AMIN BEY.--AMOUNT OF DONATIONS TO WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
In November, 1850, Amin Bey, Envoy from the Sultan of Turkey to the
United States, visited Boston. Among other attentions, Mr. Lawrence
accompanied him on a visit to the Female Orphan Asylum, then
containing about one hundred inmates; and the pleasant intercourse was
continued by a visit of the minister at Mr. Lawrence's house.
The following note accompanied a number of volumes relating to Boston
and its vicinity:
(TO HIS EXCELLENCY AMIN BEY.)
"MY BROTHER: The manifest pleasure you felt in visiting our
Female Orphan Asylum yesterday has left a sunbeam on my path,
that will illumine my journey to our Father's house. When we meet
there, may the joy of that reünion you hope for with the loved
ones in your own country be yours and mine, and all the good of
all the world be our companions for all time! With the highest
respect, believe me your friend,
A. L."
(TO PRESIDENT HOPKINS.)
"BOSTON, November 11, 1850.
"MY DEAR FRIEND: My brief letter of introduction by my young
friend S., and your answer to it, which I mislaid or lost soon
after it came, has made me feel a wish to write every day since
the first week after I received yours. S. made me out better than
I was when he saw me. I could walk across the rooms, get down and
up stairs without much aid, and bear my weight on each foot;
having strength in my ankle-bones that enabled me to enter the
temple walking, not leaping, but praising God. If ever I am able
to walk so far as around the Common, what gratitude to God should
I feel to take your arm as my support! I am frequently admonished
by faint turns that I am merely a 'minute-man,' liable to be
called for at any moment. Only a few days since, I had a charming
call from Amin Bey and suite, whom I received in my parlors
below, where were some friends to meet him. All seemed
interested, and Amin as much so as a Turk ever does. When he left
us, I went with him to the door, saw him out and in his carriage,
turned to open the inner entry-door, became faint just as M. was
leaving the party, and leaned on her to get into the parlor. I
was laid on the sofa, insensible for a short time, but, by labor,
abstinence, and great care, for two or three days, have got upon
my high horse again, and rode with N. to make calls upon the good
people of Cambridge. After dinner, when I awoke, I tried to go
about my work, but was called off again, and, from that time to
this, have been up a little, and then down a little; thus asking
me, with angels' voices, Why are you left here? The answer is
plain: You have more work to do. Pray, my dear friend, for me to
be faithful while my powers are left with me. The reports of and
from your college make me feel that my labors in helping it to
get on its legs have been repaid four-fold. I am its debtor, and
will allow the money out of the next year's income to be used for
a telescope, if you deem it best. I have made no further inquiry
for the one in progress here, but will ask W. to look and see
what progress is making. When I leave off writing, I shall ride
to the office in Court-square, and deposit my Whig vote for
Governor Briggs and the others. We are so mixed up here as hardly
to know who are supporters of the regular ticket, and who not.
This fugitive-slave business will keep our people excited till
the law is blotted out. In some of our best circles the law is
pronounced unconstitutional; and my belief is that Franklin
Dexter's argument on that point will settle the question by
starting it, our great men to the contrary notwithstanding."
In the above letter Mr. Lawrence speaks of the gratification which he
had derived from the results of his efforts in behalf of Williams
College; and, as there may be no more fitting place to give an account
of these efforts, the following record is here introduced, from the
pen of President Hopkins. It is found in his sermon commemorative of
the donor, delivered at the request of the students, on February 21,
1853.
"In October, 1841, the building known as the East College was
burned. Needy as the institution was before, this rendered
necessary an application to the Legislature for funds; and, when
this failed, to the public at large. Owing to a panic in the
money market, this application was but slightly responded to,
except in this town. In Boston the sum raised was less than two
thousand dollars; and the largest sum given by any individual was
one hundred dollars. This sum was given by Mr. Lawrence, who was
applied to by a friend of the college; and this, it is believed,
was the only application ever made to him on our behalf. This
directed his attention to the wants of the college; but nothing
more was heard from him till January, 1844. At that time, I was
delivering a course of the Lowell Lectures, in Boston, when his
son, Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, called and informed me that his father
had five thousand dollars which he wished to place at the
disposal of the college. As I was previously but slightly
acquainted with Mr. Lawrence, and had had no conversation with
him on the subject, this was to me an entire surprise; and,
embarrassed as the institution then was by its debt for the new
buildings, the relief and encouragement which it brought to my
own mind, and to the minds of others, friends of the college, can
hardly be expressed. Still, this did not wholly remove the debt.
