I had four or five
persons in my class who became afterward eminent classical
scholars. I do not believe that when we graduated there were
more than four men in the class who could write a decent Latin
sentence without the laborious use of grammar and dictionary.
I doubt whether there was more than one, certainly there were
not more than three, who could do the same thing in Greek.
I do not suppose there was a man in the class who could have
spoken either language with ease.
Yet, somehow, the graduates of Harvard got a good intellectual
training from the University. The rough country boy, if he
had it in him, came out at his graduation a gentleman in behavior
and in character. He was able to take hold of life with great
vigor. The average age of graduation I suppose was twenty.
Not more than three years were spent in studying a profession.
In some few cases, the graduate got a little money by teaching
for a year. But the graduates of Harvard College and Harvard
Law School were apt to take quite rapidly the high places
of the profession. That was true then much more than it is
now.
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