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at the proficiency of his pupil, it was Tutor Farnham on that occasion.
Upon the whole, I graduated 7.5 out of 10 on the general average, prayers deducted.
I had a part, and as I remember it, my dissertation was the worst one I ever made.
In the afternoon, after the degrees had been conferred, the graduating class called upon the President, Rev. Robert B. Paterson.
For him I had the very deepest regard, and for him and his family in later years I had tile good fortune to do several kindnesses.
He courteously received the class at the door of his house, offering his hand to each as we came up. We marched up in alphabetical order.
It brought me near the head of the line.
I held back and did not present my hand, and I have no doubt he supposed it was because we had had some discussion on the evidences of Christianity, wherein I took the liberty to differ from some of his propositions.
Neither of us said anything until the rest of the class had passed by him. When I came to my place, 7.5, I said: “Mr. President, now is my turn; 8 has just passed.”
“Oh,” said he, “Butler, why so formal?”
“Because I am going to take this place in the class for the last time.
I mean to take hereafter the place I have fairly earned for myself.”
An incident occurred in the spring of that year which had considerable effect on my after life.
On the 11th of May, the ice went out of Kennebec River, which was immediately behind the college, and a day or two afterwards, I went into the river to take a swim.
Cakes of ice two feet thick were thrown upon the bank, and I used one of them for a seat for undressing and for dressing after I came out. It was not the first time that I had done that, but I lingered too long, and when I undertook to bring myself back to a glow by a run of a mile or so, I found that it was impossible, and at the end I was shivering as much as at the beginning.
I went to my room and found myself seized with a severe cold.
This terminated in a troublesome cough, so that on my graduation I weighed but ninety-seven pounds.
On my return home my mother thought I was going into a decline, and she was told by her medical adviser to give me the benefit of a short sea voyage, which I took in a fishing vessel belonging to a friend of my father.
On the day that we were to sail, I went
A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.
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