Glass 
 
 BookiiiaWl 
 
LETTERS 
 
 "i 
 
 FROM THE ^ ^J- I <^ 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY THE REV. S. WOOD. 
 
 [FROM THE CHRISTIAN REFORMER, FOR DECEMBER, 1837.] 
 
, fV / W 9 
 
 O, SMALLFIELD, I'UINTEI!, HACKNEY. 
 
LETTERS FROM THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN REFORMER. 
 
 Sir, London, Nov. 2, 1837. 
 
 If you think that the following letter would afford any gratification 
 to the readers of The Christian Reformer, it is very much at your 
 service. I have also a " Lecture on Sunday Schools in the United 
 States of America," which I delivered at tlie Spicer Street Chapel 
 last week, and which 1 will forward to you for insertion, if you 
 please, in a subsequent Number. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 S. WOOD. 
 
 [We hope to receive Mr. Wood's promised Lecture in time for the Nuiabor 
 for January. — Editok ] 
 
 Dear H -, HartforiL Connecticut Oct. 22d, 1836. 
 
 I INTENDED to writc to vou again ]>ofore this, but I have been 
 so incessantly occujjied with seeing sights and entering into 
 society, that I have never been al)le to find a moment's leisure, 
 in which to put my design in execution : in truth, I am now in 
 the full tide of social enjoyment; and the friends to whom I am 
 introduced are so intelligent, and the objects of interest which they 
 point out to my notice so numerous, tliat I have scarcely time to 
 record the impressions which are made upon me, by what I am 
 every day seeing and hearing. Each town that I visit has its owji 
 peculiar claims to my attention, and I often think that I am like the 
 little boy in the story ; who, when the flowers began to peej) forth, 
 and the birds to sing, came running to his mother, and exclaimed, 
 *'0h, mamma! what a pleasant time of the year this is ! I wish it 
 was always spring !" In two or three months the charms of spring 
 were forgotten, and it was summer, which he would wish to last for 
 ever; and so of autumn and winter ; and at the end of tlie twelve 
 months his observant parent, who had carefully recorded his impres- 
 sions, recalled to his recollection how each of the four seasons had 
 brought its own attractions with it, and had been, while it lasted, the 
 most delightful of all. It is the same with me; — when I spent a 
 day or two at Philadelphia, soon after I landed, I guessed that that 
 would be the i)lace that I sliould choose to i-eside in during the 
 winter; when I arrived at Boston, that was better than Philadelphia: 
 to Albany I next went, knowing only one man, and when I came 
 away, in ten days, I had made the acquaintance of a whole host of 
 most intelligent persons ; then came the cultivated society, and the 
 hearty merriment of Old Stockbridge ; to these succeeded New 
 Haven, which won my heart more than any thing that had gone 
 before ; and now I find myself in the bosom of a most kind and 
 
 B 
 
4 Letters from the United States ; — New Haven. 
 
 interesting family, and this very day I have enlarged the circle of 
 my friends, by the acquaintance of a man of great learning, an 
 accomplished mind, and most polished manners. And what does 
 all this prove ? Nothing more or less than this ; that the backwoods 
 of America are one thing, and its cities another ; that its roads may 
 be rough, and its stages execrable, and many of those whom you 
 meet in travelling, very far from being gentlefolks ; but that, in the 
 great resting-places of your journey, you meet with men, of whom 
 you would be proud to make friends and associates — men of talent 
 and education, full of information, and setting aside even their 
 own convenience, in order to shew you the rights of hospitality, and 
 give you every opportunity of seeing what you wish to see. 
 
 Old Stockbridge, to which I came from Albany, and which lies 
 thirty-five miles to the south-east of that place, is a pleasant village, 
 shaded with trees, and situated in a well-wooded part of the country. 
 I was there introduced to Miss Sedgwick, the authoress, and several 
 
 of her relatives, and also to Mr. A . He is an Englishman by 
 
 birth, and as fine a man as I ever saw — grey-headed, and worn in 
 appearance, as he well may be, for he has lived thirty-five years in 
 India, and has twice crossed the deserts of Arabia, but still young 
 and fresh in spirit — full of all that life and soul, which the 
 Americans, with all their acknowledged merits, too commonly want. 
 There are indeed some bright exceptions to the remark, but in 
 general the inhabitants of this land of freedom are far too demure for 
 me: you may pour out upon them the whole treasury of your wit, 
 you may say things which ought to " set the table in a roar," and 
 they will look as serious as the grave ; not a muscle of their features 
 will betra}^ an emotion of delight, or all tliat you can elicit from 
 them, in return for the good things which you have lavished, will be 
 a faint and provoking smile. How refreshing then it was to find 
 myself in the company of one, who had some sold in him, and who 
 seemed himself to understand, and wished to make others understand 
 also, that life was given to be enjoyed. Never shall I forget his 
 hearty laugh and his soul-stirriug animation; it did me good to 
 come within the sphere of its enlivening warmth, and I shall be 
 sorry if I am compelled to quit the States without benefiting by it 
 once more. 
 
