appearance of the equipage. Both the horse and the sulky gave evident tokens of having known better days, and the dress of their owner was peculiar, bidding equal defiance to symmetry of proportion and to the fashion of the times. In addition to the traveller himself, this ancient vehicle was burdened with a quantity of calico for curtains, and other articles to assist in theatrical exhibitions, of which he was very fond. . . . The stage was fitted up, and plays were acted, in which Ledyard personated the chief characters. 'Cato' was among the tragedies brought out upon his boards, and Ledyard acted the part of old Syphax, wearing a long gray beard and a dress suited to his notion of the costume of a Numidian prince. . .

"There was in that day no College bell, and the students were called together by a conch-shell, blown in turn by the Freshmen. When the duty devolved upon Ledyard, it was his custom to perform it with a reluctance and in a manner corresponding to his sense of the degradation. . . . He had not been quite four months at College when he suddenly disappeared, without notice to his comrades, or, apparently, permission from the President, and was absent three months and a half, wandering among the Six Nations."

Ledyard's restless, haughty spirit was unable to endure the restraints and admonitions to which he was subject, and he laid a plan to escape, which, with the help of some of his fellows, he carried out successfully, during the absence of Wheelock, in May, 1773, after being here a little more than a year. Ledyard and his friends cut a large pine 1 on the bank of the river, and from it dug out a canoe some fifty feet long and three feet wide. In doing it Ledyard himself received a cut from his axe that laid him up several days. Furnished with dried venison for food and a bear-skin for covering, with a shelter of willow twigs at one end of the craft, and Ovid and the Greek Testament for companionship, tying up at night and floating by day, he reached Hartford, one hundred and forty miles distant, in safety, though after a narrow escape at Bellows Falls, to which he came unaware.

Of another characteristic adventure, to which Sparks alludes,

1 The pine-tree from which Ledyard made his canoe stood on the crest of the river bank north of the bridge, about four rods south of the ravine, now commonly known as "Webster Vale." The stump remained in position till very modern times, and was removed with others by Dr. Dixi Crosby. It was pointed out to Dr. Crosby by Dr. Lyman Lewis, of Norwich, who had the information from his father, Dr. Joseph Lewis, who knew Ledyard well. The identity was also attested by Gen. Ebenezer Mattoon, a classmate of Ledyard's, who helped him build the canoe, and who on visiting Hanover about 1839 caused himself, then totally blind, to be led by Dr. Lewis to the spot, that he might once more put his hands on the stump.

the following particulars are derived in part from Mr. Dewey's manuscripts. In the midwinter of 1772-73, Ledyard, with Wheelock's consent, persuaded several of the students to camp out with him in the snow in the wilds of the "Velvet Rocks," two miles east of the College. The snow was three feet deep, and drifted. The party went in couples on snow-shoes, and reaching the summit with some labor, built a fire, ate their supper, and each couple prepared for the night by scraping away the snow and laying a bed of evergreen boughs and a blanket. One then lying down, his partner drew over him a second blanket and buried him in snow, and then crawled in by his side. They passed, they said, quite a comfortable night, and were at home in time for prayers by candle-light in the morning.

The advent of another youth of promise is thus recorded by Wheelock in his Diary, Sept. 14, 1773: "Mr. Samuel Barlow, of Reading, Mass., brings his son Joel to school. The said son is to officiate as waiter on table at meal-time, and also be at the beck of Miss Elizabeth; only in play time and vacations from studies to perform such errands and incidental service as she shall have occasion for in her business; and in consideration of her services and his, to have his board: viz., eating, drinking, washing, fire-wood, candles, study-room, and tuition." was admitted Freshman at the next Commencement, and remained until November, 1774, when the death of his father making it necessary that he should be nearer home, he was recommended to President Daggett at Yale.

