His
habits of attention and obedience to college discipline were of the
strictest character; he rose progressively in scholarship, and took a
highly creditable degree. [See note at close of this Life.]
The first civil office, I imagine, which Franklin Pierce ever held was
that of chairman of the standing committee of the Athenaean Society, of
which, as above hinted, we were both members; and, having myself held a
place on the committee, I can bear testimony to his having discharged
not only his own share of the duties, but that of his colleagues. I
remember, likewise, that the only military service of my life was as a
private soldier in a college company, of which Pierce was one of the
officers. He entered into this latter business, or pastime, with an
earnestness with which I could not pretend to compete, and at which,
perhaps, he would now be inclined to smile. His slender and youthful
figure rises before my mind's eye, at this moment, with the air and step
of a veteran of the school of Steuben; as well became the son of a
revolutionary hero, who had probably drilled under the old baron's
orders. Indeed, at this time, and for some years afterwards, Pierce's
ambition seemed to be of a military cast.
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