. Lawrence's business from this date until 1815 are now found. Suffice it to say, that, through the difficult and troubled times in which the United States were engaged in the war with England, his efforts were crowned with success. Dark clouds sometimes arose in the horizon, and various causes of discouragement from time to time cast a gloom over the mercantile world; but despondency formed no part of his character, while cool sagacity and unceasing watchfulness and perseverance enabled him to weather many a storm which made shipwreck of others around him.

Amidst the engrossing cares of business, however, Mr. Lawrence found time to indulge in more genial pursuits, as will be seen from the following lines, addressed to his sister:

"Boston, March 17, 1811.

"My not having written to you since your return, my dear M., has proceeded from my having other numerous avocations, and partly from a carelessness in such affairs reprehensible in me. You will, perhaps, be surprised to learn the extent and importance of my avocations; for, in addition to my usual routine of mercantile affairs, I have lately been engaged in a negotiation of the first importance, and which I have accomplished very much to my own satisfaction. It is no other than having offered myself as a husband to your very good friend Sarah Richards, which offer she has agreed to accept. So, next fall, you must set your mind on a wedding. Sarah I have long known and esteemed: there is such a reciprocity of feelings, sentiments, and principles, that I have long thought her the most suitable person I have seen for me to be united with. Much of my time, as you may well suppose, is spent in her society; and here I cannot but observe the infinite advantage of good sense and good principles over the merely elegant accomplishments of fashionable education. By the latter we may be fascinated for a time; but they will afford no satisfaction on retrospection. The former you are compelled to respect and to love. Such qualities are possessed by Sarah; and, were I to say anything further in her favor, it would be that she is beloved by you. Adieu, my dear sister,

A. L."

As this volume is intended only for the perusal of the family and friends of the late Amos Lawrence, no apology need be made for introducing such incidents of his life, of a domestic nature, as may be thought interesting, and which it might not seem advisable to introduce under other circumstances. Of this nature are some details connected with this engagement. The young lady here alluded to, whose solid qualities he thus, at the age of twenty-five and in the first flush of a successful courtship, so calmly discusses, in addition to these, possessed personal charms sufficient to captivate the fancy of even a more philosophical admirer than himself. Her father, Giles Richards, was a man of great ingenuity, who resided in Boston at the close of the Revolutionary War. He owned an establishment for the manufactory of cards for preparing wool. A large number of men were employed; and, at that time, it was considered one of the objects worthy of notice by strangers. As such, it was visited by General Washington on his northern tour; and may be found described, in the early editions of Morse's Geography, among the industrial establishments of Boston. As in the case of many more noted men of inventive genius, his plans were more vast than the means of accomplishment; and the result was, loss of a handsome competency, and embarrassment in business, from which he retired with unsullied reputation, and passed his latter years in the vicinity of Boston. Here the evening of his life was cheered by the constant and watchful care of his wife, whose cheerful and happy temperament shed a radiance around his path, which, from a naturally desponding character, might otherwise have terminated in gloom. She had been the constant companion of her husband in all his journeyings and residences in nearly every State in the Union, where his business had called him; and, after forty years, returned to die in the house where she was born,—the parsonage once occupied by her father, the Rev. Amos Adams, of Roxbury, who, at the time of the Revolution, was minister of the church now under the pastoral care of the Rev. Dr. Putnam.

Sarah had been placed in the family of the Rev. Dr. Chaplin, minister of the church at Groton, and was a member of the academy when Mr. Lawrence first made her acquaintance. "The academy balls, the agreeable partners in the hall, the pleasant companions in the stroll," remembered with so much pleasure in after life, were not improbably associated with this acquaintance, who had become a visitor and friend to his own sisters. After a separation of four years, the acquaintance was accidentally renewed in the year 1807. Sarah was on a visit at Cambridge to the family of Caleb Gannett, Esq., then and for many years afterwards Steward of Harvard University. In a letter to Rev. Dr. Gannett, dated February 15, 1845, Mr. Lawrence thus alludes to this interview:

"My first interview with you, thirty-eight years ago, when you were led by the hand into the store where I then was, in Cornhill, by that friend (who was afterwards my wife), unconscious of my being within thirty miles, after a four years' separation, connects you in my thoughts with her, her children and grandchildren, in a way that no one can appreciate who has not had the experience."

Enclosed in this letter was a faded paper, on which were written several verses of poetry, with the following explanation:

"Only think of your sainted mother writing this little scrap thirty-eight years ago, when on her death-bed, for her young friend, then on a visit to her, to teach to you, who could not read; and this scrap, written upon a blank term-bill without premeditation, being preserved by that friend while she lived, and, after her death, by her daughter while she lived, and, after her death, being restored to me as the rightful disposer of it; and my happening, within four days after, to meet you under such circumstances as made it proper to show it to you."

MRS. GANNETT'S HYMN FOR HER LITTLE BOY IN 1807.

How can a child forgetful prove

Of all that wakes the heart to love,

And from the path of duty stray,

To spend his time in sport and play;

Neglectful of the blessing given,

Which marks the path to peace and heaven?

O! how can I, who daily share

A mother's kind, assiduous care,

Be idle, and ungrateful too;

Forsake the good, the bad pursue;

Neglectful of the blessings given,

Which mark the path to peace and heaven?

O! how can I such folly show,

When faults indulged to vices grow,—

Who know that idle days ne'er make

Men that are useful, good, or great?

Dear mother, still be thou my guide,

Nor suffer me my faults to hide;

And O may God his grace impart

To fix my feeble, foolish heart,

That I may wait the blessing given,

Which marks the path to peace and heaven!

Mem.—Mrs. Gannett died soon after writing this on a blank term-bill of Harvard College, in 1807.—A. L., 1847.

The marriage of Mr. Lawrence took place in Boston, on the 6th of June, 1811, three months after announcing his engagement to his sister.

[CHAPTER VI.]

BRAMBLE NEWS.—JUNIOR PARTNER GOES TO ENGLAND.—LETTERS TO BROTHER.

In 1849, Mr. Lawrence writes as follows:

"On the 1st of January, 1814, I took my brother Abbott into partnership on equal shares, putting fifty thousand dollars, that I had then earned, into the concern. Three days afterwards, the 'Bramble News' came, by which the excessive high price of goods was knocked down. Our stock was then large, and had cost a high price. He was in great anguish, considering himself a bankrupt for at least five thousand dollars. I cheered him by offering to cancel our copartnership indentures, give him up his note, and, at the end of the year, pay him five thousand dollars. He declined the offer, saying I should lose that, and more beside, and, as he had enlisted, would do the best he could. This was in character, and it was well for us both. He was called off to do duty as a soldier, through most of the year. I took care of the business, and prepared to retreat with my family into the country whenever the town seemed liable to fall into the hands of the British, who were very threatening in their demonstrations. We still continue mercantile business under the first set of indentures, and under the same firm, merely adding '& Co.,' as new partners have been admitted."

