ry 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 had ample opportunities for the cultivation 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 Freshman class at Yale. His personal traits easily won the
hearts of his classmates, while his quick understanding, his high
scholarship, and his loyalty to the college standards made him as
popular among tutors and professors as among his classmates. 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 generations of Yale men, the "broad jump" made
by Nathan Hale remained unequaled. It is said to have taken place on
what is now called "The Green" in New Haven, not far from the Old State
House; and for many years the spot was marked to designate the length
of the jump. Even during the years when his courageous death appeared to
be well-ni