Hoeing  corn  or  potatoes  one  day  in  the  summer
of  1800  my  father,  a  boy  of  sixteen,  was  called  into
his  father's  study,  where  he  found  Dr.  Fitch,  then
the  president  of  Williams  College,  which  had  been
established  as  a  college  seven  years  before.  Dr.
Fitch  had  stopped  in  a  journey  across  country,  to
accept  the  hospitalities  of  the  parsonage.  The
boy  was  told  to  show  Dr.  Fitch  how  well  he  could
read  Latin ;  then  he  read  to  him  from  the  Greek
Testament,  and  Dr.  Fitch  said  he  was  ready  to
enter  Williams  College.  His  father  and  he  had
not  expected  that  he  would  enter  until  the  next
year.  But  this  fortunate  visit  of  the  president
carried  him  to  Williamstown  that  summer,  and  he
graduated  there  in  the  class  of  1804.
He  and  the  other  boys  from  that  region  used  to
ride  across  Berkshire  County  on  horseback  when
the  college  terms  began.  A  younger  boy  drove
the  horses  back  in  a  drove,  and,  when  vacation
came,  took  them  to  the  college  again  for  the  stu-
dents to  ride  back  upon.  A  part  of  the  road  was
a  turnpike  where  tolls  were  collected.  When  they
approached  the  gate  they  would  all  dismount,  and
on  foot  drive  the  horses  in  front  of  them,  and
demand  the  right  of  passing  at  the  rate  for  a  drove
of  horses  or  cattle.  Nothing,  as  they  said,  was
said  about  saddles  or  bridles.  When  I  asked  once
if  the  toll-keeper  submitted  meekly  to  this,  I  was
told  that  they  generally  had  to  pay  the  full  toll,


xxii  Introduction

but  that  the  tollman  expected  to  treat  them  to
cider  all  round.
The  college  was  divided  into  two  societies  —  the
Philomathian  and  the  Philotechnian.  I  think  the
latter  exists  in  Williamstown  in  some  form  still.
