(seq. 8)

Cambridge, December 9th 1795

William,

How do you do? What are you about? It is
a long time since I have seen you. It appears to me that you
have veen absent a month. I have expected several letters from
you before this time. But since you are determined not to write,
I will break the law, in which commands the eldest to be-
gin a correspondence, and write first. I suppose you would wish
to know how matters proceed here at Harvard. If I were to
enter into a minute detail of all our affairs and pro-ceedings
I should transgress far exceed the bounds prescribed to
a letter. So you must be content with a few circumstan-
ces, which will serve to recal for a moment those ideas
of Harvard, which you used to entertain. You must
remember that this quarter is the time when College is
generally an emblem of bedlum. That sacred place
where you know we meet twice a day, has not escaped
from the hands of those, who wish to make disturbance.
The other morning, the candlesticks were stolen, the cushion