possession of the chair after
Governor Vane went back to England," said Grandfather. "But there is
reason to believe that President Dunster sat in it, when he held the
first Commencement at Harvard College. You have often heard, children,
how careful our forefathers were to give their young people a good
education. They had scarcely cut down trees enough to make room for
their own dwellings before they began to think of establishing a
college. Their principal object was, to rear up pious and learned
ministers; and hence old writers call Harvard College a school of the
prophets."

"Is the college a school of the prophets now?" asked Charley.

"It is a long while since I took my degree, Charley. You must ask some
of the recent graduates," answered Grandfather. "As I was telling you,
President Dunster sat in Grandfather's chair in 1642, when he conferred
the degree of bachelor of arts on nine young men. They were the first in
America who had received that honor. And now, my dear auditors, I must
confess that there are contradictory statements and some uncertainty
about the adventures of the chair for a period of almost ten years. Some
say that it was occupied by your own ancestor, William Hawthorne, first
speaker of the House of Representatives. I have nearly satisfied myself,
however, that, during most of this questionable period, it was literally
the chair of state. It gives me much pleasure to imagine that several
successive governors of Massachusetts sat in it at the council board."

"But, Grandfather," interposed Charley, who was a matter-of-fact little
person, "what reason have you, to imagine so?"

"Pray do imagine it, Grandfather," said Laurence.

"With Charley's permission, I will," replied Grandfather, smiling. "Let
us consider it settled, therefore, that Winthrop, Bellingham, Dudley,
and Endicott, each of them, when chosen governor, took his seat in
our great chair on election day. In this chair, likewise, did those
excellent governors preside while holding consultations with the chief
councillors of the province, who were styled assistants. The governor
sat in this chair, too, whenever messages were brought to him from the
chamber of representatives."

And here Grandfather took occasion to talk rather tediously about the
nature and forms of government that established themselves, almost
spontaneously, in Massachusetts and the other New England colonies.
Democracies were the natural growth of the New Worl