In March, 1815, the junior partner embarked on board the ship Milo, the first vessel which sailed from Boston for England after the proclamation of peace. On the eve of his departure, he received from his brother and senior partner a letter containing many good counsels for his future moral guidance, as well as instructions in relation to the course of business to be pursued. From that letter, dated March 11th, the following extracts are taken:

"My dear Brother: I have thought best, before you go abroad, to suggest a few hints for your benefit in your intercourse with the people among whom you are going. As a first and leading principle, let every transaction be of that pure and honest character that you would not be ashamed to have appear before the whole world as clearly as to yourself. In addition to the advantages arising from an honest course of conduct with your fellow-men, there is the satisfaction of reflecting within yourself that you have endeavored to do your duty; and, however greatly the best may fall short of doing all they ought, they will be sure not to do more than their principles enjoin.

"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 everything 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 your prospects, and however zealously you may seek pleasure, you can never find it except by cherishing pure principles, and practising 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."

Again, on the 28th of the month, he writes to the same, after his departure:

"I hope you will have arrived in England early in April; and if so, you will be awaiting with anxious solicitude the arrival of the 'Galen,' by which vessel you will receive letters from home, a word which brings more agreeable associations to the mind and feelings of a young stranger in a foreign land than any other in our language. I have had many fears that you have had a rough passage, as the weather on the Friday following your departure was very boisterous, and continued so for a number of days, and much of the time since has been uncomfortable. I trust, however, that the same good Hand which supplies our daily wants has directed your course to the desired port.

"With a just reliance on that Power, we need have no fear, though winds and waves should threaten our destruction. The interval between the time of bidding adieu and of actual departure called into exercise those fine feelings which those only have who can prize friends, and on that account I was happy to see so much feeling in yourself.

"Since your departure nothing of a public nature has transpired of particular interest. All that there is of news or interest among us you will gather from the papers forwarded.

"Those affairs which relate particularly to ourselves will be of as much interest as any; I shall therefore detail our business operations.

* * * * *

"My next and constant direction will be to keep a particular watch over yourself, that you do not fall into any habits of vice; and, as a means of preserving yourself, I would most strictly enjoin that your Sabbaths be not spent in noise and riot, but that you attend the public worship of God. This you may think an unnecessary direction to you, who have always been in the habit of doing so. I hope it may be; at any rate, it will do no harm.

"That you may be blessed with health, and enjoy properly the blessings of life, is the wish of your ever affectionate brother,

"A. L.

"To Abbott Lawrence."

(TO ABBOTT LAWRENCE.)

"Boston, April 15th, 1815.

"My dear Brother: By the favor of Heaven I trust ere this you have landed upon the soil from which sprang our forefathers. In the contemplation of that wonderful 'Isle' on your first arrival, there must be a feeling bordering on devotion. The thousand new objects, which make such constant demand on your attention, will not, I hope, displace the transatlantic friends from the place they should occupy in your remembrance. Already do I begin to count the days when I may reasonably hear from you.

"I pray you to let no opportunity pass without writing, as you will be enabled to appreciate the pleasure your letters will give by those which you receive from home. Since your departure, our father has been dangerously ill; he seems fast recovering, but we much fear a relapse, when he would, in all probability, be immediately deprived of life, or his disease would so far weaken him as to terminate his usefulness. Our mother continues as comfortable as when you left us. Should you live to return, probably one or both our parents may not be here to welcome you; we have particular reason for thankfulness that they have both been spared to us so long, and have been so useful in the education of their children.

"All others of our connection have been in health since your departure, and a comfortable share of happiness seems to have been enjoyed by all.

* * * * *

"Now for advice: you are placed in a particularly favorable situation, my dear brother, for improving yourself in the knowledge of such things as will hereafter be useful to you. Let no opportunity pass without making the most of it. There are necessarily many vacant hours in your business, which ought not to pass unemployed. I pretend not to suggest particular objects for your attention, but only the habit generally of active employment, which, while making your time useful and agreeable to yourself, will be the best safeguard to your virtue. The American character, I trust, is somewhat respected in England at this time, notwithstanding it was lately at so low an ebb; and I would wish every American to endeavor to do something to improve it. Especially do I wish you, my dear A., who visit that country under circumstances so favorable, to do your part in establishing a character for your country as well as for yourself. Thus prays your affectionate brother,

A. L."

To his wife, at Groton, Mr. Lawrence writes, under date of June 4, 1815:

"The Milo got in yesterday, and brought letters from Abbott, dated 4th April. He was then in Manchester, and enjoyed the best health. He wrote to our father, which letter, I hope, will arrive at Groton by to-morrow's mail. I received from him merchandise, which I hope to get out of the ship and sell this week. I suspect there are few instances of a young man leaving this town, sending out goods, and having them sold within ninety days from the time of his departure. It is eighty-four days this morning since he left home."

(TO ABBOTT LAWRENCE.)

"Boston, June 7, 1815.

"Dear Brother: By the arrival of the Milo last Saturday, and packet on Monday, I received your several letters, giving an account of your proceedings. You are as famous among your acquaintances here for the rapidity of your movements as Bonaparte. Mr. —— thinks that you leave Bonaparte entirely in the background. I really feel a little proud, my dear brother, of your conduct. Few instances of like despatch are known.

"The sensations you experienced in being greeted so heartily by the citizens of Liverpool, were not unlike those you felt on hearing the news of peace. I am happy to state to you that our father has so far recovered from his illness as to be able to attend to his farm. Our mother's health is much as when you left.

"Your friends here feel a good deal of interest in your welfare, and read with deep interest your letters to them. The opportunity is peculiarly favorable for establishing a reputation as a close observer of men and manners, and for those improvements which travelling is reputed to give.

"When writing to you sentences of advice, my heart feels all the tender sympathies and affections which bind me to my own children. This is my apology, if any be necessary, for so frequently touching on subjects for your moral improvement.

"In any condition I can subscribe myself no other than your ever affectionate brother,

A. L."

[CHAPTER VII.]

DEATH OF SISTER.—LETTERS.

On the 19th of August, 1815, Mr. Lawrence, in the following letter to his brother, announced the sudden death of a sister, who to youth and beauty united many valuable qualities of mind and character:

"To you, who are at such a distance from home, and employed in the busy pursuits of life, the description of domestic woe will not come with such force as on us who were eye-witnesses to an event which we and all our friends shall not cease to deplore. We have attended this morning to the last sad office of affection to our loved sister S. Although for ourselves we mourn the loss of so much excellence, yet for her we rejoice that her race is so soon run. We are permitted to hope that she is now a saint in heaven, celebrating before the throne of her Father the praises of the redeemed. She met death in the enjoyment of that hope which is the peculiar consolation of the believer. This event, I know, my dear brother, is calculated to awaken all the tender recollections of home, and to call forth all your sympathy for the anguish of friends; but it is also calculated to soften the heart, and to guide you in your own preparation for that great day of account. The admonition, I hope, may not be lost on any of us, and happy will it be for us if we use it aright."

