In December, 1794, the General Assembly was induced to make a grant to the University which brought to it little money but much animosity. The preamble recites that the Trustees have, with a laudable zeal for the promotion of literature, erected a building for the use of the institution entrusted to them and are prepared to commence the exercises, but have not funds to proceed in the liberal manner, which the honor and interest of the public demand. The act then gives the Trustees all unsold confiscated land, including the forfeited rights of Henry Eustace McCulloch, a British subject, for lands contracted to be sold by him, title being withheld for security of the purchase money. The Trustees were authorized to make title on payment of the balances due. The donation under the act was greatly weakened by the provision that all above twenty thousand dollars should be paid over to the State, that only the interest on receipts should be used, and that after ten years the principal should be subject to the disposition of the General Assembly.

The Trustees employed able lawyers to realize funds under the act. The principal receipts were from the moneys due McCulloch, for lands contracted to be sold to sundry inhabitants of Mecklenburg and adjoining counties, and from the sale of confiscated lands, principally of McCulloch. Adlai Osborne, of Rowan, a University attorney, reported sales from June, 1795, to July, 1798, amounting to $14,946, most of which were on credit. There were 77 buyers. The net amount received up to November, 1807, was $7,160.58. In 1804 the Court of Conference decided in the cases of Ray's Executors v. McCulloch, and Trustees v. Rice, that the claim of McCulloch was by the Treaty of Peace of 1783 made good to him; whereupon the General Assembly ordered the refunding of the foregoing amount, which had been invested in United States stock, to the State Treasury in trust for such of his debtors as had paid the Trustees. The University, however, had the receipt of the interest on the amount collected from time to time. Notwithstanding this, as will be hereafter seen, the act of 1794 was a distinct injury. It raised unfounded hopes and caused the University to be hated in a very powerful section of the State. It well nigh caused its ruin. Davie alludes to it in one of his letters, evidently with little hope.

“If any man of proper literary merit could be found imprudent enough to engage with us as President upon the prospect of our ten years fund, I hope the Board may have more discretion than to employ him. I still hope these funds may become permanent. As the proceeds of the confiscated lands will now soon be collected it may perhaps be in our power to employ another professor.” * * * Dr. McCorckle has pledged himself to demonstrate to the Board at the next meeting that we are able to employ all the officers the plan of education calls for, and pay them liberally, too. I am afraid it will remain a problem notwithstanding the doctor's learning and talents.”

We learn from a letter of Caldwell written in January, 1804, that it was his opinion that the chief cause of the outbreak of the hostility against the University in the General Assembly of 1800 was the litigation instituted by the Trustees under the authority of the act of 1794. Having enjoyed these lands for about twenty years since the confiscation law was passed, it was in accordance with human nature for their possessors to be angry with a corporation which was actively pressing in the courts suits on these old claims. We find that George Fisher, of Rowan, a county adjoining that in which most of them resided, made the motion, which was supported by all the members from that and the adjacent counties with only four exceptions, to repeal the act.

A letter from a “Gentleman in Raleigh” to the editors of a journal called “The Anthology,” in relation to the literature of North Carolina, states in regard to the University:

Such was the popular odium at this time against the University that the General Assembly of 1800 not only repealed the act of 1794, but, notwithstanding the strenuous exertions of some of the ablest men of the day, went further and repealed that of 1789, granting escheated property. So far as the hostile legislation affected confiscated property, it was not of much consequence, because the grant was to expire in 1804 and the courts would have forced the University to disgorge the receipts from the mortgages and liens of McCulloch. But the deprivation of escheats, if successfully carried out, would have been fatal. It would have taken away the unclaimed land warrants located in Tennessee, the proceeds of which were the interest bearing endowment prior to the Civil War.

But it was not carried into effect. In the first place the Court of Conference in the case of University v. Foy, 1 Murphy, 58, decided the repealing act unconstitutional; and although this case was overruled by that of University v. Maultsby, 8 Ired. Eq., 257, the action of the court, and we hope a change of sentiment, led the General Assembly in 1805 to restore the escheats. One of the strongest advocates of such restoration was Maurice Moore, heretofore described as one of the early students. I have examined the votes on this drastic measure and find them chiefly, but not entirely, on party lines. The names of those who stood by the institution on this vital question should be recorded.

The Senators were Henry S. Bonner, of Beaufort; John Johnston, of Bertie; I. Lewis, of Bladen; Benjamin Smith, of Brunswick; Caleb Phifer, of Cabarrus; William Gaston, of Craven; Bythell Bell, of Edgecombe; Jordan Hill, of Franklin; Thomas Taylor, of Granville; Robert White, of Green; Stephen W. Conner, of Halifax; Thomas Wynns, of Hertford; Joseph Masters, of Hyde; Durant Hatch, of Jones; Wm. McKenzie, of Martin; John H. Drake, of Nash; John Hill, of New Hanover; John M. Beauford, of Northampton; David Ray, of Orange; Frederick Bryan, of Pitt; Elias Barnes, of Robeson; James Collier, of Warren; Richard Croom, of Greene.

John Johnston was a nephew of Governor Samuel Johnston. Wm. Gaston at the age of twenty-two was beginning his long career of enlightened public service, always advocating liberal and progressive ideas. He made a motion which would have secured to the University all lands actually taken into the possession of the Trustees, but it was voted down. Senator Benjamin Smith is the same who, at the first meeting of the Board in 1790, donated Tennessee land warrants to the new institution. He induced the Senate by his powerful influence to agree to refer the whole matter to a joint committee, but the House refused to agree to it.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 32 to 23, having already passed the House by the decisive majority of 82 to 35. Among the minority Senators I notice only one who attained any eminence: Peter Forney, of Lincoln, who was afterwards a member of Congress. Of the majority, Senators Smith became Governor, Gaston a member of Congress and Judge of the Supreme Court of our State, Wynns, after whom Winton is named, a member of Congress.

The worthy President was in those days a fighting member of the Church militant. We have a long and extremely spirited reply of his to an attack on the University for which he held Basil Gaither, Senator from Rowan, Absalom Tatum, Commoner from the borough of Hillsboro, who had once been a friend of the institution, James Welbourn, Senator from Wilkes and William Slade, Commoner from Edenton, responsible. An analysis of this open letter gives a good idea of arguments used by the opponents of higher education a century ago, and of Caldwell's style and manner of answering them.

For the purpose of more thoroughly realizing the escheats, which had been re-granted to the institution, the State was divided in 1809 into ten districts and an attorney over each appointed. Naturally the friends of education were chosen and hence their names should be recorded. For the 1st District beginning with Ashe, Israel Pickens of Burke and Robert H. Burton of Lincoln; for the 2nd beginning with Rowan, Lewis Beard of Salisbury; for the 3rd beginning with Anson, John Cameron of Fayetteville and Alexander McMillan of Richmond County; for the 4th beginning with New Hanover, Samuel R. Jocelyn of Wilmington; for the 5th beginning with Chatham, A. D. Murphey of Hillsboro; for the 6th beginning with Halifax, John Whitaker of Halifax; for the 7th beginning with Carteret, Wright C. Stanly and John T. West, both of Newbern; for the 8th beginning with Hyde, John Roulhac of Martin County and Thomas B. Haughton of Washington County; for the 9th beginning with Bertie, Samuel Turner of Bertie; for the 10th beginning with Wake, Robert H. Jones of Warren.

Any two Trustees, with the Attorney, were authorized to compromise all litigation. They might select three freeholders to fix the price of land, which might be sold on a credit of one, two and three years, with a discount of six per cent allowed for cash. The Attorneys were allowed three per cent commissions for selling, and two and a half per cent for collecting and paying over the money. In case of suit fees usual among lawyers could be charged. Annual reports must be made. Amounts over $1,000 were to be remitted in one month. Less amounts within three months. As might be expected the commissions were increased in special cases. In settling with Samuel R. Jocelyn he was, on account of great and signal services, allowed ten per cent on sales, and was not charged with failure to collect $3,218. This was very handsome, as his sales amounted to $21,800.

At the same session of the Board Samuel Polk of Tennessee was authorized to sell all the Gerrard lands except his “service right,” 2,560 acres. Under this authority Col. Wm. Polk became the purchaser at the price of $4,352, for all which could be identified.

The receipts mainly from this source and from escheats were so liberal about this time that the Trustees were not only able to pay for the South Building, but to buy $11,050 stock in the Bank of Newbern, $8,400 in the Bank of Cape Fear, and $2,000 in the State Bank of N. C. Twenty shares of the Newbern Bank were bought of Judge Gaston at 15 per cent premium and 27 shares of Cape Fear at 25 per cent premium of Judge Murphey. Dividends of 8 and 10 per cent per annum were received from the State Bank in addition to a bonus of 17 1-2 per cent.

As in duty bound the Trustees were active and watchful in claiming the rights devolved by the law upon them, yet whenever a case appealing to their generous feelings came up they were sufficiently liberal. I give one example: John R. Donnell, afterwards a Superior Court Judge, who graduated at the University with highest honors in 1807, was the heir of an uncle who owned a plantation in Lenoir County. As young Donnell was born in Ireland, he could not, as the law then stood, inherit the land. The Trustees in 1810 relinquished their claim, taking the precaution, however, to have the General Assembly approve their action.

I find an application for relief by Jonathan Price. In a letter dated July 21st, 1817, he stated that the State, in 1792 and 1794, loaned him and Christmas, (William Christmas, doubtless, the Surveyor who laid out the city of Raleigh, Senator from Franklin), money to complete a map of the State from actual survey. This debt was transferred to the University. Christmas deserted him and Strother took his place. In this work he had spent the prime of his life and his little patrimony. The work commanded the admiration not only of our sister States, but of European Reviewers. One of the English Reviews pronounced the map worthy to be classed among the first published of its kind in the world. Some of the States have made provision for the publication of the maps of their territories “on the plan of that of Price and Strother,” and have voted ample means for the purpose. He pathetically adds, “May the persons employed reap the reward of their labors, and not, like me, in the winter of their age, be left in the pinching hands of poverty, nor doomed to the melancholy reflection, that on one hand a grave is yawning to receive them and on the other a prison. But I should feel proud, even in a dungeon, of the advantages which the present generation are receiving, and which posterity will receive, from the time and fortune I have devoted to my country; and though my feelings make my old hand tremble while I write, my heart beats with honest exultation in the recollection that my labors will survive me.” He applied to the legislature for relief. If that should be refused, he offered, if the University withdraw the process issued against him, to give one-half of all sums due him for maps sold, and half of future sales during his life, reserving the other half as a small pittance for his maintenance; after his death the copyright and all unsold to go to the University. It must be remembered that at this time a debtor could be imprisoned by the creditor twenty days before taking the proper oath and being released.

Three members of the Executive Committee, Messrs. Porter, Haywood and Polk, authorized the recall of the ca-sa which had been issued and reference of the matter to the Board of Trustees. At their next meeting further action for the collection of the debt, £698, 18s. was indefinitely suspended on payment of costs, the reason given being the poverty of the defendant. The offer of Mr. Price with regard to sales and copyright was generously not accepted.

The map referred to was the only large, or wall, map until that of McRae was published in 1831.

The first Commencement during which diplomas were granted was on July 4, 1798. Seven young men headed the honorable procession of graduates of the University of North Carolina.

It is proper to name all of these graduate fathers. Samuel Hinton of Wake, a farmer; William Houston, a physician of Iredell; Hinton James, the first student; Robert Locke, farmer of Rowan; Alexander Osborne, physician of Rowan; Edwin Jay Osborne, lawyer of Salisbury and New York; Adam A. Springs, planter of Mecklenburg, all prominent and useful citizens. Houston, Locke and Springs were distinguished.

