
          faculties have been quite the reverse
of this, split up by quarrels to the 
degree that it has seldom that all
hands were even on speaking terms.
With regard to the boys, they are about
50, and as unpromising a set, if one
were to judge from their looks, as
could be congregated anywhere.
They are above the average however
in the class room and in my departments 
I am much pleased
with them. We never have any trouble
with the boys & they seem much [crossed out: attach]
attached to all of us. They have under
former administrations been worried &
scolded & treated like children, some
of the former profs being ex-schoolmasters, 
but now, being treated as if they were
gentlemen, they behave as such. One
can in a little while find how he 
stands in the estimation of his classes
& I think I can say (without being 
open to the charge of self-glorification)
that the good opinion I have expressed 
of them is reciprocated. I have 2
classes in botany, one of 8 in systematic 
botany and one of 14 in the rudiments.
I think that I have quite a 
number of the botanists of the future
ont he stocks, some real enthusiasts.
More than half the number are actually

        