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The Life of Timothy Pickering (Revolutionary War)
The Life of Timothy Pickering - Revolutionary War Author:Octavius Pickering Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: from Virginia to New Hampshire, inclusively ; for so far the mail is carried in stage wagons. " The subject of this letter appeared to me of such importance a... more »s to merit the attention of the general legislature." Office, even then, bedazzled, deluded, and misled its legions. It is surprising to find what multitudes, in all parts of the country, struggled to obtain appointments with salaries too insignificant to be mentioned; with a strange infatuation, turning away from sure and permanent callings and occupations, honorable because necessary, in the sphere of independent private life, and losing their hold upon them in pursuit of inferior, precarious, poorly paid, and menial, because dependent, places, — clerkships in the departments, and the offices of local deputy postmasters. Colonel Pickering was at once overwhelmed by such applications from persons of respectable connections and conditions, in all quarters, many of them in such relations to society and to himself as made it most unpleasant, not to gratify them. He took infinite pains to discover who were best fitted for the situations they sought, and would be most acceptable to the people: these were his rules and these his tests. No family affinities, or personal intimacy, or private friendship, could prevail over him to depart from or disregard them. A few instances are selected from the great mass of his manuscripts relating to matters of tins kind. This is the substance of his reply to a letter from a niece, to whom he was fondly attached: — "philadelphia, October 30th, 1791. "MY DEAB NlECE, " I have just read your letter of the 21st. I know not when my sensibility has been more affected. My heart wouldalways vibrate to every plaintive sound. Your words are more than plaintive. They breathe an air of ...« less