The Committee of Visitation after expressing their high sense of the talents of the gentlemen engaged in the competition in declamation, awarded the first honor to Mr. Nathaniel W. Williams of Tennessee, the second to Mr. Richard Eagles of Brunswick, and the third to Mr. John B. Baker of Gates. It appearing that there was a tendency to adopt dramatic acting, General Davie strongly advised against it.

He wrote, “Dramas are by no means so well calculated for improvement in elocution as single speeches. If the Faculty insist on this kind of exhibition the Board must interfere. Our object is to make the students men, not players.” It appears that very harsh criticism of the teaching and morals of the institution had been idulged in in some quarters. Davie remarks concerning this: “Human malevolence in some, interested views in others, the ignorance and caprice of parents, will continue to injure our institution, until it has acquired some stability, some fixed character, and this process will require some years.”

The creation of the spirit of dramatic acting was due to the influence of a very interesting person, William Augustus Richards, the Tutor in the Preparatory Department, of whom we have an excellent sketch by Judge Murphey. He was a native of London, and had a fair education. For some reason he left home and enlisted as a common sailor, serving both on merchantmen and men of war. Having aspirations for a higher life, he deserted his ship at either Baltimore or Norfolk and was saved from the searching party by the kindness of an old lady, who had pity on his forlorn condition. By accident he met the manager of a strolling band of players and joined the company, gaining of course only a small pittance for his services. In the course of their journeyings they reached Warrenton in North Carolina, the seat of an excellent Academy, under the management of Mr. Marcus George, the teacher of many of our best men, among them Chief Justice Ruffin and Weldon N. Edwards, a member of Congress and President of the Convention of 1861. Two of the Trustees of the Academy, Dr. Gloster and Mr. Wm. Falkener, discerned in Richards qualities superior to his station and procured his appointment as assistant to Mr. George. Thence he was induced to come to the University as Tutor, and till his death in December, 1798, discharged his duties, in the language of the Board of Trustees, “with singular reputation to himself and advantage to the institution.” Judge Murphey says, “His acquaintance with the stage in some degree vitiated his morals and gave an air of affectation to his manners. But these defects he greatly corrected before his death, and counterbalanced by his many good qualities of mind and heart.” He naturally was interested in instructing the young men in elocution, and his proposal to deliver lectures on oratory was accepted by the Trustees, but its execution was prevented by his death. It was he who induced the Literary Societies to join in substituting for a time a dramatic performance for all other duties. It is allowable to conjecture that the scenery in Williamsboro, a few miles from Warrenton, which they purchased for the occasion, was the tristes reliquiae of the strolling company, which he left for more serious and useful work.

The term preceding the Commencement of 1799 was especially stormy. For some reason Mr. Gillaspie became personally obnoxious and the students broke out in rebellion against the laws and the Faculty. They actually, according to the testimony of Mr. Caldwell. “beat Mr. Gillaspie personally, waylaid and stoned Mr. Webb, accosted Mr. Flinn with the intention of beating him, but were diverted from it, and at length uttered violent threats against Mr. Murphey and Mr. Caldwell, which were never put into execution.” The disorders were going on for a week. The students proposed to Mr. Caldwell that he should assume the supreme authority, which request was, in his own language, “rejected with contempt. It was necessary to summon the Trustees for the appointment of a superintendent and restoring submission to the laws.” Three of the worst offenders were dismissed from the institution.

The effect of these disorders, of course, was to diminish the number of the students. While there were eight graduates in 1799, there were only three in 1800. The Faculty all tendered their resignations, so that there was danger of the University failing for want of teachers. In November, 1799, a committee of the Trustees, by order of the Board, advertised for a Professor of Natural, Moral and Political Philosophy, of the Languages and Belles Lettres, and of Mathematics. They stated that the salary and emoluments of each professorship had been upwards of 500 dollars per annum, exclusive of board at Commons. A Tutor in the Preparatory Department was also wanted at a salary of 200 dollars and board. The result of this glittering offer was the re-election of Caldwell to the Chair of Mathematics, also to succeed Gillaspie as Presiding Professor, and of Wm. Edwards Webb to be Professor of Languages in the place of Holmes.

From time to time the By-Laws or, as they were called, Ordinances were revised and much enlarged. I give some of the changes, deemed of interest. The Faculty consisted of the President, Professors and Tutors, the President having two votes in case of a tie.

They must not be members of either of the societies or even attend a meeting.

Each was bound to enforce the laws and report all breaches.

They must hold monthly meetings and a report of their proceedings must be submitted to the Trustees. A history of each student must be kept.

The winter session must begin on the 1st of January, if there one student to form a class, if not as soon as there shall be.

Examinations for admission were in the presence of all the Faculty.

Tuition and board at Steward's Hall were payable in advance. If the student arrived at the middle of the session or afterwards, he paid one-half.

Each student must buy a copy of the laws for 12 1-2 cents. The certificate of membership was endorsed on the copy; and each must pledge his truth and honor to obey the laws.

The Faculty were authorized to dismiss a student for general worthlessness, without specifying a particular offence.

Even when not in study hours students must observe “proper silence and respectful deportment.”

After the resignation of John Taylor, usually known as Buck Taylor, Pleasant Henderson, a Major of Cavalry under Col. Malready in the Revolutionary War, the youngest son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Williams) Henderson, brother of Judge Richard, who was father of Archibald and Chief Justice Henderson, was for some years the Steward of the University. Besides this position, he was during the sessions of the General Assembly Reading Clerk of the House of Commons. He married Sarah, daughter of Col. James Martin, brother of Governor Alexander Martin. The late Hamilton C. Jones, Reporter of the Supreme Court, married his daughter. He removed to Tennessee in 1831.

The next Steward was Samuel Love, who came to Chapel Hill from Virginia. His son, Wm. Caldwell Love, was a student in 1802, but did not graduate, settled in Salisbury as a lawyer, served one term in Congress, and was one of our Trustees from 1814 to 1818.

Mr. Love was succeeded by Wm. Barbee, son of Christopher Barbee, one of the donors of the University site. He lived for some time in Chapel Hill and then succeeded to part of his father's land, his home being on a conspicuous hill called “the Mountain,” about two and a half miles east from Piney Prospect. As the village became more populous boarding at Commons became less favored, especially among the wealthier students. The compulsory feature was relaxed and finally abolished. Mr. Barbee was a member of the House of Commons in 1819.

In 1810 it was concluded to create a new office with a salary of $20 a year, called Superintendency of Buildings and Lands. The first Superintendent was John Taylor, the elder, usually called Buck Taylor. He soon gave place to Wm. Barbee, the Steward, who held both offices for several years.

The records show that some of the students were abundantly wild in the early sessions of the University. In addition to the riots of 1798-99 the Faculty records, though incomplete, show that drinking and fights and rowdyism were too frequent. A distinguished statesman, Thomas Hart Benton, figured in a dangerous fray, drawing a pistol on Archibald Lytle, of Tennessee, the difficulty occasioned by Benton's having struck his adversary's nephew, a lad in the Grammar School. Lytle excused himself for not engaging in a duel with Benton by the plea that he had come a long distance at great expense for an education and could not afford to be expelled. We have such entries as these: “H. M. expelled for gross insolence in the Preparatory School. T. N. suspended for six months and recommended for expulsion for cutting C. I. over the eye with a stick.” The Trustees declined to expel him. As to the charge of theft brought against one who afterwards became famous in the councils of the nation, I conclude that it arose from a mistake, distorted by the fierce party spirit of the day.

A member of the Grammar School, “M. J., severely whipped for stabbing O. J. with a pen-knife in the shoulders.” “W. R. suspended for kindling a fire in the house of the Trustees with intent to burn it.” “J. G. was suspended for stealing beehives.” Mr. Caldwell reports to the Trustees: “It is no uncommon thing for the students to go out at night at a very late hour and take bee-hives from the inhabitants of the village and the country round. They have found safety in the caution they practice.”

Other entries are: “W. K. admonished before all the students for exploding powder and refusing to go into recitation when ordered.” “R. A. carried a keg of whiskey into his room, and he, A. J. and R. C. had a spree. He also associated with two suspended persons. R. A. was sentenced (offence not given) to sign a confession and read it before the students assembled for prayers. H. N. was expelled by the Trustees for gross insolence in the Preparatory School.”

At a somewhat later period H. B. was expelled for insolence to the President while suppressing a disturbance, firing pistols in the buildings and breaking a window-glass over the head of Tutor Clopton while holding recitation. I do not think that the glass came into actual contact with the Tutor's cranium.

R. S. was expelled for firing pistols and for throwing stones at the Faculty. C. W. had the milder punishment of suspension for the rest of the session, as he only tried to break open a Tutor's door, and helped carry off a carriage and a gate.

J. R. received a forced vacation of six months for firing a pistol in college and helping block up the Chapel door, while J. A. and R. B. got four months for firing pistols only. Public admonition before Trustees, Faculty and students was meted to J. W. for carrying off a carriage and gate and beam of the bell, J. P. for rolling stones in the passage of the building, J. L. for abstracting the irons of the bell, R. L., S. K. and J. M. for carrying off a carriage, and N. B. for threats of violence to Mr. Johnston, the teacher of the Academy.

A brawl, which created great excitement, occurred during the Commencement of 1804 between Henry Chambers and a son of General Davie, Hyder Ali, humorously described by Dr. Hooper. The annual ball was held in the dining-room of Steward's Hall. The non-dancers stood around witnessing the amusement, and among those in front stood Chambers. While dancing Davie trod twice on the toes of Chambers, who demanded an explanation in such threatening manner as to incense the offender. Whereupon, though there was disclaimer of intention to insult, a fight ensued in the yard of the dwelling, Davie using a knife on account, he alleged, of the disparity in size between himself and antagonist, who was wounded, but not dangerously. The Trustees, being in session, tried the case, and on each signing a written declaration of regret and admission of being in fault, graciously pardoned the combatants. Davie expressed himself as especially grieved because he had used a weapon when his adversary was unarmed.

T. J. fired a pistol in college but afterwards helped to put down disorder; C. D. C. “mischeviously trimmed” a horse in Mr. Taylor's enclosure, but satisfied the owner. The sentences were as follows The pistol-firer and horse-trimmer were admonished before the Faculty and students; the carriage-taker and Chapel-blocker above mentioned, were admonished before the Board of Trustees.

I give these instances in order to show the character of the pranks thought to be “smart” and funny. There were many students who attended to their duties faithfully and obeyed the rules. For example the idea of Vice-President King or Governor Branch sallying out at midnight and stealing bee-hives is inconceivable. There were many like them.

The difficulties of government were greatly increased by the existence in the village of one of those fruitful sources of evil, a grog-shop, then called tavern. An Ordinance was adopted prohibiting the students visiting it, but of course it was brutum fulmen. Public opinion by no means condemned drinking ardent spirits, and for many years, if the drinking by students did not amount to excess, it was not regarded as a serious offence. The University law was directed mainly against intoxication. To preserve order and detect offenders, the Tutors were charged with the combined duties of detectives and constables. They must with eager ears listen for sounds of revelry or even innocent jollity and forthwith disperse the assembly, and report its members for punishment. Besides this some Professor was ordered to visit the rooms each morning. Of course, in addition to constant collision with high-spirited young men, such supervision had the tendency to impair their self-respect, and to make them regard the Faculty as their natural enemies.

In addition to the foregoing I find in Caldwell's handwriting a memorandum of what he called “notable transactions,” in 1802:

On the 28th of May a calf was placed in the Chapel and the benches pushed up against the pulpit. On the 5th of June a fence was built around the door of one Nutting and across the road. Captain Caldwell's house was stoned. Before these offences were committed the house of the Steward, Major Henderson, was stoned, one of his buildings overturned, his gate taken from its hinges and placed upon the pulpit.

On Sunday night the 27th of June a bee-hive was stolen from John Taylor, carried to the Preparatory School-house, the honey taken out and daubed over the floor. The hive was left in the woods.

