r»HI>H!HiflHi9fl5fi>ailffW1]H»e«»»!»ll{i!tri3ffliP!iltl'^}JiH }j;!»vi LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0000524441'=^ . -"^..^^ .' Jfe'-. \«.^** :^5!«'. ^^..«.* :M .^^-"^^ " »• -.HO* fc ^-^ '/% MK' /\ '•^' ^"^ ''m. • .0' "-^ ♦•■'•'*.«'• %t ■*^-/ 'Mix %/ * Copyright by Underwood and Underwood. New York. Nathan Hale The statue by Frederick MacMonnies, erected in City Hall Park, New York City. " I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good becomes honorable by being necessary." — NATHAN Hale. NATHAN HALE BY JEAN CHRISTIE ROOT ' O Beautiful ! my Country ! . . . , What were our lives without thee ? What all our lives to save thee ? We reck not what we gave thee ; We will not dare to doubt thee, But ask whatever else, and we will dare ! " Commemoration Ode, James Russell Lowell. Keto gorfe THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1915 All rights reserved Copyright, 1915, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1915. Nortooolr }^xtss J. 8. CuBhing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. WSMr, PREFACE Many a man dies at what appears to onlookers the very zenith of fame, — the very summit of suc- cess. But as Time moves on, its relentless finger first dims, then absolutely effaces, his personal records, so that, even to the generation immedi- ately following him, his former fame becomes incredible. The marvel is not when a man's standing is in time lowered, but rather when some invisible power, — call it what you will, — through slow, revolving years, lifts him ever higher, until his fame becomes a national crown of glory and bids fair — like that of the dead at Thermopylae, or the victors at Marathon, or of individuals like Washington and Lincoln — to last as long as time shall last. If sometimes true of mature men, this has seldom been true of very young men. Indeed, so short is this list that but two names are recalled as of abiding interest ; one, that of Arthur Henry Hallam, enshrined in the imperishable Hues of " In Memoriam," the voicing of Tennyson's love and sorrow; while to colonial America and the year of our national independence, and to Yale, vi PREFACE his alma mater, belong the splendid story of a youth who courageously gave up a life that he had willingly risked for his country, accepting an ignominious death with more than Spartan firm- ness, at the age of twenty-one years, three months, and sixteen days. Both of these names, perhaps especially that of Nathan Hale, seem destined to go on increasing in radiant influence and strong inspiration century after century. Such souls, however, are not acci- dents, but are the perfected fruit of generations of character and growth. Their development may sometimes appear due to opportunity ; and the strength of the soul that is in them, lacking that opportunity, might have lain hidden. It is an inspiring fact that, as we study the early days of our country, we find so many men and women bearing naturally, in their everyday life, these splendid traits of character. Wealth did not then abound — character did. The patriot of to-day may be pardoned if, as he contrasts the past and the present, he remembers with a sigh the simple, early life of the American people, and the splendid ability of the sons and daughters who went forth from those unpretentious homes to meet responsi- bilities, to conquer difficulties, and to lay broad the foundations for the noblest republic the world has yet known. The story we present of Nathan Hale PREFACE vu is that of a boy reared in one of those rural homes, presided over by upright parents whose children were trained to master life, to meet death fear- lessly, and all unconsciously to win ever-growing reverence. The story of this boy, of his home, and of the future to which his training led him, is well worth our closest and earnest consideration. It is impossible to claim originality in any im- portant detail in the sketch of a life so brief as Nathan Hale's. Especially is this true when that life has been so carefully studied and so ably presented by such men as the Hon. Isaac W. Stuart, Mr. Benson J. Lossing, Professor Henry P. Johnston, George Dudley Seymour, Esq., and the Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, Secretary of Yale University, — all men who have come under the spell of that brave boy, and who have portrayed him as they beheved him to have been. This little book differs from their writing, to which it is greatly indebted, principally in the fact that it pictures him as seen through a woman's eyes ; lifted above all mortal loss, transfigured as have been all who have made the Great Surrender for " right because it is right," and who have gone forward, victorious through seeming defeat. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE Nathan Hale's Early Years i CHAPTER n College Days .12 CHAPTER in A Call to Teach 29 CHAPTER IV A Call to Arms 44 CHAPTER V Hale's Zeal as a Soldier 60 CHAPTER VI A Perilous Service 71 CHAPTER VII Grief for the Young Patriot .... 91 ix CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII Tributes to Nathan Hale CHAPTER IX 103 HAN Hale's Friends 114 The Rev. Joseph Huntington, D,D 114 Alice Adams .... 