LITERARY SOCIETY. 153 



after the manner of the one mentioned 

 by Benjamin Franklin. We were in 

 number about seven or eight, all mar- 

 ried men but myself, and I was at that 

 time under twenty years of age. It was 

 our custom to meet every Monday evening, 

 at the house of one of our members, who 

 possessed an extensive library. The chair 

 was taken by rotation, and the president 

 elect would name the subject for discussion 

 on the ensuing night of meeting thus 

 giving us all time to study it, and to 

 form our opinions upon it, which we 

 delivered extempore, or from a written 

 paper, as we chose. The discussion 

 ended, and our different opinions recorded 

 in a journal kept for that purpose which 

 journal, by-the-bye, is now in exist- 

 ence the president would read something 

 of his own selection, either in prose or 

 verse, from the best English authors, 

 generally in accordance with the subject 

 we had been debating. 