 From Old Stockbridge I came through a rough but beautiful 
 country, by way of Vait Dei/senviUe, Sheffield and Canaan, to 
 Hartford; and thence the next day I proceeded to New Haven — the 
 road, one of the best that I have travelled in the United States, and 
 the movements of the stage the quickest, though nothing to boast of 
 after all, for it took us nearly five hours to accomplish thirty-four 
 miles. I am heartily tired of American stage-travelling; in steam- 
 boats they equal, or, perhaps, exceed us ; their railroads, though not 
 quite on a par with the Manchester and Liverpool, are very fair ; 
 but their roads are bad, and their coaches miserable : there is 
 scarcely one of them which is hung on steel springs ; they are all 
 suspended on leathers, and the consequence is, that you swing about 
 in a style which is enough to shake all life out of your body : it is 
 bad enough when the vehicle is full of passengers, and ten times 
 worse when there are only one or two to ballast it. 
 
hetters from the United States j — New Haven. 5 
 
 You will recollect that Mr. B furnished mo with a letter of 
 
 introduction to Professor Silliman of Yale College, New Haven. 
 He is a most accomplished and delightful man, and I must say that 
 I have not yet met with any one in the course of my Transatlantic 
 wanderings, who has more laid himself out to be of service to me, or 
 whose society is more instructive and agreeable. To him and to 
 Professor Kingsley I feel myself greatly indebted for the pains which 
 they took, to shew me everything worthy of notice in and about the 
 town. One of the first objects which they took me to see was the 
 grave of Dixwell, the regicide, who died here in the year l(o88-9, in 
 the 82d year of his age, and is interred in the old burying-ground in 
 the rear of the spot on which tlie Centre Church now stands. At his 
 own request the only inscri))tion on his tomb is that of his initials, 
 I. D. Esq., with his age and tlie time of his death : this caution was 
 observed, lest " his enemies might dishonour his ashes ;" it was, in 
 fact, only just before he died that he told Avho he was, and owned the 
 name of John Dixwell. Under the feigned name of James Davids, 
 he had lived for many years without molestation in the town of New 
 Haven, and had there married two wives. His political friends, 
 Goffe and Whalley, were not so fortunate ; Avhen the king's warrant 
 for their apprehension arrived at New Haven, they would probably 
 have been taken, had they not been befriended in various ways by the 
 minister and people. Among other devices to assist them, it is re- 
 corded, that about the time when their pursuers came to New Haven, 
 or })erhaps a little before, in order to prepare the minds of the people 
 for their reception, the Rev. Mr. Davenport preached publicly from 
 this text, Isaiah xvi. 3, 4, "Take counsel, execute judgment; make 
 thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday ; hide the out- 
 casts; bewray not him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with 
 thee, Moab ; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler." 
 This, doubtless, had its effect, putting the whole town upon their 
 guard, and uniting the people in caution and concealment. On 
 one occasion, the regicides hid themselves under the very bridge 
 over w^hich their pursuers passed ; frequently they betook them- 
 selves to some caves on the West Uock, about two miles from the 
 town ; and the latter part of their lives they passed in the cellar of the 
 Rev. Mr. Russell, at Hadley, near Northampton ; there they died, 
 and there, most probably, they are buried, though this is not certainly 
 known.* 1 drove out to the West Rock, to view their places of 
 concealment, and seldom have I been more interested with an}^ thing 
 that J have seen. The higher cave consists of a fissure, which has 
 been made by some tremendous convulsion of nature, in an immense 
 block of stone, as large as a small house, situated on the top of a high 
 ridge of rock, and surrounded by wood, Avhich was probably thicker 
 in former times than it is now. 
 
 On the face of one of the rocks is the inscription — 
 
 OPPOSITION TO 
 TYRANTS IS 
 OBEDIENCE TO 
 GOD. 
 
 * For an account of the rejiiciflos, sec "Anecdotes of Eminent Persons," 
 2 vols. 8vo. — London, 18(J4. 
 