118 Benjamin Tallmadge 125 William Hull . 129 Stephen Hempstead . 133 AsHER Wright . 136 Elisha Bostwick . 137 Edward Everett Hale . 140 CHAPTER X Ancestors and Descendants of Nathan Hale's Parents . . 143 CHAPTER XI Asserted Betrayal of Nathan Hale . 147 CHAPTER XII Contrasts between Hale and Andre . 52 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS / Nathan Hale, by Frederick MacMonnies Frontispiece ' FACING PAGE The Hale Homestead, South Coventry, Con- necticut 24/ Nathan Hale, by William Ordvvay Partridge . 62 Captain John Montressor 88 Nathan Hale, by Bela Lyon Pratt . . .112 / Nathan Hale's Basket, Powderhorn, and Camp Book 136 NATHAN HALE CHAPTER I Nathan Hale's Early Years It is to-day a recognized fact that no life worthy of our reverence, or even a life calculated to awaken our fear, is the result of accident. Whatever may be the character, its basis has been the result of long-developing causes. This the life of Nathan Hale well illustrates. He was born at a time and under influences that were sure to develop the best qualities in him. He was an immediate descendant of the best of the Puritans on both sides of the sea. His great-grandfather, John Hale, was the son of Robert Hale, who came to America in 1632. John Hale graduated from Harvard in 1657 and was the first pastor settled in Beverly, Massachusetts, re- maining there until he died, an aged man. An ardent patriot, this John Hale, in 1676, gave about one-twelfth of his salary, some seventy pounds, for defense in King Philip's War. When need arose in 2 NATHAN HALE the French War, he went to Canada as a volunteer, for a threefold purpose, — so that he might ac- company a number of his own parishioners, act as chaplain for one of the regiments, and fight when his aid was needed. Living during the witchcraft trials, he was one of the first to be convinced of the mistaken course pursued. We are not certain as to his approval or disapproval of the progress of the excitement in regard to witchcraft until it became intensely per- sonal to his own family. His wife was, fortunately as the results proved, accused by some misguided person of being a witch. The well-known nobiHty of her Kfe, and her lovely character, at once con- vinced all who knew the circumstances that some terrible mistake had been made by her accuser. And if a mistake had been made in her case, why not in others? At once the deadly power of the delusion was broken and, happily, the tide turned back forever. There was no question after this of the Rev. Mr. Hale's viewpoint as to witchcraft. In the very darkest depths of the witchcraft delusion, some illustrations of splendid courage and noble unselfishness were exhibited. Grew- some as it is, we cannot forbear quoting the ex- ample of one Giles Cory, condemned to die as a witch, who knew that if he did not confess he had NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS 3 bewitched people, his estate, which he wished his wife and family to inherit, would be forfeited, and that he would be pressed to death instead of being hanged. Being hanged is a comparatively brief experience, while the other way is prolonged and agonizing. But, for the sake of his family, brave old Giles Cory calmly faced this terrible, hngering death. He must have won from some, if not from all, the feehng that a stout-hearted and generous man had proved his love for his own as no mere words could have done. John Hale appears to have been a worthy an- cestor of the youth Nathan Hale, who, a hundred years later, so freely made a sacrifice of his life. John Hale's son, Samuel, was Nathan's grand- father; he made his home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. One of Samuel Hale's sons, bear- ing his own name, Samuel, was a Harvard man. Another son, Richard, Nathan's father, born Feb- ruary 28, 1 717, looking about to find the best farming lands for the support of a future family, moved to Connecticut, and became a farmer in South Coventry, thirty miles east of Hartford. Distinguished from the beginning for his success in whatever he undertook in business affairs, and also as a man of singularly upright character, 4 NATHAN HALE Deacon Richard Hale won the warmest regard of all who knew hmi. His advice and help were sought, both in poHtical and reHgious affairs, to the full Hmit of the time at his command. His farm was among the best in that section. The house that he first occupied, probably one already on the place, was as comfortable and con- venient as the usual homes of the earher colonists. Later a larger house was built, big enough to ac- commodate a family of a dozen or more, and many guests as well. The house in which Nathan lived as a boy is still standing, and has fortunately come down to us with almost no mutilation. Though the forms and the voices of those who dwelt in them have long since vanished, there still linger about these vacant rooms the most tender and inspiring memories of the lives once developing there, now gone forward; nothing wasted or lost, as we will believe, of anything permanent they strove