In his "Narrative" for 1771, President Wheelock tells the story of Dartmouth's location in the Granite State so plainly and satisfactorily, that we can do no better than to give his own recapitulation and condensation of the leading facts. "The smiles of heaven upon this school were such that it appeared quite necessary to build to accommodate it; and the plan which I laid for this purpose was to secure a sufficient tract of good land for the only use and benefit of the school, and that the English charity scholars should be led to turn their exercises for the relaxation of their minds from their studies, and for the preservation of health, from such exercises as have been frequently used by students for these purposes, to such manual labor as might be subservient to the support of the school, thereby effectually removing the deep prejudices, so universal in the minds of the Indians, against going into the business of husbandry." "The necessity of building, and also that I proposed to fix it at any distance where the design might be best served by it, became publicly known, whereupon great numbers in Connecticut and in neighboring Provinces made generous offers to invite the settlement of it in their respective places. In which affair I employed proper agents to view the several situations proposed, and hear the several arguments and reasons that might be offered by the solicitors for it, and make a faithful report of the same. "The magistracy of the city of Albany offered an interest estimated at £2,300 sterling, besides private donations, which it was supposed would be large, to fix it in that city. Several other generous offers were made to fix it in that vicinity. His Excellency, Sir Francis Bernard, Governor of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in company with two others, offered 2,000 acres of good land in a central town[25] in the county of Berkshire in said Province. To which were added several other donations, amounting in the whole to 2,800 acres of land, and a subscription said to be about £800 sterling. Also generous offers were made to it in Stockbridge and other towns in that Province. Several generous offers were made by particular towns and parishes in the Colony of Connecticut, and particularly to continue it where it had its rise. But the country being so filled up with inhabitants, it was not practicable to get so large a tract of lands as was thought to be most convenient and useful for it in those old settlements. The Honorable Trust in England gave the preference to the western part of the Province of New Hampshire, on Connecticut river, as the site of the school." [25] Pittsfield.