niAi.oGuE. 71 



It is not uiuisual for Stiuleiits to rise at four of the dock in tlio morn- 

 ing, anil not retire until ten or eleven, and tliat too during a whole ses- 

 sion together. Show me a farmer equally laborious, and I will admit 

 that knowledge makes men indolent. 



F. I see, that 1 have been misinformed, and as you have been edu- 

 cated in a college yourself, and now are a trustee, you ought to know. 

 But I am tohl that students arc irreligious and ill-behaved, and I should 

 like to have my sons keep good company, and grow up in religion, as 

 well as learning. 



T. I am very glad that you have mentioned this objection, for I 

 myself have heard, that evil-disposed persons and enemies of the College 

 (for you know there are such) have circulated falsehoods concerning u.s, 

 and have made this very statement, that boys are not as well attended to 

 and their morals as well protected in the preparatory department of col- 

 lege, as in schools where there are not so many. Bad boys, you very 

 well know, are to be found every where. For me, therefore, to say, 

 that all who are in our Institution, are what they ought to be, would be 

 palpably wrong. But this I will say, without the fear of contradiction, 

 that you will not t'lm] any where the same number of students more or- 

 derly and better behaved. I cannot well conceive what more attention 

 could be bestowed upon them than they receive. I question very much, 

 whetlier the children of the best regulated lamilies are better instructed 

 in the truths of the Gospel, and are more frequently pointed to the 

 Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. You ought to 

 know, that a large majority of our Students, both in the College and 

 the preparatory department, are professors of religion. Last session, 

 there were two ministers of the Gospel, students in the preparatory de- 

 partment. A year ago, it was said, that all the Students, with a single 

 exception, were under the influence of divine truth. Now, could you 

 place your sons under a better inlluence, and in better company than 

 this .'' If you can, I know not where you will obtain it. There is wor- 

 ship statedly morning and evening, the bible is a book of regular and 

 systematic study, the Students arc regularly visited in their rooms, and, 

 when parents prefer it, can live with some one of the professors or 

 teachers. In short, if I have formed, as I think I have, a correct and 

 impartial estimate of the moral advantages to be enjoyed in hoth deparl- 

 77i('ntii of Pennsylvania College, they are not surpassed by any private 

 school or college with which I am acquainted in the U. States, 



F. Well, this is what I like to hear. I find, it is always best to 

 iiear both sides. I did myself doul)t some things that I had heard, and 

 thought well of your Colloge ■ for my neighbor E , who h:^s a .son 