for or cared for in their dear, earthly home. To this home Richard Hale, married May 2, 1746, at the age of twenty-nine, brought his young bride, Elizabeth Strong. If Richard Hale's pedigree was a good one, his wife, Elizabeth Strong, came from a family even more finely endowed. The first of her ancestors who came to America was Elder John Strong. He was one of the found- NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS 5 ers of Dorchester, now a part of Boston ; later he helped to found Northampton, Massachusetts. Mrs. Hale's grandfather, Joseph Strong, repre- sented Coventry for sixty-five sessions in the General Assembly of Connecticut, and when he was ninety years of age he presided over the town meeting, suggesting by that deed a man of some vigor, for town meetings were no playdays in those early years. His descendants, active in whatever their hands found to do, — in the ministry, the law, business, or politics, — were long prominent in New England and New York, and doubtless many are to-day still helping to mold their coun- try's future. The son of this Justice Joseph Strong was also named Joseph, and called Captain Joseph Strong. In 1724 he married his second cousin, Elizabeth Strong. He, too, was a noted man among the colonists. She, later, became the ^'grandmother" to whom Nathan so warmly alludes in one of his last letters to his brother. Captain Joseph Strong and his wife were the parents of Elizabeth Strong who, in her nineteenth year, married Richard Hale. To Elizabeth Strong Hale we can give but a passing notice. There is not, it is believed, one word that she wrote now in existence, nor any record left of that gracious womanhood, save a 6 NATHAN HALE name on an obscure gravestone. But what trave- hearted mother would not count it well worth while to leave, for the coming years, the impress she left upon her many children ; one of them alone destined to carry to coming generations of Ameri- cans the assurance that such a son could only have been borne by one of the noblest of mothers. Dying at the age of forty, — April 21, 1767, — after a married life of twenty-one years, she had performed all the duties then expected from the mistress of a farmer's household in a section where the principal help that could be secured in any time of need came from the voluntary kindnesses of neighbors; for, like one large family, they felt it necessary to ''lend a hand'' whenever any one of their number was in need. Mrs. Hale had been the mother of twelve children when she died. Two of her children, named David and Jonathan, were twins. One of the twins, Jonathan, died when only a week old. David lived to be gradu- ated from Yale and to become a minister at Lisbon, Connecticut. A little daughter, Susanna, lived but a month, but ten of Mrs. Hale's twelve children grew to maturity. Nathan, the sixth child, born June 6, 1755, was the first of the ten to die, leaving to his sur- viving brothers and sisters a memory that in later NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS 7 years must have been an unfailing inspiration. He was delicate at first, but owing to his mother's care he later became as robust in body as he was in mind. For an older brother, Enoch, the plan was formed of sending him to college to prepare for the ministry, a custom then prevalent among many of the large and prosperous famiHes in New England. Nathan was at first destined for a business life ; but because of the urgent desire of his mother, heartily seconded by that of his Grand- mother Strong, he was allowed to enter college with his brother Enoch in 1769, when he was four- teen years old ; this was two years after the death of his mother. Four of Mrs. Hale's immediate relatives were graduates of Yale, — a fine illustra- tion of the value those progressive pioneers at- tached to education. As a boy Nathan was to his mother what he later became to all who knew him ; and the bond between such a mother and such a son must have been very tender and strong. It is a comfort to those who know what such mothers desire for their children, to remember the gladness and hope with which this mother, overworked and dying long before her time, looked forward to the days coming to her children. For Nathan, through her influ- ence, was to become one of Yale's noblest sons. 8 NATHAN HALE As Nathan's mother died nine years before he did, we understand the full meaning of the line in Judge Finch's poem, "The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven," written many years later in honoring Nathan's splendid sacrifice. The poem to which the line belongs, read more than sixty years ago on the one- hundredth anniversary of the Linonian Society, an organization of Yale College of which Nathan Hale had been an early and an active member, had much influence in rousing first Yale men, and then other patriotic Americans, to recognize Nathan Hale as one of America's bravest martyrs. Mrs. Hale died in 1767. About two years later Deacon Hale married again, bringing to his home this time a widow, Mrs. Abigail Adams, of Canterbury, who must have been well fitted to take her place as the new