boarders in the great Slate-roof House near by; for in those days this was
a common resource of decayed gentlewomen, and by no means affected their
social position. Here came many officers to stay, and their red coats used
to please my eyes as I went by the porch, where at evening I saw them
smoking long pipes, and saying not very nice things of the local gentry, or
of the women as they passed by, and calling _"Mohair!"_ after the
gentlemen, a manner of army word of contempt for citizens. I liked well
enough the freedom I now enjoyed, and found it to my fancy to wander a
little on my way to school, although usually I followed the creek, and,
where Second street crossed it, lingered on the bridge to watch the barges
or galleys come up at full of tide to the back of the warehouses on the
northeast bank.

I have observed that teachers are often eccentric, and surely David Dove
was no exception, nor do I now know why so odd a person was chosen by many
for the care of youth. I fancy my mother had to do with the choice in my
case, and was influenced by the fact that Dove rarely used the birch, but
had a queer fancy for setting culprits on a stool, with the birch switch
stuck in the back of the jacket, so as to stand up behind the head. I hated
this, and would rather have been birched _secundum artem_ than to have
seen the girls giggling at me. I changed my opinion later.

Thus my uneventful life ran on, while I learned to write, and acquired,
with other simple knowledge, enough of Latin and Greek to fit me for
entrance at the academy, which Dr. Franklin had founded in 1750, in the
hall on Fourth street, built for Whitefield's preaching.

At this time I fell much into the company of John Warder, a lad of my own
age, and a son of that Joseph who liked cake, and was, as my mother said,
solicitous. Most of the games of boys were not esteemed fitting by Friends,