6 Letters from the United States ; — Neiv Haveii. 
 
 This was originally carved by the hands of the fugitives, and has since 
 been renewed from time to time. In this retreat the regicides were 
 supplied with food by the kindness of a neiglibouring farmer, of the name 
 of Sperry, Avho used to send liis little boy with provisions tied up in a 
 cloth, which were to be deposited on a certain stump of a tree, that 
 they might be fetched away by the outlaws. Nor yet were hunger 
 and the avenging arm of the law the only evils which they had to 
 dread ; one night they saw the bright eyes of a panther glaring in 
 upon them through the entrance of their dwelling, and this so 
 alarmed then), that they made a precipitate retreat. Another of 
 their places of refuge was the lower cave, which is somewhat more 
 commodious than the higher, but still a very poor defence against the 
 inclemencies of tlie weather. As we approached it, the dogs of a kind 
 of American Gipsy, came barking out at us: she was clearly of 
 Indian blood, — one of the perishing remnants of those proud tribes, 
 who were once masters of tlie soil. Fcav situations can be imagined 
 more wretched than hers ; there she was, living all alone, with no 
 other company, at least, than that of her dogs, for her people, she 
 told me, had been absent on a journey ever since spring ; however, 
 she expected them back every day, and in the mean time occupation 
 must have contributed to drive away the thoughts of solitude, for she 
 was busily employed in making baskets, of split nuiple and ash, and 
 very neat they were ; she had not one ready, or I would have purchased 
 it, as a memento of the place. 
 
 By the kindness of my friends I was also allowed to inspect the 
 old records of the city of New Haven. They are written in a large 
 folio book, which had evidently been one of the ledgers of Theo- 
 philus Eaton, a ricli London merchant, one of the first settlers. The 
 most interesting document which it contains is the original treaty 
 witli the Indians for the purchase of the land, on part of which the 
 town is built. It bears date November 14th, 1G38. The purchase 
 was made from Momaugin, the sachem of Quinipiocke ; he and his 
 council appear to have been very sharp fellows, and to have looked 
 well to their own interest, for, although they agree to give up the 
 land in question to the new comers, they at the same time stipulate 
 that they shall have a sufficient quantity to plant on, upon the 
 East side of the harbour; that they shall have the right of hunting, 
 fishing, and taking the beaver, provided they do not set their traps 
 so as to injure the cattle, and that they do not take any fish out of 
 the weirs belonging to the English : that, when they are affrighted 
 in their dwellings, they may fiy to the English for shelter and 
 protection, and that the}' shall moreover receive, " by way of free 
 and thankful retribution, twelve coats of English trucking-cloth, 
 twelve alcumy-spoons,* twelve hatchets, twelve hoes, two dozen of 
 knives, twelve porringers, and four cases of French knives and 
 scissors." One article of the treaty is curious, as it shews both the 
 reverence which the planters had for the sabbath, and the troublesome 
 habits of the people with Avhom they had to deal : the Indians "bind 
 themselves that none of them shall henceforward hanker about the 
 English houses, at any time, when the English use to meet about 
 
 * What is meant by alcumy-spoons, I have not been able to ascertahi. 
 
Letters from the United States ; — New Haven. 7 
 
 the public worsliip of God, nor on tlie Lord's day, henceforward, be 
 seen within the compass of the English toAvn, bearing any burden, 
 or offering to truck with the English for any commodity whatsoever." 
 Affixed to this are the signatures, or rather marks, of Momaugin and 
 liis councillors ; and then follows another treaty, made in December 
 following, for the jiurehase of another tract, which lay principally to 
 the north of the former. For this Montowese, the sachem, bargained 
 that the English sliould give him " eleven coats made of trucking- 
 cloth, and one coat for liimself, of English cloth, made up after the 
 English manner, and that they should allow him and his tribe 
 ground to plant upon, and lil)erty to hunt within the lands." The 
 signatures to this treaty are very characteristic, that of Montowese 
 being a bow and arrow, and that of Sawsounk, who accompanied 
 him, a tomahawk. 
 
