Notice of the late Sheldon Clark. 221 
glory of nations, consisted in, and depended upon, their great men. 
What has Greece, or Rome, or any nation of antiquity transmitted to 
posterity, worthy of esteem and admiration, but the achievements of 
their heroes, and the productions of their artists, poets, and. philoso- 
phers? And what else can we transmit to succeeding ages, to distin- 
guish us from the unlettered savages that roamed at large in the uncul- 
tivated wilds of America when discovered by our fathers? Full of 
this idea, and animated with an ardent desire to promote the honor and 
happiness of my own native country, I felt determined to do all I 
could to patronize and encourage literature and science, to provide 
the means of affording our literary and scientific genius a finished 
education. 
“ Oft when toiling with ceaseless assiduity to accomplish that object, 
Thave been pointed at, by my fellow-citizens, with the finger of scorn, 
and taunted by the tongue of ridicule. But for all this I felt a reward 
in the anticipation of ‘promoting the honor, and glory, and happiness of 
my beloved country. I never dreamed of personally receiving the 
teful. acknowledgments of one of the most respectable collegiate 
re you > my. dear eet isa he 
the attention of wise ed ntget be being J 
will be the chief objects of your p t “From the se timents ex- 
~ pressed in your kind and interesting ieee I presume shat some 0 0 you 
are highly ‘gratified with the study of the “ sublime science.” ie 
‘Mr. Clark informed me, that the first conception of his. con 
took place during the season of his residence in Yale College, 
when he was attending in several of the college class-rooms, and 
that he had been maturing it ever since. In a rugged country | “ 
stony hills, he had followed. the plough—he had fattened drov 
of cattle—he had taught school in winter, and loaned money a 
all times—not to accumulate wealth for himself, but to promote 
the good of others. He appealed to me as to the propriety of his 
views, and it is quite unnecessary to say that I encouraged t 
remarking at the same time, that he alone must be. the judge of 
his own obligations to his family friends, with which no one, 
- and mee not myself, would wish to interfere. 
Mr. Clark having made up his mind, submitted through me, a 
proposition to deposit five thousand dollars, to be placed at com- 
pound interest, until it should become the foundation of a profes- 
an 
hs 
