368 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



It was my privilege to be connected with Mr. Silliman 

 as his assistant, from the fall of 1821 until the winter of 

 1823, and for a considerable part of that time to be a mem- 

 ber of his family. It was when his health was broken 

 down by care, excessive labor, and domestic affliction, and 

 when if ever any infirmities of temper or character were 

 likely to be revealed to one intimately associated with him. 

 I cannot pretend, however, after such a lapse of time, to 

 state particular facts or incidents, if such there were that 

 influenced my opinion ; but I retain, and shall retain to the 

 last hour of consciousness, the general impression made 

 upon me by his daily life. I thought then, and subse- 

 quent experience and observation have not reversed the 

 judgment, that, viewed in all its aspects, his was the 

 most faultless character I had ever known. The nearer 

 you approached it the more symmetrical and beautiful it 

 appeared ; and those who met him only in the occasional 

 intercourse of society, though delighted, as all were de- 

 lighted, with his genial conversation and manners, had 

 really no adequate conception of his excellence and attrac- 

 tiveness, as exhibited in the undress, if I may so express 

 myself, of domestic life. As the head of a family, he 

 seemed to me to be absolutely perfect. His considerate 

 care and kindness extended to the humblest member of 

 his household ; and, while he never forgot the respect that 

 was due to others in the relation he sustained to them, he 

 rendered to them just the measure of attention and regard 

 to which they were entitled. Under the pressure of ill 

 health, which so often invites forbearance even towards 

 good men, though his cheerfulness was occasionally abated, 

 he was never irritable, never impatient, never unmindful 

 of the claims or comfort of others, nor did he ever in my 

 presence utter a harsh expression or betray an unkind feel- 

 ing towards any human being. Indeed, I used to think, 

 that in his estimate of men and their conduct, his charity 

 sometimes trespassed a little upon the domain of a just 



