Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/163

Rh in his life.” He gave to each earnest thought and liberal hand. Giving was to him one of the sweetest pleasures in life. He valued money, not for what it was, but for what it could do. He had to be a very undeserving petitioner whom he refused. The wonder was that he could grow in wealth, but “there is that scattereth and yet increaseth.” In his business, it was often said of him that he would rather give away his books than sell them, and only those who were constantly with him knew how perpetual was the giving out. It was no bare gift that he gave, for the giver always went with it in kindly love and sympathy. Those who saw what he gave would suppose he was a man of great wealth; those who noticed his manner of living would have thought him a man in limited circumstances, though he was always ready for any necessary expense. He was never of those who think that generosity consists in spending liberally on one’s self.

In 1861 his two elder sons graduated from Princeton Seminary. As the eldest was just twenty-two, he felt that they were too young to take up a pastoral charge, so he decided to take all his family to Europe, where they travelled for fifteen months. It was a most delightful tour, the only drawbacks being the constant anxiety caused by the war of the Rebellion in America, news of which was eagerly watched for, and the severe illness of his eldest son in Germany from Syrian fever, contracted while on a tour through the Holy Land. Several months of 1861 were spent in Scotland, where his sons attended classes at the Divinity Schools of the Free and United Presbyterian Churches in Edinburgh. On this trip Mr. Carter had even more delightful intercourse than before with clerical and other friends in