head of the family. No ignoble mother could rear such children as she had reared, and Deacon Hale's second choice of a wife proved a wise and happy one. Providence appears to have smiled upon him when he opened his doors and invited Mrs. Adams and her children to share his home, and even the affection of some of his sons. It is said that two of Deacon Hale's sons fell in love with her youngest daughter, Alice NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS Adams, who, at Deacon Hale's desire, came to live permanently in the family iniyyooriyyi, while his second son, John, married her eldest daughter, Sarah Adams, on December 19, 1770. The lives of both these women, Sarah and Alice Adams, are sufficient witnesses to the high charac- ter of the new mother added to the Hale household. To several of his biographers it has seemed quite probable that Nathan Hale wrote one of his last two letters to this mother. We grant that it may have been addressed to her, while intended for the reading of another. Of this, later. In regard to the marriage of John Hale and Sarah Adams it may be as well to state here that, after a married life of thirty-one years, John Hale died suddenly in December, 1802, his health prob- ably undermined by his service in the Revolu- tionary War, where he held the rank of major. His widow, desiring to carry out what she believed would have been his wishes, "bequeathed £1000 to trustees as a fund, the income of which was to be used for the support of young men preparing for missionary service," — probably among the Indians, as this was before the support of foreign missions was undertaken in America — ''and in part for founding and supporting the Hale Library in Coventry, to be used by the ministers of Coventry xO NATHAN HALE and the neighboring towns.'' Included in the bequest for founding the still existing so-called "Hale Donation" was a portrait of the donor's husband, Major John Hale ; — well painted, for the period, and now of great interest. Mrs. John Hale died a few months after her husband. It is easy to believe that, though born of different par- ents, the Hale and Adams families were congenial mentally and morally, and that Deacon Richard Hale was a wise and fortunate man in his choice of a second mother for his children. According to his mother's and grandmother's wishes, it was early decided that Nathan should be prepared to enter college. After the fashion of those times, he and two of his brothers began their preparatory studies under the direction of the Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D., then pastor of the church in Nathan's native town. He is said to have been a man noted for his intellectual power, for his patriotism, and for his courteous manners. It may be well to say here that, in those early days, the New England ministers usually settled in one pastorate for life, and they were not only teachers in spiritual things, but were noted for their courteous and dignified manners; so that even before he entered college Nathan Hale must have ha.d ample opportunities for the cultivation NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YE.\RS ii of the easy manners and courteous deportment which are said by all who knew him to have been so marked in him. Nathan Hale, as a boy, had one more asset that must have helped to insure his future success, and that did, as we believe, help him to die nobly. He was not overindulged ; he had always the spur of effort to urge him forward. It was told of him, many years after his^death, by the woman he had loved and who had known him well all his later years, Mrs. Alice Adams Lawrence, that whatever he did, even as boy, he did with all his heart, as if it engrossed his whole mind. Whether it was work, or study, or play, he gave all his energies to the doing of it. Such a disposition, together with his fine home training, must have helped to insure his success in Yale. CHAPTER II College Days In September, 1769, accompanied by Enoch, an older brother, Nathan Hale entered the Fresh- man class at Yale. His personal traits easily won the hearts of his classmates, while his quick understanding, his high scholarship, and his loy- alty to the college standards made him as popular among tutors and professors as among his class- mates. It is pleasant to know that, from the time we first learn of him until we see him standing beside the fatal tree, he appears to have won all hearts worth winning. But Nathan Hale had yet another gift that would surely endear him to college students of to-day as much as it doubtless did to his own classmates. He was a powerful athlete. So great was his skill in this line that, to successive genera- tions of Yale men, the ''broad jump" made by Nathan Hale remained unequaled. It is said to have taken place on what isnow^ called "The Green " in New Haven, not far from the Old State House ; COLLEGE DAYS 13 and for many years the spot was marked to desig- nate the length of the jump. Even during the years when his courageous death appeared to be well-nigh forgotten, ''Hale's jump" was vividly remembered. But he not only ''jumped," he excelled in