Saturday night, 14th of August, Yeargin's corn was cut. A great number of toad-frogs and terrapins thrown into Monsieur Molie's room. He was also insulted with the utmost license in the dining-room and elsewhere; “nor was decency or order anywhere observed.” In the dining-room stamping and outrageous insults; outside hollowing and extreme disorder.

Wednesday night, 25th of August, Molie's room was burst open and a bee-hive placed in it. His bed was filled with a vast quantity of hair. The intention was professed to drive him from the University. President Caldwell adds the astounding information that this method of getting rid of officers by unremitting insult, abuse and violence has grown up with the institution. It was to put a stop to outrages like the foregoing that the ill-starred monitor experiment, hereafter to be described, was made.

President Caldwell frequently bewailed the committal of secret offences, and the impossibility of procuring evidence against the offenders. The students on the other hand evidently resented his acquiring information in any manner not known to them. On one occasion, in 1810, pistols were fired in the building, and stones thrown at the windows of a recitation room while the Professor and his class were at their duties. Some of the offenders were suspended and others reprimanded. Forty-six students, a majority, including many good, orderly men, presented a paper stating that they were “bound by every sentiment of honor and justice to request the names of those who had given secret information to the Faculty.” They charged that injustice had been done to some of those disciplined and urged the “impropriety of such information being received as evidence.” “Falsehoods will be invented and we will be convicted without knowing our accusers, or having an opportunity of acquitting ourselves of the charges against us.” * * * “We anxiously hope that by granting our petition you will put it out of the power of envious and malicious informers privately injuring the innocent.” The journals of the Faculty are so imperfect that it is not known how this attack on the fair dealing of the Faculty was received, but it is certain that the name of the informer was not given up.

In the spring of 1803, for some cause not now apparent, bitter quarrels occurred among some of the students, convulsing the student body and threatening to result in four or five duels. Challenges were given and accepted. There was one meeting, as the journal states that Samuel G. Hopkins, of Kentucky, and John H. Hawkins, of North Carolina, were expelled; the one for being in a duel and the other for acting as second, but further particulars are not given. Three or four other conflicts seemed imminent. Unable to cope with the difficulty Caldwell called in the help of the Trustees. The President of the Board, a Continental officer of the Revolution, who fought all the way from Brandywine to Eutaw, Col. Wm. Polk, famous for his chivalric courage and high sense of honor, responded with a letter to the students at large, blazing with earnest depreciation of their conduct. He is shocked by the report of the disgraceful and disorderly state of the University. I give a few sentences of his vigorous letter: “That students, almost grown, should at this late and inauspicious day, be guilty of the deplorable madness and folly of rashly sacrificing their character and fame, and laying in dust and ashes the fairest prospects of their country, through the destruction of her best anchor and hope, her University, is too much. It is folly in its most gigantic and hideous shape; insanity replete with consequences too direful and deleterious to be tolerated. In fine a deed of the kind meditated would operate as the worst of treason against the State.” But for the arrival of three students, Searcy, James Benton and Nunn, who gave the information that the dangers were passed, he would have collected some Trustees and with them visited the University “with the fixed determination to expel with the most marked ignominy and disgrace any student guilty of giving, bearing or accepting a challenge.” If the thing was not ended he urged Caldwell to send expresses for General Davie, Walter Alves, Richard Bennehan and Duncan Cameron, and notify him.

Col. Polk was a stern, determined, strong man, physically and mentally, ready to fight any man on provocation, of commanding influence by reason of his war record, unyielding will, a mind, not great but strong, vigorous and well-balanced, and extensive possessions in North Carolina and Tennessee. The would-be duelists probably expected his approbation. His letter, therefore, couched in such threatening language, effectually and promptly crushed the tendency to deadly conflicts—as it has turned out, forever. As showing the evil sentiments on this subject once prevailing, I state that two students of the College of South Carolina who had been friends, promising young men, fought a duel with pistols for slight cause, one being killed and the other so wounded that his life was blighted; and the second of one of them was a prominent lawyer, afterwards United States Senator Butler.

At this University there was no one killed or wounded. The two students who had been expelled, on the motion by the bye of General Davie, applied to have the sentence remitted, but a committee of which ex-Governor Martin was chairman reported against it and the application was refused. The Board adopted a most stringent ordinance, commanding the Faculty to expel and then hand over to the civil authorities all engaged in such conflicts as principals or as aiders and abetters.

By the kindness of General Rufus Barringer, we have a letter dated February 28, 1804, by a sprightly student, Henry Chambers, to Adlai Osborne, of Salisbury, a recent graduate, which describes a 22d February celebration at the University. There was prevailing what the physicians called “nervous fever.” One student, Philips of Edgecombe, uncle of ex-Judge Fred Philips, had died from it, and his countryman, Lemuel Sessoms, was not expected to live. He goes on, “My dear fellow, amidst all our afflictions of sickness, etc., we did not forget the 22d of February; nay we cherished a lively recollection of the character to whom that day gave birth and celebrated it in a pleasing and splendid manner. Yes; on that day we not only gave to the world the strongest, most conclusive indications of our love for the exalted, the immortal Washington, but showed incontestibly that we were hopeful votaries of Bacchus. About thirty of the most respectable students subscribed for a supper to be furnished by Mr. Nunn. The recent death of Mr. Philips prevented our having a dance as was intended, after the Senior class had finished speaking. Will you believe it—that out of that number there were but four or five sober. I, though strange to tell, was one of this number; but it was almost impossible for me to have been otherwise than sober as I was chosen President, and it was indispensable that I should keep cool. All the Faculty attended by special invitation. They gave us some good toasts, drank pretty freely, retired (except ——, whom we consider one of ourselves), early and left us to our own enjoyment. —— performed noble feats that day. He got intoxicated twice. He, some others and myself, commenced drinking wine at 11 o'clock in the forenoon and continued drinking until one. By this time all found it necessary to go to bed to get sober enough to attend the supper. This we did, and —— got ‘all seas over’ again. College exhibited a pretty scene next morning. I am unable to describe it.”

It is impossible to imagine such a debauch in our day. Chambers was in the Senior class, a man of talent, afterwards a leader in the anti-monitor dispute with the Trustees. He was a physician of strength.

Comical incidents and sayings form so large part of University life that I record some as specimens of what in the old days were considered amusing. I begin with two pictures of incorrigible boys.

For a short while during this period little descriptive notes were kept in a book, of which the following are specimens of the worst. For the most part they are favorable.

“R. B. is very indolent, seldom or ever recites his lessons well; and absents himself from the class at recitations, and for his absences seldom produces but frivolous excuses. He has made very little improvement and the repeated admonitions of his teachers are insufficient to rouse him to industry and to induce him to apply himself to study.”

“J. V., who reads nothing but Virgil, neither construes or parses very correctly. He is possessed of only moderate genius and is much inclined to be indolent. He takes little pains to improve and seldom remembers on one day what he has been told on the preceding. He is nearly grown and though he has been much at school, he has made but little progress and certainly will never be proficient in the languages.”

Of the anecdotes some are true, some mythical.

A letter written February 8, 1809, from Henry H. Watters to his mother, who lived near Wilmington, shows that, while the spirit of insubordination had not entirely died out, the buoyancy of youth had caused the students to turn their attention to other matters than resisting the Faculty, even using intensive culture to promote the growth of sprouting beard.

“The young men have for some time been very irregular in their conduct, and yesterday one received a public admonition and six or seven a private one. None have merited suspension or expulsion. A little mischief now and then is expected from young men and only serves to remind teachers of their duty. I have not spent but one quarter uselessly and that was in buying cider. I have purchased other things, but they are necessaries. I have received the articles which I purchased last fall at a vendue; A. Reaves, a noted gambler, was my security, so you see I have not lost my credit. I had a pair of shorts made of the cotton cassimere and am resolved to shine here, if not with you. My beard and whiskers are sprouting finely. I shave them once a week and grease them every night with tallow. I am told by some of my fellow students that greasing is a fine thing to make them grow, and I have no doubt that warm weather will accelerate the growth very much. You have again attacked me about my cough. I can tell you for the hundredth time that I have none. Next time you write to me about it you shall hear that I incessantly spit hogsheads of blood every day, eat nothing, and am nothing but skin and bone.”

“As politics are so often the topics of conversation I have written to Mr. Boylan to send me his paper and apply to Papa for the money. Mr. Caldwell is more fond of conversing on that than on any other subject, and without some information on the subject I will be unable to converse with him.”

When Paul C. Cameron matriculated in 1824 he had a letter of introduction from his father to a senior, James M. Wright, son of Judge Wright of Memphis, who lived in the South Building. Young Paul was a typical Highland Scotchman in appearance. His hair was red, his face was red, and he wore a suit of clothes of the color called turkey-red, made at home by his loving mother. As he walked up alone from the hotel he passed a group of students sitting on the steps of the north entrance of the Old East Building. One of them, attracted by the passing flash of rubicund light, called out, “Red Bird!” The Freshman's blood was as red as his face, hair and garments. He stopped and offered battle. “I can't whip you all at once,” he savagely said, “but if you will come out one at a time, I will whip every one of you.” No one felt inclined to accept the challenge. Young Wright took him in as his roommate and he never was hazed.

The following incident illustrates Dr. Caldwell in his gentler mood. He descried a student fastening a goose to the ridge of the roof of the East Building. “Ah, Joseph, Joseph,” said he, “I suppose thou art fixing up that poor bird there as an emblem of thyself.” This was the eminent editor of the National Intelligencer, Joseph Gales. Dr. Hooper adds, “Perhaps that severe cut from his teacher may have goaded the youthful truant to throw away the goose forever afterwards, reserving only a quill to write himself into renown.”

Among the mythical, I class that which tells of a plot to steal Dr. Caldwell's carriage and haul it to the foot of the hill on the Pittsboro road, a mile off, and leave it there. The Doctor, ever watchful, not averse to what was not considered dishonorable in that day, eavesdropping, heard of the scheme. When night came he hid in the vehicle and was transported by the jovial draught boys to what is now Purefoy's Mill, once Merritt's. As they were about to return to their rooms, he poked his head out of the window and blandly said, “Now, young gentlemen! will you please haul me back to my residence?” As the ascent was 250 feet towards the skies the chapfallen students were nearly exhausted, so much so that no further punishment was inflicted. I class this as mythical, although firmly credited in the old University circles, because the same story is told of an English pedagogue.

The next incident is probably true. The Doctor's nickname was Bolus, abbreviated from Diabolus. He got wind of a project to steal his turkeys, which he was fattening for some festival dinner. Hiding near the coop, he heard one fowl searcher stealthily creep therein and seizing the gobbler remark to his confederates, “Here, boys, is old Bolus!” Then grabbing the hen, “And here is Mrs. Bolus.” The Doctor then rushed forward so rapidly that in order to escape, the turkeys were dropped. He had them killed next day and invited the marauders and others to the dining at which they were served. After carving he looked significantly at the ringleader and asked, “Mr.—, will you have a slice of old Bolus, or do you prefer a slice of Mrs. Bolus?” He then gave the same option to the other delinquents successively. It is said that there was never a more severe punishment.

At one time it was the rule to require written excuses for delinquencies. Dr. Caldwell said, “Mr.—, you have offered seven excuses to four absences.” “All right, Doctor! let the surplus three go on the absences of next week.”

