1. University Life
James Dusenbery characterized his
journal as "a weekly record of all the leading events of my life during
our Senior year in College,
together with our thoughts & reflections at the time" (
journal introduction).
Though he admitted that the journal sometimes fell short on "thoughts
& reflections," his record of academic life at the University is largely consistent with other
published sources.
In 1841 the University
employed
seven faculty
members. Two tutors, recent University graduates, were responsible for teaching
introductory mathematics and classical languages. One hundred and sixty-nine
students were enrolled at the beginning of the year: 44 first-year students,
48 sophomores, 34 juniors, 30 seniors, and 11 "irregulars" (students
who were taking courses but not planning to earn a degree). Students' annual
expenses ranged from $161 to $195, depending on where they took their room
and board:
| Tuition |
$ 50 |
|
| Room (at College) |
2 |
|
| Servant hire |
5 |
|
| Deposit (for damages) |
4 |
|
| Board for 40 weeks, at $8 to $11 per month |
74 |
to 102 |
| Bed and Washing |
16 |
to 22 |
| Wood |
5 |
|
| Candles |
5
|
|
| Total from |
161 |
to 195 [1] |
During the antebellum period, the academic year was divided into two
"sessions" of 19 and 21 weeks, the first beginning in mid-July and ending in late November, and the second session resuming in January and ending with a week of
Commencement exercises in
early June. According to the
University
catalogue, the course of study for seniors in
the first session of 1841 included the sciences,
Greek and Latin, mental and moral philosophy, and French. In the second
session, seniors continued studying Greek, Latin, and French but also
engaged such subjects as law, political science, and chemistry and
geology.
In an entry dated
July 24, 1841,
James listed the courses that he
was taking during the first semester of his senior year:
On
Monday the 18nth ult. [2] the regular exercises of College commenced. The senior class
recited for its first lessons to Gov.
Swain, —The bill of rights of the freemen of NCarolina & the constitution of the U.States We also
beg[an] this week, the study of Chemistry, including Botany, Zoology,
& Mineralogy, under Prof.
Mitchell. The class recites once a week to Philips on Astronomy & twice a week
to Fetter on the Medea of Euripides. Monsieur Robards, the Prof. of French,
has not yet returned from the enjoyment of his vacation. [3]
In addition,
James began the study of Abercrombie's
Mental Philosophy in mid-October (
October 17,
1841). Compared to the University catalogue,
James's list of subjects omitted "Exercises in Latin
Construction." He also never mentioned studying Cicero in the second session, nor did he name
anywhere in his journal Professor of Latin
John De
Berniere Hooper. This evidence, together with the omission of
a final grade for work in Latin during the first session (
October 3,
1841), indicates that, despite the requirements listed
in the University catalogue,
James appears not to have studied Latin
during his senior year.
The method of instruction was primarily recitation, students answering the
professor's questions, usually by reciting or quoting memorized portions of
the textbook. Students rarely commented on their recitations, except to note
when they were "taken up," or called on, and whether or not they came
off well or poorly. Because students often recited in alphabetical order,
they could predict when it would be necessary to prepare for class. Having
been called on, a student could then skip studying for a few days, until the
alphabetical rotation came his way again. In an entry dated
August 14,
1841,
James admits
being unexpectedly "taken up" by the Professor of Greek
Manuel Fetter:
On Thursday
Fetter rushed me shamefully. I
was not expecting to be taken up & had been talking & laughing
nearly the whole hour. He called on me to recite purely for revenge
& so unexpected was the summons, that I became confused & made a
failure, although I had prepared the lesson with as much care as
usual.
In addition to attending three recitations a day—at 7:00 a.m., 11:00
a.m., and 4:00 p.m.
[4]—students studied "the
historical parts of the
Old and
New Testament"
[5] on Sunday afternoon. These Sunday
recitations were meant to be non-denominational, and as
James informs us, faculty members who
conducted these classes attempted to separate "the divine character" of
the
Bible from its style and historical
information:
In the evening my class recited to the
Gov. for a bible lesson, the first three chapters of
Genesis. We found him well versed
in scripture lore—indeed there are very few studies, into which he has
not examined. A man of more extensive & varied acquirements than
Gov. Swain, is seldom met with.