(TO THE SAME.)

"Boston, October 19, 1815.

"Dear Abbott: By this vessel I have written to you, but am always desirous of communicating the last intelligence from home, therefore I write again. The situation of our town, our country, our friends, and all the objects of endearment, continues the same as heretofore. We are, to be sure, getting into a religious controversy which does not promise to increase the stock of charity among us, but good will undoubtedly arise from it. The passions of some of our brethren are too much engaged, and it would seem from present appearances that consequences unfavorable to the cause of our Master may ensue; but the wrath of man is frequently made subservient to the best purposes, and the good of mankind may in this case be greatly promoted by what at present seems a great evil. Men's passions are but poor guides to the discovery of truth, but they may sometimes elicit light by which others may get at the truth.

"It does seem to me that a man need only use his common sense, and feel a willingness to be instructed in the reading of the Scriptures, and there is enough made plain to his understanding to direct him in the way he should go.

"Others, however, think differently; but that should not be a reason with me for calling them hard names, especially if by their lives they show that they are followers of the same Master."

On December 2d, he writes again:

"I heard from you verbally on the 1st of October, in company with a platoon of New England Guards; and hope the head of the corps allowed Lord Wellington the honor of an introduction, and of inspecting this choice corps, which once had the honor of protecting the constitution and independence of the United States, when menaced by the 'proud sons of Britain.' This is a theme on which you may be allowed to dwell with some delight, although there are no recitals of hair-breadth escapes and hard-fought actions, when numbers bit the dust. Yet to you, who were active in performing duty, this should be a source of comfortable feeling, as the amount of human misery has not been increased by your means. Shakspeare's knight of sack thought 'the better part of valor was discretion,' but I do not believe the Guards would have confirmed this sentiment, had the opportunity offered for a trial. I am really glad to hear of you in Paris, and hope you will improve every moment of your time in acquiring information that will be agreeable and interesting; and, more particularly, I hope you will have gone over the ground where the great events have happened that now allow Europe to repose in peace. How much should I delight in a few hours' intercourse with you; but that must be deferred to another period, perhaps to a very distant period.

"I feel very healthy and very happy; my wife and children all enjoying health, and a good share of the bounties of Providence in various ways. Well you may be contented, you will say. What more is wanting? Such is not always the lot of man possessing those blessings. There is often a voracious appetite for other and greater blessings. The desire for more splendor, the possession of more wealth, is coveted, without the disposition to use it as an accountable creature; and too late the poor man finds that all his toil for these earthly objects of his worship fails in satisfying or giving a good degree of content. I, therefore, have reason for thankfulness that I am blessed with a disposition to appreciate tolerably the temporal blessings I enjoy. To the Father of all mercies I am indebted for this and every other good thing; even for the increased affection with which I think of you. That he may bless and keep you, dear Abbott, is the prayer of your brother,

A. L."

On June 6th, 1817, a few days after the birth of a daughter, he writes to a friend:

"I am the richest man, I suppose, that there is on this side of the water, and the richest because I am the happiest. On the 23d ult. I was blessed by the birth of a fine little daughter; this, as you may well suppose, has filled our hearts with joy. S. is very comfortable, and is not less gratified than I am. I wish you were a married man, and then (if you had a good wife) you would know how to appreciate the pleasures of a parent. I have lately thought more than ever of the propriety of your settling soon. It is extremely dangerous to defer making a connection until a late period; for a man is in more and more danger of not forming one the longer he puts it off; and any man who does not form this connection grossly miscalculates in the use of the means which God has given him to supply himself with pleasures in the downhill journey of life.

"He is also foolish to allow himself to be cheated in this connection by the prospect of a few present advantages, to the exclusion of the more permanent ones. Every man's best pleasures should be at home; for there is the sphere for the exercise of his best virtues; and he should be particularly careful, in the selection of a partner, to get one who will jeopardize neither. On this subject, you know, I am always eloquent. But, at this time, there is reason for my being so, as it is the anniversary of my wedding day.

"S. has put her eye on a rib for you. The said person, you must know, is of a comely appearance (not beautiful), is rather taller than ——, has a good constitution, is perfectly acquainted with domestic economy, and has all the most desirable of the fashionable accomplishments, such as music, painting &c.; and my only objection to her is, as far as I have observed her, that she has a few thousand dollars in cash. This, however, might be remedied; for, after furnishing a house, the balance might be given to her near connections, or to some public institution. I will give no further description, but will only say that her connections are such as you would find pleasure in. No more on this subject. The subject of principal interest among us now is the new tariff of duties." * * * *

[CHAPTER VIII.]

DOMESTIC HABITS.—ILLNESS AND DEATH OF WIFE.

In searching for records of the business at this period, the first copied letters are found in a volume commencing with the date of March 10, 1815; since which period the correspondence, contained in many volumes, is complete. On the first page of this volume is a letter from the senior partner somewhat characteristic. It relates to a bill of exchange for two thousand rupees, which he knew was a doubtful one, but which he had taken to relieve the pressing necessities of a young Englishwoman from Calcutta, with a worthless husband. He writes to his friends in that city:

"We have been so particular as to send a clerk to her with the money, that we might be sure of her receiving it. Previous to her receiving the money from us, we were told her children were ragged, barefooted, and hungry; afterwards we knew they were kept comfortably clad."

In tracing the course of business as revealed by the perusal of the correspondence, it is evident that Mr. Lawrence's time and attention must have been engrossed by the increasing importance and magnitude of the mercantile operations of his firm. The cares and perplexities of the day did not, however, unfit him for the quiet enjoyments of domestic life; and, however great and urgent were the calls upon his time and his thoughts from abroad, home, with its endearments, occupied the first place in his affections. So much did its interests transcend all others in his feelings, that he speaks in after life of having "watched night and day without leaving, for a fortnight," a sick child; and then being rewarded for his care by having it restored to him after the diligent application of remedies, when the physician and friends had given up all hope of recovery.

With such affections and sources of happiness, connected with prosperity in his affairs, it may well be supposed that the current of life flowed smoothly on. His evenings were passed at home; and urgent must have been the call which could draw him from his fireside, where the social chat or friendly book banished the cares of the day.

