New Haven Feb. 25^th 1860.

 

Dear Father—

                        Your letter dated Feb 16^th was duly received & also the envelope post-marked Feb 24^th. I find my ink nicely coated over with mould, which shows that my correspondents have been neglectful for some time past. I was very glad to get your account of W^m's sailing and to know that the whole company went off in good spirits. Frank owes me a letter & has not written for a great while. Sallie & Theo. are my creditors in the letter line, and I will write to them soon. Dr. Gulliver & Mr. Coit are, or were, here attending prof. Porters agricultural lectures. I called on the Dr. at the New Haven House the other day & took him over to my room & to the new gymnasium. Wendell Phillips lectured here last Wednesday night & I sat by Mr. Coit during the lecture. He (Mr. C.) said you had a very severe cold & was unable to preach Sunday afternoon. It seems your dignity did not permit you to say anything about your health in your favor of yesterday. However, I hope you are routinely well by this time & able to preach /

 

            There is nothing new about college now—except that the Freshmen have begun Greek prose & Herodotus. I suppose you thought of us, last Thursday. It was an unusually solemn day here. In the morning after recitation! (shame on the powers that be) there were class prayer meetings. Prof. Hadley & Mr. Paine addressed our class. Also a Mr. Duffield (Rev.) of Philadelphia, who has a son in our class. It was by far the most impressive meeting I have attended here. Mr. D. is a graduate & spoke most feelingly on college life, its dangers & pleasures & of the necessity of a pure heart. A majority of the class were present & it is certainly to be hoped that there will be more feeling on the subject of religion than there is now. During the past year there has been but one added to the college church by profession. In the afternoon there was a prayer meeting in the chapel & remarks were made by the Pres & Profs. I also attended a meeting in Dr. Duttons church where a very good & earnest feeling was exhibited. I hope you will write how the day was passed with you. I begin to like college life better than I did at first. My lessons come easier & I am making new & pleasant acquaintances. I have not called on Mrs. Oaks for a good while—nor on Mrs. Sheffield this term! I have been very remiss & shall call on Mrs. S. next Monday. Money goes very fast now—I have books to buy, clothes to get mended, lectures to go to & / a most voracious eater to feed. I can not tell how much money I shall want for the rest of the term—about six weeks & a half. Call the board 12 dollars and as to the rest I can't say. I am afraid $15.00 wouldn't be enough. twenty would be an abundance. I have borrowed of Ware $19.00 & paid out of it $6.16 for last term's washing. Last term cost me about $89.00. I don't think it will be so much this. One of my class whose guardian & conservator Prof. Thatcher is, spent last term $600.00. Another $500.00. How nicely Uncle W^m's four hundred a year would work in here! I got a nice letter from Lucy the other day. Shall send Sallie's letter from Kate when I answer it. I have been busy and I hope you will excuse my delay in writing. I will do better in future. With love the to the whole family

 

I am your aff son         Cha^s

 

One of my intimate friends—Sam. Appleton of Boston—is Danl Webster's grandson. Perhaps I shall want to ask him to stop with me some time on his way home in vacation—Cassius M. Clay lectured here last night. He is a noble man "me judice"—How do you like the class stamps of '63 on the envelope?

 

[overleaf]

 

Cha^s—Feb. 25.60

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