Peter Jay copied every letter he wrote, and we now have these copy-books, revealing what sort of man he was.  Religious he was, and scrupulously exact in all things.  We see that he ordered Bibles from England, “and also six groce of Church Wardens,” which I am told is a long clay pipe, “that hath a goodly flavor and doth not bite the tongue.”  He also at one time ordered a chest of tea, and then countermanded the order, having taken the resolve to “use no tea in my family while that rascally Tax is on—­having a spring of good, pure water near my house.”  Which shows that a man can be very much in earnest and still joke.

John was the baby, scarcely a year old, when the Jay family moved up to Rye.  He was the eighth child, and as he grew up he was taught by the older ones.  He took part in all the fun and hardships of farm life—­going to school in Winter, working in Summer, and on Sundays hearing long sermons at church.

We find by Peter Jay’s letter-book that:  “Johnny is about our brightest child.  We have great hopes of him, and believe it will be wise to educate him for a preacher.”  In order to educate boys then, they were sent to live in the family of some man of learning.  And so we find “Johnny” at twelve years of age installed in the parsonage at New Rochelle, the Huguenot settlement.  The pastor was a Huguenot, and as only French was spoken in the household, the boy acquired the language, which afterwards stood him in good stead.

The pastor reported favorably, and when fifteen, young Jay was sent to King’s College, which is now Columbia University, kings not being popular in America.

Doctor Samuel Johnson, who nowise resembled Ursa Major, was the president of the College at that time.  He was also the faculty, for there were just thirty students and he did all the teaching himself.  Doctor Johnson, true to his name, dearly loved a good book, and when teaching mathematics would often forget the topic and recite Ossian by the page, instead.  Jay caught it, for the book craze is contagious and not sporadic.  We take it by being exposed.

And thus it was while under the tutelage of Doctor Johnson that Jay began to acquire the ability to turn a terse sentence; and this gained him admittance into the world of New York letters, whose special guardians were Dickinson and William Livingston.

Livingston invited the boy to his house, and very soon we find the young man calling without special invitation, for Livingston had a beautiful daughter about John’s age, who was fond of Ossian, too, or said she was.

And as this is not a serial love-story, there is no need of keeping the gentle reader in suspense, so I will explain that some years later John married the girl, and the mating was a very happy one.

After John had been to King’s College two years we find in the faded and yellow old letter-book an item written by the father to the effect that:  “Our Johnny is doing well at College.  He seems sedate and intent on gaining knowledge; but rather inclines to Law instead of the Ministry.”