and attacked his son with his club, and severely handled the poor fellow before he found out his mistake; the son, supposing the thief was beating him, bawled out to his father, who he expected was at the house,murder! father! father! murder! murder! This scene of merriment I enjoyed to the full, but soon paid for it through the nose. The plot being discovered, and the agent who set this machine in motion clearly detected, complaint was made, and I tasted of the same food I had so ingeniously cooked for the old man's son."

Next, fired with romantic ideas of military prowess, by reading certain English novels with martial heroes, especially Guy, Earl of Warwick, Stephen, at the age or 14, enlisted in an artillery company, in Colonel Hazen's regiment of Continental troops then marching through Hanover; this was soon discovered, and his father having with some difficulty obtained his release, he waited for another opportunity, which occurred on the return march of the regiment about six weeks later when it encamped over Sunday about five miles from Mr. Burroughs' house; and taking advantage of his father's absence on an exchange with another pastor, Stephen tarried from church to make provision for running away to join the army; which, he did before dawn on Monday, armed with an old musket, a horn of powder, and thirty bullets, and bearing on his back a blanket tied full of bread and cheese and clothes. His father on returning home missed him and reached the camp before the regiment had left, begged off his son, and took him home, where he was guarded for that day and the next night, when the regiment was supposed to be beyond his reach. Being sent on an errand to the nearest neighbor's, about ten rods distant, at about 10 o'clock on the following day, he ran out of sight, and continued his journey till he reached the regiment, at a distance of about twenty-eight miles from his father's, and enlisted again, but with a different officer, who, after the boy's father had with much difficulty overtaken the marching troops, absolutely refused to discharge Stephen except with his own consent, which the latter, notwithstanding the entreaties of his father, and through him of his mother, resisted, and went on with the regiment to West Point, N. Y., the headquarters. Some skirmishes with the British took place at the Hudson river; but Stephen, being kept with the baggage, and given no chance to get killed, or, as he viewed it, to distinguish himself, cooled in his military ardor, and deserted to his father; who, in order to save his son from punishment, wrote a pathetic letter to General Washington, December 24, 1779, recounting Stephen's

enlistment under Captain Lloyd, and, while admitting his rather speedy desertion, pleaded his youth, and the feelings of a father but recently bereaved of four children, and having only this son and a babe (which died soon after this affair).

Having obtained Stephen's discharge, his father placed him in the private school of Joseph Huntington, D.D., at Coventry, Conn., where he found a congenial spirit in Joseph, junior, about a year younger than himself; the chief victim of their amusement being a neighbor, nicknamed "Tiger"; concerning which amusement Stephen writes: "One night we repaired to his house and took logs from his woodpile, about two feet in length, and piled them up against his door until they reached the top; laying them in such a manner as to incline into the house. After arranging matters in this order, we made a noise as if attempting to get into the old man's garden, sufficiently loud for him to hear. Immediately upon this the old man crept softly to the door, and opening it suddenly, down came the logs so rapidly as to knock him to the floor, and cover him over. The noise which this made alarmed the family universally with the idea that they felt the shock of an earthquake, and that the last judgment had arrived; which set some a screaming and some a praying, and for a long time these ideas so wholly occupied the minds of the family, that the old man could not get any assistance from the load of timber under which he was buried. Immediately upon his being freed from his confinement, he put on some clothes and repaired to Dr. Huntington's, in order to enter a complaint against Joseph and myself, whom he suspected of being the agents of this disagreeable scene; and the reason of his suspicion was founded on this, viz.: but a few days before, Joseph and I were caught by him, picking some early apples off a tree in his garden; a complaint of which was made, and we obliged to pay three shillings. But as we were seen to go to bed that night and found in bed when he came with this last complaint, and no evidence that we had left our bed, it was concluded that his suspicions wanted proof, and there this matter ended.

Soon after this we contrived another plan to disturb the old man's quiet. Joseph went to him, and with a woeful countenance professed his sorrow for having given him trouble; and in order to evince his sorrow, told him he had to inform him of an intention of some of the scholars to rob his apple trees that night; and advised him to watch, that he might detect them; and if he should, they would have to pay him a con

siderable sum of money. This bait the old man eagerly swallowed, and took his stand accordingly for watching. The other part of this contrivance I was to act myself, as being the best fitted for it, on account of my superior agility. Accordingly, about ten at night, I crept along close to the garden fence till I came, as though by accident, near to the old man, at which I turned and ran, and he after me. Being abundantly able to outrun him, I kept but a very small distance before him in order to raise his expectations of being able to overtake me; when coming to the edge of a ditch which contained about three feet depth of mud and filth, I clapped down on my hands and knees before the old man, and he stumbled over me plump into the ditch.