Barlow

Another notable case was that of one Caleb Watts, a mulatto, though classed as an Indian, who came to Wheelock in the fall of 1770, soon after his removal to Hanover, being then about twenty years of age. He was born of an English mother whose name he bore, but was brought up as a slave by his grandfather and never taught to read. He proved apt to learn, and in 1775 had studied rhetoric, logic, geography, ethics, and divinity, in preparation to go, under Wheelock's direction, as a missionary to the West Indies. Wheelock then proposed to Governor Trumbull to send him to the South to dissuade the slaves from

1 Miss Elizabeth Burr, of Fairfield, Conn., came to be with Joel, and to "superintend the cooking in commons, and manage the prudentials of it."

insurrection. In September, 1775, Watts preached his first sermon one Sabbath evening in Wheelock's pulpit. He left in October, 1776, and what became of him we do not know. The traditional and peculiar policy of liberality toward the negro which has distinguished this College from others was thus coincident with its very foundation.

Still another interesting character was a "lively, ingenious frenchman," by name Joseph Marie Verrieul, who came by chance to the School in the autumn of 1771, and won the highest praises for his capacity and deportment. He is presented to us as a most interesting and remarkable personage. Wheelock determined to carry him through a collegiate course at his own expense. Verrieul was the son of a lieutenantcolonel in the French militia, living near Quebec after the English took it, and he had been two years at school in France. Passing from Canada to Connecticut, he chanced accidentally upon Hanover, and being attracted and attractive, remained. When the war broke out he joined the army at Cambridge, and disappeared. He is last heard of as a soldier in Colonel Read's regiment, in April, 1776.1

The following authentic record from Mr. Justice Woodward's court may not only serve as a background to the peaceful picture of local society, but illustrate some of the customary methods of procedure.

GRAFTON, SS. To the worshipful BEZALEEL WOODWARD, Esq., one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace in said County.

Eleazar Wheelock, D.D., President of Dartmouth College, in Hanover in said county, complains that he the said Eleazar, at Hanover aforesaid, on the 27th day of October instant, being in the peace of God and the King, one Joseph Skinner, of Hanover aforesaid, Yeoman, not having the fear of God before his eyes, and being moved by the instigation of the Devil, on the said 27th day of October at Hanover aforesaid, with force and arms did make and publish against your complainant a seditious libel in writing, set up and published on the door of the College Hall at Hanover aforesaid, in which Libel the said Joseph says your complainant is a Liar and Hypocrite, with many other menacing words and speeches in the said Libel published as aforesaid; all which making and publishing said Libel is against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King, his crown and dignity, and contrary to statute in that case made and provided; and therefore your complainant prays you to take cognizance of this complaint, and grant your warrant for apprehend1 Narrative, 1773, ii. 4. See also Life of Belknap, p. 68, and chapter vi., post.

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:

ing the said Joseph, that he may be dealt with touching the premises as to law and justice appertains. ELEAZAR WHEELOCK.

HANOVER, Oct. 28, 1774.

[Warrant in due form issued the same day, and on the next the culprit was arraigned. Following is the record:

GRAFTON, SS. At a Justice's Court holden at Hanover in said County on Saturday, Oct. 29, A. D. 1774,

Present:

Dominus Rex,

BEZALEEL WOODWARD, Esqrs., Justices.

JOHN WHEATLEY,

by complaint of

ELEAZAR WHEELOCK, D.D.

Plf. vs. JOSEPH SKINNER, Respondent.

On a complaint for making and publishing a certain Libel tending to the defamation of said Wheelock,

Respondent pleads not guilty.

This Court, having heard the pleas and evidences, as well on the pa. of the Crown as for the respondent, is of opinion that the said Joseph is guilty in manner and form as is set forth in the complaint; and therefore orders that he pay a fine of twenty shillings for the use of the poor of the town of Hanover, where the offence was committed, and costs, and find two sureties in the sum of ten pounds each for his good behavior, and that he stand committed till he pay said fine and costs (taxed at £1 14s. od.), and find such sureties as aforesaid.