all games then popular in college, besides being a capital shot with his rifle, as well as a fine swimmer. Hale could, it is said, lay one hand on the top of a six-foot fence and easily vault over it; and, though this astonishing feat is reported as occurring while he was a teacher, he used to delight his companions by showing them how to stand in a hogshead with his hands on his hips, leap over the first hogshead, land in a second, leap from that into a third, and from that out on to the ground, — all this before he was twenty. Imagine the delight of the "other fellows" standing around to watch Hale go through his various stunts in athletics ! It almost makes one feel as if one had been a student and shared in the cheering when Hale did these things, so easy to himself, so difficult to the onlookers. Then fancy the talk at the supper tables, when the candles burned brightly and the eatables tasted twice as good because "old Hale" had won laurels for "old Yale" that afternoon by some "splendid" deed, as 14 NATHAN HALE the boys called it. Whatever he did, we may be sure that it was done well and with all his might, and that nobody equaled him. This much for the athletic life of Hale in his student days. It was only natural to such a man that whatever he was — friend, student, teacher, or soldier — he should carry zest and earnestness to all his work, even as he carried his manliness, his courtesy, and his unquenchable spirit. Let us now turn to the record of his years of successful work at Yale. It has been said that whatever he did, he did with all his might, and his brain work was as notable in its results as were the strength and agiUty of his body. In those early days the college bell rang for prayers, as the beginning of the day's work, at half past four in summer and an hour later in winter; and there are men still living who remember, in later years and at later hours, the wild rushes half-dressed students used to make, adjusting what they could of their hastily donned clothing on their race to morning chapel. Hale, however, as well as his companions a hundred and forty years ago, were accustomed to early rising, and able to fill every hour of their long days with work or play. The course of study then was much shorter than it is now, but if lack- COLLEGE DAYS 15 ing in quantity it certainly made up in some of its qualities. We doubt if Freshmen to-day would outshine their fellows of that very early time if their declamations on Fridays were required to be in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, ''no English being allowed save by special permission." Science as we now know it had not entered into the college course, but the little then known, and the other studies considered essential, compara- tively limited as they must have been, were taught so thoroughly that the men who carried away a college diploma carried a sure guarantee that they had been carefully taught whatever was then con- sidered essential to a college education. Although it is true that science was then in comparative infancy, it is also true that it was deeply absorbing to young Hale. Some of his most valued books were scientific, and, aside from the studies he was obliged to pursue, he eagerly absorbed educational theories and the best literary works then available. As a college student, he stood high ; as a thinker and as one interested in the finest pursuits of his period, he ranked equally high. Before he was nineteen he had won the permanent friendship and ardent admiration of a man who was then his tutor, Timothy Dwight, later the renowned president of Yale College, and i6 NATHAN HALE to the end of his long life a lover of his boy-friend, Nathan Hale. Another warm friend, a classmate, destined to be notable in future years, was James Hillhouse, later United States Senator, the first man to leave the stamp of beauty on his native city. New Haven, in the wonderful elms of his planting. In addition to these two noted men, many of Hale's warmest friendships were formed at college among the leading men of his own and of other classes. At least two or three of these were his companions in arms, to whom we may refer later. Of his scholarship, one sure test remains. At graduation, of the thirty-six men in his class, he ranked among the first thirteen. In one other important line Nathan Hale made a notable mark in college, namely, in his intense interest in Linonia. This society had been founded in 1753 *'to promote in addition to the regular course of academic study, literary stimulus and rhetorical improvement to the undergraduates," and to create friendly relations among its members. The organization lived a long and honorable life, and did a most helpful work among its members. Nathan Hale ¥/as the first in his class to become its Chancellor, later styled President. He was for some time also its scribe, and many of his entries COLLEGE DAYS 17 in the Linonian reports are still "clear throughout and well-preserved" as is his signature at the end, after the passing of more than a hundred years. During his college course his name occurs in the reports of almost every