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Charles attended New Salem Academy for six weeks in the fall of
1818. He then “kept” (taught) school in Alstead NH for four months, which may indicate that he was a better scholar than he claimed to be. Alstead was the home of Samuel Thomson, a famous naturopath whose work Charles would later attack in lectures and articles. Charles studied Latin briefly with Dr. Charles Adams in Keene, while a patient (in his household?), then returned to New Salem Academy for the six week fall term in 1819. He taught school the summer, fall and winter of 1820-21 in Templeton and Gardner. It seems unusual that the second son of a farmer would travel thirty-five miles to stay with an eminent New Hampshire doctor and study a little Latin, but it’s not clear to me yet whether Charles was an extraordinary boy, or whether his family had connections.
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