12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. [1826, 



autumn, when I went back to school, some college (Ham- 

 ilton College) students were boarding at the house 

 where I boarded and lodged. One of them, seeing 

 my avidity for books, introduced me to the librarian 

 of the Phoenix Society of the college, which had a 

 library strong in novels, which I was allowed, one by 

 one, to take home for reading. I suppose that I read 

 them every one. 1 



It was intended that I should go to college, and my 

 father could have put me through without serious in- 

 convenience ; but he was buying land about this time, 

 and he persuaded me to give up that idea and to go 

 at once at the study of medicine, which I did, in the 

 autumn of 1826, beginning with the session of 1826- 

 27 in the medical college (of the western district), then 

 a flourishing country medical school at Fairfield. 2 I 



1 In later life the novels were always saved for long journeys. The 

 novel of the day was picked out, and one pleasure of a long- day's 

 ride in the train was to sit by his side and enjoy his pleasure at the 

 good things. The glee and delight with which he read Hawthorne, 

 especially the Wonder-Book and Tanglewood Tales, make days to re- 

 member. So he read George Eliot, and Adam Bede carried him hap- 

 pily through a fit of the toothache. Scott always remained the prime 

 favorite, and his last day of reading, when the final illness was steal- 

 ing so unexpectedly and insidiously on, was spent over The Monastery, 

 which he had been planning to read on his homeward voyage in 1887. 



2 It was established as a college in 1812, having existed as a school 

 in the academy since 1809. There were then only five others in the 

 United States : Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Dartmouth, and 

 Baltimore. The war of 1812 with Great Britain made a demand for 

 army surgeons along the frontier, and New York and Boston were 

 too far to send the young men to be educated. Dr. Hadley was pro- 

 fessor in the literary academy, and Dr. Willoughby, who had a wide 

 medical reputation, was also in Fairfield. They planned a medical 

 college, and applied to the legislature for aid ; the sum of $5,000 was 

 granted, and later, in 1812, $10,000. The first Faculty was organ- 

 ized by the Board of Regents of the New York State University, 

 which had control of the educational institutions in the State. It 

 grew rapidly in favor, and soon outnumbered the schools of the 