A gentleman, now a prominent merchant in New York, who was a clerk with Mr. Lawrence at this time, says of him:

"When the business season was over, he would sit down with me, and converse freely and familiarly, and would have something interesting and useful to say. I used to enjoy these sittings; and, while I always feared to do anything, or leave anything undone, which would displease him, I at the same time had a very high regard, and I may say love, for him, such as I never felt for any other man beside my own father. He had a remarkable faculty of bringing the sterling money into our currency, with any advance, by a calculation in his mind, and would give the result with great accuracy in one quarter of the time which it took me to do it by figures. I used to try hard to acquire this faculty, but could not, and never saw any other person who possessed it to the degree he did. His mind was remarkably vigorous and accurate; and consequently his business was transacted in a prompt and correct manner. Nothing was left undone until to-morrow which could be done to-day. He was master of and controlled his business, instead of allowing his business to master and control him. When I took charge of the books, they were kept by single entry; and Mr. Lawrence daily examined every entry to detect errors. He was dissatisfied with this loose way of keeping the books; and, at his request, I studied book-keeping by double entry with Mr. Gershom Cobb, who had just introduced the new and shorter method of double entry. I then transferred the accounts into a new set of books on this plan, and well remember his anxiety during the process, and his expression of delight when the work was completed, and I had succeeded in making the first trial-balance come out right. This was the first set of books opened in Boston on the new system. While Mr. Lawrence required all to fulfil their engagements fully and promptly, so long as they were able to do so, he was lenient to those who were unfortunate, and always ready to compromise demands against such. No case occurred, while I was with him, which I thought he dealt harshly with a debtor who had failed in business."

The year 1818 opened with cheering prospects; but a cloud was gathering which was destined to cast a shadow over all these pleasant hopes. During the spring, Mrs. Lawrence was troubled with a cough, which became so obstinate at the beginning of the summer, that she was persuaded to remain at Groton for a short period, in order to try the benefit of country air. Mr. Lawrence writes to her, July 16:

"I am forcibly reminded of the blessings of wife, children, and friends, by the privation of wife and children; and, when at home, I really feel homesick and lonesome. Here I am, in two great rooms, almost alone; so you must prepare at a minute's notice to follow your husband."

She remained in the country for several weeks, and was summoned suddenly home by the alarming illness of her husband; the result of which, for a time, seemed very doubtful. After a season of intense anxiety and unremitted watchings at his bedside, Mrs. Lawrence was seized during the night with a hemorrhage from the lungs. This symptom, which so much alarmed her friends, was hailed by herself with joy, as she now had no wish to outlive her husband, whose life she had despaired of. Mr. Lawrence's recovery was slow; and, as soon as it was deemed prudent, he was sent to Groton to recruit his strength. He writes, under date of November 5, 1818:

"Dearest Sarah: We have heard of the fire on Tuesday evening, and hope the alarm has not impaired your health. I enjoy myself here as much as it is possible for any one to do under like circumstances: The idea of leaving the objects most dear to me, a wife and child sick, is too great a drawback upon my happiness to allow me as much quiet as is desirable. Yet I have great reason for thankfulness that I am at this time able to enjoy the society of friends, and that you are so comfortable as to give good reason to hope that the next season will restore to you a tolerable share of health."

Mrs. Lawrence writes, in reply to his letter:

"I have just received yours, and feel better to hear that you are so well. I hope that you will leave no means unimproved to regain health. Do not allow unreasonable fears on my account. I am as well as I was the week past; but we are uneasy mortals, and I do not improve as I could wish. You know me: therefore make all allowances. It is a cloudy day."

It soon became evident to all that the disease under which Mrs. Lawrence labored was a settled consumption, and that there could be little hope of recovery. To her mother Mr. Lawrence writes, Dec. 7:

"Since I last wrote to you, there has been no material change in Sarah's situation. She suffers less pain, and has more cheerful spirits than when you were here. She is very well apprised of her situation, and complains that those who are admitted to see her look so sorrowful, that it has a painful effect upon her feelings. She is desirous of being kept cheerful and happy; and, as far as I am capable of making her so, I do it. Yet I am a poor hand to attempt doing, with my feeble health, what is so foreign to my feelings. Although she is much more comfortable than she was, I cannot flatter myself that she is any better. She still retains a faint hope that she may be so; yet it is but a faint one. It takes much from my distress to see her so calm, and so resigned to the will of the Almighty. Although her attachments to life are as strong and as numerous as are the attachments of most, I believe the principle of resignation is stronger. She is a genuine disciple of Christ; and, if my children walk in her steps, they will all be gathered among the blest, and sing the song of the redeemed. Should it be the will of God that we be separated for a season, there is an animation in the hope that we shall meet again, purified from the grossness of the flesh, and never to be parted. 'God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.' I shall have, therefore, no more put upon me than I am able to bear; yet I know not how to bring my mind to part with so excellent a friend, and so good a counsellor."

On Jan. 13, 1819, he writes:

"Sarah has continued to sink since you left, and is now apparently very easy, and very near the termination of her earthly career. She may continue two or three days; but the prospect is, that she will not open her eyes upon another morning. She suffers nothing, and it is, therefore, no trial to our feelings, compared with what it would be did she suffer. Her mind is a little clouded at times, but, in the main, quite clear. We shall give you early information of the event which blasts our dearest earthly hopes. But God reigns: let us rejoice."

A few hours before her death, she called for a paper (now in possession of the writer), and, with a pencil, traced, in a trembling hand, some directions respecting small memorials to friends, and then added:

"Feeling that I must soon depart from this, I trust, to a better world, I resign very dear friends to God, who has done so much for me. I am in ecstacies of love. How can I praise him enough! To my friends I give these tokens of remembrance."

On the 14th of January, 1819, Mr. Lawrence closed the eyes of this most beloved of all his earthly objects, and immediately relapsed into a state of melancholy and gloom, which was, no doubt, greatly promoted by the peculiar state of health and physical debility under which he had labored since his last illness.

A valued friend writes, a few days after the death of Mrs. L.:

"It was my privilege to witness the closing scene; to behold faith triumphing over sense, and raising the soul above this world of shadows. It was a spectacle to convince the sceptic, and to animate and confirm the Christian. About a week before her death, her increasing weakness taught her the fallacy of all hope of recovery. From this time, it was the business of every moment to prepare herself and her friends for the change which awaited her. Serene, and even cheerful, she could look forward without apprehension into the dark valley, and beyond it she beheld those bright regions where she should meet her Saviour, through whose mediation she had the blessed assurance that her sins were pardoned, and her inheritance secure. God permitted a cloud to obscure the bright prospect; it was but for a moment, and the sun broke forth with redoubled splendor. On the last night of her life, she appeared to suffer extremely, though, when asked, she constantly replied in the negative. She repeated, in a feeble voice, detached portions of hymns of which she had been fond. Towards morning, as she appeared nearly insensible, Mrs. R. was persuaded to lie down and rest. Shortly after, Sarah roused herself, and said to L., 'I am going; call my mother.' Mrs. R. was at her bedside immediately, and asked her if she was sensible that she was leaving the world. She answered 'Yes,' and expressed her resignation.