On hearing this casually mentioned, he said, if he had known how
we were situated, he thought he should have given us more; and
the following July, without another word on the subject, he sent
me a check for five thousand dollars. This put the college out of
debt, and added two or three thousand dollars to its available
funds. In January, 1846, he wrote, saying he wished to see me;
and, on meeting him, he said his object was to consult me about
the disposition of ten thousand dollars, which he proposed to
give the college. He wished to know how I thought it would do the
most good. I replied, at once, By being placed at the disposal of
the trustees, to be used at their discretion. He said, 'Very
well;' and that was all that passed on that point. So I thought;
and, knowing his simplicity of character, and singleness of
purpose, I felt no embarrassment in making that reply. Here was a
beautiful exemplification of the precept of the apostle, 'He that
giveth, let him do it with simplicity.' Such a man had a right to
have, for one of his mottoes, 'Deeds, not words.' This was just
what was needed; but it gave us some breadth and enlargement, and
was a beginning in what it had long been felt must, sooner or
later, be undertaken,--the securing of an available fund
suitable as a basis for such an institution. His next large gift
was the library. This came from his asking me, as I was riding
with him the following winter, if we wanted anything. Nothing
occurred to me at the time, and I replied in the negative; but,
the next day, I remembered that the trustees had voted to build a
library, provided the treasurer should find it could be done for
twenty-five hundred dollars. This I mentioned to him. He inquired
what I supposed it would cost. I replied, 'Five thousand
dollars.' He said, at once, 'I will give it.' With his
approbation, the plan of a building was subsequently adopted that
would cost seven thousand dollars; and he paid that sum. A year
or two subsequently, he inquired of me the price of tuition here,
saying he should like to connect Groton Academy with Williams
College; and he paid two thousand dollars to establish four
scholarships for any one who might come from that institution.
His next gift was the telescope, which cost about fifteen hundred
dollars. The history of this would involve some details which I
have not now time to give. In 1851, accompanied by Mrs. Lawrence,
he made a visit here. This was the first time either of them had
seen the place. In walking over the grounds, he said they had
great capabilities, but that we needed more land; and authorized
the purchase of an adjoining piece of four acres. This purchase
was made for one thousand dollars; and, if the college can have
the means of laying it out, and adorning it suitably, it will,
besides furnishing scope for exercise, be a fit addition of the
charms of culture to great beauty of natural scenery. In addition
to these gifts, he has, at different times, enriched the library
with costly books, of the expense of which I know nothing. Almost
everything we have in the form of art was given by him. In
December, 1845, I received a letter from him, dated the 22d, or
'Forefathers' Day,' which enclosed one hundred dollars, to be
used for the aid of needy students in those emergencies which
often arise. This was entirely at his own suggestion; and nothing
could have been more timely or appropriate in an institution like
this, where so many young men are struggling to make their own
way. Since that time, he has furnished me with at least one
hundred dollars annually for that purpose; and he regarded the
expenditure with much interest. Thus, in different ways, Mr.
Lawrence had given to the college between thirty and forty
thousand dollars; and he had expressed the purpose, if he should
live, of aiding it still further. Understanding as he did the
position and wants of this college, he sympathized fully with the
trustees in their purpose to raise the sum of fifty thousand
dollars, and, at the time of his death, was exerting a most
warm-hearted and powerful influence for its accomplishment. In
reference to this great effort, we feel that a strong helper is
taken away. The aid which Mr. Lawrence thus gave to the college
was great and indispensable; and probably no memorial of him will
be more enduring than what he has done here. By this, being dead,
he yet speaks, and will continue to speak in all coming time.
From him will flow down enjoyment and instruction to those who
shall walk these grounds, and look at the heavens through this
telescope, and read the books gathered in this library, and hear
instruction from teachers sustained, wholly or in part, by his
bounty. Probably he could not have spent this money more
usefully; and there is reason to believe that he could have spent
it in no way to bring to himself more enjoyment. The prosperity
of the college was a source of great gratification to him; and he
said, more than once, that he had been many times repaid for what
he had done here. That he should have thus done what he did
unsolicited, and that he--and, I may add, his family--should have
continued to find in it so much of satisfaction, is most grateful
to my own feelings, and must be so to every friend of the
college. In doing it, he seemed to place himself in the relation,
not so much of a patron of the college, as of a sympathizer and
helper in a great and good work."