Emboldened by his escapes from punishment, Stephen took part in a practical joke on Dr. Huntington himself, and soon after in another piece of mischief which determined the Doctor to get rid of him; returning him to his father with a letter, an extract from which explains the real cause, though smoothed by the suggestion that Stephen was now ready for college: "Stephen was so unguarded, about the middle of June last, as to take and use a horse several times, and that even in a cruel manner, without the knowledge of the owner, who lived not in my parish. I took and pastured the horse eight weeks, and repaired all damage more than seven fold; I also offered the man two crowns if he would settle the matter without a lawsuit, and took every other step I could think of to save expense and prevent a public noise; but all in vain. The monster knew that the law in such a case is extremely severe, awarding threefold damages and all costs; and nothing could glut his infernal malice till he had drawn your son before authority; and for threefold damages and costs, obtained judgment against him for about fifteen dollars . . The affair gave me unspeakable distress of mind, and kept me awake several nights."

This letter of Dr. Huntington's was dated September 5, 1781, shortly before the date of examinations for admission to Dartmouth College; at which examination Stephen passed; but his father was careful to procure him a room with one of the instructors, Jacob Wood, of whose devotion to religious matters, Stephen soon took advantage. One evening while Mr. Wood was calling upon a young lady religiously minded like himself, word was brought to him that Stephen was expiring in a fit of epilepsy, and desired him to pray with and for him. Mr. Wood and the lady hurried to the room, to find it empty of every

living thing, Stephen having obtained leave of absence on the day before, and after preparing an accomplice to do the above errand, had gone to his father's.

About this time the Indians had destroyed some of the frontier settlements; and Hanover being in a similarly exposed position, the people were easily roused by any alarm. Stephen and others, having robbed a watermelon patch in the vicinity, taking the melons to a rendezvous half a mile away for eating, afterward separated, in order to return with less danger of discovery, to college. Stephen, with a companion, Paine, had nearly reached their rooms when they discovered a person walking before Burroughs' door; they turned back, rolling up their gowns like packs upon their backs; but the watchman had seen them, and gave chase; yet, by turning a short corner, Stephen escaped to his room undiscovered; the watchman, Higgins, ran on calling for help; amid this outcry, students ran out, Burroughs among them; Higgins reported two men whom he supposed to be Indians; the town was alarmed, the militia turned out, the boats on the river stopped, and the woods scoured; a search, fruitless, of course, continued all night.

But Higgins proved not to be the only one who had seen the boys; a Captain Storrs had seen and recognized both Burroughs and Paine; and instructor Wood getting hold of the story, by cajoling and threatening obtained from Paine a confession as to Burroughs; the latter, however, took time by the forelock, and as it was now sunrise, went to the owner of the watermelons with the story, that knowing he had watermelons for sale (which was true) he had come on the previous night to buy twelve; but finding the owner in bed, and needing the watermelons immediately had taken this early opportunity to pay him for them; the owner finding only twelve melons missing, accepted the story and the money, and gave a receipt; fortified with which Burroughs returned to college; where at ten o'clock he was summoned before the college authorities, and charged with the theft, and with the disgrace to his family and to the college, and told that probably he would be expelled from college. When this charge was finished, Burroughs boldly countercharged that the college had condemned him without any evidence that he was guilty; that he had merely bought watermelons and paid for them; in proof of which he produced the receipt; the owner being called, corroborated this, and so ended the proceedings. His escape from punishment by quick wit, here, as at Dr. Huntington's gave opportunity

only for a completer downfall; for his deficiency in his studies, added to his unsatisfactory conduct, brought about his explusion from Dartmouth in his second college year; and he was again thrown back upon his bitterly-disappointed father, whose great desire was that his only living son should be educated for and occupy an honorable position.

His father now endeavored to persuade him to enter some business; but he was determined to go to sea; seeing this, his father fitted him out with a horse, saddle, bridle, and about twenty dollars in money to set out, at the age of seventeen, for Newburyport, Mass.; where Stephen intended to ship on one of the privateering vessels, which were often fitted out there. Starting on the 20th of November, he was caught at evening in a snowstorm in the woods; and wading on in the darkness till midnight, at last found a log hut, where himself and his horse obtained food, and after a sleep at a tavern five miles farther on, reached Londonderry, N. H., the next day, and in due time arrived at Newburyport; and finding no privateers ready, he sailed January 1, 1783, in a packet bound for France, undertaking to act as its doctor, having obtained assistance, and medicines, each parcel labeled, from an old physician. On the eighth day out, a merchant brig, bound for London, was captured as a prize; but on nearing the coast of France, they found their ship pursued by an English lugger, which they engaged; but after a short but sharp engagement, each vessel proceeded on its way. The prize being sold, each man received forty-two guineas prize money; the vessel returned to Newburyport, and Burroughs to his father's house, where he remained for about a year without any employment. He then engaged to teach a school at Haverhill, thirty miles from Hanover; but Prof. Ripley, who was in authority at the time of his explusion, had influence here which nullified his efforts, the parents being afraid to send their children to a person of his reputation. Hence he proceeded to Orford, twelve miles from Hanover, where he taught from November to the following February, and also became acquainted with an attractive woman. Thence he returned to his father's where he was soon visited by his former comrade Joseph Huntington, now in Dartmouth College. He brought with him in his sleigh a classmate whom they put up to carry off a beehive with honey, from a farmer about two miles distant; the owner suspected that this was the work of students, and on inquiry, the immediate perpetrator was discovered, and with Huntington settled for the honey, but implicated Burroughs; who, by the advice of the college authorities was not to be let off so