meeting of the society. At one time he delivered ''a very interesting narration"; at another, "an eloquent extempo- raneous address." On various occasions he is said to have taken part in some of the plays that were frequently acted, and to have proposed questions for discussion. Besides taking part in the society and college exercises, he enjoyed frequent correspondence with a number of his classmates on themes of taste and criticism and of grammar and philology. As incoming Chancellor at the end of the college year of 1772, Hale responded in behalf of Linonia to the parting address from one of the graduating class. Hale's farewell address to the Linonians of the class of 1772 is preserved to Yale College on the society records. In reading it one must remember that the speech was made by a boy of seventeen. The dignity of the address, the assured ease with which he speaks, the sense of the Yale bond, as strong then as it ever has been, all show the only boyish thing about the speaker, namely, his sense l8 NATHAN HALE of the superiority of Linonia, then nearly twenty years old, to the struggling new society of ''The Brothers," less than eight years old. All this brings before us very vividly a boy in years, but a man in thoughts and aspirations, ardent and scholarly, and full of a noble ambition that looked forward, as do all ambitious students in their college days, to years of generous life. A few paragraphs quoted from various parts of the quaintly courteous speech will illustrate alike the youth and the maturity of the speaker. He said : "The high opinion we ought to maintain of the ability of these worthy Gentlemen" [the retiring members of the Society] ''as well as the regard they express for Linonia and her Sons, tends very much to increase our desire for their longer continuance. Under whatsoever character we consider them, we have the greatest reason to regret their departure. As our patrons, we have shared their utmost care and vigilance in supporting Linonia' s cause, and protecting her from the malice of her insulting foes. As our benefactors, we have partaken of their liberaUty, not only in their rich and valuable donations to our library, but, what is still more, their amiable company and conversation." ["This is a fine portrait of Hale painted by him- self," says a friend of Hale to-day.] COLLEGE DAYS 19 "But as our friends, what inexpressible happiness have we experienced in their disinterested love and cordial affection ! We have lived together not as fellow students and members of the same college, but as brothers and children of the same family ; not as superiors and inferiors, but rather as equals and companions. The only thing which hath given them the preeminence is their superior knowledge in those arts and sciences which are here cultivated, and their greater skill and prudence in the management of such important affairs as those which concern the good order and regularity of this Society. Under the prudent conduct of these our once worthy patrons, but now parting friends, things have been so wisely regulated, as that while we have been entertained with all the pleasures of familiar conversation, we have been no less profited by our improvements in useful knowledge and literature." Hale's direct address to the parting members is as follows : "Kind and generous Sirs, it is with the greatest reluctance that we are now all obliged to bid adieu to you, our dearest friends. Fain would we ask you longer to tarry — but it is otherwise deter- mined, and we must comply. Accept then our sincerest thanks, as some poor return for your 20 NATHAN HALE disinterested zeal in Linonia's cause, and your unwearied pains to suppress her opposers. . . . Be assured that we shall be spirited in Linonia's cause and with steadiness and resolution strive to make her shine with unparalleled luster. . . . Be as- sured that your memory will always be very dear to us ; that though hundreds of miles should inter- fere, you will always be attended with our best wishes. "May Providence protect you in all your ways, and may you have prosperity in all your under- takings ! May you live long and happily, and at last die satisfied with the pleasures of this world, and go hence to that world where joys shall never cease, and pleasures never end ! Dear Gentlemen, farewell!" Not only in speeches but also in deeds Hale proved his love for Linonia. He is said to have contributed some of his own books to the library of the Society, and to have cooperated with Timothy Dwight and James Hillhouse in promoting its growth. In time the library owned more than thirteen thousand volumes. These three Linonians were always considered its real founders, and were so honored at the Society's centennial anniversary on July 27, 1853. Timothy Dwight, the first of that name to be COLLEGE DAYS 21 president of Yale College, was, like Nathan Hale, a descendant of Elder Strong who founded North- ampton, Massachusetts. Dwight graduated in 1769, the year Hale entered college. He then became a tutor and was a personal friend of Hale's. He was a teacher of extraordinary power and was made president of Yale in 1795. