William
Howe, as a spy, in the city of New York, on September 22, 1776.

At the great centennial celebration of the Revolution, and the part
which the State of Connecticut bore in it, an immense assembly of
the people of Connecticut, on the heights of Groton, took measures
for the erection of a statue in Hale's honor. Their wish has been
carried out by their agents in the government of the State. A bronze
statue of Hale is in the State Capitol. Another bronze statue of him
has been erected in the front of the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford.
Another is in the city of New York.

Nathan Hale's father was Richard Hale, who had emigrated to
Coventry, from Newbury, Mass., in 1746, and had married Elizabeth,
the daughter of Joseph Strong. By her he had twelve children, of
whom Nathan was the sixth.

Richard Hale was a prosperous and successful farmer. He sent to Yale
College at one time his two sons, Enoch and Nathan, who had been
born within two years of each other. This college was then under the
direction of Dr. Daggett. Both the young men enjoyed study, and
Nathan Hale, at the exercises of Commencement Day took what is
called a part, which shows that he was among the thirteen scholars
of highest rank in his class.

From the record of the college society to which he belonged, it
appears that he was interested in their theatrical performances.
These were not discouraged by the college government, and made a
recognized part of the amusements of the college and the town. Many
of the lighter plays brought forward on the English stage were thus
produced by the pupils of Yale College for the entertainment of the
people of New Haven.

When he graduated, at the age of eighteen, he probably intended at
some time to become a Christian minister, as his brother Enoch did.
But, as was almost a custom of the time, he began his active life as
a teacher in the public schools, and early in 1774 accepted an
appointment as the teacher of the Union Grammar School, a school
maintained by the gentlemen of New London, Conn., for the higher
education of their children. Of thirty-two pupils, he says, "ten are
Latiners and all but one of the rest are writers."

In his commencement address Hale had considered the question whether
the higher education of women were not neglected. And, in the
arrangement of the Union School at New London, it was determined
that between the hours of five and seven in the morning, he should
teach a class of "t