 The first meeting of the colonists to establish their civil and reli- 
 gious polity, was on the 4th of June, 1G39: the record begins thus : — 
 " The fourth of the fourth month, called June, 1639, all the free 
 planters assembled together in the great meeting, to consult about 
 settling civil government according to God, and about the nomi- 
 nation of persons that might be found by consent of all, fittest, in all 
 respects, for the foundation-work of a church, which was intended to 
 be gathered in Quinipiocke." Many of the entries in this i-ecord- 
 book are very curious, as shewing the habits of the people, and the 
 state of the country. Thus — "At a court held at New Haven the 
 6th of December. 1G43, Goodman Chapman, Brother Davis, John 
 Thomas, Sam Hoskins, Brother Nicholls, Joh. Charles, Thomas 
 Barnes, and Thomas Wheeler, were fined 5. 8 (5s. 8^.) a peece, for 
 want of ladders" — which, it appears, they were required to have 
 affixed to their houses, to be ready in case of fire ; and to the same 
 purport we find an order that " every chimney shall be swept once 
 a month in winter, and every two months in summer." In another 
 place we find an order that " whatsoever pigs, under three-quarters- 
 of-a-year old, shall be found in the corne unyoaked, no fence being 
 downe, the owners of them shall pay 6 pence a peece. This order to 
 be in force no longer than till Indian harvest be fnned" (finished,) 
 L c. till the Indian corn be got in. And to the same purport — "7th 
 of December, 1642. Forasmuch as John Owen hath had some 
 damage done in his corne, by hogs, occasioned through the neglect 
 of Mr. Lamberton, John Bud, and Will Preston, in not making up 
 their fence in season ; it is therefore ordered, thatt the said Mr. Lam- 
 berton, John Bud, and Will Preston, shall make satisfaction to tlie 
 said John Owen, for the damage done, viz. — 8 days' work, and 2 
 pecks of corne, whicli is to be pay'd according to the several apportions 
 of fence unset up respectively;" which is cxj)iained by the circum- 
 stance, that, to save expense, a number of men put a common fence 
 round several plots of land, and each was under an obligation to 
 keep his part of it in order. Other entries shew us the dangers 
 which beset the colonists, and how necessary it was considered to 
 keep a strict watch : thus — " Brother Thorpe, for coming late to set 
 his watch, and neglecting to order itt ariglit, when he did come, was 
 fined 10. 8" (lOs. M.) "Jerimy Whitnell, for not keeping a 
 sentinell forth, and suffering, at least, some of his watchmen to sleep, 
 
8 Letters from the United States ; — New Haven. 
 
 was fined 5. 8 ;" and again, " October 30th, 1643, Armes on the 
 Lord's day. It was ordered that one of the squadrons, in their 
 course, shall come to the meeting every Saboth compleatly Armed, 
 fitt for service, with, Att the least, 6 charges of shot and pouder, and 
 be ready at the meeting-house within halfe an bower after the first 
 beating of the drum, then and there to be at the comaund of the 
 officer in such service as they are appointed to attend unto on those 
 dayes, under such penalty as the court shall judge meet, according 
 to the nature of their offence ; allso, tlie sentinell, and those that 
 walke the round, shall have their matches lighted dureing the time of 
 the meeting, if they have match locks." 
 
 The strict notions which those first settlers entertained on various 
 points of morals, and of discipline, and their hatred of the Church of 
 England on the one hand, and of heretics in general, on the other, 
 may be judged of from the following extracts from "The Blue Laws 
 of Connecticut," so called because the first printed laws of the colony 
 were stitched in blue-coloured paper. From the first three articles 
 which are cited, it is perfectly clear that those straight-laced 
 sectarians were utterly ignorant of the true principles of religious 
 liberty, for, the very moment that they had escaped from their own 
 persecutors, they were ready to infiict on others the same sufferings, 
 wliich had driven the)n to take refuge in a foreign land. 
 
 *' No food or lodging shall be afforded to a Quaker, Adamite, or 
 other heretic. 
 
 *' If any person turns Quaker, he shall be banished, and not suf- 
 fered to return on pain of death. 
 
 *' No priest shall abide in this dominion ; he shall be banished, and 
 suffer death on his return. Priests may be seized by any one, 
 without warrant. 
 
 *' No one to run on the sabbath-day, or walk in his garden, or 
 elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting. No one shall 
 travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair, or shave on 
 the sabbath-day. 
 
 " No woman shall kiss her child on the sabbath or fasting day. 
 
 " The sabbath shall begin at sunset on Saturday.* 
 
 *' Whoever wears clothes trimmed with gold, silver, or bone-lace, 
 above two shillings by the yard, shall be presented by the grand 
 jurors, and the select men shall tax the offender at £300 estate. 
 
 " No one shall read common prayer, keep Christmas or Saints* 
 days, make minced pies, dance, play cards, or play on any instrument 
 of music, except the drum, trumpet, or Jews' harp. 
 