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time, molding the moral and religious, as well as intellectual, charac- ter of the college so that his influence extended not only over the whole state but, to a great degree, over the whole United States. He was a fine illustration of the great abihties that centered in so many of the leading families of the colonists. Such connections as this man add even a higher luster to the genealogy of Elizabeth Strong Hale, and lessen our wonder that a son of hers, while hardly more than a boy, could face the duty and calmly accept the responsibiHty that he felt rested upon him. As may easily be inferred, the Hale boys, Enoch and Nathan, were not forgotten by their home friends while making honorable records in college, and forming pleasant friendships outside the college walls — then the happy lot of all the best men in college — among the cultured families of what was then a small New England city. 22 NATHAN HALE An instance of the friendships Nathan made in New Haven is shown by the words of ^neas Munson, M.D., formerly of that city. When an aged man he spoke in the warmest terms of Hale's fine qualities as he observed them when he was a boy in his father's house, and he treasured a letter to his father from Hale in 1774 which will be given farther on. Of home letters, happily a few from their father in Coventry to his two sons in college are still preserved ; these prove, as no words of any stranger could, his constant and practical interest in all that concerned them. They show us how an upright father tried to influence his boys' religious characters while distant from them, and at the same time they show the economies which even well-to- do fathers then had to exercise in providing for their sons while at college. The first letter also shows that Nathan must have entered college when fourteen years and three months old, having been born in June, 1755, and entering college in September, 1769. We here give the first letter, with all its quaint old spelling, and after it two others written during successive years. We may smile at their old-time expressions, but we must own to a sincere admiration for the kind and thoughtful father, so interested in his boys, and COLLEGE DAYS 23 so solicitous concerning their health " after the measles." Dear Children: I Rec'd your Letter of the 7th instant and am glad to hear that you are well suited with Living in College and would let you know that wee are all well threw the Divine goodness, as I hope these lines will find you. I hope you will carefully mind your studies that your time be not Lost and that you will mind all the orders of College with care. ... I intend to send you some money the first opportunity perhaps by Mr. Sherman when he Returns home from of the surcit [circuit court] he is now on. If you can hire Horses at New Haven to come home without too much trouble and cost I don't know but it is best and should be glad to know how you can hire them and send me word. If I don't here from you I shall depend upon sending Horses to you by the 6th of May, — if I should have know opper- tunity to send you any money till May and should then come to New Haven and clear all of it would it not do ? If not you will let me know it. Your friends are all well at Cov- entry — your mother sends her Regards to you — from your kind and loving Father RiCH^ Hale Coventry Dec^- 26th A.D. 1769. Dear Children: I have nothing spettial to write but would by all means desire you to mind your Studies and carefully attend to the orders of Coledge. Attend not only Prayers in the 24 NATHAN HALE chapel but Secret Prayr carefully. Shun all vice especially card Playing. Read your Bibles a chapter night and morn- ing. I cannot now send you much money but hope when S"^ Strong comes to Coventry to be able to send by him what you want. ... from your Loving Fath- RiCH^ Hale Coventry, Dec^- 17th, 1770 Loving Children — by a line would let you know that I with my family threw the Divine Goodness are well as I hope these lines will find you. I have heard that you are better of the measles. The Cloath for your Coat is not Done. But will be Done next week I hope at firthest. I know of no opportunity we shall have to send it to New- haven and have Laid in with Mr. Strong for his Horse which his son will Ride down to New Haven for one of you to Ride home if you can get Leave and have your close made at home. I sopose that one measure will do for both of you. I am told that it is not good to study hard after the measles — hope you will youse Prudance in that afare. If you do not one of you come home I dont see but that you must do with out any New Close till after Commensment. I send you Eight Pound in cash by Mr. Strong — hope it will do for the present — Your Loving Father RiCH^ Hale Coventry August 13th, 1771 Some students of to-day in college with elder brothers might protest vigorously at the idea of new suits provided for two boys of different sizes H ^m s. '"'^"f^^^^^^SKK^rl ^ PpJI '" ' t^^^^^fl^^^^^B ' ^9 B ■ "":flMM H H V >. P rt 5 *? 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