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."
Further details will be given in this volume to show now nobly Mr.
Lawrence persevered in the resolution thus deliberately formed; and,
though he was destined to witness many fruitless efforts, he had the
satisfaction at last of seeing the completion of the monument, and
from its summit of pointing out the details of the battle to the son
of one of the British generals in command[2] on that eventful day.
[2] Lord Prudhoe, now Duke of Northumberland.
On the same page with the estimate of his property for the year 1830,
he writes:
"With a view to know the amount of my expenditures for objects
other than the support of my family, I have, for the year 1829,
kept a particular account of such other expenses as come under
the denomination of charities, and appropriations for the benefit
of others not of my own household, for many of whom I feel under
the same obligation as for my own family."
This memorandum was commenced on the 1st of January, 1829, and is
continued until December 30, 1852, the last day of his life. It
contains a complete statement of his charities during that whole
period, including not only what he contributed in money, but also all
other donations, in the shape of clothing materials, books,
provisions, &c. His custom was to note down at cost the value of the
donation, after it had been despatched; whether in the shape of a
book, a turkey, or one of his immense bundles of varieties to some
poor country minister's family, as large, as he says in addressing
one, "as a small haycock." Two rooms in his house, and sometimes
three, were used principally for the reception of useful articles for
distribution. There, when stormy weather or ill health prevented him
from taking his usual drive, he was in the habit of passing hours in
selecting and packing up articles which he considered suitable to the
wants of those whom he wished to aid. On such days, his coachman's
services were put in requisition to pack and tie up "the small
haycocks;" and many an illness was the result of over-exertion and
fatigue in supplying the wants of his poorer brethren. These packages
were selected according to the wants of the recipients, and a
memorandum made of the contents. In one case, he notifies Professor
----, of ---- College, that he has sent by railroad "a barrel and a
bundle of books, with broadcloth and pantaloon stuffs, with odds and
ends for poor students when they go out to keep school in the winter."
Another, for the president of a college at the West, one piece of silk
and worsted, for three dresses; one piece of plaid, for "M. and
mamma;" a lot of pretty books; a piece of lignum-vitæ from the Navy
Yard, as a text for the support of the navy; and various items for
the children: value, twenty-five dollars.
To a professor in a college in a remote region he sends a package
containing "dressing-gown, vest, hat, slippers, jack-knife, scissors,
pins, neck-handkerchiefs, pantaloons, cloth for coat, 'History of
Groton,' lot of pamphlets," &c.
Most of the packages forwarded contained substantial articles for
domestic use, and were often accompanied by a note containing from
five to fifty dollars in money.
The distribution of books was another mode of usefulness to which Mr.
Lawrence attached much importance.
In his daily drives, his carriage was well stored with useful volumes,
which he scattered among persons of all classes and ages as he had
opportunity.
These books were generally of a religious character, while others of a
miscellaneous nature were purchased in large numbers, and sent to
institutions, or individuals in remote parts of the country.
He purchased largely the very useful as well as tasteful volumes of
the American Tract Society and the Sunday-School Union. An agent of
the latter society writes: "I had almost felt intimately acquainted
with him, as nearly every pleasant day he visited the depository to
fill the front seat of his coach with books for distribution."
Old and young, rich and poor, shared equally in these distributions;
and he rarely allowed an occasion to pass unimproved when he thought
an influence could be exerted by the gift of an appropriate volume.
While waiting one day in his carriage with a friend, in one of the
principal thoroughfares of the city, he beckoned to a genteelly-dressed
young man who was passing, and handed him a book. Upon being asked
whether the young man was an acquaintance, he replied:
"No, he is not; but you remember where it is written, 'Cast thy bread
upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.'"
"A barrel of books" is no uncommon item found in his record of
articles almost daily forwarded to one and another of his distant
beneficiaries.