280 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



deep feeling, and that the audience of scientific men and 

 strangers received it with hearty approbation. I accept it 

 gratefully as a tribute to a veteran who is now functus 

 officiis, but, I believe, with no feeling of pride or self-exal- 

 tation 



August 8. My Eightieth Birthday. And am 



I indeed an octogenarian ! God be praised that, with 

 power unimpaired, and with a cheerful hope for another 

 life, I have been permitted to finish fourscore years! I 

 cannot say that I have " only labor, pain, and sorrow, and 

 that I rather sigh and groan than live." On the contrary, 

 I have a cheering enjoyment of life, surrounded by a large 

 and happy family of thirty-seven persons, old and young, 

 upon no individual of whom, so far as I know, there rests 

 any moral stain. About half of them have acknowledged 

 their Saviour before their fellow-men, and we hope and 

 trust that the younger members and the little ones will, in 

 due time, become true members of Christ's visible church. 

 This is the greatest blessing which I can ask for them ; 

 and if piety is theirs, we may hope that all necessary bless- 

 ings will follow, confidence and affection from others, and 

 enough of this world's goods to insure comfort and enable 

 them to fulfil their duties in life with a good hope, and 

 more I care not for. 



On the occasion of the death of Mr. Charles 

 Goodyear, the inventor, he writes as follows : 



Mr. Goodyear was often with me during his earlier 

 years, and I aided him by advice and encouragement, 

 believing, as I did, that he would eventually succeed, as he 

 was industrious, persevering, and ingenious. One day I 

 called on him at his humble cottage on Washington Hill, 

 olim Sodom Hill, and found him making some of 

 his preparations over the stove, while some of his family 

 were sick. He told me afterwards that my visit encour- 



