Norwich bulletin., 1922-06-29
RECALLS SEVEN YEARS AS PUPIL IN
 OLD NORWICH TOWN BOARDING SCHOOL

R. Thomas Huntington of Wethers- field, who Is secretary and treasurer of the Huntington Family Association, which is to hold it's fourth reunion at Norwich Town, Sept. and 2, writes The Bulletin his recoIlections of his seven years at Rev Dr. stone,s boys beard ing school at Norwich Town. which was In the building that is now the Johnson home.
 MT. Huntington describes his seven years at the school from October 1856 to October 1863, as follows.
 In OcSober 1856. when I was in my ninth year I was enrolled as a scholar and boarder at the school for boys only. The Rev. Timothy Dwight Porter Stone being the principal and proprietor of said school now called the Johnson Home.
 My mother, whc weighed over two hun dred pounds, and my brother Andrew, who weighed as much, and l, who weigh ed not over so pounds, and Mir. Ben nett, who certainly weighed over one hundred pounds, were the occupants of MT. Bennett's carriage which made daily trips between the landing, as Norwich city was then called, and Norwich Town, and considering the horse and carriage, which I became better ac- quainted with in after years, I have of- ten wondered how we ever made the trip
 While my mother and brother Andrew were making arrangements for my board and tuition, I was placed in charge of my brother George, who was two years older than I, and had been at the school for two years. He took me out in the open, or outdoor gymnasium and showed me the different exercises he had learn ed. This gymnasium was fully equipped with apparatus for developing strength and endurance. Very soon George and I were called back into the parlor, and bade good bye to my mother and broth CT Andrew, and I did iot see my mother l again for five years. when she and my sister Jane came to pay George and 8 short visit and my mother was taken sick and died at the school.
 I was lonely boy after mother went home and George did all he could to amuse me, as it was the first night ever was without my mother. The pupils were required to study their lessons, for l the next day in the sehoolhouse, after i the lamps were lit. Two boys were a, each desk, and tin lamp that burned whale oil as an illuminant. We two l boys were excused from study and could l talk very low to each other, but mus not laugh. My brother tried to show mt a trick. The lamp had an oblong, round l receptacle for the oil about three inche: long. TEa base was quite broad at the l bottom. and tapered up to the lamp body I George made slip moose of a piece O I string he had, placed it over the lamp l letting it rest on the desk, and with quick jerk, tried to pull 1t beneath tn II kaS 0F &ha Ia o,,A he lea the lamp on the desk, but the string wa contrary minded. It raced up the in cline of the lamp base. frightened up ol I the neck of the lamp and did the pendu }, lun swing in the aisle, leaving a streal 'l of whale oil on the floor. It is useless t say that George and I were excused fo : the night and invited to retire, Gecrg for his trick and I for laughing out loud
 The family of MT. Stone consisted Q his wife, two sons, William the young
 CT. and Porter: two daughters, Mar3 the elder. was between in age Porte and William then there was Filler about my age, and we became quit
 chummy. as I was the youngest boy i
 the school, and Ellen and I became al
 most inseparable as she was the only gil scholar. Mary and William were leach
 CTS of the younger pupils, and Porte
 was in his last year at Yale, l believe l but cannot say for sure.
 MT. Stone, besides his boarding scho
 ars, taught in the Academy. whit
 wooden, two-story and half buildin
 on the corner of Town and New Londo
 turnpike. Whether MT. Stone owned th !, property that the Academy was on ( not I cannot say, but I do not renenlbe
 any fence between the Academy and ot , gymnasium. There was small one-stor ! r-s.S Nx,a1 : Academy that several years after wa , used as a place for voting, in town elec
 tion, when was older. I do not reco 1 lect of our boarding pupils going to tt Academy more than one term. although r cannot say for certain whether it wa during my first year or later, I am nt sure.