80 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



have engaged in the pursuit from duty alone, had other 

 motives been wanting. I have received a letter from her, 

 written upon the 8th instant, when you may remember I 

 completed my minority. It was full of every motherly and 

 excellent sentiment appropriate to the occasion. 



In an earlier letter to his mother, after confessing 

 that his religious feelings had declined in strength, 

 though his determination to avoid all vice is un- 

 changed, he opens his heart without reserve. 



TO HIS MOTHER. 



NEW HAVEN, Dec. 15, 1798. 



I WILL tell you, my dear parent, what I esteem 



to be the strongest springs of action, by which my mind is at 

 present impelled. By considering these, you will be better 

 able to determine the truth of my preceding remarks. I 

 find no propensity in my system stronger than a wish to be 

 highly respectable and respected in society. I must act in a 

 particular sphere, and that sphere which is assigned me is 

 the Law. This affords a boundless field for the display of 

 every great and good quality. In a country like ours this 

 profession is a staircase by which talents and industry 

 will conduct their possessor to the very pinnacle of useful- 

 ness and fame. This pinnacle is constantly in my eye. I 

 am not content (as 1 once thought it best) to walk ob- 

 scurely along through some sequestered vale of life 



No, I must embark in the great business of life ; and that 

 reputation and usefulness may attend me, my present time 

 must be devoted to laborious study. A lawyer ought to be 

 an able counsellor and an eloquent man. Intense study is 

 the only means by which he can attain the first character ; 

 and practice, with unremitting attention to the great models 

 before his eyes, and a constant habit of elegance and accu- 

 racy of language, are the principal means for attaining the 

 second. This same thirst for respectability influences 