After graduation, Matthew Troy was a Tutor in the Preparatory Department—the hero of a story recorded by Dr. Hooper in his “Fifty Years Since.” “I told you,” he says, “that I remembered Mr. Troy with gratitude; but I believe nothing he ever taught me imprinted itself so deeply on my memory, as the burst of eloquence which the boys told me he had made, when he was a student, upon the charms of Miss Hay, afterwards the first Mrs. Gaston. Troy was given to the grandiloquent style, and on that occasion Miss Hay, who was the belle of the day, with a small party came to visit the Dialectic library. It was then kept in one of the common rooms inhabited by four students; and you may judge of the tumult that was excited by such visitation and how much sweeping and fixing up was required, and how many frightened boys ran to the neighboring rooms, and shut the doors, all but a small crack to peep through. On this memorable occasion, Troy had fixed himself in a corner of the room, whence he could contemplate the beautiful apparition in silent ecstacy. After she was gone the librarian called him out of his trance, and said: “Well, Troy, what do you think of her?” “Oh! sir, she's enough to melt the frigidity of a stoic, and excite rapture in the breast of a hermit”; to which he might have added: ‘And like another Helen, fire another Troy.’ A man that could talk in that way, appeared to me, in those days, to have reached the top of Parnassus.”

The following story was told me by Dr. Johnston B. Jones, of Chapel Hill and Charlotte.

There came a long, lank student from a region where literary culture was not abundant. The members of the Faculty were generally preachers and attendance on Prayers in the chapel twice a day was rigorously enforced. At the end of the first week the neophyte was reported habitually absent. He was sent for in hot haste “to appear before the Awful Tribunal,” as the students called Faculty meetings. “Mr.—!” said President Caldwell in his severest tones, “the Faculty have learned with deep regret that you have been in the last week absent from Prayers fourteen times. What have you to say, Sir?” With bland and innocent tones the culprit made the shocking answer, “I don't hold with Prars, Sir!” Without deigning to discuss the constitutional provision that every man has the right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, he was sternly informed that if he could not hold with Prayers, the University could not hold with him.

The late Judge William H. Battle, of the Graduating class of 1820, is authority for the happening on our University rostrum of an incident, which is sometimes credited elsewhere. A Freshman, who had a face of portentous gravity, had a coat of Revolutionary pattern, blue, with brass buttons, with short waist and tail reaching nearly to his heels. It was the rule that the students in turn should declaim a short extract of prose or poetry before the Faculty after evening Prayers. When our Freshman's time came he mounted the rostrum and in a peculiarly lugubrious and sing-song tone began Addison's Evening Hymn. He made no gesture until he reached the lines: “Soon as the evening shades prevail,The Moon takes up the wondrous tale,” and then he reached for the tail of his Revolutionary coat, and gently waved it in the air.

Some years later I witnessed a ludicrous scene something like that. A Senior of 1853, Wm. B. Dusenbury, was usually so droll that every one expected from him a humorous speech, called “a Funny.” Senior speaking came on, when every member of the class delivered an original oration. To the disgust of his audience, whose risible muscles were ready, expecting to be called into action by Dusenbury's wit, his speech was as dry as that of the average orator. But fortunately for our fun a fly happened to alight on his nose. Pausing in his utterance he gazed at the annoying animal in a cross-eyed way, and deliberately proceeded to catch him. After opening his hand to ascertain whether he had succeeded, he proceed with his speech. It was inexpressibly ludicrous. There was a wild burst of applause and inextinguishable laughter. Dr. Mitchell was sitting several yards in front of me and it added to our amusement to see how his bald head and huge frame, rocking for several minutes, gave evidence of his appreciation of the comicalness of the situation.

Dr. William Hooper says, “Our geographical recitations were enlivened by some rare scenes, one or two of which I will venture to relate.

“ ‘Mr. Sawney,’ says the Professor, ‘can you tell me anything about the animals of Greenland?’ ‘Yes, sir; there's one called the seal.’ ‘What kind of animal is it?’ ‘I don't remember exactly, Sir, but I believe he says it is a very amphib—a very amphibibobus kind of animal, Sir.’ The boys plagued him about this new kind of animal until he became as irritable as a nest of wasps by the way-side. Another student whom we will disguise under the name of Riggie, used to amuse various companions by telling the story upon Sawney. Now Riggie was the last man that ought to have made people merry over the blunders of others, for he had got his own nickname by his ludicrous pronunciation of Riga, a Russian town on the Baltic. He was asked where were the chief towns in Russia. He mentioned several, and among them Riggie on the Baltic, pronouncing the first syllable of the last word as it is heard in balance. The name Riggie stuck to him forever afterwards. But it often happens that he who smarts under a joke is most ready to avert pursuit by throwing ridicule upon others. Sawney, goaded by Riggie's persecution, determined to avenge himself; so he laid a trap for him. He got a friend to invite a company including Riggie into his room, and to call for the story, while in the meantime, Sawney concealed himself under the bed. Riggie, alas! unconscious of the Trojan horse within the walls, was going on with his story, full sail, the audience convulsed with the enjoyment and the anticipation of the paulo-post future; when in the very fifth act of the drama, out popped Sawney from his ambush, and pitched into the dismayed comedian. I shall not attempt to describe the battle; but it may well be supposed that Sawney, with wounded pride and bursting with long imprisoned rage, fought with more desperation, and that his adversary startled by a foe emerging suddenly from ambush, must have fought at a disadvantage.”

Here is Dr. Hooper's description of Steward's Hall. “Do you wish to know the ordinary bill of fare fifty years ago? As well as I recollect board per annum was thirty-five dollars! This, as you may suppose, would not support a very luxurious table, but the first body of Trustees were men who had seen the Revolution and they thought that that sum would furnish as good rations as those lived on who won our liberties. Coarse corn bread was the staple food. At dinner the only meat was a fat middling of bacon, surmounting a pile of coleworts; and the first thing after grace was said, (and sometimes before), was for one man, by a single horizontal sweep of his knife, to separate the ribs and lean from the fat, monopolize all the first to himself, and leave the remainder for his fellows. At breakfast we had wheat bread and butter and coffee. Our supper was coffee and the corn bread left at dinner, without butter. I remember the shouts of rejoicing when we had assembled at the door, and some one jumping up and looking in at the window, made proclamation—‘Wheat bread for supper, boys!’ And that wheat bread, over which such rejoicings were made, believe me, gentlemen and ladies, was manufactured out of wheat we call seconds, or, as some term it, grudgeons. You will not wonder, if, after such a supper, most of the students welcomed the approach of night, that as beasts of prey, they might go a prowling, and seize upon everything eatable within the compass of one or two miles; for, as I told you, our boys were followers of the laws of Lycurgus. Nothing was secure from the devouring torrent. Beehives though guarded by a thousand stings—all feathered tenants of the roost—watermelon and potato patches, roasting ears, etc., in fine everything that could appease hunger, was found missing in the morning. Those marauding parties at night were often wound up with setting the village to rights.”

A letter from State Treasurer Haywood in 1803 to Dr. Caldwell shows that according to modern ideas complaint of Steward's Hall fare may have been well founded. “In re matter of having Mr. and Mrs. Love furnish butter at supper, we think with you that a supper of Tea and Bread, or Coffee and Bread, without either butter or meat, has few charms, and can be but illy fitted to gratify palates accustomed to better fare, but the contract has been made and published and cannot be changed.” He adds with apparent naivete that there would be “no objection to students adding Butter out of their private Purse, but not to be charged to parents or guardians.” He means that the University should not include such self-furnished luxury in its official rendering of expenditures.

“Dr. Caldwell,” adds Dr. Hooper, “seems to have made it a part of his fixed policy, that no evil-doer should hope to escape by the swiftness of his heels. He was in the habit of rambling about at night, in search of adventures, and whenever he came across an unlucky wight engaged in taking off a gate, building a fence across the street, driving a brother calf or goat into the Chapel, or any similar exploit of genius, he no sooner hove in sight than he gave chase.”

“I will relate,” said Dr. Hooper, one of these nocturnal adventures, and it was only ‘unum e pluribus.’

“Dr. Caldwell was the podas okus Achilles of Chapel Hill, and he had more occasion for powers of pursuit than of contest, for his antagonists uniformly took to flight. You call this a ‘fast age,’ gentlemen, and so it is, but I don't know a man of this generation who is faster than was Dr. Caldwell. He was not satisfied to take two days in getting to Raleigh. He and I have set out for the metropolis in the morning, and stopped the first night at Pride's, ten miles this side, such was the state of the roads. Who knows but such snail-like progress as this suggested to him the first idea of the present railroad from Beaufort to the mountains, the honor of which, I believe, is now conceded to him? Now, O! muse, that didst inspire Homer to describe Achilles' pursuit of Hector, three times round the walls of Troy; or thou, gentle muse, who didst breathe thy soft afflatus upon Ovid when he described the race between Apollo and fair Daphne; or thou, Caledonian muse, who didst preside over Walter Scott, when he sung the race of Fitz James after Murdock of Alpine, or over Robert Burns, when he made immortal the flight of Tam O'Shanter from the witches,—either of you or all of the nine at once, assist me to describe the race between President Caldwell and Sophomore Faulkner (James T. Falconer), on the night of the....day of........18... The President lived at that time where the President's new residence is being erected, and was returning about bed-time “from walking up and down the earth,” 1

1 The appropriateness of this sentence is evident, as his nickname was Diabolus, or Bolus.

In 1812 we find in the Raleigh Register an enumeration of the improvements and advantages at the University. “In six months the Principal (South) Building will be ready for the reception of inhabitants. There will then be accommodations for eighty students. There will be separate halls for the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, one for the Library, and a Public Hall for Prayers. Each of the Society libraries contains 800 to 1,000 volumes, that of the University 1,500, a total of 3,100 to 3,500 volumes. A society has been recently formed for the study of sacred music. An organ ordered to be built in New York is already finished. Public worship is held every Sunday in Person Hall, which the students are bound to attend. The Faculty consists of a President, three Professors and one Tutor. The Academy for boys, under the charge of Rev. Abner W. Clopton, is subject to the supervision of the President. In it there are four classes. Every possible attention is paid to improvement in reading, writing, spelling and the English Grammar. Wm. Mimerall is now a resident of Chapel Hill for the purpose of teaching the French language, and is well qualified. The sessions run as follows: The first from 1st of January to 24th of May. The second from the 20th June to the 15th of November. The expenses are for the first session in the dining-room and College, Diet, $30; Tuition, $10; Room-rent, $1; Servant hire, $1.50; Library, 50 cents; Washing, $8; candles and wood, $4; Bed, $3.50; Total, $58.50. For the second session, the same. Plainness of dress and manners will be the rule.”

It is noticeable that “every possible attention” was not promised for Arithmetic. Whether Rev. Clopton was weak in that branch, or that he left it to be taught in the University classes we are not informed.

Dr. Caldwell, although his masterly temperament indicated that his proper place in the University world was that of Chief Executive officer, was also a devotee of Mathematics. At this period love of his chosen science predominated over his sense of duty for being chief ruler in the University world. He longed for time in which he could complete his work on Geometry and perfect himself in the knowledge of Astronomy and use of astronomical instruments. He accordingly proposed to the trustees to appoint a President in his place, and to give him the chair of Mathematics. They graciously adopted the plan and elected to the first place Rev. Robert Hett Chapman, D.D., a Presbyterian minister.

Rev. Dr. Chapman was a son of a Presbyterian minister of New York, who was a warm Whig in Revolutionary days, Rev. Jedediah Chapman. Robert was born in Orange, New Jersey, and graduated at Princeton in 1789. He was then Instructor in Queen's College, New Brunswick, until licensed to preach in 1793. For a year or two he was a Missionary in the Southern States and was then pastor at Rahway, installed in 1796, and afterwards took charge of a church in Cambridge, New York. To Dr. Caldwell's letter asking him to allow the use of his name for the Presidency of this University, he complied reluctantly with the request, saying, “in doing this I conceive that I should be called to relinquish the dearest object of my heart, the advancement of the cause of our Glorious Redeemer, but I would hope that my usefulness in this respect would be enlarged.” He adds, “I am in the midst of usefulness and reputation in this part of the world, but my salary, which the people have refused to increase, is utterly inadequate to the expense of a growing family.” The letter is dated February 12, 1812.

