302 A DECADE OF WORK AT HOME. _ [1843, 
CamBripGE, March 18, 1843. 
Your most welcome and long-expected letter of the 
14th reached me only this noon. This first day of 
leisure of this week has been a very busy one. I have 
been to town, and just got back. I have had to work 
very hard this week. I have got my course of recita- 
tions for the Freshmen on Smellie well in progress, 
and am quite interested in it, though at first I thought 
it would have been a great bore. The class are gen- 
erally very much interested, and give promise that I 
shall reap the fruits of my labor when they become 
Sophomores or Seniors and attend the botanical lec- 
tures, for which I think I am laying a foundation. I 
am now perfectly at ease in my mode of teaching 
them; I am pretty good at questioning, and I give 
them plenty. of illustration, explanation, and ideas not 
in the book, which pleases and interests them. In one 
of the divisions last week, while giving them a sort 
of lecture, two hours long! (to which they listened 
well; for I gave them, or those who chose, the oppor- 
tunity of going at the expiration of the regular hour, 
but not one of them budged), turning my head at a 
fortunate moment, I caught one of the fellows (rather 
a stupid fellow, a boarder with me last term) throw- 
ing his cap to his companion or playing some trick. 
You know I can seold. So I gave him about half a 
dozen words that made him open his eyes wide ; and 
I do not think that he, nor any of that division, 
will venture upon anything of the kind again very 
soon. 
As to the botanical class, which now numbers 
thirty-seven, I have given two more lectures, for I 
lectured both Thursday and Friday, on the last occa- 
sion, which was a sort of recapitulation quite without 