He remarked, that even exclusive of its divine character, the bible is one of the most important books
which we can study, both because it is the most perfect model of a pure,
unadulterated style & for the reason that we derive from it all our
knowledge of the early ages of the world. I read as far as the Psalms last session & intend finishing
the old Testament, the present one.
(August 7, 1841)
Though the University was a public institution, it was
nevertheless permeated with religion. The day began and ended with prayers
in the chapel; most faculty members were clergymen; and students were
expected to attend Sunday services and the Sunday afternoon recitations
unless University President
David Swain
excused them.
The academic calendar also held field trips, demonstrations, and
end-of-session examinations. In an entry dated
September 5,
1841,
James described a
field trip led by Professor of Natural Philosophy
Elisha Mitchell to
Solomon
Morgan's plantation for the purpose of examining mineral
formations in the area. Students themselves did not engage in experiments or
complete laboratory work, but
Professor
Mitchell performed a demonstration of "Galvanic &
Electro-Magnetic instruments" in class in
October 1841.
Young women were present for this demonstration, including
Mitchell's daughters. According to faculty
minutes, examinations for the first session began on November 22, 1841, and ended on November
25, 1841. These examinations were not written tests but rather
recitations conducted in the presence of two or three faculty members. In
November 1841 the senior class was examined
on Monday and Tuesday forenoon and afternoon on chemistry, natural history,
technology, astronomy, the
Medea
in Greek, Voltaire's
Histoire de Charles XII and
Henríade (Minutes of the
General Faculty 27–28).
Because
James's social life eclipsed his
academic studies in the spring semester, the journal offers virtually no
information about his classes during the second session, except to record
that examinations took place in late April in all
subjects, except "Law."
President Swain chose to examine
seniors on the law publicly, with board of trustee members present, on the
Tuesday of Commencement week (
April 30,
1842).
In addition to their coursework, seniors were required to prepare two senior
speeches during the year.
[6] Honor
graduates also participated in their own commencement ceremonies by
delivering a commencement address. Because these performances were public,
given before faculty members, students, townspeople, and family members,
students often expressed anxiety about preparing these speeches.
James was no exception. By early October seniors were excused from meetings of their
debating societies in order to prepare the first senior speech for the fall
semester. Even so,
James worried that
he was behind schedule: "I have not yet fixed upon a subject, but must do
so forthwith as there only remains about 3 weeks in which to write my
speech" (
October 3, 1841).
A week later he had a topic:
I have done nothing as yet
towards writing a speech, but have chosen for my theme, the "Present
condition of the practice of medicine in N Carolina." To write a speech
for the first time & one too that is to be spoken before an
intellectual & severely critical assembly, is, to me, a task of
"fearful magnitude & startling responsibility." But if I
would win, for myself, a sheepskin & the honourable title of
"Bachelor of Arts" I must e'en brace myself to the task. (October
10, 1841)
By
October 24, 1841,
the speech still remained unfinished: "Procrastination, that bane of
thousands has been whispering in my ear all the week that there is time
enough yet to write my speech & so eagerly have I listened to her
syren voice that, my
oration is scarcely begun."
Finally, he began serious work on it the week of October 31 and turned it in
to Professor of Rhetoric
William Mercer
Green on November 13, 1841:
"I handed my speech to
Mr Green
for correction, on Saturday morning (& received it from his hands
this evening, with a few verbal corrections on the face of it" (
November
15, 1841). By November 21,
1841, he had memorized most of the speech, and together with
other members of the senior class, he delivered it on the afternoon of November 25, 1841. That evening the seniors
celebrated with an oyster supper at "
Miss
Nancy's."
The process seemed considerably smoother, though no less daunting, the second
time around.
James's senior speech for
the second session was begun on March 21,
1842, finished by March 30, 1842,
returned to him with the approval of the professor of rhetoric on April 1, 1842, and delivered on April 14, 1842:
- "On Monday, just one week ago [March 21,
1842], I commenced my Senior speech. The subject I have
chosen is "The Charter Oak."
