234 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



ample store of materials for conversation, and his unwaver- 

 ing kindness shed a charm over the domestic circle and 

 made his house a happy home. It was a beautiful rural 

 residence. The house was not an architectural structure 

 according to the rules of art. It had indeed a colonnade 

 with square pillars, in imitation of Mount Vernon. There 

 were noble trees, and ample fields and out-houses, and an 

 office detached from the mansion. A wide court-yard 

 separated the house from the office. A long gate, or 

 pair of gates, for the admission of carriages, seemed to 

 swing, almost voluntarily, on the hinges, and arriving 

 friends drove in, with full confidence of a kind and hos- 

 pitable reception. 



Many friends were there received. The hospitality of 

 the house was well known, and besides relations and family 

 friends and associates, few strangers of distinction passed 

 through Lebanon without calling to pay their respects to 

 him who had been Paymaster of the Northern Army, Pri- 

 vate Secretary of Washington, Speaker of the second Con- 

 gress under the Constitution at Philadelphia, when Wash- 

 ington was President; Senator of the same august body, and 

 finally Governor of his native State of Connecticut, in which 

 office he remained until death. The interior of the house 

 was a model of chastened elegance. It made, indeed, no 

 pretensions to splendor ; but everything was in the highest 

 degree neat and comfortable, and in the best taste. Mrs. 

 Trumbull * had admirable administrative talents. She 

 united great energy with excellent judgment, and the 

 power of influencing and moving her servants and all who 

 owed her deference. Her daughters f were lovely and 

 accomplished women, and being trained also in habits of 

 useful industry, they both aided their mother efficiently, 

 and were the bright and polished ornaments of a family 

 circle, than which none was more attractive. 



* Eunice Backus, of Norwich. 



f Mrs. Daniel Wadsworth, Mrs. Henry Hudson, Mrs. Benj. Silliman. 



