Letters from Timothy Boutelle, 1798-1801 Digital

Contains correspondence from Timothy Boutelle to Lemuel Shaw, dated 1798-1801, written from Boutelle’s home town of Leominster, and Leicester, Massachusetts, where he was a teacher. Topics include Boutelle’s decision to take a semester off from Harvard in the winter of 1798-1799 to attend a dancing school in Leominster, his relief at escaping the confines of Harvard life, and personal belongings and books that he left behind at the college and wished for Shaw to send him; an illness that prevented his return to Harvard for the spring term; and his thoughts about moving to Boston. Boutelle also writes about his position as a teacher at Leicester Academy after graduating Harvard: he observes similarities between the two schools; comments on the 27 female students enrolled at the Academy, and his impressions of their physical appearance and intelligence; and writes of the Academy Steward’s management of interaction between men and women. He also remarks on male-female relations in contemporary society, writing, “As the Mahometans [Muslims], by excluding women from participating [in] the sweets of society, err in one extreme, so, it is very possible, that the present system of politeness may be verging toward the other,” in which “etiquette lays an embargo on the feelings of sincerity & the emotions of true friendship.” Other topics include Boutelle’s opinions on the most effective path to a law career, John Adams’ A defence of the constitutions, and American literature.