[7] It will be finished in a
day or two." (March 28,
1842)
-
"My speech was finished on Wednesday [March
30, 1842].—handed to Mr
Green on Thursday & returned to me on the
following day. Its length is only 3 pages, but short as it is, it
cost me more labour than any other composition, I ever
attempted." (April 3,
1842)
- "On Thursday night [April 14, 1842],
McBee
Bell, Spaight, J.
Campbell, Summerell, Green & myself were the speakers." (April
17, 1842)
Because
James had already participated
in "Senior Speaking" at the end of the first session, he evidently was
not required to deliver his speech on the Charter Oak in public, only to
write it. Even so, he agreed to serve as a substitute speaker for a
classmate who, by lottery, had been chosen to round out the program of
speeches for the second session (
April 9,
1842).
Students during this period received two grades at the end of each term, one
for scholarship and one for deportment. The grading scale for academic work
included seven marks: very good, good, very respectable, respectable,
tolerable, bad, and very bad. These grades did not appear on individual
assignments but rather summed up a student's performance in each course.
Though
James obviously performed well
enough to graduate, he was on the whole only a "respectable" scholar.
In an entry dated
October 3, 1841,
he revealed his grades for the first session: "The reports were made out
last Monday. Mine was
tolerable on Astronomy,
very respectable on Greek & respectable on
French, Chemistry & Political Economy." Again, note the absence
of any work in Latin. At the end of the spring semester,
James earned only one grade,
"respectable" in chemistry
(
Faculty Minutes 1:4,
60). Though six seniors, including
James, were taking only the one course in chemistry during
the spring semester, it is unclear why this group did not receive grades, as
the rest of the senior class did, in French, Latin, and law.
James also scrupulously noted in his journal his attendance
at morning and evening prayers, recitations, and Sunday church services.
These notations were important to him because attendance figured
significantly in reports of a student's deportment. Seniors were required to
attend 14 recitations, 13 morning and evening prayer services, and one
church service every week. The emphasis on attendance explains why many
students who chose to be absent from one of these "duties" persuaded
classmates to answer for them when the roll was called, a practice faculty
members did not condone. It also explains why
James frequently "retired from" Sunday services after
his attendance had been recorded. Because reports of students' grades for
deportment were sent to parents and guardians, not to students,
James learned the faculty's assessment of his
deportment from his sister
Laura: "In
my report that was sent home
Laura
informs me that I am marked as absent
once from
prayers,
twice from church & not at all from
recitation" (
October 10,
1841). This news doubtless pleased
James because it made his record look much better than it
actually was. By the time
James
graduated, he had accumulated, over a period of three years, 48 absences
from recitation, 44 absences from morning and evening prayers, and 12
absences from church (
Faculty Minutes
1:4, 61). A copy of the sort of grade reports sent home
during this period is available
here.
3. Social Life
^ top of page ^
James comments extensively on his social
pursuits. Mentioned in the journal are typical social activities for
students of this period. In addition to the familiar weekly engagements of
the debating society,
James
participated in dancing and singing schools (
July 31, 1841),
fishing (
April 24, 1842), hunting 'possums (
October 3,
1841), and visiting with friends, relatives, and
celebrities, including a phrenologist named Woodward, whose report on
James's character is included in the journal (
October 17,
1841).
James and
his friends also attended a religious revival (
August 22, 1841)
and went to a circus performance in Hillsborough, NC (
April 3, 1842).
Early in the fall semester, a tradition known as the "Fresh Treat" took
place, an annual watermelon feast paid for by the first-year students (
August 7,
1841). Writing letters and reading were also
significant pursuits for students, including
James. Other students of the period comment on these
activities as well. They had the approval of faculty members and offered
students significant social outlets in a small village that held few
cultural resources, constructive diversions, or opportunities to meet
women.
Then as now, students sometimes violated college rules, and the journal
depicts several instances of student mischief.
James introduces us to tutor
William Hayes Owen, nicknamed "The Judge," who lived in the
dormitory and whose responsibility it was to monitor students' behavior.
Students made fun of him, especially his elevated diction, but generally
obeyed him. Though faculty members persistently stressed the evils of
drinking and playing cards, students just as stubbornly flouted the
regulations and entertained themselves with "ardent spirits" (
October 31,
1841) and games of whist or bluff (poker) (
July 31,
1841;
March 20, 1842).
