Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/56

40 I had some excellent boys, who afterwards took high positions in the world. One, the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, became Vice-President of the United States; another, a general in the army; a third, a leading financier of New York; a fourth, a prominent clergyman in this city: and others became useful and honored men.”

Mr. Carter was through life remarkable for his social qualities; he was interested in others, and expected them to be interested in him, and his expectation was almost invariably realized. The friendly hand that he so frankly extended to others received a cordial grasp in return. “He that hath friends, must show himself friendly.” Dr. Guthrie used to say that he had noticed that everybody, men, women, and children, liked to be spoken to, and wherever he went he acted on this principle, and was always kindly received. Mr. Carter was of the same mind. The people he met on his first day in New York, like the passengers on the good ship “Francis,” were his friends for life, and their children after them. The relationship between him and Dr. Griscom was like that between father and son. Most tender and true was his love to the man whom he esteemed as his benefactor. He had a letter of introduction from Edinburgh for the Rev. Dr. Stark, and the first building he entered in New York was a store, where he stopped to inquire for his address. The proprietor, Mr. Robert Marshall, exchanged glances with his young wife, to whom he had been married the week before, and said, “He is our pastor,” and offered to go with him to Dr. Stark’s house. When Mr. Carter lay on his death-bed, fifty-eight years later, this same friend called to see him, and as Mr. Carter took his hand in parting, he said to him with emotion, “This is the same