An anecdote came down from a class before my time which I
think ought not to be lost. One of the boys when the cold
weather came on in the first term of his freshman year took
out from the college library a book which was nearly the largest
and thickest volume it contained. It was the works of Bishop
Williams, who I think was one of the seven bishops persecuted
by James II. The book contained an exceedingly dull treatise
on theology. The youth had no special literary tastes, of
which anybody knew, and that was the only book he was ever
known to take out. He kept it out the six weeks which were
allowed, and then renewed it, not taking it back to the library
until the hot weather of the following summer. He repeated
this in his sophomore and junior and senior years. Dr. Harris,
the librarian, was very much puzzled and asked some of the
boys if they could tell him why this young man kept Bishop
Williams's works so constantly. None of the boys knew. They
used to see it lying on his table, but never saw any signs
of his reading it. At last one winter night late in the senior
year something happened which caused a good deal of excitement.
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