12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



" The martyrs of ancient times, in bracing their minds 

 to outward calamities, acquired a loftiness of purpose and 

 heroism, worth a life of ease and security." 



But the river hastens his little boat towards its goal. 

 Thus he sails along through some twenty years of his life, 

 in almost uninterrupted peace and usefulness; and what- 

 ever his faults might have been, they were regarded only 

 as the common frailties of mankind. For he always chose 

 to be right rather than be popular; or^ in other words, 

 he was unwilling to sacrifice principle for expediency. 

 Those who were acquainted with him through this part 

 of his journey, speak of him as being kind and generous 

 almost to a fault; to whom an appeal for sympathy or 

 relief, was sure to find a ready and cheerful response. 

 And whatever his mind seemed to lack of w-it and fancy, 

 was owing to a want of an early polish; but without 

 this and the adventitious aid of fortune (only what was 

 acquired by his industrious pursuits on his farm), he 

 gained a place in society that was worthy of any man. 

 He accomplished this by the force of a strong native in- 

 tellect, cultivated and improved by application to study 

 in hours of relaxation from work, and which w^as further 

 strengthened by the closest observation based on a sound 

 judgment. Therefore he may well be styled what Is 

 called a " self made man." 



His little boat has brought him now where the roar of 

 the ocean is in his ears. It seems to grow in size as the 

 w^aters expand. As his wants increase, he has to throw 

 out more sail or be shipwrecked; and when he thinks 

 himself sufficiently rigged for the coasting trade, and 



