A new era in my life had now opened, and my hopes were buoyant. I could give all my time and thought to study, and I made the best use of my advantages. Mr. Cobb was a prominent man in the denomination, an able minister, a fair scholar, and consequently well qualified to give instruction. To that excellent man, and his accomplished lady, I am under great and lasting obligations. “I was a stranger and they took me in.” May God ever bless them. They now reside in Boston. Mr. Cobb, or rather, Dr. Cobb, for he is now a D. D., for many years published the _Christian Freeman_, is the author of a Commentary on the New Testament, and of several other useful books. His son, Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., who is a well known literary writer, was a boy when I was in Mr. C.’s family, and the twins, Cyrus and Darius, now ministers, and who fought for the Stars and Stripes, during the late rebellion, were born while I was a member of the household. He had three other students while I was with him--A. P. Cleverly, G. Hastings, and C. S. Hussey. We had fine times; we talked, read, wrote and declaimed. When we wanted to ventilate our logic, we repaired to a neighboring grove, where we made the welkin ring with our eloquence. “The Orthodox,” said A. P. Cleverly, on one of these occasions, “will come to you with their creed in one hand, and damnation in the other, and say to you, take _this_ or take _that_, but one of them you must and shall have.” On Monday we generally went to Boston, two miles distant, and at the _Trumpet_ office would usually see Hosea Ballou, H. Ballou, 2d, Walter Balfour, Thomas Whittemore, Sabastian Streeter, Henry Bacon, T. B. Thayer, all noted men, but most of them are now dwellers of the spirit land. The departed did a noble work on earth, and long will they be remembered. “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.” When I had been with Mr. Cobb about three months, he went to the state of Maine, and left me to preach for him one Sabbath. My heart jumped when the first bell on Sunday morning told me to prepare for my first pulpit services; but I went through the exercises of the day without much embarrassment. My texts were: “God is love”--“They hated me without a cause.” When Mr. C. returned, he seemed well satisfied with my effort, for he had heard his friends speak of it, and gave me words of encouragement. While with him, I preached in Lynn, Haverhill, and several other places, but devoted most of my time to hard study.