To his son, then at school at Versailles, he writes on Feb. 26, 1830:
"After hearing from you again, I can judge better what to advise respecting your going into Spain. At all events, let no hope of going, or seeing, or doing anything else, prevent your using the present time for improving yourself in whatever you find to do. My greatest fear is, that you may form a wrong judgment of what constitutes your true respectability, happiness, and usefulness. To a youth just entering on the scenes of life, the roses on the wayside appear without thorns; but, in the eagerness to snatch them, many find, to their sorrow, that all which appears so fair is not in possession what it was in prospect, and that beneath the rose there is a thorn that sometimes wounds like a serpent's bite. Let not appearances deceive you; for, when once you have strayed, the second temptation is more likely to be fallen into than the first."
"We are all in New England deeply interested by Mr. Webster's late grand speech in the Senate, vindicating New England men and New England measures from reproach heaped upon them by the South; it was his most powerful effort, and you will see the American papers are full of it. You should read the whole debate between him and Mr. Hayne of South Carolina; you will find much to instruct and interest you, and much of what you ought to know. Mr. Webster never stood so high in this country as, at this moment; and I doubt if there be any man, either in Europe or America, his superior. The doctrines upon the Constitution in this speech should be read as a text-book by all our youth."
After reading the great speech of Mr. Webster, Mr. Lawrence addressed to that gentleman a letter, expressing his admiration of the manner in which New England had been vindicated, and also his own personal feelings of gratitude for the proud stand thus taken.
"DEAR SIR: I thank you very sincerely for your very kind and friendly letter. The sacrifices made in being here, and the mortifications sometimes experienced, are amply compensated by the consciousness that my friends at home feel that I have done some little service to our New England. I pray you to remember me with very true regard to Mrs. Lawrence, and believe me