[The respondent appealed to the Court of General Quarter Sessions, producing for sureties Dr. George Eager and Giles Tiffany.1]

We can in no way obtain so vivid a picture of the daily life of the poorer students at this period as from the following

1 The obnoxious libel, still on file, was as follows. —

"Gentelmen, whosoever is worthy, I will give you opinion just what I think in plane English. There will a Day Come when we must all appear before our Judge to Receive our Sentance, and then we shall Se if you are Sutch A good Christian as you Bost of, you who have Demd So many to hell, have A Care of your Self. your fine house and all Christ's money (as you so call it) won't save you from hell. you will be exalted up very high into heaven, or els Be cast down very Low (and I fear the Latter). For thiere is A woe Denounced against Hipocrits and Liars, And I Believe you are A very greate Hipocrit, and I Can Sware you are A Liar. This from him who is not A friend to those who want worshiping, and that Doctor whelock."

It is thus indorsed:
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"I Nath! Adams testify that on the night of the twenty-seventh instant, between the hours of ten and twelve o'clock, I took this paper from the south door which leads into the cook-room of Dartmouth College, in the presence of Job Marsh, Miss Eunice Frisbie, and Hannah Robins, the contents of which has not been altered since I first saw it. In testimony whereof I do hereunto subscribe my name, this evening of the 28th of October, A. Domini, 1774."

NATHL ADAMS. [A Senior from Portsmouth.]

account, given by one of them of his own experiences, which, though many years ago published, is probably accessible to few of my readers. I shall therefore make no apology for introducing it. The circumstances were these:

Jeremiah Osborne, of Litchfield, Conn., came to Hanover in 1771, and engaged to run the College mills on shares. His brother Benjamin entered College the same year, and in June, 1772, they proposed to their other brother, remaining in Connecticut, to come with companions and assist them in the care of the mills, and thus defray their expenses, while getting a college education. The proposition was accepted by four, one of whom was Joseph Vaile, of Litchfield, then twenty-two years of age. This is his story: —

"Having made the best preparation I could, under my circumstances, I set out with three others for Dartmouth College, Sept. 28, 1772. I took my axe and such articles of clothing and a few books as were most necessary. We took with us one small horse, on which the youngest and feeblest of our company rode most of the way. Three of us travelled on foot, and for a part of two days each footman swung his pack soldier-like. But at length we contrived to place our packs on our horse. This distance was computed to be one hundred and eighty miles. I had only about fifteen shillings in money to bear my expenses on the journey; and as this proved insufficient, I received some more from one of our company. We travelled on an average about thirty miles a day. I had never before been twenty miles from home, nor gone on foot a whole day at a time. I became excessively weary, and at times almost ready to lie down in the street. On the third day, as we went from Hartford, on the east side of Connecticut River, we reached Chickopee River, in Massachusetts, and finding the bridge gone, three of us forded the river. One rode the horse over, and ascertained that it was not dangerous on account of its depth. We pulled off our stockings and shoes, and waded across about ten rods; the water was cold, the stream rapid, and the bottom covered with slippery stones. [They spent the Sabbath at Claremont, and reached the College mills on Monday, October 5th.]

"These mills were one mile south from the College. They stood on a large brook, and near to them was an intervale of fifteen or twenty acres, nearly surrounded on one side by a high hill of a semicircular form, which extended from northeast to southwest, and was covered thickly with forest. The road from the mills to the College, after about sixty rods of level land, passed directly up this hill, which was about one fourth of a mile from the bottom to the top, and thence through a hemlock swamp nearly a half a mile in width before it reached the plain on which the College stood. We found Mr. O. living alone in a small framed unfinished house, which had been built for the residence of the man who should tend the College mills. A more solitary and romantic situation can seldom be found. The howling of wild beasts and the plaintive notes of the owl greatly added to the gloominess of