364 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



My childish memories of our beloved father, of course, 

 commence when he was already in the full maturity of life, 

 when having recovered from the impaired health conse 

 quent upon the illness and death of Trumbull, and the sub 

 sequent afflictions in the family, he was once again strong 

 and vigorous. I never knew him as in other than perfect 

 health, and as I grew older, fully appreciated his noble face 

 and manly presence. 



He was forty -four when I was born, (1823,) and by the 

 time I was old enough to take heed of his occupations, he 

 was full of cares and duties, quite too busy to give the per 

 sonal attention to the instruction of his two younger daugh 

 ters, which had been the privilege of their elder sisters. 

 There are some bright pictures, far away in the early days, 

 when we children rejoiced in having him quite to ourselves. 

 One of these was on a journey to Springfield when I could 

 not have been much more than eight. He drove an open 

 carriage, with his little girls and a young playmate for his 

 companions, while our mother was with our uncle and aunt 

 in a coach. It was very grand, in youthful eyes, to travel 

 in the coach with the fine horses, but still we children all 

 preferred the freedom we had with him, and the interest 

 he took, not only in amusing us, but in giving us instruction 

 along the way. 



I distinctly recall his manner to our invalid uncle, his 

 patience with narratives always minute, sometimes tedious, 

 and how tenderly his strength and vigor were loaned to 

 one who so needed both. We were accustomed to see our 

 father looked up to, and his gentle deference to this elder 

 friend was new and beautiful to us. 



It was his habit early to take his children into his con 

 fidence, to teach them that the privacy of home and the 

 freedom of family conversation were a bond upon them 

 also. He liked to have them know arid understand what 

 he was doing, and often read any paper or discourse he 

 was preparing with peculiar care to our mother and her 