The Committee on Nominations in their report to the Board December 12, 1812, feelingly state that they accepted the resignation of Dr. Caldwell, but “the unpleasant forebodings at the resignation of an officer so distinguished for his zeal, usefulness and talents is in some sort dissipated by his willingness to accept the Professorship of Mathematics.” The Board unanimously elected Dr. Chapman President, with a salary of $1,200, and Dr. Caldwell, Professor, with $1,000. The Trustees present were: Governor Wm. Hawkins, Chairman ex-officio; Rev. Joseph Caldwell, John Haywood, Archibald D. Murphey, Duncan Cameron, Calvin Jones, David Stone, Atlas Jones, Henry Potter, Montfort Stokes and Robert Williams, the Treasurer. The latter must not be confounded with Robert Williams, M.D., of Pitt, also a Trustee. The General Assembly promptly elected the new President a member of the Board of Trustees.

The administration of Dr. Chapman is generally thought to have been a failure, but his defects seem to have been somewhat exaggerated, and some of the troubles proceeded evidently from the hot party spirit engendered by the war. He was a man of sincere piety, of strong principles, zealous in the spread of religion. He was a preacher, according to the testimony of Chief Justice Nash and Dr. James E. Morrison, very earnest, interesting and effective. Judge Nash said: “He was more highly gifted with power on his knees than any man I know. His public prayers warmed the hearts of all who heard them.” His manner in preaching was earnest and tender and he was successful beyond what is common in securing attention.

There was to his management of the University, however, a fatal obstacle. He was a Peace Federalist and his students were in favor of the war. It is difficult for us at this day to realize the keen disappointment and even rage felt by our people at the disasters on land, such as the surrender of Hull, the failure of the Canadian Invasion, and the capture of the Capital, and on the other hand the wild exultation over our naval victories. The one conspicuous land victory, gained after the signing of the treat, of peace, that of New Orleans, carried the American commander into the Presidential chair.

The Republican leaders had the address to turn the dissatisfaction arising from the imbecile conduct of the war from themselves to their opponents. They claimed the credit of all the victories and placed the discredit of defeats on the odious Federalists, who, they alleged, gave blue-light signals to British ships on our coast, intrigued at Hartford to join New England with Old England, encouraged Great Britain and discouraged Americans by denouncing the war as unjust and inexpedient. In the minds of most people Federalist was synonymous with Traitor.

Dr. Chapman was too honest to conceal or to tone down his views. The friction which the strict and irritative methods of discipline made inevitable at all times, was considered more harsh in the days of unreasoning partisan hatreds. If the good Doctor after peace was declared had continued unwaveringly in his executive position he might have lived down the memory of the outbreaks, which are connected so unpleasantly with his name. Dr. Caldwell had experiences quite as disastrous to his reputation as an administrator, but he continued so long and bravely in his position that his failures were forgotten in the light of his subsequent successes. Dr. Chapman preferred to go back to his more congenial work as a pastor and left his reputation as a University President to the mercy of adverse critics.

I give sketches of two outbreaks, which occurred during his administration, which illustrate the peculiar difficulties under which he labored, as well as the spirit of the times in Chapel Hill.

About twelve months after his inauguration in January, 1814, a series of outrages at night was perpetrated on his property. Dr. Caldwell, who could not resist the impulse to take the place of leader, determined to ferret out the offenders by process of law. Accordingly he applied to a Justice of the Peace, Major Pleasant Henderson, for a warrant against the unknown perpetrators, intending to call up all the students and examine them on oath. He was unaware that such precepts, called “general warrants,” had been resisted successfully in England by John Wilkes, had been decided to be illegal by Chief Justice Camden, that our people were so much interested in the controversy as to name one county Wilkes and another Camden, and had prohibited such warrants in our fundamental law, the Declaration of Rights. He forgot in his zeal that similar warrants, called Writs of Assistance to enforce the Navigation Acts, had led to armed resistance in New England and other commercial sections. The Justice refused the application, being rightly instructed as to the unlawfulness of general warrants; but the fiery doctor, who could be no more easily diverted from his purpose than a well-trained blood-hound from the track of a fleeing criminal, amended the precept by inserting the names of five students. A solemn court was held. The panic in this little community cannot be imagined. There were “great searchings of spirit.” The charges were, 1st., breaking into and entering the stable of President Chapman, and cutting the hair from the tail of a horse of the said Chapman; 2d., “for taking away and secreting a cart, the property of said Chapman;” 3d., “entering said Chapman's premises and turning over or throwing down a house; 4th., taking from its hinges and carrying away one of said Chapman's gates.”

It is interesting to note the behavior of the students under this trying ordeal. It is rather surprising that there was no combination for the purpose of refusing to answer. Possibly the Federalists among the students sympathized with the President. Some declared emphatically that they knew nothing about the matter. Among these were Aaron V. Brown, Bryan Grimes, father of the gallant General of the same name, and John Y. Mason. Others said that they knew nothing themselves, but gave the names of suspected persons, some of whom were undoubtedly not guilty. A few gave direct evidence tending to criminate Chambers, Thornton, Peebles, Knox and Haywood, the men charged by Dr. Caldwell, and as these refused to exculpate themselves, they were probably dismissed from the University, though the record has been lost. I knew Francis A. Thornton nearly half a century afterwards, when he was a member of the Secession Convention of 1861, a neighbor of Nat. Macon, a mild-mannered, gentlemanly, venerable man, with no suspicion of tar on his hands, tho' he was a fire-eating Secessionist. Thomas J. Haywood lived to be a Supreme Court Judge of Tennessee. All were probably good men moved by party feelings. The justice's examination violated all the rules of evidence. Leading questions were asked, the witnesses were required to give their suspicions, and hearsay evidence was even admitted as to what suspicions were entertained by others, and as to what students knew of any of the perpetrators. Among the innocent men whose names were mentioned as suspected was the eminent divine, Dr. Francis L. Hawks. A few, among them Bedford Brown and Edmund Wilkins, lawyer of Virginia, refused to answer these illegal questions, but strong men, such as David F. Caldwell, George C. Dromgoole, Charles L. Hinton, Charles Manly, Willie P. Mangum, appear to have made a clean breast of the facts they knew as well as the imaginations of their hearts. This is strong evidence that there were not a few who sympathized with the insulted President in his views. There was a strong anti-war party in the State, probably in the University, but they were of the modest and silent order.

Dr. Chapman was likewise insulted by receiving an anonymous letter which is quite unique, showing another outrage on his property, not included in the warrant. It was superscribed “Chapel Hill,” and is as follows:

This precious morceau of literature proves that the persecution was distinctly in resentment for the supposed leaning to Federalism of the clerical President. The insult is the more pointed because in the direction he is dignified only as “Mr. Robt. Chapman,” ignoring his official and ministerial character.

In November following the Faculty report that, though during this year they have passed through troublesome times, they have been enabled to stand at their post and maintain the authority of the institution. Some of the persons suspended last session have returned, and, with scarcely an exception, have been orderly. This session has been characterized by order and attention to business, with the exception of some irregularities originating in Steward's Hall, and for which one student was suspended. It is essential to the growing prosperity of the University that further suitable provision be made on this subject (i. e., management of Stewards Hall). With the expectation that the Board will make such provision the Faculty consider the Seminary as in a truly flourishing condition.

The other outbreak was on September 18, 1816. It injured the reputation of the President still more because the sympathy of the public was strongly with the students rather than the Faculty. The following account is substantially correct:

Wm. Biddle Shepard, a very able member of the Senior class, belonging to an influential family of New Bern, connected with the Donnells, the Blounts, the Bryans, the Pettigrews and others, had some sentences in his oration submitted for correction, of a strong political character favorable to the Republican party. These sentences, the President, exercising a discretion vested in him, cut out and ordered Shepard not to deliver them. This order, when the speech was delivered in public, was disobeyed, whereupon the President promptly commanded him to take his seat. The orator insisted on proceeding with his address. Numbers of the students shouted, “Go on! go on!” The prompter, Wm. Plummer, continued to perform the duty which he had undertaken. Shepard finished his speech in defiance of the President, being vociferously encouraged and applauded. The next day the students had a meeting in the Chapel and passed resolutions upholding the rightfulness of his and their conduct.

The Faculty acted promptly and sternly. Forty-six of the participants were summoned before them. Shepard was suspended for six months, and also George C. Dromgoole, for being the leader in upholding him. It was a material part of the charge against them, that they declared they were justifiable. The Trustees added the severer sentence of expulsion, declaring that the interest of the University required that the disobedience of which they were guilty should be punished in the most exemplary way. Thomas N. Mann was suspended for six months for participating in the riot, and “refusing to admit his guilt.” Plummer for prompting, applauding and afterwards justifying his conduct, was suspended for four months.

The punishment of those, who in a public meeting disapproved the action of the Faculty and upheld the conduct of Shepard and his aiders and abettor, was conditional. All who would in writing acknowledge, 1st., that those who applauded Shepard were guilty of gross disorder and disrespect of authority; 2d., that on the next morning they transgressed their duty as students and as good members of society, by proceeding with tumultuous noise and riotous behavior to the Public Hall, and uniting in an unlawful and disorderly assembly for the purpose of opposing the Faculty and violating the laws; 3d., that they hoped for forgiveness and solemnly promised faithfully to submit to the laws of the University and deport themselves as orderly members of society. A few refused to sign the paper and were suspended. Among the signers were such orderly students as Wm. M. Green, Wm. D. Moseley, Hugh Waddell, and Hamilton C. Jones.

Notices of the suspensions were sent to all other colleges.

In talking with the students of that day after they had become elderly men I derived the impression clearly that the President was generally blamed for his conduct in this matter. It was thought that, even if he concluded that Shepard's act was worthy of severe punishment, he should have allowed him to finish and prosecuted him afterwards. I happen to know that Plummer's father, Kemp Plummer, next year a Trustee, sustained his son. The criticism appears to be just, but certainly the President is not censurable for enforcing a law of the Trustees forbidding political speeches.

All the actors in this riot achieved success in life. The principal, Shepard, was afterwards a leading lawyer, and member of the State and national Legislatures. Plummer stood high as a lawyer and business man, as Chairman of the County Court of Warren, conducting its business with ability. Mann, after a brilliant beginning as a lawyer, member of the General Assembly and Charge d' Affaires to Guatemala, which position he obtained in the hope of curing the pulmonary consumption, under which he was suffering, passed away in early manhood. The fact has come down to us that Plummer, while unable to see the impropriety of his conduct, was desirous of returning and obtaining his diploma. His father, thinking he had been treated unjustly, refused to allow it. Mosely, Dromgoole, Waddell, Jones, Leak and Green are mentioned hereafter.

In October, 1816, in revenge doubtless for the action of the Faculty, a forerunner of the modern dynamiters perpetrated a dastardly outrage on one of the Tutors, John Patterson. Wm. M. Green, in a letter to one of the suspended, Martin Armstrong, told the story. “While sitting alone a few nights since I was startled by a tremendous report, when on inquiry I found that a brass knob from one of the doors had been filled with powder and placed before Patterson's door with a lighted match at the end of it. While in this state Glascock discovered as he thought a piece of fire dropped by accident and picked up this affair, but immediately dropped it. He had proceeded only a few steps when it exploded, but without injuring him.” It is easy to see that his life, or his eyesight was in imminent danger.

So far as the discipline extended the Faculty were victorious. Peter O. Picot, of Plymouth, writes to his cousin. Alfred M. Slade, who had been sent home for some fault, in doleful jeremiads: “All quiet here; the students seem to have lost their energy and yield implicitly to the yoke. The storm has blown over, but it has made impressions not easily to be eradicated, for this place looks like some half-deserted village, where you may see its inhabitants collected in small groups, talking over the news of the day, some commiserating your unjust fate, and others pouring out invectives against the Faculty for their palpably erroneous decision and rash suspensions.” * * * The suspension of Shepard, Plummer and Mann * * * was as unjust and unfounded as disgraceful to its authors, who seem to be callous to equity and justice.” In a letter written three weeks afterwards he says: “Never was a place so much altered as this. The Chapel looks destitute. No crowds to hear the news are seen running before a member of the Faculty. All is still! All is quiet! With implicit obedience they bend to the yoke, and undergo with patience the bondage of supercilious domination.” * * * “The poor Philanthropic members are to be pitied for they have but thirteen members.”

