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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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From CufFee Sloeum and Moses his wife , descended several children . It appears that three of their sons are farmers and occupy li ^ ds near their birth place . We are not sufficiently acquainted with . their characters to speak particularly respecting them . While his children 'were yet young , CufFee died , leaving . his property by will among them , whom he surnamed CufFee . . At this time Paul
CufFee , tne subject of the present memoir , who was born in 1759 , was about fourteen years o-f age . Notwithstanding , his youthfulness he seems to have been fcurthened with sucH cares . as generally require the mental vigour of manhood , jHis portion of his father ' s legacy was charged with several debts , and the care of providing for his mother , and younger brothers , rested on his shoulders . He felt the weight and importance of his charge , and he did not , like many other persons of a different complexion , desert his duty , but resolved , honourably , to exert all his abilities for the performance of the task committed to his hand . At
this time the products cf labour , on the farm , were not adequate to his wishes nor necessities . He perceived that commerce furnished to indu-try more ample rewards than agriculture , and he was
conscious that he possessed qualities ¦ whi ch , under proper culture , would enable him to pursue commercial employments with fair prospe . ts cf succe .-s . At the a . ? e of sixteen years he entered as a common hand on board of a vessel
destined to the Eay of Mexico , on a Whaling- voyage , lie was so well plea-ed with the result-of his first cnterprize , that he speedily engaged in a . second cf the same kind . After his second voyage , being " about eighteen years of age , he thought Fiims - f sufficiently skilled to enter into
business on hi , own accounts He laid before his elder brother a plan fo < o . ptr > ing a commercial iiitcrcoursj with the ftate of Coiiiiecti . ' ut . 1-ii - b ether was well pleased with the prospect , they procured an cpcn boat and proceeded to > ea . Hcrc-ior the firs ; , time , his brother found
him ell cxroxd to the perils of theoi ean , and the ha 2 aid > r . f a . p edutory warfare , whkii was carried 012 for many leagues along- the coa t , by tic Reiu ^ ees . 'J hey had not trawj > vd many leagues of the sea when his brolliar ' s fear * her * an to
niultip ') ' and magnify the- dangers—Jus cuutu ^ c sui . k . aii vi i ' ic ru . julvQa to return .
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This disappointment was a severe trial to a young man of Paul ' s adventurous and intrepid spirit—but he-was affection- * ate and many years younger than his brother , and he was obliged to submit to the determination . Paul returned to his
farm and laboured diligently in his fields— -but his mind was frequently revolving new schemes , arid forming new plans of commercial enterprize . When he attained twenty years , he had collected materials for another effort—he made
the attempt—went to sea , and lo . ; fcall tire little treasure which ,-b y the ^ weat of his brow , he had gathered . The unfortunate result oi his voyage would have discouraged a common mind from ever engaging in schemes of so great hazard , toil , and uncertainty . But Paul possessed that active courage which is the
natural offspring of a mind ^ satisfied of the practicability of its plans , and conscious of its power to accomplish what it conceives , and therefore he resolutely do teririined to persevere in the road which he had marked to him elf as the way to fortune . The necessity of aiding his
mother arid his younger brothers was a constant and strong incitement to renew his efforts . His iunds were not very amplethey were not sufficient to purchase a boat and cargo . But a boat must be procured—for a cargo without a boat woxild be useless , and a boat without a cargo would
be equally unprofitable :. In the very outset he fell himself in a dilemma—What should he do ? Give up all hope of commerce and return to the unproductive labours of his farm ? He was not indolent—he felt no aversion to the toils of employment—they were agreeable , but he had proved to himself that however diligently he should cultivate Ins fields they would not yield so much profit as would better the condition of himself
and family . Commerce bid fair to satisfy his wi lies . If he could once rightly enter on the bu-incss , by the -blessing of providence , he believed his efforts would finally succeed . What he was unable to purchase with money he resolved to acquire by l . ibour . He saw that his own hands were formed like those of olhtr men , and if one man could build a boat , he cone uded that another with similar tools might do the same il ; i :: ^ . I ' £ (> h c con ti / i h L'd 1 n 'Our n eec-i . \
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2 ' 22 ' - 'PoliticG-Relicrious Intelitee ? : ce .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1807, page 222, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2379/page/54/
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