. 32.] TO MRS. TORREY. 301 



with them, delighted with their docility and intelli- 

 gence, and anticipate a very happy time. So you see 

 I have three sets of scholars, on different subjects. I 

 ought to be " apt to teach." 



Saturday morning. I must dispatch my letter by 

 to-day's mail, and as I am going to Boston, where I 

 have not been for a week, I will drop it in the post 

 office there, to insure its transmission by this after- 

 noon's mail. Yesterday afternoon I met the first two 

 sections of my class of Freshmen for recitation. It 

 went off very well. I am pretty good at asking ques- 

 tions. The lads were well prepared. Next Tuesday 

 I meet the third and fourth sections ; and on Thurs- 

 day, the ides of March, I give my first lecture on 

 Botany. If I succeed well, I am sure no one will be 

 more pleased and gratified than yourself, and that of 

 itself is enough to incite me to effort. If I don't alto- 

 gether succeed, neither satisfying myself nor others, I 

 shall not be discouraged, but try again, as I am deter- 

 mined to succeed in the long run. Nil desperandum. 

 I shall have the president to hear me ; but he is said 

 always to fall asleep on such occasions, and to be very 

 commendatory when he awakes. 



I now board with the sister of my landlord, Deacon 

 Munroe, a table of only five, one professor, one tutor, 

 and two advanced law students. We yesterday com- 

 menced the experiment of dining at five o'clock, much 

 to my gratification, and if the other gentlemen like it 

 as well as I do, we shall continue to dine at that hour, 

 until summer at least. It is very cold here ; though 

 the sun shines brightly all day, it scarcely thaws at 

 midday. 



