BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 11 



new idea that occurred to him, which is a commendable 

 habit for all young men to imitate, on this or any other 

 subject of importance. He is one of those men who 

 prefer to acquire by rough experience, what others might 

 choose to be taught. And he generally chooses to be 

 governed by the result of his own experience and reflec- 

 tions rather than hazard a novel experiment, controlled 

 by sudden excitement. Although it requires but a mo- 

 ment's reflection to bring him to a position he deems it 

 his duty as a citizen to occupy, yet he always considers 

 the sober second thought the safest to act upon in all 

 great measures or circumstances in life. He possessed 

 a vitality, a moral vigor, that resisted the enervating 

 influences around him. The early principles of piety 

 (though he did not always follow its impulse), instilled 

 into his heart by his strong minded mother, did help to 

 form a basis of rock to his character in after life, which 

 the winds of temptation in vain assailed and beset on 

 every side, in almost its worst forms, and not the less 

 dangerous because lurking in flowery ambush. His 

 gratitude toward his benefactors was constant, and only 

 equaled by his affection for them. 



The reader will readily perceive by this time that his 

 life has been a somewhat chequered one; and he will 

 please have the goodness to remember that a smooth sea 

 never makes a skillful mariner; neither does uninterrupted 

 prosperity and success in life qualify a man for useful- 

 ness or happiness. The storms of adversity, like the 

 storms of the ocean, arouse the faculties, excite the in- 

 vention, prudence, skill and fortitude of the voyager. 



