Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 1
I have waited near a month impatient to hear from You & am now almost ready to conclude that the old proverb i.e. out of sight out of mind is verified with regard to you tho' I find quite the reverse with regard to my self; for altho' I breathe a different Air and Am Entertain'd with Conversation heterogenious to old Harvard's Yet I am not so destitute of filial and fraternal Affection as never to spend a Thought or Groan out a Sigh for Alma Mater & her Sons; Especially for such with whom I had the happiness to Contract an intimacy; dum fortunus fur,1 among whom You 60have by no means the lowest place in my Esteem & regard. Consequently my being deprived of your Company and Conversation seem'd like the dislocation of a Joynt or rather like the removal of some main Stud in my Sciential Ædefice which has given the whole building a tremendeous shok which may be attended with bad Consequences if you persist in so sudden a seperation and therefore must crave this favour of you that at least you would lend a generous hand by makeing me a visit or send me a letter cramed with knowlede, but what would be most serviceable & delectable to me is for you to pitch your Tent near me upon the top of some of these Lofty mountains (e:g: Wauchusitts2). Understand there is there a flock of Lambs Which are with out a shepard and it is probable they will stray away unless you will Undertake to feed them. I am already Engaged in the common Cause and am Obliged to make daily provision for about Seventy or Eighty.
But to speak no more metaforically I should be glad if you would Send me a line and let me know whether you would be willing to Engage in Luninburge School: for it is infallibly Vacant at present.
Please to let me know the Success and Effect or your late Voige.3
If you'll take the Trouble to ride up to See me I'll go with you to Lunenburge if you desire it.
Sr., I understand our very good friend Dodge has Disappointed Sutton4; so fickle a thing is man! It came by a credible person however dont reporte it;— Richardson5 is to Keep Sudbury school—please to say what buisness Wigglesworth6 & Appleton7 are Engaged in.
I have the good fortune to board with Madm. Prescott Senior Sophister Prescotts mother.8
Thus Sr., I have scribbled over a few lines Just as I thought of anything to inform you of without Order or Niceness but perhaps in this Chaos there may be some Ingredients wc. may be diverting to you or at lest may beget in you a thought of writing to me which if they do they'll Accomplish the Desire of Dear Sr. your Hearty friend & humble Servt.,
P:S: Please to give my duty to your Revd. Father with my humble Service to your Sisters and to Mr. Freeman. I Enjoy a better state of health than when I was at your House through divine goodness. Mr. French9 is Engaged in Littleton School for another Quarter: how uncertain it is waiting for other men's places!
N.B: I beleive I shall go to Framingham the week after next and tarry a day or two.
Perhaps, while you are fortunate as a thief.
Mt. Wachusett, altitude 2018 ft., is near Princeton, Mass., in Worcester County.
Accompanied by 13 others, including his classmate John Wiswall, RTP had gone to Falmouth (now Portland), Me., July 9, where he lodged with Maj. Joshua Freeman and visited the schoolmaster, Stephen Longfellow, great-grandfather of the poet. He returned to Boston on the 19th (RTP Diary).
Although Shipton refers to this as an attempt for the vacant pulpit at Sutton, there was in fact no clerical opening that year, and Dodge probably aspired to the school mastership, which turned over quickly during this period (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 12:368; see also William Addison Benedict, History of the Town of Sutton, Massachusetts [Worcester, 1878]).
Gideon Richardson.
Edward Wigglesworth (1732–1794), graduated with RTP from Harvard in 1749 and later became the second Hollis Professor of Divinity there (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, 12:507–516).
Nathaniel Appleton (1731–1798).
Abigail (Oliver) Prescott, mother of Oliver Prescott (1731–1804), a 1750 Harvard graduate, who later became a noted physician (ibid., 12:569–573).
9. Samuel French (1729–1752), a 1748 Harvard graduate, kept school at Littleton and Hingham, but died young while studying for the ministry (ibid., 12:267).