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 anything, 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 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