Letter to R. H. Gaston from Cumberland University - Smith County, TX Submitted by East Texas Genealogical Society P. O. Box 6967, Tyler, TX 75711 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ***************************************************************** Copied from the Smith County TX Archives, Carnegie History Center, Tyler, TX by Mary Love Berryman Cumberland University Dep. of Languages May 23, 1860 Mr. R. H. Gaston, Dear Sir, In the absence of Pres't Anderson, I reply to your letter of the 2nd inst. You do not state what class you expect to enter, but I will say that, for admission to the Sophomore Class, you should be thoroughly prepared on three books of Caesar, three of Virgil, about fifty pages of Johnson Herodotus, as many of Robbins Memorabilia, four of Cicero's Orations, and either the Jugurthius War or the Catiline War of Lollust. The Grammar, Lat. & Greek should of course, be well studied, and you cannot in your reading, parse too much. Reading without a good deal of parsing, is worth little or nothing. You had better parse very critically every word. In the Sophomore Class we usually take about four Books of the Odes of Horace, seventhy pages of Arnold's Latin Prose Composition, forty or fifty pages of Champlin Demosthenes on the Crown, three Books of the Hiad, on Book of Cicero de Oratore, and fifty pages of Arnold's Greek Prose Composition. Respectfully, W. Marines N. B - By a new arrangement, the next session will open the 3rd Monday.