 " No gosj)el minister shall join people in marriage ; the magistrates 
 only shall join in marriage, as they may do it with less scandal to 
 Christ's church. 
 
 " When parents refuse their children convenient marriages, the 
 magistrates shall determine the point. 
 
 " No man shall court a maid in person ,or by letter, without first 
 obtaining consent of her parents : £5 penalty for the first offence j 
 £10 for the second ; and for the third, imprisonment during the 
 pleasure of the court. 
 
 * Of this custom I am told there are still relics in some parts of New England. 
 
Letters from the United States ; — New Haven. 9 
 
 " Married persons must live together, or be imprisoned. 
 
 *' Every male shall have his hair cut round according to a cap." 
 
 The strange inconsistency of these men, and their stern ideas of 
 justice may be judged of by this ; that though one of their laws is, 
 that " The man-stealer shall suffer death :" the law next but one in 
 order is this, "A debtor in prison, swearing he lias no estate, shall be 
 let out and sold, to make satisfaction." 
 
 The care which the Puritans took to exclude episcopacy from 
 New Haven might be successful at the time, but, if they could now 
 rise from their graves, they would be somewhat astonished and 
 shocked to see two churches of this communion flourishing in the 
 city. One of them is situated on the green, or open park, which 
 occupies the centre of the town. This is a verdant and shady plot of 
 ground, three or four hundred yards each way, and contains three 
 other churches, one belonging to the Baptist, and two to the Congre- 
 gational denomination — as well as the state-house, a beautiful building 
 in the form of a Grecian temple, with a portico facing the West 
 New Haven may be well described as Mitt^mtmm^, et in urhe rus 
 for most of the houses are apart from each other, and along the sides 
 of the streets are planted rows of ti'ees, Avhich must make this the 
 most delightful of town residences in the summer time. The city 
 contains 15,000 inhabitants ; it stands at the head of a bay, on the 
 northern side of Long Island Sound, and at the lower extremity of a 
 wide plain, shut in by two ranges of hills, which terminate in the 
 east and west rocks, from either of which a charming view is 
 obtained of the surrounding coimtry. Coach-makers, cabinet-makers, 
 shoe-makers and tailors are to be found in great abundance at New 
 Haven, and the new houses which are springing up in every 
 direction, indicate very clearly that they are driving a flourishing 
 business. Large quantities of their manufactured articles are con- 
 stantly exported to the southern states. 
 
 Yale College, so called from one of its earliest benefactors, extends 
 along the whole north side of the green ; the buildings are not 
 remarkable for architectural beauty, but the situation is airy and 
 pleasant. The college was founded A.D. 1700, and for the first few 
 years was located at the village of Killingworth, then at Saybrook, 
 and, finally, was removed to New Haven, in 1716. The course of 
 general study extends through four years, and there are, also, 
 faculties of law, physic, and divinity : the course, in the first, being 
 two years, and in the second and third, three, or two to those 
 medical students who have taken the degree of B.A. The cor- 
 poration consists of a President and eighteen honourable and 
 reverend assessors ; and there are fourteen professors and eight 
 tutors, besides instructors in law, natural history, French, and 
 drawing. Tlie students, this session, are 570 in number ; the greater 
 part of them reside within the walls of the college, but some, for 
 whom no rooms can be found, are permitted to board in the town : 
 they must all, however, make their appearance at prayers in the 
 chapel, twice a day, in the summer at 5, and in the winter at 6 in 
 the morning, and at 5 in the afternoon. The necessary ex]>enses 
 which an undergraduate incurs for instruction, board, lodging, and 
 contingencies, within the college, are stated to be from 150 to 
 
