Transcribe Ward, Henry A. Letter to Orton, James (1852-04-19)

I want to saay a few words about myself before I close. Before Christ -mas vacation I was busy in study but I had then concluded to give up chemistry. I found ^it^ very interesting but our teacher (a late graduate of Union") knew little or nothing about it. We have plenty of apparatus here, but, I think, he did not under -stand its use for we never had experiments. The class were all dis- satisfied & all signed a petition to Uncle (the Pres. of Trustees) requesting a more competent teacher. This failed & I had concluded to leave the class as soon as we got to "inorganic chemistry", where, I immagined more depended on the teacher and there was a greater risk of learning wrong. But after vacation I was offered the presidency of the "Primary Department" at a salary of $300.00 which I accepted. So that I am now ? it and like it well. I still keep uo Geonetry in my own room. I have in all