"Mrs. R. then repeated a few lines of Pope's Dying Christian, and the expiring saint, in broken accents, followed her. On her mother's saying 'the world recedes,' she added, 'It disappears,—heaven opens.' These were the last words I heard her utter. She then became insensible, and in about ten minutes expired. Not a sound interrupted the sacred silence; the tear of affection was shed, but no lamentation was heard. The eye of affection dwelt on the faded form, but faith pointed to those regions where the blessed spirit was admitted to those joys which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. Mr. L. is wonderfully supported. He feels as a man and a Christian."

Upon this letter Mr. Lawrence has endorsed the following memorandum:

"I saw this letter to-day for the first time. My son-in-law handed to me yesterday a number of memorials of my beloved daughter, who was called home on the second day of December last, when only a few months younger than her mother, whose death is so beautifully described within. The description brought the scene back to my mind with a force that unmanned me for a time, and leads me to pray most earnestly and humbly that I may be found worthy to join them through the beloved, when my summons comes.

A. L.

"February 5th, 1845."

[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."

A few days later, he writes to his sister-in-law:

"Sunday evening, April 4, 1819.

"Dear S.: It is proper that I should explain to you why my feelings got so much the better of my reason at the celebration of the sacrament this morning. The last time I attended that service was with my beloved S., after an absence on her part of fifteen months, during which period you well know what passed in both our minds. On this occasion our minds and feelings were elevated with devotion, and (as I trust) suitably affected with gratitude to the Father of mercies for once more permitting her to celebrate with her husband this memorial of our Saviour. Then, indeed, were our hearts gladdened by the cheering prospect of her returning health and continued life. The consideration that I had since this period been almost within the purlieu of the grave, that my beloved Sarah had fallen a sacrifice to her care and anxiety for me, and that I was for the first time at the table of the Lord without her, with a view to celebrate the most solemn service of our religion, overwhelmed me as a torrent, and my feelings were too powerful to be restrained; I was almost suffocated in the attempt.

"Comment is unnecessary. God grant us a suitable improvement of the scene!

"Your affectionate brother,

A. L."

On April 6, he writes to a friend in England:

"Since I last wrote, family misfortunes, of which you have from time to time been apprised, have pressed heavily upon me. I am now in tolerable health, and hope soon to see it entirely confirmed."

After a visit to his parents, at Groton, he says, on April 9:

"I arrived at home last Saturday night, at eleven o'clock, after rather an uncomfortable ride. However, I had the satisfaction on Monday of exercising my right of suffrage, which, had I not done, I should have felt unpleasantly. I wrote to M., on Tuesday, under a depression of spirits altogether greater than I have before felt. The effect of hope upon my feelings, before I saw the little ones, was very animating; since that time (although I found them all I could desire), the stimulus is gone, and I have been very wretched. The principles I cherish will now have their proper effect, although nature must first find its level. Do not imagine I feel severely depressed all the time; although I certainly have much less of animal spirits than I had before my return, I do not feel positively unhappy. Under all the circumstances it is thought best for me to journey. Hitherto, I have experienced the kind protection of an almighty Friend; it will not hereafter be withheld. Commending all dear friends and myself to Him, I remain your truly affectionate brother,

"A. L."

To another sister he writes five days afterwards, before commencing a second journey:

"In a few moments I am off. I gladly seize the leisure they furnish me, to tell you I feel well, and have no doubt of having such a flow of spirits as will make my journey pleasant. At any rate, I start with this determination. You know not, dear E., the delight I feel in contemplating the situation of my little ones; this (if no higher principle) should be sufficient to do away all repining and vain regrets for the loss of an object so dear as was their mother. In short, her own wishes should operate very strongly against these regrets. I hope to be forgiven the offence, if such it be; and to make such improvement of it as will subserve the purposes of my heavenly Father, who doth not willingly afflict the children of men, but for their improvement. My prayer to God is, that the affliction may not be lost upon me; but that it may have the effect of making me estimate more justly the value of all temporal objects, and, by thus softening the heart, open it to the kind influences of our holy religion, and produce that love and charity well pleasing to our Father. I have no object in view further south than Baltimore; from thence I shall go across the Alleghanies, or journey through the interior to the northern border of this country. At Baltimore I remain a few days; my business there is as delegate from Brattle-street Church, in the settlement of a minister, a young gentleman named Sparks, from Connecticut."

(TO ABBOTT LAWRENCE.)

"Philadelphia, April 26, 1819.

"Dear Brother: When I see how people in other places are doing business, I feel that we have reason to thank God that we are not obliged to do as they do, but are following that regular and profitably safe business that allows us to sleep well o' nights, and eat the bread of industry and quietness. The more I see of the changes produced by violent speculation, the more satisfied I am that our maxims are the only true ones for a life together. Different maxims may prove successful for a part of life, but will frequently produce disastrous results just at the time we stand most in need; that is, when life is on the wane, and a family is growing around us.

"Two young brokers in —— have played a dashing game. They have taken nearly one hundred thousand dollars from the bank, without the consent of the directors. A clerk discounted for them. They have lost it by United States Bank speculations.

"Look after clerks well, if you wish to keep them honest. Too good a reputation sometimes tempts men to sin, upon the strength of their reputation.

"As to business, it must be bad enough; that is nothing new; but patience and perseverance will overcome all obstacles, and, notwithstanding all things look so dark, I look for a good year's work.

"You must remember that I have done nothing yet, and I have never failed of accomplishing more than my expectations; so I say again, we will make a good year's work of it yet, by the blessing of Heaven."

From Lancaster, Penn., April 29, he writes to his sister:

"My feelings are usually buoyant, except occasionally when imagination wanders back to departed days; then comes over me a shadow, which, by its frequency, I am now enabled to dispel without violence, and even to dwell upon without injury."

(TO ABBOTT LAWRENCE.)

"Baltimore, May 25, 1819.

"Dear Brother: I arrived in this city this morning, in the steamboat, from Norfolk, and have found a number of letters from you and brother W. From the present aspect of affairs in this city, I fear that I shall make but a short stay. At no period has the face of affairs been more trying to the feelings of the citizens. Baltimore has never seen but two days which will compare with last Friday: one of those was the mob day, the other was the day of the attack by the British.

"Nearly one half the city, embracing its most active and hitherto wealthiest citizens, have stopped or must stop payment. Confidence is prostrated, capital vanished.

