INTEREST IN MOUNT AUBURN.--REV. DR. SHARP.--LETTER FROM BISHOP
McILVAINE.--LETTER FROM JUDGE STORY.
After the establishment of the cemetery at Mount Auburn, Mr. Lawrence
had taken a deep interest in its progress, as well as in every plan
for its gradual improvement and embellishment. In connection with his
brothers, he had purchased a large space, which had been enclosed by a
permanent granite wall and iron railing. To this spot he habitually
resorted, containing, as it did, the remains of some of the dearest
earthly objects of his affection, and destined, as it was, to be the
final resting-place of not only himself, but of the various branches
of his family. When this enclosure had been finished, it became an
object with him to gather around him in death those whom he had loved
and honored in life. In this way, he had been instrumental in causing
to be removed to a burial-lot adjoining his own the remains of the
Rev. J. S. Buckminster, the former minister of Brattle-street Church;
and had also presented another lot to his friend and pastor, the Rev.
Dr. Lothrop. Another friend, whose grave he wished to have near his
own, was the Rev. Daniel Sharp, D.D., minister of the Charles-street
Baptist Church, in Boston. There were few in Boston who were not
familiar with the appearance of this venerable clergyman, as he daily
appeared in the streets; and fewer still who had not learned to
appreciate the truly catholic and Christian spirit which animated him
in his intercourse with men of all sects and parties. Mr. Lawrence had
early entertained a great esteem for his character; and this esteem
had become mutual, and had ripened into the closest intimacy and
friendship. On receiving a deed of a lot at Mount Auburn, Dr. Sharp
writes as follows:
"BOSTON, August 23, 1843.
"MY DEAR SIR: I cannot find words with which to express my sense
of your unexpected and considerate kindness, in providing so
beautiful a resting-place in Mount Auburn for me and my loved
ones. It is soothing to me to anticipate that my grave will be so
near your own. May the Almighty, in his infinite mercy, grant,
that, when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall awake, we
may both rise together, to be forever with the Lord! If the
proximity of my last place of repose to ministers of another
denomination shall teach candor, charity, and peace, I enjoy the
sweet consciousness that this will be in harmony with the object
of my life.
Yours, gratefully,
"DANIEL SHARP.
"AMOS LAWRENCE, Esq."
The enlarged Christian spirit which formed so prominent a trait in Mr.
Lawrence's character, and which enabled him to appreciate goodness
wherever it could be found, without reference to nation, sect, or
color, may be further illustrated by the following note of
acknowledgment, received about the same time with the preceding, from
Bishop McIlvaine, of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Ohio, who was
then on a visit to Boston to procure funds in aid of Kenyon College:
"Wednesday evening.
"MY DEAR SIR: I have just received your very kind and grateful
letter, with its cheering enclosure of a hundred dollars towards
an object which engrosses me much just now. Thank you, dear sir,
most truly, for your kindness, and the _first fruits_ of Boston,
for I came only to-day. I trust the ingathering will not
dispossess the first ripe sheaf. Coming from one not of my own
church, it is the more kind and grateful. O, sir! if God shall so
bless my present effort as to send me home with the sum I seek, I
shall know a freedom of mind from care and anxiety such as I have
not experienced for many years, during which our present crisis
has been anticipated. I shall have great pleasure in riding with
you, according to your note to Mr. R. To-morrow will probably be
a day of more leisure to me than any other while I shall be in
Boston.
"Yours, very truly and respectfully,
"CHARLES P. MCILVAINE."
(TO ONE OF HIS PARTNERS.)
"December 18, 1843.
"DEAR MR. PARKER: I am _puffed up_ (with ague), but not in a
manner to gratify my pride, as I am housed, and denied the sight
of most of those who call, but not the privilege of reading
their papers, and spending money. In short, I have more use for
money when in the house than when able to be abroad. If you will
tell Brother Sharp[7] his beautiful bills find an exceedingly
ready use, I shall be glad of one hundred in ones and twos, two
hundred in fives, and three hundred in tens and twenties; say six
hundred dollars, just to keep me along till the end of the month.
The calls are frequent and striking. 'Do with thy might what thy
hand findeth to do; for the night cometh, when no man can work.'
God grant me the blessing of being ready to answer the call,
whether it be at noon or at midnight!"
[7] For more than forty years Teller in Massachusetts Bank.
Twelve days after, he writes to the same gentleman for another supply;
the sum already received not having been sufficient apparently to
carry him through the year:
"December 30, 1843.
