Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 2
1786-08-18
They were obliged to carry off Stratten this forenoon, as he could not possibly walk. I finished papering my study this forenoon, and in the afternoon put the Chamber in order. I engaged Sullivan 2d.1 for my freshman. Bridge made tea this afternoon for the Club, in Kendall's turn. Somehow or other we made out without employing a freshman finally.
James Sullivan, the second of three brothers to graduate in that class, and son of Gen. John Sullivan. College customs enforced a system of freshman servitude under which any upperclassmen could demand personal services from first-year men. The well-advised freshman sought to attach himself to a senior “who protected him from the importunities of juniors and sophomores, and allowed him to study in his chamber, in order to be handy for personal errands” ([Thomas C. Amory], “Master [John] Sullivan of Berwick [Maine]—His Ancestors and Descendants,”
NEHGR, 19:304 [Oct. 1865]; Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard, p. 105–106).