"I am rejoiced to hear of your easy situation, and hope it may continue. Avoid responsibilities, and all is well with us. I am in no wise avaricious, and of course care not whether we make five thousand dollars more or less, if we risk twenty thousand to do it.

"I have a high eulogium to pay the Virginians, which I must reserve for another letter; as also an account of my travels from Petersburg."

In a letter to a friend, dated at Baltimore, he says:

"Since I have been here, I have been constantly occupied; and, although the heavy cloud which overhangs this city is discharging its contents upon their heads, they bear it well, resolving that, if they are poor, they will not be unsocial, nor uncivil, and on this principle they meet in little groups, without much style or ceremony, and pass sensible and sociable evenings together.

"I have really become very much interested in some of the people here.

"And now my advice to you is, get married, and have no fear about the expense being too great. If you have two children born unto you within a twelve-month, you will be the richer man for it. Nothing sharpens a man's wits, in earning property and using it, better than to see a little flock growing up around him. So I say again, man, fear not."

On his return, it seems to have been his object to interest himself as much as possible in business, and thus endeavor to divert his mind from those painful associations, which, in spite of all his efforts, would sometimes obtain the mastery. In the mean time, he had given up his house, and resided in the family of his brother Abbott; where he was welcomed as an inmate, and treated with so much sympathy and considerate kindness, that his mind, after a time, recovered its tone: his health was restored, and he was once more enabled to give his full powers to the growing interests of his firm. For the few succeeding years, he was engaged in the usual routine of mercantile affairs, and has left but few memorials or letters, except those relating to his business. In the winter of 1820, he made a visit to New York, which he describes in his diary under date of February 15, 1846:

"Yesterday was one of the most lovely winter days. To-day the snow drives into all the cracks and corners, it being a boisterous easterly snow-storm, which recalls to my mind a similar one, which I shall never forget, in February, 1820.

"I went to New York during that month, for the New England Bank, with about one hundred thousand dollars in foreign gold, the value of which by law at the mint was soon to be reduced from eighty-seven to eighty-five cents per pennyweight, or about that. I also had orders to buy bills with it, at the best rate I could. Accordingly I invested it, and had to analyze the standing of many who offered bills, as drawers or endorsers.

"Some of the bills were protested for non-acceptance, and were returned at once, and damages claimed. This was new law in New York, and resisted; but the merchants were convinced by suits, and paid the twenty per cent. damages. The law of damage was altered soon after.

"On my return, I took a packet for Providence, and came at the rate of ten knots an hour for the first seven hours of the night. I was alarmed by a crash, which seemed to me to be breaking in the side of the ship, within a few inches of my head. I ran upon deck, and it was a scene to be remembered. Beside the crew, on board were the officers of a wrecked vessel from Portsmouth, N. H., and some other old ship-masters, all at work, and giving directions to a coaster, which had run foul of us, and had lost its way. By favor and labor, we were saved from being wrecked; but were obliged to land at some fifteen miles from Providence, and get there as we could through the snow. I arrived there almost dead with headache and sickness. Madam Dexter and her daughter left the day before, and reached home in perfect safety before the storm. Such are the scenes of human life! Here am I enjoying my own fireside, while all who were then active with me in the scenes thus recalled are called to their account, excepting Philip Hone, M. Van Schaick, N. Goddard, Chancellor Kent, and his son-in-law, Isaac Hone."

[CHAPTER X.]

MARRIAGE.—ELECTED TO LEGISLATURE.—ENGAGES IN MANUFACTURES.—REFLECTIONS.

In April, 1821, Mr. Lawrence was married to Mrs. Nancy Ellis, widow of the late Judge Ellis, of Claremont, N. H., and daughter of Robert Means, Esq., of Amherst, in the same State. His children, who had been placed with his parents and sisters at Groton, were brought home; and he was now permitted again to unite his family under his own roof, and to enjoy once more those domestic comforts so congenial to his taste, and which each revolving year seemed to increase until the close of his life.

Mr. Lawrence was elected a representative from Boston to the Legislature for the session of 1821 and 22; and this was the only occasion on which he ever served in a public legislative body. Although deeply engaged in his own commercial pursuits, he was constantly at his post in the House of Representatives; and attended faithfully to the duties of his office, although with much sacrifice to his own personal interests. Very little is found among his memoranda relating to this new experience. As a member of a committee of the Legislature having in charge the subject of the erection of wooden buildings in Boston, he seems to have had a correspondence with the late Hon. John Lowell, who took strong ground before the committee against the multiplication of buildings of this material, and backed his arguments with some very characteristic statements and observations. On one of these letters Mr. Lawrence made a memorandum, dated March, 1845, as follows:

"The Boston Rebel was a true man, such as we need more of in these latter days. The open-mouthed lovers of the dear people are self-seekers in most instances. Beware of such."

The following extract is taken from a letter, dated January 4th, 1822, addressed by Mr. Lawrence to Hon. Frederic Wolcott, of Connecticut, respecting a son who was about to be placed in his counting-room, and who, in after years, became his partner in business:

"H. will have much leisure in the evening, which, if he choose, may be profitably devoted to study; and we hope he will lay out such a course for himself, as to leave no portion of his time unappropriated. It is on account of so much leisure, that so many fine youths are ruined in this town. The habit of industry once well fixed, the danger is over.

"Will it not be well for him to furnish you, at stated periods, an exact account of his expenditures? The habit of keeping such an account will be serviceable, and, if he is prudent, the satisfaction will be great, ten years hence, in looking back and observing the process by which his character has been formed. If he does as well as he is capable, we have no doubt of your experiencing the reward of your care over him."

For the several following years, Mr. Lawrence was deeply engaged in business; and the firm of which he was the senior partner became interested in domestic manufactures, which, with the aid of other capitalists, afterwards grew into so much importance, until now it has become one of the great interests of the country. Apart from all selfish motives, he early became one of the strongest advocates for the protection of American industry, believing that the first duty of a government is to advance the interests of its own citizens, when it can be accomplished with justice to others; and in opposition to the system of free trade, which, however plausible in theory, he considered prejudicial to the true interests of our own people. He was conscientious in these opinions; and, in their support, corresponded largely with some of the leading statesmen at Washington, as well as with prominent opponents at the South, who combatted his opinions while they respected the motives by which he was actuated. He tested his sincerity, by embarking a large proportion of his property in these enterprises; and, to the last, entertained the belief that the climate, the soil, and the habits of the people, rendered domestic manufactures one of the permanent and abiding interests of New England. During seasons of high political excitement and sectional strife, he wrote to various friends at the South, urging them to discard all local prejudices, and to enter with the North into manly competition in all those branches of domestic industry which would tend, not only to enrich, but also to improve the moral and intellectual character of their people. He watched, with increasing interest, the progress of Lowell and other manufacturing districts, and was ever ready to lend a helping hand to any scheme which tended to advance their welfare. Churches, hospitals, libraries, in these growing communities, had in him a warm and earnest advocate; and it was always with honest pride that he pointed out to the intelligent foreigner the moral condition of the operative here, when compared with that of the same class in other countries.