10 Letters from the United States : — New Haven. 
 
 200 dollars a year ; and I am informed, that, if he resides at no 
 great distance, and is not extravagant, 300 or 400 dollars, (£70 or £80), 
 in addition to this, will cover all the cost of apparel, pocket-money, 
 and travelling. Those who are very straitened in their circum- 
 stances, cut up fire-wood, or wait at table on the others who are 
 dining in the hall ; and I was assured by one of the professors, that 
 no reflections whatever are cast upon them by those who have no 
 occasion themselves to have recourse to these menial occupations. 
 The general library of the institution is not so large as might be 
 desired, but there are about 15,000 volumes belonging to the literary 
 societies formed among the students. The College possesses a splendid 
 cabinet of minerals, chiefly purchased from Colonel Gibbs, a good 
 chemical and philosophical apparatus, and a gallery of paintings, 
 including many of those painted by Colonel Trumbull. Among the 
 philosophical instruments let me not omit to particularize an acro- 
 matic telescope, ten feet long, made by Dolland, and presented to 
 the College by Sheldon Clarke, Esq. This gentleman is a grazing 
 farmer, and lives a few miles out of town : he had scarcely any 
 advantages of education when he was young, but when he was grow- 
 ing up to manhood, he felt an ardent desire to obtain instruction, and 
 not being then able to pay the usual fees, he was allowed by several 
 of the professors to attend their courses for one winter, gratuitously. 
 The benefit which he thus enjoyed was not forgotten by him ; and, 
 Avhen he at length succeeded to a small fortune, he made a provision 
 for establishing a new professorship and a scholarship, and about 
 four years ago he presented the telescope of which I have already 
 made mention. It cost 1200 dollars, (£"225), to make up which sun) the 
 donor drove his fattened cattle into town and sold then) to t])e college 
 steward ; and I am told that he even keeps school in the winter, i)i 
 order that he may add to his means of doing good in his generation. 
 So noble an example of well-directed generosity deserves to be held 
 up to public appi'obation ; nor yet does he stand altogether alone, 
 for I am happy to add, that, froii many other individuals this 
 College has received munificent support ; the sura of 100,000 dollars 
 having been raised for it in private donatiois, in the last five years. 
 It has greatly risen in reputation of late, but it is now suffering 
 under the imputation of what is called Taylorism, so called from the 
 doctrines held and propounded by one of the theological professo)-s 
 of the name of Taylor: he is one of the leaders of the new school 
 which has lately sprung up, and holds that man is not guilty of 
 Adam's sin, and that he can do his duty. " Very harmless, all 
 this," you will say ; "he is no great ])eretic, if that be tlie extent of 
 his wanderings ;"— yet I am assured that it is for maintaining these 
 doctrines, that all this noise has been made against him. 
 
 New Haven contains many excellent schools, but I confined my 
 attention almost exclusively to one, a district school, taught by Mr. 
 Lovell. It is the best of any description that I have yet seen in the 
 States. The moment that I entered the roon), I saw a whistle in the 
 maste)-'s hand, and observed to the friend who introduced me, " All 
 is right here ; that whistle speaks volumes." The school is con- 
 ducted, with some variations, on the Lancasterian plan, and does 
 infinite credit to the skill and assiduitv of the master. He once held 
 
xjctters from the United States j— New --U 11 
 
 the same situation in the Borough Road Institution in London, but 
 came out to this country, many years ago, Avith Joseph Lancaster. 
 After he had taught one of the district-schools in this town for some 
 time, he was tempted to accept an offer that was made to him to 
 become teacher of elocution in Amherst College, Massachusetts, but 
 the school which he had left sunk so rapidly from the want of his 
 fostering care, and the conductors of it were so sensible that he only 
 could revive it, that a deputation of them waited on him in person 
 at Amherst, and persuaded him to return. The school now 
 contains 270 boys, and a more orderly and respectable set of 
 little fellows, I never saw in my life ; they exhibit the perfection 
 of discipline, yet I am sure that severity is not resorted to in order 
 to produce it. The interrogative method is not yet introduced, but 
 Mr. Lovell is sensible of its merits, and will, I doubt not, adopt it 
 very soon. The attainments of the boys in mental arithmetic, are 
 wonderful ; they were directed to multiply 351,426 by 236,145, these 
 factors being written on a black board, but the boys having no slates 
 to work upon. One boy produced the answer, 82,987,492,770 
 correctly in two minutes ; the second boy who came up was wrong, 
 and the third was right in four minutes. At one of the examinations 
 they were required to work, mentally, a sum consisting of 21 figures 
 to be multiplied by 21 figures ; and one of them produced the correct 
 answer in 40 minutes ; another in the same time produced the answer 
 right, with the exception of one figure, and corrected it in five 
 minutes. All this is greatly to the credit of the teacher, and I wish 
 there were many schools, either here or in England, like Mr. Lovell's. 
 So highly is he estimated where he is, that some of the professors have 
 entrusted their sons to his charge, and speak in the highest terms of 
 his merits. 
 
 You see I have filled my paper, and must reserve the lions of 
 Hartford for another letter. 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 S. WOOD. 
 
 rUlNJEIi HY G, SMALI FIELD, IIACKNI-.Y 
 
i 
 
/ 
 

 27