TWO LAW-STUDENTS, AND THEIR FIRST CASE. 151 



Groton, April IS, 1831. 

 To Thomas Hopkinson of said Groton : 



You being duly enrolled in the Company at Groton, within whose bounds you 



reside, and commanded by Capt. , are hereby ordered to appear, 



armed and equipped as the law directs, on the Common in front of the Meeting- 

 house in Groton, on the first Tuesday of May next, at one o'clock, in the after- 

 noon, for inspection, exercise and discipline. Fail not of appearance at your 



peril. 



, Clerk. 



The students at once endeavored to inform themselves upon 

 military law, and found that to be " armed and equipped as the law 

 directs," they must provide themselves with a good musket or fire- 

 lock, with a bore sufficient for balls of the eighteenth part of a pound, 

 a bayonet and belt, two spare flints, a priming wire and brush, a 

 knapsack, a cartridge-box to contain not less than twenty-four car- 

 tridges suited to the bore of the musket, each cartridge to contain a 

 proper quantity of powder and ball. 



Unfortunately, although they had been members of the Harvard 

 Washington Corps in college, they did not own the aforesaid im- 

 plements of war or any of them, and had not any bank account to 

 draw upon for the "wherewithal." What was to be done? There 

 seemed no alternative but to " run the gauntlet," and they did ; and 

 failed to obey the summons, and only had the privilege of hearing 

 at a distance the notes of " Yankee Doodle " and " Hail Columbia " 

 from the inspiring fife and drum. 



They soon heard that those college fellows were to be " put over 

 the road ; " and erelong the constable entered and served a sum- 

 mons upon each, as follows : 



Middlesex, ss. To the Sheriff of said County, or either of his Deputies, or 

 either of the Constables of the town of Groton, in the County aforesaid, 

 Greeting : 



[L. S.] 



In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby required 

 to summon Thomas Hopkinson, of Groton, in the County aforesaid, to appear 

 before me, Caleb Butler, Esquire, one of the Justices of the Peace for the 

 County aforesaid, at my office in said Groton, on the second Monday of June 

 next, at two o'clock in the afternoon, then and there to show cause, if any he 

 has, why judgment should not be rendered that he has forfeited the sum of four 

 dollars for neglecting and failing to appear at the meeting for inspection, exer- 

 cise and discipline of the Company in said town, commanded by Capt. 



, on the Common in front of the Meeting-house in said Groton, on the 



first Tuesday of May, inst., at one o'clock in the afternoon. 