On the 1st of January, in each year, Mr. Lawrence was in the habit of noting down, in a small memorandum-book, an accurate account of all his property, in order that he might have a clear view of his own affairs, and also as a guide to his executors in the settlement of his estate, in case of his death. This annual statement commences in 1814, and, with the exception of 1819, when he was in great affliction on account of the death of his wife, is continued every year until that of his own death, in 1852. In this little volume the following memorandum occurs, dated January 1, 1826:

"I have been extensively engaged in business during the last two years, and have added much to my worldly possessions; but have come to the same conclusions in regard to them that I did in 1818. I feel distressed in mind that the resolutions then made have not been more effectual in keeping me from this overengagedness in business. I now find myself so engrossed with its cares, as to occupy my thoughts, waking or sleeping, to a degree entirely disproportioned to its importance. The quiet and comfort of home are broken in upon by the anxiety arising from the losses and mischances of a business so extensive as ours; and, above all, that communion which ought ever to be kept free between man and his Maker is interrupted by the incessant calls of the multifarious pursuits of our establishment."

After noting down several rules for curtailing his affairs, he continues:

"Property acquired at such sacrifices as I have been obliged to make the past year costs more than it's worth; and the anxiety in protecting it is the extreme of folly."

---

1st of January, 1827.—"The principles of business laid down a year ago have been very nearly practised upon. Our responsibilities and anxieties have greatly diminished, as also have the accustomed profits of business; but there is sufficient remaining for the reward of our labor to impose on us increased responsibilities and duties, as agents who must at last render an account. God grant that mine be found correct!"

[CHAPTER XI.]

REFLECTIONS.—BUNKER HILL MONUMENT.—LETTERS.

1st of January, 1828.—After an account of his affairs, he remarks:

"The amount of property is great for a young man under forty-two years of age, who came to this town when he was twenty-one years old with no other possessions than a common country education, a sincere love for his own family, and habits of industry, economy, and sobriety. Under God, it is these same self-denying habits, and a desire I always had to please, so far as I could without sinful compliance, that I can now look back upon and see as the true ground of my success. I have many things to reproach myself with; but among them is not idling away my time, or spending money for such things as are improper. My property imposes upon me many duties, which can only be known to my Maker. May a sense of these duties be constantly impressed upon my mind; and, by a constant discharge of them, God grant me the happiness at last of hearing the joyful sound, 'Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!' Amen. Amen."

Previous to this date, but few private letters written by Mr. Lawrence were preserved. From that time, however, many volumes have been collected, a greater part of them addressed to his children. Out of a very large correspondence with them and with friends, such selections will be made as are thought most interesting, and most worthy to be preserved by his family and their descendants. The nature of this correspondence is such, involving many personal matters of transient interest that often scraps of letters only can be given; and, although it will be the aim of the editor to give an outline of the life of the author of these letters, it will be his object to allow him to speak for himself, and to reveal his own sentiments and character, rather than to follow out, from year to year, the details of his personal history. This correspondence commences with a series of letters extending through several years, and addressed to his eldest son, who was, during that time, at school in France and Spain.

"Boston, November 11, 1828.

"I trust that you will have had favoring gales and a pleasant passage, and will be safely landed at Havre within twenty days after sailing. You will see things so different from what you have been accustomed to, that you may think the French are far before or behind us in the arts of life, and formation of society. But you must remember that what is best for one people may be the worst for another; and that it is true wisdom to study the character of the people among whom you are, before adopting their manners, habits, or feelings, and carrying them to another people. I wish to see you, as long as you live, a well-bred, upright Yankee. Brother Jonathan should never forget his self-respect, nor should he be impertinent in claiming more for his country or himself than is due; but on no account should he speak ungraciously of his country or its friends abroad, whatever may be said by others. Lafayette in France is not what he is here; and, whatever may be said of him there, he is an ardent friend of the United States; and I will venture to say, if you introduce yourself to him as a grandson of one of his old Yankee officers, he will treat you with the kindness of a father. You must visit La Grange, and G. will go with you. He will not recollect your grandfather, or any of us. But tell him that your father and three uncles were introduced to him here in the State House; that they are much engaged in forwarding the Bunker Hill Monument; and, if ever he return to this country, it will be the pride of your father to lead him to the top of it."

Among Mr. Lawrence's papers, this is the first allusion to the Bunker Hill Monument, in the erection of which he afterwards took so prominent a part, and to which he most liberally contributed both time and money. From early associations, perhaps from the accounts received from his father, who was present during the battle, his mind became strongly interested in the project of erecting a monument, and particularly in that of reserving the whole battle-ground for the use of the public forever. He had been chosen one of the Building Committee of the Board of Directors in October, 1825, in company with Dr. John C. Warren, General H. A. S. Dearborn, George Blake, and William Sullivan. From this time until the completion of the monument, the object occupied a prominent place in his thoughts; and allusion to his efforts in its behalf during the succeeding years will, from time to time, be introduced.

On December 13, 1828, he thus alludes to the death of an invalid daughter six years of age:

"She was taken with lung fever on the 4th, and died, after much suffering and distress, on the 8th. Nothing seemed to relieve her at all; and I was thankful when the dear child ceased to suffer, and was taken to the bosom of her Saviour, where sickness and suffering will no more reach her, and the imperfections of her earthly tenement will be corrected, and her mind and spirit will be allowed to expand and grow to their full stature in Christ. In his hands I most joyfully leave her, hoping that I may rejoin her with the other children whom it has pleased God to give me."

(TO HIS SON.)

"December 29.

"My thoughts are often led to contemplate the condition of my children in every variety of situation, more especially in sickness, since the death of dear M. Although I do not allow myself to indulge in melancholy or fearful forebodings, I cannot but feel the deepest solicitude that their minds and principles should be so strengthened and stayed upon their God and Saviour as to give them all needed support in a time of such trial and suffering. You are so situated as perhaps not to recall so frequently to your mind as may be necessary the principles in which you have been educated. But let me, in the absence of these objects, remind you that God is ever present, and sees the inmost thoughts; and, while he allows every one to act freely, he gives to such as earnestly and honestly desire to do right all needed strength and encouragement to do it. Therefore, my dear son, do not cheat yourself by doing what you suspect may be wrong. You are as much accountable to your Maker for an enlightened exercise of your conscience, as you would be to me to use due diligence in taking care of a bag of money which I might send by you to Mr. W. If you were to throw it upon deck, or into the bottom of the coach, you would certainly be culpable; but, if you packed it carefully in your trunk, and placed the trunk in the usual situation, it would be using common care. So in the exercise of your conscience: if you refuse to examine whether an action is right or wrong, you voluntarily defraud yourself of the guide provided by the Almighty. If you do wrong, you have no better excuse than he who had done so willingly and wilfully. It is the sincere desire that will be accepted."