Wm. Mercer Green, from boyhood a model of correct behavior, wrote to his friend, Martin A. B. Armstrong, one of the victims: “All again is quiet; the countenances of our most noble and impartial Faculty are unclouded, and those of the boys marked with contempt. The thought of the near approach of the examination has dispelled all others, and the absence of the suspended, we are only able to call to mind when we look into the vacant rooms.” Then follows an evidence of the tact for which Bishop Green was distinguished through life. “I speak of others, my friend; rest assured you are not forgotten.”

While the first impulse of the students was to take sides against the Faculty there was a partial reaction. Hamilton C. Jones wrote in the February following the disturbance that “Shepard and Dromgoole are very much censured by all the sober part of the community. Shepard's speech has lost its popularity, and notwithstanding the great puffing of the New Bern editor has been stigmatized by every judge of literary merit as a flowery piece of nonsense.” It should be noted, however, that Jones and Shepard belonged to different societies and feeling between the two was then bitter. In the letter in which the above criticism occurs is found the following: “The Dialectic Society is still in a very flourishing condition. The other (Philanthropic), though increasing in numbers, degenerates in point of talent.” The writer too, though the Federalist party was practically extinct, sympathized with its principles, and afterwards followed Clay into the wigwam of the Whigs, while Shepard continued to be a warm Republican and became a Democratic leader.

It is altogether probable that this unfortunate trouble led to Dr. Chapman's leaving the institution, for at the meeting of the Board of Trustees next after its occurrence, November 23, 1816, he “in solemn form resigned his office as President of the University.” The words “in solemn form” have an ominous sound. His resignation was certainly associated in the public mind with the disturbance, which political partisans and advocates of free speech declared to be evidence of his incapacity. The letter of resignation dated three days before asserts that his duties had been performed “faithfully and successfully,” and that he was desirous to be more fully devoted to the gospel ministry. He gave notice that his place would be vacant at the close of the year 1817, but the Board accepted the resignation to take effect immediately, agreeing, however, unanimously to pay him one-half year's salary ($800), and to allow him to retain the President's house until the end of the next session. There is a notable absence of praises of his past services and regrets at his departure. Judge Cameron wrote to Judge Murphey on November 27, 1816, that he was glad Dr. Chapman had resigned—that he wished he had done so twelve months ago. “It would have been much better for himself and the University.” He presumed that Mr. Caldwell and the Committee of Appointments would open an official correspondence with Dr. Neil on the subject of the Presidency, but he sincerely wished that Mr. Caldwell will resume the office himself. Dr. Neil was not again mentioned; probably Dr. Wm. Neill, a Presbyterian clergyman of Philadelphia, President of Dickinson College in 1824-'29, an author.

The number of students, however, did not indicate any failure in Dr. Chapman's administration. For his term of four years the aggregate was 352, averaging 88 yearly, while for the four preceding years under Caldwell the numbers were 209, averaging 52 per annum. There were 63 graduates of Chapman's term, averaging about sixteen, while for the four preceding years there were 24, averaging six per annum. Of course most of the improvement was due to the spread of the desire and the means for attaining higher education. The war evidently stirred up the people. Taking the four years after Chapman left and Caldwell resumed the reins we have 465 students, averaging 116, and 50 graduates, averaging 12 1-2 per annum. The next four years showed still better with 640 matriculates, averaging 160, and 119 graduates, averaging 30. The reason for this rapid increase of prosperity will appear hereafter.

Doubtless, however, Dr. Chapman must have had unpleasant recollections of Chapel Hill. He had a grievous private affliction in the death of a daughter. In the village graveyard is a marble slab, which records that Margaretta Blanch, daughter of Rev. Robert H. and Hannah Chapman, died November 25, 1814, in the sixteenth year of her age.

We have the testimony of Rev. Dr. James E. Morrison, a Tutor under Chapman, that he “introduced a most salutary moral change.” He required the study of the Bible, as a textbook, and was the chief factor in organizing the Presbyterian church at Chapel Hill.

The teaching of the Bible probably had a flavor of Calvinism. In 1814 we find one class of the University Grammar School charged with 20 questions on the Catechism and 21 chapters in a book entitled, “Beauties of the Bible.” Another class had 39, a third 38, and the fourth 77 questions in the Catechism. The Senior class of the same school for entrance into the University were examined on four books of the Aeneid, ten chapters of St. John's Gospel in Greek, and 37 questions in the larger Catechism, well known as that used in the Presbyterian church, issued by the Westminister Assembly.

Dr. Chapman's degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by Williams' College, Mass., in 1815. After leaving the University he became pastor of Bethel church in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1823 he had a church near Winchester, Virginia, and then labored for a year or two as a Missionary in the hill country of North Carolina. His next and last charge was at Covington, Kentucky, in 1830. He was chosen to be a member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church in 1833, and died at Winchester on his return, June 18, 1833, and is there buried. In 1797 he married Hannah Arnette, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, who died at St. Louis, July 7, 1845. They left seven children, one of whom was Rev. Robert Hett Chapman, D.D., who is buried in the cemetery of the Presbyterian church at Asheville, N. C.

Of the teachers of the University during his term I have already mentioned Professor Rhea. A sketch of Tutor Hooper will be hereafter given. I find no further mention of John Harper Hinton than that he was Principal of Caswell Academy at Yanceyville in 1818, and probably afterwards. He was a native of Wake County.

James Morrison, who was Tutor from 1814 to 1817, studied divinity under Dr. Chapman and was ordained by the Orange Presbytery in 1817. He was for a while a teacher in the Raleigh Academy. He was pastor of New Providence church, Rockbridge County, Virginia, from 1819 to 1857. He was born in 1795 and died in 1870. Dr. Charles W. Dabney, once Director of the Experiment Station of North Carolina and State Chemist, then President of the University of Knoxville, and now of the University of Cincinnati, is a grandson of Dr. James Morrison.

Abner Wentworth Clopton, the Principal of the Grammar School, has been heretofore described. He died March 21, 1831, praised in a newspaper of the day as an “eminent and devoted member of the Baptist church, and one of the earliest and most efficient promoters of the temperance cause, and was equally attentive to the duties of the society of which he was a member.”

The University bells of the early period were very inferior. A second was bought in 1813. We are told that this was bought in Fayetteville; it, however, was so inferior that seven years afterwards another was procured. This latter on the procurement of the new was hung in the back yard of Dr. Mitchell's lot to be used when the clapper of the other was stolen or in hiding. About the same time the Trustees gave $50 for the transportation of the organ procured for the University by private contributions. This effort to make worship in the Chapel more attractive was supplemented by authorizing Tutor Hooper to procure shutters and a chandelier for the same.

On the resignation of Professor Rhea in 1814 the experiment was tried of a “Senior Tutor,” with a salary of $500, authorized to live out of the college buildings and to pay his own board, instead of eating without charge with the students at Commons. At the same time the Committee of Appointments were authorized to abolish Commons and rent out the building if they thought best. The dissatisfaction implied in this resolution resulted doubtless from the rise of prices in consequence of the war. The Committee concluded to add improvements to the building, paying Bennett Parton $456, and to allow an increase of 10 per cent (to $33) in price of board. The Senior Tutor was William Hooper, whose health, always delicate, probably required the superior diet of his mother's table. There were other Tutors, James E. Morrison and Abner Stith, and for part of the time John Harper Hinton. In 1815 the Committee on Salaries reported the salaries to be:

President $1,200 Professor of Mathematics 1,000 Senior Tutor 500 Two Tutors, $300 each 600 Board of two Tutors 150 Treasurer 200 $3,650

Rev. Dr. Joseph Caldwell was a second time elected President of the University on December 14, 1816. According to the stateliness of the old school a regular commission was issued to him:

The answer of the old school President was likewise in writing. He said, “with diffidence I will accept it, and if I shall ever be found to have gone wrong in discharge of the duties, I hope that the members of the Committee and of the Board in general will be ready to make allowances for defects, which may easily in me proceed from frailty and error without the intention of evil.”

The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the University in the same year.

The Trustees, who accepted Dr. Chapman's resignation, were Wm. Miller, Governor and Chairman; Judge Henry Potter, John Winslow, James Iredell, Calvin Jones, Atlas Jones, Robert Williams (of Raleigh); Henry Seawell, Robert H. Jones, Wm. Polk, Lewis Williams, Simmons J. Baker and A. D. Murphey. Dr. Chapman is also mentioned as present. Most of these were present at the election of Dr. Caldwell on December 17, 1816.

The Faculty records are singularly deficient during Chapman's administration and for 1817. The following, although incomplete, is accurate, I think:

The Graduates of 1813 were in number 14. The report of the class standing of the members has been lost. The following attained distinction. William E. Bailey was a Professor of Ancient Languages in the College of Charleston; William S. Blackledge was a Representative in Congress; John H. Hinton and Abner Stith, Tutors in the University of North Carolina and afterwards Classical teachers. William J. Polk was a prominent physician.

Of the matriculates with the class not graduating, Elijah Graves was a Presbyterian preacher and a teacher of repute; Alexander Long, a very popular physician, and Romulus M. Saunders, a Judge, Congressman and Minister to Spain; Robert Williams, State Adjutant-General and Secretary and Treasurer of the University.

To Rev. Jeremiah Atwater was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity (D. D.)

The Senior class of 1814, in numbers 16, was of a high grade. Aaron V. Brown was a member of the Tennessee Legislature, Governor, Representative in Congress and Postmaster-General; Charles L. Hinton, a planter, Trustee, Secretary and Treasurer of the University, and State Treasurer; Charles Manly, a Trustee of the University 42 years, and Secretary and Treasurer 46 years, Governor of the State; Samuel Pickens, Comptroller of Alabama; James Morrison, a Tutor in this institution and a Presbyterian preacher.

Of the Graduates of 1815, in numbers 18, some became famous.

John H. Bryan was elected to Congress and the State Senate at the same time, and chose the first. He was a Trustee of the University 45 years. Robert R. King was a Tutor and then a preacher. Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., an eminent preacher and author, in early life Reporter of the Supreme Court of N. C.; Edward Hall, Judge of the Superior Court; Willie P. Mangum was a Judge, Senator of the United States and President of the Senate; Mitchell was Clerk of the General Assembly and President of the Bank of Tennessee; Richard Dobbs Spaight was the last Governor elected by the General Assembly.

The honors are not mentioned in the reports, but tradition gives the highest to Croom, Bryan, Hawks and Spaight.

We have the exercises of the class of 1815. The Latin Salutatory was spoken by Isaac Croom, the Mathematical Oration by Richard Dobbs Spaight. There was a “Forensic Dispute,” anticipatory of the Know Nothing Party, “Whether Civil Offices should be open to Foreigners?” Matthew McClung opened as “Respondent,” Henry L. Plummer, called the Opponent, replied, and Hugh M. Stokes closed as Replicator. Another Forensic Dispute was “Whether Theatrical Amusements are Beneficial?” between Robert Hinton, Respondent, Semuel D. Hatch, Opponent, and Robert King, Replicator. A third dispute was between Priestly Mangum, Stephen Sneed and Edward Hill, the subject being “Should a Penitentiary be immediately erected?” This was followed by an oration on Natural Philosophy, by Stokely D. Mitchell, of Tennessee. In the afternoon there was the English Salutatory by John H. Bryan, followed by a three-handed dispute as to whether students should be subject to Military Duty, a theme which became very acute during our Civil War. The Respondent was Matthew Moore, the Opponent James Hooper, the Replicator George F. Graham. Francis L. Hawks closed with the Valedictory. His oratorical gifts were even then widely known and warmly admired.