Other infractions included ringing the campus bell at night (
October 31,
1841), placing dead hogs and other animals in the
Chapel (
October 17,
1841;
January 30,
1842), and breaking the 8:00 p.m.
curfew, a regulation
James and his
friends violated repeatedly. Much more serious is the
September
5, 1841, account of a fight between two students that
began with sticks and escalated into a student's discharging a pistol.
Punishments for these offenses ranged from private admonishment before the
faculty to public reprimands in front of the student body to suspension for
up to six months to expulsion.
[8]
Expulsion, the severest penalty, often resulted in a student's impeachment
in his debating society as well, and depending on the crime, the student
might be turned over to civil authorities for prosecution in the courts.
Suspended students were required to leave the campus, either to face
disappointed parents at home or to rent rooms a few miles out of town for
several weeks. Even though students were not supposed to have any dealings
with suspended classmates,
James and
his friends nevertheless escorted to their temporary lodgings two young men
who had been suspended and some weeks later visited them. Finding them not
at home, their classmates trashed the place (
March 20, 1842).
James's journal gives the
impression that, for some students, suspension offered a pleasant vacation
from classes and allowed plenty of time for fishing, hunting, and
socializing. Apart from the infractions of a few individuals, by the 1840s
the significant student rebellions of earlier decades had subsided. Faculty
members had become more confident in managing dissent and enlisted the
cooperation of students, especially the leadership of the debating
societies, to promote order.
Contemporary readers will be struck by how often
James and his friends enjoyed the company of local
prostitutes. Prostitution was a crime, but even a small college town such as
Chapel Hill had its share of
brothels or "disorderly houses."
[9]
James's journal describes frequent
visits to "the fishery,"
"the kingdom," and "the depot." These places are undocumented, and
the women who lived there—Em, Miss Redness (whose given name seems to have
been Mary), and the "Herring gals"—also remain
unidentified.
James did not make these
trips by himself but usually was accompanied by other students. What is
unusual, however, is that he wrote about these visits.
James began his pleasurable forays early in
his senior year, and they seemed to be familiar activities for him. He did
not question his motives or raise doubts about his behavior, an indication
that he simply was resuming visits that he had made the previous year. By
the spring semester, excursions to the depot, the fishery, and the kingdom
occurred several nights a week. Three entries early in the second session
were removed from the journal, indicating perhaps that, on reflection, the
"record of all the leading events of my life" may have embarrassed
James (or a subsequent owner of the
journal). For
James, sex was not always
the object of these outings, though it clearly became more important by the
spring semester. Sometimes, "The object of the excursion was to have a
real, downright bull-dance
[10]
with the Herring gals & as many others as we could get together at
that place" (
July 31, 1841).
These visits also may have been as much about drinking and danger as about
"fishing," as he put it.
James
took significant risks in breaking curfew so often, yet so far as we know,
he was never caught. Courting danger may have been part of the game. Though
we would very much like to know the location of these illicit places, as
well as the circumstances of the women who worked there, both remain
unknown.
One of the striking contrasts in this journal, then, centers on
James's attitudes towards women. The poetry
he admired and copied into the early pages of the journal extol the virtues
of the chivalrous gentleman, the hero who respects women and protects their
honor.
James extended this respect to
his sisters, the women he met during his Christmas vacation, and his fiancée "Mary S."—all of whom shared his social
class in antebellum society. The women who did not—women like the "Herring
gals" or those in "the house of Edward"—were convenient
sport.
Notes
^1. Catalogue of the trustees,
faculty and students of the University of North Carolina,
1841 (Raleigh: Weston R. Gales, Office of the Raleigh
Register, 1841), 17.
^2. Dusenbery is mistaken about the
date; in July 1841, Monday was the 19th, not the 18th.
^3. Battle claims that "Rev.
John James Roberts, a
graduate of 1838, who had studied in France for two years, took charge as Professor [of
French] in 1841" but resigned the next year. He became the
principal of high schools for females in New York and Massachusetts (Battle 1:440, 474). Battle is mistaken about Roberts' middle name; it was Jones, not
James.
