30 EARLY UNDERTAKINGS. (1831, 
theories and explanations, most eminently truthful in 
all inquiries, and a devout Christian. Mrs. Torrey 
was a woman of rare character, refined, of intellectual 
tastes and cultivation, great independence, extremely 
benevolent, and with a capacity for government and 
control. She was devotedly religious, not only for her- 
self and her own household, but for all who could 
possibly come within her influence. It was a new ex- 
perience to the country-bred young man, and she saw 
in him many capabilities of which he was as yet himself 
unconscious. He always said that in his development 
he owed much to her in many ways. She criticised 
and improved his manners, his tastes, his habits, and 
especially, together with Dr. Torrey, exercised a strong 
influence on his religious life. His parents and 
family were conscientious, good and faithful church 
members. But they were not people who talked much, 
and indeed had little direct oversight of their son 
after he was fourteen years old, when he left home. 
He never returned to the family roof after that for 
more than a few months at a time, and his youthful 
surroundings away from home were of very varied 
influence ; some of them, though never vicious, were 
of a decidedly irreligious character. When he en- 
tered the Torrey family, the difference in the life, the 
contrast in the way of meeting trials and sorrows 
struck him forcibly, and the religious side of his 
nature was roused, a serious interest awakened, which 
from that time on made always a strong and perma- 
nent part of his character. 
Dr. Torrey saw the ability of the young student, 
and writing to his friend, Professor Henry, in Feb- 
ruary, 1835, to see if a place could not be found for 
him at Princeton, says : — 
