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
RICHD 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 being fitted for the larger, though the younger might find some
consolation in the fact that he would have plenty of room in which to
grow! At all events, good Deacon Hale's kindly letters give us a very
friendly feeling toward him, revealing as they do his love for his boys.
The letters also suggest indirectly the happy home-coming of these
college boys, riding thither on horseback over many miles, buoyed up by
high spirits, college news, and the prospect of vacation.

In their home, as time went by, they found the two new members of the
family, their stepmother's daughters, Nathan to find in Alice Adams, the
youngest, some of the happiest inspirations of his manly young life. It
is pleasant to linger a moment and try to realize the pride Deacon Hale
must have felt in his boys, and their delight in being once more home
with him and with all the family circle. We can fancy them as they sat
around that generous board--none the less generous, we are sure, because
of the home-coming of the "Yale boys."

Deacon Hale was a man of remarkable energy--"a driver," in other words.
As a rule, in the busiest season of the year he would finish his meal
before the family were half through theirs, rise, return thanks, and be
off to the field, leaving the others to resume their seats around the
table. Alice Adams used to say of him, "I never saw a man work so hard
for both worlds as Deacon Hale."

One amusing incident was long in circulation and laughed over by many
who did not know the energetic haymaker by name. As it really happened
to Deacon Hale, it is worth telling as an example of the energy that has
characterized his descendants.

One haying season Deacon Hale hired a tall, brawny countryman, of
uncommon strength, to help him house his cr