Semicentennial Record 1848.

The celebration of the 250th anniversary of the college, and its recollections and thoughts of the past which it has disturbed, have brought into notice an old book in the college library, which few have heard of, and many never seen. It is a large blank-book which the class of 1798 prepared at a meeting of its members on the fiftieth anniversary of their commencement day. The preface written in bold hand writing sets forth the purpose of the book to be "to preserve in the college library, by permission, its autograph of every graduate living now or hereafter." The graduates met on Commencement day, 1848, and as the preface runs, "having received so much pleasure from the reunion of early friends, and the recollections of pleasures, which time had only served to impress more deeply, decided to do their part to foster the idea of semicentennial reunions." The plan was to divide each page of the book into halves vertically. On the left division the graduates were to sign their names as they left college, and those who were present at the class meeting fifty years later were to place their signatures in the right hand division on the same line that they had fifty years before written the same name. Besides this, all living graduates were asked to sign or send their signatures. The result is that this book is rich in valuable signatures dating from 1669 on. The oldest of these is that of Danioll Egedston, Esq., of the class of 1669.

Another is the signature of John Adams, written in a large, bold hand, when he was president of the United States.

There are many others of equal value and interest, some singularly bold compared with the handwriting of to-day, some singularly cramped and irregular. Perhaps the most interesting of all is that of Wm. Gallison. It is evidently the close of a letter sent home from school, and beside the signature is a drawing, here copied, evidently representing a student of the period. The letter is dated 1763.

Just below this last is the signature of Samuel Dana of Marblehead, dated March 11, 1850, and at one side of the paper in the same hand-writing is the Lord's Prayer, covering a space just the size of a ten cent piece, and over it has been written, "The Lord's Prayer written at the age of seventy without spectacles." So fine is the hand-writing that it is scarcely intelligible to the naked eye.

The first pages of this rare book contain papers relating to the semicentennial celebration of those who started the idea, and newspaper accounts of the meeting and dinner at which "fifteen of the eighteen surviving members of the class of 1788 were present." One of these was the famous Justice Story, whose autograph is given.

There is also enclosed in the book a "catalogue of the officers and students of the University of Cambridge," printed in October 1823. The sum of the senior and junior sophisters, sophomores and freshmen is there given as 267, hardly more than one-sixth of the present number, and with the graduates then connected with the university, the whole number reaches 386. The vacations are "four weeks and and ten days from commencement; seven weeks from the fourth Friday in December, and two weeks from the third Friday in May." Somewhat at variance with the present state of recesses. Such is the character of the book, and it will certainly pay any one who has a spare moment when in the library to look it over, and think that he is looking upon signatures written by hands that have been mouldering away into dust for upwards of two centuries.