"'The good there is in riches lieth altogether in their use, like
the woman's box of ointment; if it be not broken and the contents
poured out for the refreshment of Jesus Christ, in his distressed
members, they lose their worth; the covetous man may therefore
truly write upon his rusting heaps, "These are good for nothing."
He is not rich who lays up much, but he who lays out much; for it
is all one not to have, as not to use. I will therefore be the
richer by charitable laying out, while the worldling will be
poorer by his covetous hoarding up.'
"Here is the embodiment of a volume, and whoever wrote it
deserves the thanks of good men. I would fain be rich, according
as he defines riches; but _possession, possession, is the devil_,
as the old Frenchman at ---- said to George Cabot. This devil I
would try to cast out; you will therefore please send me twelve
hundred dollars, which may do something for the comfort of those
who have seen better days.
Your friend,
A. L.
"TO C. H. PARKER, Esq."
The following letter from Judge Story was received at about the time
the preceding letter was written; but no memorandum is found by which
to ascertain the occasion which called it forth. It may be that he had
been made the channel, as was the case a few months before, of some
donation to a third person; a mode which Mr. Lawrence often adopted
when he felt a delicacy in proffering direct aid to some one whose
sensitiveness might be wounded in receiving assistance from a
comparative stranger:
"CAMBRIDGE, Saturday noon.
"MY DEAR SIR: I have this moment finished reading your letter and
its enclosures, which did not reach me until this noon, and I can
scarcely describe to you how deeply I have been affected by them.
I almost feel that you are too much oppressed by the constant
calls for charitable purposes, and that your liberal and
conscientious spirit is tasked to its utmost extent. 'The poor
have ye always with you' is a Christian truth; and I know not, in
the whole circle of my friends, any one who realizes it so fully,
and acts upon it so nobly, as yourself. God, my dear sir, will
reward you for all your goodness; man never can. And yet the
gratitude of the many whom you relieve, their prayers for your
happiness, their consciousness of your expanded benevolence, is
of itself a treasure of inestimable value. It is a source of
consolation, which you would not exchange for any earthly boon
of equal value. Wealth is to you an enlightened trust, for the
benefit of your race. You administer it so gracefully, as well as
so justly, that I can only regret that your means are not ten
times as great. Gracious Heavens! What a contrast is your life to
that of some wealthy men, who have lived many years, and have yet
to learn how to give, or, as you beautifully expressed it the
other day, who have yet to learn to be their own executors! My
heart is so full of you, and of the whole matter, that I would
fain pour out my thoughts at large to you; for you understand
_me_, and I can sympathize with _you_. But just now I am full of
all sorts of business, and without a moment to spare, having many
judicial opinions to prepare in the few remaining days before I
go to Washington; and, withal, having Mrs. S. very ill, in
respect to whom I feel a deep anxiety. But, wherever I am, I pray
you to believe that you are always in my thoughts, with the
warmest affection and dearest remembrance. And, if this hasty
scrawl is not too slight for such a matter, pray preserve it
among your papers, that your children may know what I thought of
their father, when you and I shall be both in our graves.
"I am most truly and faithfully your obliged friend,
"JOSEPH STORY.
"AMOS LAWRENCE, Esq.
"P. S.--I have sent the letter and its accompaniments to Mr.
----. Think of ----. Think of those rich men in ----, who have
never dreamed of the duties of charity. Cast a view to their own
posterity. How striking a memento is the very case of ----,
presented in his own letters, of the instability of human
fortune!"
Mr. Lawrence closes the year 1843 by a review of his temporal affairs,
and by fresh resolutions of fidelity to his trusts. He then gives an
estimate of his income and expenditures, showing a somewhat large
excess of the latter, though, as he says, from the state of the times,
not to the detriment of his property.
(TO THE MECHANIC APPRENTICES' LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.)
"MY YOUNG FRIENDS: It cheers and comforts me to learn of your
well-doing, and encourages me to offer a word of counsel, as
prosperity is often more dangerous in its time than adversity.
Now is your seed-time. See to it that it is good; for 'whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' The integrity,
intelligence, and elevated bearing, of the Boston mechanics, have
been and are a property for each citizen of great value; inasmuch
as the good name of our beloved city is a common property, that
every citizen has an interest in, and should help to preserve. At
your time of life, habits are formed that grow with your years.
Avoid rum and tobacco, in all forms, unless prescribed as a
medicine; and I will promise you better contracts, heavier
purses, happier families, and a more youthful and vigorous old
age, by thus avoiding the beginning of evil. God speed you, my
young friends, in all your good works! With the enclosed, I pray
you to accept the felicitations of the season.
"AMOS LAWRENCE."