Here,  then,  was  a  little  group  of  buildings— the  center
of  a  country  parish — in  which  Doctor  Wheelock  could  con-
veniently carry  on  his  work.  The  meeting-house  stood  on  the
green  where  the  two  main  roads  crossed,  one  leading  from
Hartford  to  Norwich  and  the  other  from  Middletown  to
Windham  and  Providence.  It  was  a  simple  structure,  forty-
six  feet  by  sixty-four,  built  in  1748,  and  at  this  time  it  was
covered  with  a  coat  of  sky-blue  paint.  As  an  encouragement
to  the  school,  the  parish  voted  in  1755  ^^  set  apart  for  the
boys  "the  pew  in  the  gallery  over  the  west  stairs,"  and  in
1761  it  gave  the  "Indian  girls  liberty  to  sit  in  the  hind  seat
on  the  woman's  side  below."  At  times  these  pews  must  have
been  filled  to  overflowing.  Some  of  the  pupils,  both  boys  and
girls,  became  members  of  this  church.  On  several  occasions
the  congregation  gathered  here  on  the  Sabbath  was  honored
with  the  presence  of  Indian  chiefs  from  distant  tribes  be-
decked in  royal  attire.  Thither  missionaries  returned  with
stories  of  adventurous  experience — Samson  Occom  from  his
pioneer  visit  to  the  Oneidas,  and  Samuel  Kirkland,  the  first
white  charity  pupil  of  the  school,  from  his  hazardous  attempt
to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  Senecas.  Surely  that  little  sky-blue
meeting-house  was  the  place  of  many  an  interesting  service  !

Southward  from  the  church  was  the  Barrett  dwelling-house,
transformed  to  serve  as  a  home  for  the  charity  pupils.  Here
successive  masters  presided  in  turn  after  Moses  Barrett :
Chandler  Robbins,  Ralph  Pomeroy,  Benjamin  Jrumbull,
Edmund  Davis,  John  Huntington,  John  Leslie.  John  Lothrop,
Aaron  Kinne,  Ralph  Wheelock,  Bezaleel  Woodward,  Samuel
Wales,  and  David  McClure.  In  that  house  the  newly-arrived
and  half-clad  Indian  boy  spent  his  first  homesick  night  in
civilization.     "We  reposed  on   Straw   Beds  in    Bunks,"  wrote


62  SA.VSOJV  OCCOM.