The Committee of Appointments reported to the Board in November that they had selected for the Chair of Chemistry Denison Olmstead, a graduate of Yale, and had allowed him a year's study there before coming to the University. For the Chair of Mathematics, made vacant by the elevation of Dr. Caldwell, they had searched in vain in many directions for a suitable man, but, not discouraged, they had at length found Mr. Elisha Mitchell, of Connecticut, who had accepted their offer.

The choice was exceedingly fortunate as the newcomer was not only accomplished and able, but was resolved, like his President, to live and die among us. He was born August 19, 1793, and was, therefore, 24 years old. His native place was Washington, Litchfield County, Connecticut. His father was a farmer, Abner by name; his mother Phoebe Eliot, a lineal descendant of John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, whose Bible translated into their language is one of the famous books of the world. From her grandfather, Rev. Jared Eliot, M.D. and D.D., one of the most noted American savants of his day, he inherited his fondness for Natural Philosophy, Botany and Mineralogy. He was prepared for Yale College by Rev. Azel Bachus, a noted teacher, afterwards President of Hamilton College.

At Yale he graduated in 1813, one of the best scholars in his class. Among his class-mates were Denison Olmsted, destined to be his colleague; James Longstreet, author of Georgia Scenes and President of the University of Mississippi; Rev. George Singletary, an influential Episcopal clergyman; Thomas P. Devereux, an able lawyer and Reporter of our Supreme Court; and George E. Badger, an eminent Senator and Secretary of the Navy, who did not graduate.

After leaving Yale young Mitchell taught in the academy of Dr. Eigenbrodt at Jamaica, on Long Island. In 1815 we find him in charge of a school for girls in New London. The next year he was appointed a Tutor in his college, where he discharged his duties so faithfully and well that the Chaplain of the Senate of the United States, a son of President Dwight, of Yale, recommended him to Wm. Gaston, then a Representative in Congress from North Carolina and a Trustee of its University, as learned in Mathematics, as a cultured man of letters generally and as skillful in teaching.

On notification of his appointment Mr. Mitchell spent a few weeks at the Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts, receiving a license to preach as a Congregational minister. He reached Chapel Hill on the 31st of January, 1818, and at once entered on his nearly forty years' service, with the intelligence, zeal and success for which he was distinguished. He was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian church in 1821.

In the fall of 1819 young Mitchell went back to Connecticut in order to take to himself a wife. His bride was handsome, intellectual and well educated, Maria S. North, daughter of a physician of New London. Mrs. Spencer in the University Magazine of October, 1884, gives extracts from letters from her after her arrival at Chapel Hill. The first is dated January 1, 1820. I abridge the narrative. It shows vividly the discomforts of old-time traveling. They started from New York Monday before Christmas, 1819, and journeyed by boat to Elizabeth-town, thence by stage to Trenton; thence by stage to Philadelphia, stopping a day to visit Peale's Museum, West's picture and the Academy of Fine Arts. Thence they took boat down the Delaware to New Castle; thence traveled by stage to Frenchtown, where they again took a steamer, and after a moonlight trip reached Baltimore by sunrise on Thursday. There they had time to visit the Roman Catholic Cathedral and other places. After breakfast they boarded the steamer, United States, for Norfolk, starting at 9 o'clock. They had a delightful trip, the day being pleasant. One of their traveling companions was Dr. Simmons J. Baker, whom they describe as a man of liberal education, very lively and intelligent in his conversation—a Trustee of the University. “He sets a higher value on the amor patriae than any man I've ever known.” They reached Norfolk at 1 o'clock on Friday. As the stage was waiting they missed their dinner and speeded to the head of Dismal Swamp, eleven miles. Here they entered a canal boat 20 feet in length. “ 'Twas sunset of a rainy Christmas eve when we entered this boat and were drawn along for 22 miles at the rate of four miles an hour.” It was suggested that as Christmas was a holiday for slaves and many runaways were living in the swamp, firearms might be needed; so the gentlemen prepared their pistols, three in number for possible robbers. The five locks and three bridges impeded their progress so that they did not get through the swamp until 10 o'clock at night. The driver of the stage for passengers had been restive and gone off, so a one-horse gig and a one-horse cart for baggage were procured, and they made their way to a country tavern not far off, where they spent the night, sending to Elizabeth City for the stage to return for them. They ate breakfast in that town and dined in Edenton Saturday afternoon. As the steamboat for Plymouth was gone, in an open boat rowed by four men, over a rough sea, one of the passengers bailing out the water which poured through the gaping seams, the travelers in seven hours reached Plymouth. Here their first care was to unpack their trunks and dry their soaked clothes. They then proceeded by stage by way of Williamston and Tarboro to Raleigh, only to find that the stage to Chapel Hill had departed. They hired a special conveyance, whose driver was suspected of being a murderer, and the Professor thought it wise to hint that he was provided with firearms. After a day's ride through a country almost uninhabited the bride reached her new home December 29th, and her husband preached his first sermon on the following Sunday in the old Chapel or Person Hall.

For a while they boarded with Prof. Olmsted at the house built for the President, that nearest to the University buildings on the west, paying $288 a year for board, lodging and washing. Their host kept four servants besides the washerwoman. He had a wife and a son and, although a Connecticut man, paid $350 for a slave girl as a nurse to the youngster. Their household expenses were $1,000 a year.

Mrs. Mitchell expressed much admiration for the Doctor and Mrs. Caldwell. She spoke of the lady as being sociable and friendly. They gave a dinner party in honor of the newcomers, a handsome dinner, handsomely served. The bride had the honor of drinking the first glass of wine with Dr. Caldwell, the sentiment being, “To Absent Friends.” Womanlike she tells her mother of what a Carolina dinner consisted: “Roast turkey with duck, roast beef and broiled, broiled chicken, Irish and sweet potatoes, turnips, rice, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, stewed apples, boiled pudding, baked potato pudding, damson tarts, current tarts, apple pies and whips.”

She was pleased with her new surroundings, notwithstanding the two hundred curious eyes of the students when she was in the Chapel. She praises particularly the fine apples and abundance of them. Thirty years afterwards the neighborhood was equally distinguished for peaches. The orchards have been allowed to go to decay. She whiles away the hours when her husband is absent, by study, reciting to him at night. She asks her mother to send her some fine thread, worsted yarn and some needles, the package to be forwarded to New York in order to come in the next box of books. Fine materials for ladies work were not procurable at Chapel Hill in those days. It was not long before Dr. Olmsted bought himself a residence and the young couple started housekeeping in the home he vacated, which they occupied for thirty-seven years.

At the same session the Committee on Buildings were authorized to erect a building embracing recitation rooms whenever the funds would allow.

The vision of golden streams to flow from the escheated warrants of Tennessee emboldened the Trustees in 1818, with only one dissenting voice, to add the Professorship of Rhetoric and Logic and adjunct Professorship of Moral Philosophy. Rev. Shepard Kosciusko Kollock was chosen to fill the chair of Rhetoric and began at the same term with Olmsted, the fall term of 1819. His salary was $1,240. The President held the Chair of Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics. The Tutors were King and Simon Jordan. The number of students during the year was 118.

Dr. Kollock was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, June 25, 1795. His father, Shepard Kollock, was an officer in the Revolutionary Army, and hence delighted to honor the Polish patriot. The son graduated with high honors at Princeton at the age of sixteen. He began the study of Theology under his brother-in-law, Rev. John McDowell, D.D., and finished his course under his brother, Rev. Henry Kollock, D.D., whose ministerial work was at Savannah, Georgia. His first charge after ordination was that of the Presbyterian church at Oxford, North Carolina, marrying during his first year, 1818, Miss Sarah Blount Littlejohn, daughter of Thomas Blount Littlejohn. Coming to the University in 1819, he remained until 1825, when he accepted a call to the Presbyterian church of Norfolk, Virginia, where he remained about ten years. He then removed to New Jersey, and was for three years the successful agent of the Board of Missions, after which he was pastor successively in Burlington and Greenwich, both in New Jersey. In 1860 his health failed and he accepted light work in connection with a charitable institution in Philadelphia. He died April 7, 1865.

Dr. Kollock married a second time—Miss Sarah Harris, of Norfolk. Several children and more grandchildren of this marriage survive. A child, Sarah, of the first marriage, was one of the highly esteemed principals of the excellent School for Females of the Misses Nash and Miss Kollock. The Misses Nash are daughters of a sister of Professor Kollock, wife of Chief Justice Frederick Nash.

The election of Prof. Kollock caused an outcry against President Caldwell for filling the Faculty with Presbyterian preachers. This he emphatically denied in a letter to Treasurer Haywood, calling attention to the fact that Prof. Hooper was an Episcopalian, and making the rather odd statement that he would have been nominated to the Chair of Rhetoric and Logic if he had been ordained as a preacher and could have rendered to him as much relief in the pulpit as Mr. Kollock. Moreover, he contended that the best man should be selected regardless of denominational bias. It should be noticed too that Olmsted, howbeit a Presbyterian, although he studied Theology, was not licensed to preach. A letter from Treasurer Haywood to Judge Murphey of the date of April 26, 1819, shows that the President was so chagrined at the postponement by the Board of his nomination, that he hinted at accepting a Professorship in the South Carolina College. It is stated that the hesitation arose from the fear that this placing the religious instruction in the charge of two Presbyterian ministers might be against the Constitution, as exalting one denomination over the others. It is notable that Treasurer Haywood stated that he and Colonel Wm. Polk, adherents of the Protestant Episcopal church, were of the opinion that it was imprudent to elect one of their own faith, for fear of giving offence to other denominations. As Professor Hooper was then an Episcopalian, one other of the same faith would have been a too heavy weight to be carried by the struggling institution. This seems to prove that the prejudice from the old hostility to the Church of England, allied with the odious Colonial government, still lingered among our people. After Kollock's election the Faculty stood, Caldwell, Mitchell, Olmsted, Kollock, four to one Episcopalian, tottering towards the Baptists. As the Tutors changed almost yearly, I have not inquired into their religious proclivities.

The scheme of studies was of course considerably changed by the addition of the two new Professorships. For admission into the Freshman class the following was prescribed:

In Latin—The Grammar; Prosody; Corderius; 25 of Aesop's Fables; Selectæ Veteræ, or Sacra Historia; Cornelius Nepos or Viri Romae; Mair's Introduction; Seven Books of Cæsar's Commentaries; Ovidi Editio Expurgata; The Bucolics and Six Books of Aeneid in Virgil.

In Greek—Greek Grammar; St. John's Gospel and The Acts of the Apostles; Graeca Minora to Lucian's Dialogues.

It is remarkable that neither Arithmetic nor Algebra is in this list.

The Plan of Education in the University was as follows:

It is interesting to compare the foregoing scheme of studies with the plan of Judge Archibald Murphey, who distinguished himself about this time by a very able report on Public Education, and was a man of large experience at the bar, on the bench, and in the General Assembly, and had professional experience in the University. He moved for a committee to report “a revised plan of Education,” embodying “changes suited to the present improved state of science and general knowledge;” also to report a plan of new buildings. The following is the scheme, recommended but not adopted. It is analogous to our modern system of “Schools” or “Colleges,” the term classes, however, being used:

1. Class of Languages, embracing Greek and Latin; Murray's English Grammar; Elements of Chronology; Millot's Elements of History; Blair's Lectures.

2. Class of Mathematics.—Pure Mathematics up to Fluxions; Mensuration up to Astronomy; Geography.

3. Physical Sciences.—Embracing Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, Philosophy of Natural History; History of the Progress of Mathematics and Physical Sciences.

