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[33] of ten or eleven years could towards earning his board, and obtaining a little more (and what proved to be his final) schooling, at the Grammar School on the Mall.1 He was very happy in this, and in returning to the only place that had ever seemed like home to him, but his poor mother missed him sorely, and, as no situation could be found for him in Newburyport, she proposed, at the end of a year, that he should return to Baltimore. Her hope of securing a place for him there was, however, disappointed. Under date of August 29, 1817, she wrote to him as follows:

My dear son: Your kind letter came safe to hand, and it2 afforded me comfort. To hear of your welfare adds to my happiness, and receive my tender love and affection for your earnest solicitude in wishing to settle yourself to ease my burden. Your good behavior will more than compensate for all my trouble; only let me hear that you are steady and go not in the way of bad company, and my heart will be lifted up to God for you, that you may be kept from the snares and temptation of this evil world. I have no place at present in view, and being disappointed in placing you with Mr. Richards, I have concluded to let you remain another year at N. P. If any offer should occur in that place, and Uncle Bartlett should approve of it, I should wish you to accept it until a door should open here. If there is no place you can get, don't think I want to force you to a place to live. I should rather you would remain at your school, as I am much pleased with your improvement. I am not anxious for you to be here at present [owing to freshets, yellow fever, etc.]. . . . I have heard nothing from James. I do not know whether he is dead or alive.

May God protect you in all your undertaking! I do long to see you, and my heart is ofttimes full when I think of you, my dear Lloyd. Be a good boy and God will bless [you], and you have a Mother, although distant from you, that loves you with tenderness. I will do everything for you I can; it will be my greatest happiness to make you happy. Write soon to her who is your tender and affectionate


It is easy to see what influence such motherly epistles as these must have had upon the lad who was just entering

1 The quaint little brick building, erected in 1796, is still standing (1885).

2 Ms.

The Century Company. , 1885-1889.

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