Little Alice evidently employed herself in a similar way; for once, when
Grandfather had gone abroad, the child was heard talking with the gentle
Lady Arbella, as if she were still sitting in the chair. So sweet a child
as little Alice may fitly talk with angels, such as the Lady Arbella had
long since become.

Grandfather was soon importuned for more stories about the chair. He had
no difficulty in relating them; for it really seemed as if every person,
noted in our early history, had, on some occasion or other, found repose
within its comfortable arms. If Grandfather took pride in any thing, it
was in being the possessor of such an honorable and historic elbow chair.

"I know not precisely who next got 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