To his second son, then at school in Andover, he writes:

"I received your note yesterday, and was prepared to hear your cash fell short, as a dollar-bill was found in your chamber on the morning you left home. You now see the benefit of keeping accounts, as you would not have been sure about this loss without having added up your account. Get the habit firmly fixed of putting down every cent you receive and every cent you expend. In this way you will acquire some knowledge of the relative value of things, and a habit of judging and of care which will be of use to you during all your life. Among the numerous people who have failed in business within my knowledge, a prominent cause has been a want of system in their affairs, by which to know when their expenses and losses exceeded their profits. This habit is as necessary for professional men as for a merchant; because, in their business, there are numerous ways to make little savings, if they find their income too small, which they would not adopt without looking at the detail of all their expenses. It is the habit of consideration I wish you to acquire; and the habit of being accurate will have an influence upon your whole character in life."

(TO HIS SON IN FRANCE.)

"April 28, 1829.

"I beseech you to consider well the advantages you enjoy, and to avail yourself of your opportunities to give your manners a little more ease and polish; for, you may depend upon it, manners are highly important in your intercourse with the world. Good principles, good temper, and good manners, will carry a man through the world much better than he can get along with the absence of either. The most important is good principles. Without these, the best manners, although, for a time, very acceptable, cannot sustain a person in trying situations.

"If you live to attain the age of thirty, the interim will appear but a span; and yet at that time you will be in the full force of manhood. To look forward to that period, it seems very long; and it is long enough to make great improvement. Do not omit the opportunity to acquire a character and habits that will continue to improve during the remainder of life. At its close, the reflection that you have thus done will be a support and stay worth more than any sacrifice you may ever feel called on to make in acquiring these habits."

(TO THE SAME.)

"June 7, 1829.

"I was forcibly reminded, on entering our tomb last evening, of the inroads which death has made in our family since 1811, at the period when I purchased it. How soon any of us who survive may mingle our dust with theirs, is only known to Omniscience; but, at longest, it can be in his view but a moment, a mere point of time. How important, then, to us who can use this mere point for our everlasting good, that we should do it, and not squander it as a thing without value! Think upon this, my son; and do not merely admit the thought into your mind and drive it out by vain imaginations, but give it an abiding and practical use. To set a just value upon time, and to make a just use of it, deprives no one of any rational pleasure: on the contrary, it encourages temperance in the enjoyment of all the good things which a good Providence has placed within our reach, and thankfulness for all opportunities of bestowing happiness on our fellow-beings. Thus you have an opportunity of making me and your other friends happy, by diligence in your studies, temperance, truth, integrity, and purity of life and conversation. I may not write to you again for a number of weeks, as I shall commence a journey to Canada in a few days. You will get an account of the journey from some of the party."

[CHAPTER XII.]

JOURNEY TO CANADA.—LETTERS.—DIARY.—CHARITIES.

Mr. Lawrence, with a large party, left Boston on the 13th of June, and passed through Vermont, across the Green Mountains, to Montreal and Quebec. Compared with these days of railroad facilities, the journey was slow. It was performed very leisurely in hired private vehicles, and seems to have been much enjoyed. He gives a glowing account of the beauty of the country through which he passed, as well as his impressions of the condition of the population.

From Quebec the party proceeded to Niagara Falls, and returned through the State of New York to Boston, "greatly improved in health and spirits." This, with one other visit to Canada several years before, was the only occasion on which Mr. Lawrence ever left the territory of the United States; for, though sometimes tempted, in after years, to visit the Old World, his occupations and long-continued feeble health prevented his doing so.

(TO HIS SON.)

"July 27.

"If, in an endeavor to do right, we fall short, we shall still be in the way of duty; and that is first to be looked at. We must keep in mind that we are to render an account of the use of those talents which are committed to us; and we are to be judged by unerring Wisdom, which can distinguish all the motives of action, as well as weigh the actions. As our stewardship has been faithful or otherwise, will be the sentence pronounced upon us. Give this your best thoughts, for it is a consideration of vast importance."

"August 27.

"Bring home no foreign fancies which are inapplicable to our state of society. It is very common for our young men to come home and appear quite ridiculous in attempting to introduce their foreign fashions. It should be always kept in mind that the state of society is widely different here from that in Europe; and our comfort and character require it should long remain so. Those who strive to introduce many of the European habits and fashions, by displacing our own, do a serious injury to the republic, and deserve censure. An idle person, with good powers of mind, becomes torpid and inactive after a few years of indulgence, and is incapable of making any high effort; highly important it is, then, to avoid this enemy of mental and moral improvement. I have no wish that you pursue trade. I would rather see you on a farm, or studying any profession."

"October 16.

"It should always be your aim so to conduct yourself that those whom you value most in the world would approve your conduct, if all your actions were laid bare to their inspection; and thus you will be pretty sure that He who sees the motive of all our actions will accept the good designed, though it fall short in its accomplishment. You are young, and are placed in a situation of great peril, and are perhaps sometimes tempted to do things which you would not do if you knew yourself under the eye of your guardian. The blandishments of a beautiful city may lead you to forget that you are always surrounded, supported, and seen, by that best Guardian."

"December 27.

"I suppose Christmas is observed with great pomp in France. It is a day which our Puritan forefathers, in their separation from the Church of England, endeavored to blot out from the days of religious festivals; and this because it was observed with so much pomp by the Romish Church. In this, as well as in many other things, they were as unreasonable as though they had said they would not eat bread because the Roman Catholics do. I hope and trust the time is not far distant when Christmas will be observed by the descendants of the Puritans with all suitable respect, as the first and highest holiday of Christians; combining all the feelings and views of New England Thanksgiving with all the other feelings appropriate to it."

"January 31, 1830.

"You have seen, perhaps, that the Directors of the Bunker Hill Monument Association have applied to the Legislature for a lottery. I am extremely sorry for it. I opposed the measure in all its stages, and feel mortified that they have done so. They cannot get it, and I desire that General Lafayette may understand this; and, if he will write us a few lines during the coming year, it will help us in getting forward a subscription. When our citizens shall have had one year of successful business, they will be ready to give the means to finish the monument. My feelings are deeply interested in it, believing it highly valuable as a nucleus for the affections of the people in after time; and, if my life be spared and my success continue, I will never cease my efforts until it be completed."