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]
[1] President Hopkins's Sermon in commemoration of Amos Lawrence
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.