^4. The school day was defined by the college bell, which hung in a wooden
tower in the middle of the campus near the campus well. It kept students
and faculty on schedule. The first bell rang at approximately 6:00 a.m. to wake the students, who had to be
in Person Hall for prayers by
6:45 a.m. A faculty member called the
roll, read a passage from the Bible, and led students in a
prayer. Then, before breakfast, students adjourned to their first
recitation. Each class of students—seniors, juniors, sophomores, and the
"Fresh"—attended the same recitations with other members of the class.
The 7:00 a.m. recitation was the one
students resented most, and seniors earned the special privilege of
omitting it from their schedules. A class schedule for 1838 reveals that the 7:00
class was not held on Monday mornings. At 8:00
a.m. students raced to Steward's
Hall or back to their boarding houses for breakfast and
a few hours of study until the second class period, which began at 11:00 a.m. Dinner, the largest meal of the
day, was served at midday. Students then had several hours to prepare
for their recitations at 4:00 p.m. The
school day ended with prayers in Person
Hall. After supper, usually a light meal, students were
free to socialize or study. By 8:00 p.m.
they had to be in their rooms, the tutors living in the college
monitoring the halls or "passages" to insure that students kept
curfew. Each of these events was signaled by the ringing of the college
bell. It was such a significant part of daily life that students'
favorite prank was to ring it at odd hours, then dash into one of the
college buildings before being detected.
^5. Catalogue of the trustees,
faculty and students of the University of North Carolina,
1841 (Raleigh:
Weston R. Gales, Office of the
Raleigh Register, 1841), 16.
^6. Dusenbery's senior speech for the
fall semester survives. It is dated 18th Nov. 1841, includes the corrections
Prof. Green made, and shows a
title in pencil, "The State of Medical Science in N. C." The original
document is owned by Col. William B.
Hankins, Jr., a descendant of Dusenbery's sister, Cornelia
Dusenbery Smith. A transcription
is available on this site. Two additional essays, written while
James was a junior, also
survive. One is titled "Vacation"
and is dated November 19, 1840. The other
bears the date May 21, 1841, and the
title "Can
the highest order of poetic excellence be attained in this
country?" Both essays were submitted to the faculty in
fulfillment of what appears to have been a "junior writing requirement."
The essays are housed among Senior and Junior Orations in the North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
^7. The Charter Oak, Connecticut's state tree, stood on the Wyllys estate in Hartford, CT, until 1856, when it was uprooted in a storm. Legend has it that,
when Sir Edmund Andros,
Governor-General of New
England, demanded that the colonists surrender the royal
charter in 1687, Captain Joseph Wadsworth hid the document in the
tree.
^8. For a comprehensive list of ordinances governing student behavior
during this period, see Acts of
the General Assembly and Ordinances of the Trustees, for the
Organization and Government of the University of
North-Carolina (Raleigh: Raleigh
Register, 1838) at http://docsouth.unc.edu/true/ncga/ncga.html.
^9. Eager to protect the morals of young men, the University's board of trustees in March 1810 authorized the faculty to prohibit
students from visiting any house in the village that might not be
"proper or safe," including "disorderly houses" and houses
that presented opportunities to drink "spirituous liquors." Any
student seeking room and board in a private house in Chapel Hill had to have the approval of
the University's president (http://docsouth.unc.edu/unc/unc07-04/unc07-04.html).
^10. "bull-dance":
nautical slang for a dance with men.
Polarimeter, ca.
1824. Purchased by UNC President Joseph Caldwell on his trip to Europe;
made by Pixii.
A map of Chapel Hill drawn by professor Elisha Mitchell in 1836. The map includes Betsy Nunn's boarding house, where
Dusenbery boarded during his senior year of college (August 22, 1841).
List of senior
classes from the 1841 catalog.
Leyden Jar, ca.
1824, purchased by Joseph Caldwell on his trip to Europe.
Mortar &
Pestle, belonging to UNC Professor Elisha Mitchell
(1793–1857).
The
commencement marshals of 1855: Chief Marshal James Bruce,
Assistant Marshals Henry R. Bryan, Wm. H. Burwell, Samuel P. Caldwell,
and Wm. G. Drake (Battle 1: 649).
"a pistol went off." Page 98 of the James
Lawrence Dusenbery Journal.
Close-up of an invitation to the 1843 Commencement Ball.
