y. One day just before prayers there
was found on the square in front of Willard's Hotel a large
load of straw. The owner had stopped and unhitched his horses
to feed them at Willard's stable. Some mischievous boy set
fire to the load and it burned with a blaze which illuminated
the whole neighborhood. Pretty soon the owner appeared in
a state of great distress; said he was a very poor man; that
he was moving his household furniture and that his beds, chairs,
and all the goods he had in the world were in the cart covered
up with the straw. The boys immediately took up a subscription
and sent the fellow off well satisfied with his sale. It
was said he got about twice as much as the value he set on
all his goods, and that about a week after he appeared with
another load of straw which he left exposed in the same place
at the same time in the afternoon. I believe that was not
molested.

The people of Cambridge in those days were a quiet folk.
The students did not go much into the society of the town
unless they happened to have some kindred there. There were
a great many old houses, some of which are standing now, built
before the Revolutionary War. Some had been occupied by old
Tories. Among them was the Craigie House still standing,
having been Washington's headquarters, and now more famous
still as the residence of Longfellow. There were a few old
gentlemen wandering about the streets who were survivors of
the generation which just followed the Revolutionary War,
among them Dr. Jennison, the old physician, and Dr. Popkin,
the old Greek professor, of whom a delightful life was written
by President Felton. Mr. Sales, an old Spaniard, had given
lessons in Spanish from time immemorial. He was a queer looking
old gentleman, who had his gray hair carefully dressed every
day by a barber, wearing an ancient style of dress, covered
with snuff, but otherwise scrupulously neat. He had a curious
bend and walk, which made him seem a little like a dog walking
on his hind legs. He was very fond of the boys and they
of him. He made full allowance for the exuberance of youth.
Two careless students who were driving in a sleigh ran against
him in the street and knocked him over and injured him severely.
But the old fellow would not betray their names and had nothing
to say when somebody talked severely of their carelessness
but "Oh, oh, young blood, young blood." I never saw him in
the least disturbed or angry with a