monsense.

Peter Jay copied every letter he wrote, and we now have these copy-books,
revealing what sort of man he was. Religious he was, and scrupulously
exact in all things. We see that he ordered Bibles from England, "and also
six groce of Church Wardens," which I am told is a long clay pipe, "that
hath a goodly flavor and doth not bite the tongue." He also at one time
ordered a chest of tea, and then countermanded the order, having taken the
resolve to "use no tea in my family while that rascally Tax is on--having
a spring of good, pure water near my house." Which shows that a man can be
very much in earnest and still joke.

John was the baby, scarcely a year old, when the Jay family moved up to
Rye. He was the eighth child, and as he grew up he was taught by the older
ones. He took part in all the fun and hardships of farm life--going to
school in Winter, working in Summer, and on Sundays hearing long sermons
at church.

We find by Peter Jay's letter-book that: "Johnny is about our brightest
child. We have great hopes of him, and believe it will be wise to educate
him for a preacher." In order to educate boys then, they were sent to live
in the family of some man of learning. And so we find "Johnny" at twelve
years of age installed in the parsonage at New Rochelle, the Huguenot
settlement. The pastor was a Huguenot, and as only French was spoken in
the household, the boy acquired the language, which afterwards stood him
in good stead.

The pastor reported favorably, and when fifteen, young Jay was sent to
King's College, which is now Columbia University, kings not being popular
in America.

Doctor Samuel Johnson, who nowise resembled Ursa Major, was the president
of the College at that time. He was also the faculty, for there were just
thirty students and he did all the teaching himself. Doctor Johnson, true
to his name, dearly loved a good book, and when teaching mathematics would
often forget the topic and recite Ossian by the page, instead. Jay caught
it, for the book craze is contagious and not sporadic. We take it by being
exposed.

And thus it was while under the tutelage of Doctor Johnson that Jay began
to acquire the ability to turn a terse sentence; and this gained him
admittance into the world of New York letters, whose special guardians
were Dickinson and William Livingston.

Livingston invited the boy to his house, and very soon we find the young
man calling without special invitation, for Livin