COLLEGE LESS EXPENSIVE MORE BOTHER IN 1855

A LITTLE BLACK NOTEBOOK, conscientiously recording all the expenditures of an early graduate of the College, has just been given to Dartmouth, demonstrating that a full four-year course in the 1850's could be managed for as little as $994, slightly less than the present Dartmouth undergraduate has to pay for a single year. The accounts of Chase H. Dickinson of Chelsea, Vt., from 1855 to 1859 are more than a financial record: they tell a great deal too about student life 80 years ago. "Fare, Chelsea to Hanover—$1.35" begins and ends the story and marks the intervals between the terms. The entries, "1 Long Table—$2.00; 1 Mirror—$1.25; 1 Lounge—$3.25; 1 Bedstead—s3.7s; 2 Chairs—$1.00; 2 Curtains—$1.00; 1 Mattress— $4.25; 1 Lamp—$0.35," could be those of an entering student today, except for the prices. But the additional items, "1 8r00m—54.25; Stovepipe—$0.15; Cordwood— $2.00; Wood Saw—so.22; Straw for Bed—$0.12," and multitudinous "qts. Burning Fluid" indicate that the simple life of the Good Old Days was a myth as compared to student life today.

Tuition, it appears, cost Mr. Dickinson an average of $6O a year, his room 113.50, and his board about $2.00 a week. Lacking the facilities of Dartmouth's present day health service, he records "Medicine for Poison," "Dr. Peasler's Fee," "To Dr. Smith for Administering Ether," and "Pulling Tooth—so.23." Hair oil, a phrenological chart, a watermelon, and "coloring paints" were among his purchases. "Horse keeping —50.95," "Doll for Marcia (sister)—so.62," the fact that he switched to reading the Boston Journal his junior year despite the New York Tribune's rate reduction from $0.67 to $0.38 a term, and that he had to spend very little for books and textbooks as compared to today's requirements, all add to the picture.