Page:A new England boyhood by Hale, Edward Everett.djvu/28

xviii that summer, and lie graduated there in the class of 1804.

He and the other boys from that region used to ride across Berkshire County on horseback when the college terms began. A younger boy drove the horses back in a drove, and, when vacation came, took them to the college again for the students to ride back upon. A part of the road was a turnpike where tolls were collected. When they approached the gate they would all dismount, and on foot drive the horses in front of them, and demand the right of passing at the rate for a drove of horses or cattle. Nothing, as they said, was said about saddles or bridles. When I asked once if the toll-keeper submitted meekly to this, I was told that they generally had to pay the full toll, but that the tollman expected to treat them to cider all round.

The college was divided into two societies—the Philomathian and the Philotechnian. I think the latter exists in Williamstown in some form still. I have seen the records of debates: "Question, Whether the purchase of