4. Class of the Moral and Political Sciences, embracing Philosophy of the Human Mind; Ethics and Practical Morality; Elements of Theology; History of the Progress of Ethical and Moral Sciences; Political Philosophy by Paley; Constitution of the United States by Publius; Political Economy by Genith.

It is very notable that the distinguished Judge did not include in his programme the study of the great sciences, Electricity or Magnetism; nor is there mention of Mechanics, Biology and similar branches now so much cultivated.

I am fortunately able to give information of interest with respect to this decade of University history, derived from letters by students. Bryan Grimes writes to his mother in January and April, 1813, regretting his inability to visit her during the approaching vacation because of the impossibility of hiring a horse. He requests one or two waistcoats to be sent him at the next session. He is inconvenienced by having only three pair of summer stockings, because the washerwoman brings in clothes weekly and, therefore, he must every alternate week wear a pair for seven days without change. All things seem to proceed in harmony in college. The students are exerting themselves for examinations, having no time for sport. He reminds his mother that she had promised to write every month, and he begs her to continue this frequency. He asks her to excuse his penmanship because he has no knife wherewith to mend his bad pen.

He testifies that he was received with great politeness, which indicates that the evil practice of hazing did not then afflict the institution. Before applying for admission into the Junior class he spent several days in assiduously reviewing Arithmetic, his passing on the Freshman and Sophomore studies not dispensing with this branch. Mr. Grimes proved to be a good student, but did not remain to graduate. He was in after-life a very influential and wealthy planter—a most worthy citizen.

In October, 1816, Peter C. Picot gives the history of a fight in which two students were involved. James R. Chalmers and Thomas G. Coleman were among those suspended for the Shepard riot. They concluded to sojourn at Hillsboro. A citizen of that town volunteered to reflect severely on the conduct of the students, for which Chalmers kicked him out of doors. In the progress of the fight Coleman, whose nickname was Cub, was severely choked. The offenders were about to be consigned to prison when Judge Thomas Ruffin, a Trustee of the University, appeared and settled the whole matter by a compromise. The adversary of Chalmers declined to prosecute him, on condition that the student, Coleman, should let the choker go free, a curious example of the doctrine of set-off.

Picot gives a pathetic story of Chapel Hill life. “The beautiful and accomplished Miss P.'s father is no more. Though the world will not grieve, nor has society to lament, for he was to the former a burden and to the latter a disgrace, yet a helpless girl, in the dawn of youth, has to mourn a disgraced father, for he died in jail and laid there some time, until they sent to the Governor to obtain leave to take him out. Oh! if you could have heard her shrieks and witnessed her lamentations it would have pierced your heart and rent your soul. But she has got pacified, and I had the inexpressible pleasure of accompanying her last Thursday evening to preaching.” The subsequent history of this consoled inconsolable damsel I have not been able to trace.

Martin W. B. Armstrong writes on January 31, 1818, for money on account of unexpected expenses. He was one of a committee selected to choose toasts for a dinner to be given on the “birthday of our political father,” and was bound therefore to subscribe for the dinner. “According to custom the Committee had to treat those from whom they received the distinction.” He was also with five others chosen as a manager of the ball to be given to the graduates at Commencement. For this honor he was “again forced to be at the expense of making college drunk.” He estimates the cost at two or three dollars. He regrets the expense for suitable clothes, which according to an account sent his father cost $56. He presses for more clothing for daily use. Cambric shirts are soon gone when they become crazy and old, and he requests that his mother will make him others. His cassimere pantaloons are worn through on the seat and are thin on the knees, and his only other pair requires washing after one week's wearing. “It will not be improper,” he adds, “to provide for another supply.”

Hamilton C. Jones wrote in the same year to Major Abraham Staples that the business of the Dialectic Society had been conducted with order since the repeal of the law compelling members to attend prayers, which had caused great disturbance. He praises in the highest terms the President, Samuel T. Hauser, of Stokes. The next question for debate was “Do we experience more pleasure in contemplating the works of Nature or of Art?” Jones was to advocate the claims of Nature, saying among other arguments “because no painter nor no sculpturer can produce in the mind of man the exquisite sensation produced in the mind of the lover from contemplating the fascinating charms of his Dulcinea.” He has many other arguments but this preponderates. We must presume that his adversary contended stoutly that the modern fine lady is in a large degree the work of Art and made some allusion to the known fact that Jones was desperately in love with a fair one in the village, whom he afterwards married. Miss Eliza Henderson.

As the notion was lodged in the public mind that Dr. Chapman failed as a disciplinarian, the disorders of September, 1818, must have been of some consolation to his friends. They heard of three students, after loading up with corn whiskey, tumultuously shouting on the streets of the village, breaking into a kitchen, beating a negro, and insulting his owner and family with loud vociferations. On the same day another threw stones at a dwelling. On the same day, being God's holy day, two others were drunken and noisy in the street. All but the stone-thrower were suspended for four months, though they might have escaped as the stone-hurler did by submitting to public admonition in the Chapel. At the time of these rowdy occurrences S. H. was admonished for being deficient in scholarship, often absent from his room and strongly suspected of participation in frequent explosions of gunpowder, and A. W. “after repeated warnings was dismissed for negligence of studies.”

We learn from a letter of James R. Chalmers, written in 1818 to Alfred M. Slade, that besides being suspended for participation in the street riots, one J. B. was charged with assisting in transporting to the third story of the South Building a large stone or other hard substance, with the intent to injure said building. President Caldwell swore out a warrant against him and he was keeping in hiding, attempting to collect evidence of his innocence. Slade was urged to write a letter avowing J. B.'s guiltlessness that “he may clear himself in the eyes of the Faculty, the Trustees and the world.”

In the next month a too lively Virginian was charged with the following offences:

1st. Torturing animals with spirits of turpentine. Doubtless this was the primeval joke of attaching rags saturated with the flaming fluid to the tail of an innocent canine, not with Sampson's motive of revenge on the hereditary enemies of his country, but for cruel delight over the antics of a frightened and tortured beast.

2d. With lying.

3d. With slandering the Faculty.

4th. With threatening physical violence to a member of the Faculty.

5th. With writing scurrilous and abusive stuff on the Chapel walls about the same.

6th. With drawing a dirk on a student.

The government of the village of Chapel Hill was primitive. All white males between 21 and 50 years of age were distributed into classes and in turn patrolled the streets at night. Slaves were liable to a whipping of ten lashes, or a fine of one dollar, for being absent from home without a written permit from the owner. Nor could a slave hire his own time.

Shooting firearms in the village “in sport, wantonness or licentiousness” was forbidden under a penalty of one dollar. But firing on public occasions or musters was not only not prohibited but encouraged. Two dollars was the penalty for working on Sundays in one's ordinary avocation, unless in case of necessity or mercy. Nor, with like exception, could any person buy or sell any article under penalty of five dollars, doubled in case of sales by merchants.

The streets were to be worked by male white persons between 18 and 45, and black males between 16 and 50. Fines for whites were inflicted for absences. Whipping for slaves was the rule, but owners could save them from punishment by paying a fine. The Commissioners were to pay one dollar for absence from meetings without excuse.

Most of the misconduct at this period consisted of fighting and annoyances to the Faculty. The war fever was partly the cause of the former. The familiar songs were all boastful of the deeds of Perry and McDonough, Decatur and Hull, and of General Jackson. But the war spirit was stimulated to action partly by use of intoxicating liquors so common that the Faculty hardly censured it except when drunkenness resulted; even then often not cutting the offender off from the institution. But this was not the sole cause. There was evidently a fashion to resort to bodily injury for fancied insults. It is noticeable that it was not considered derogatory to one's reputation to knock his antagonist down with a club, without warning. T. D. Donoho, afterwards a lawyer of repute, wrote to his friend Armstrong, who had felled W. H. Haywood in this manner, that all his friends sustained him as having acted properly.

Another class of offences was impertinent and offensive speeches and conduct towards the Tutors. Most of this arose from irritation at being ordered by men, little, if any, older than themselves, to repair to their rooms, when found visiting a friend after 8 o'clock at night. A son of Chief Justice Henderson, usually a polite and good-natured youth, stoutly insisted that the officer had no right to “order him about,” and submitted to being sent home, “rather than surrender his rights as a freeman.” Others, however, while obeying the officer's commands secretly vented their spite by exploding gunpowder at his door, throwing stones through his windows, shouting abusive words from a distance in the darkness, and other like amenities. One Tutor became so obnoxious by his tactless severity that it became necessary to fortify his window-panes with wooden shutters.

One of the Secretaries, Tutor Andrews, has left on record as evidence in a case on trial the dialogue between the Tutor and the student-offender, whom he found visiting a friend. It is worth quoting as showing the actual working of a hard law.

Tutor—Mr. H.—Do you know that the bell has rung for 8 o'clock?

Student—Yes, sir; I know that it has rung.

Tutor—Do you not intend to go to your room?

Student—I intend to go by and by.

Tutor—Why not now, Mr. H.?

Student—I wish to read some more before I go.

When Abner W. Clopton gave up the Grammar School in 1819, the University abandoned it. At that time there was an uncommonly good classical school in Hillsboro called the Hillsboro Academy. The general superintendence was under Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, but the active teacher was Mr. John Rogers, who had distinguished himself in his profession at Wilmington. President Caldwell induced them to agree that their institution should be preparatory to the University. Members of the faculty could participate in the periodical examinations of the pupils and those passing the examinations of the highest classes had a right to enter the University on certificate of the fact.

The old Grammar School house was then left to the bats and owls, but was after some years in the occupancy of a family whose head was the last survivor in this section of a class, important in the early settlement of the country, and interesting figures in fiction—that of the professional hunter. His name was Peyton Clements.

Notwithstanding that the University ceased its connection with a preparatory school at Chapel Hill, sundry teachers endeavored to supply its place. The first was a graduate of the class of 1816, James A. Craig, who advertised extensively in the Raleigh Register, then the State Gazette. We have no means of knowing his success, but feel sure that parents at a distance were not willing to send to him their boys of tender years. Certainly when Judge Battle and others in 1843 and 1844 attempted, with very competent teachers, to inaugurate a flourishing academy at Chapel Hill the number of pupils did not exceed a dozen, not one of whom was from abroad. The schools here relied on local patronage and that was meagre. Still from time to time, intermittently, there have been teachers of intelligence and skill, and many of their boys have taken a high stand in the University.

In this year (1822) the General Assembly authorized a Board of Agriculture, and in the next year gave the Board authority to employ a “person of competent skill and science to commence and carry on a geological and mineralogical survey of this State.” The modest sum of $250 per annum for four years, and a year in addition, was appropriated. The Board employed Professor Olmsted, who made a report which was published, the first probably of any State in the Union. After he returned to Yale the survey was continued by Prof. Mitchell, who made one report. The appropriation was not renewed. Both Professors made tours through the State. Part of the diary of Dr. Mitchell is published as the James Sprunt Historical Monograph of 1906.

Of the class of 1823, in number 28, Richmond M. Pearson, afterwards Judge of the Superior and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was first and spoke the Latin Salutatory. Wm. S. Chapman was also first with the Valedictory, afterwards a Judge in Alabama. Thomas G. Graham, second honor man, was a physician; Robert B. Gilliam became Speaker of the House and a Judge of the Superior Court; Daniel W. Courts became State Senator and Treasurer; George S. Bettner was a physician in New Bern and New York, and author of a book called “Acton, or the Circle of Life;” James H. Dickson was a physician of wide reputation, author of an admirable address before the Alumni Association; and James Augustus Washington achieved a national reputation as a physician.

Matriculating with these, though not graduating, were Wm. M. Inge, a Judge in Tennessee; Alexander D. Sims, a member of Congress in South Carolina; and Thomas Jefferson Green, a member of the Legislatures of North Carolina, Florida, California and Texas, a member of the Texas Congress when it was a Republic and a Brigadier-General in the Texan army.

The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on John Stark Ravenscroft, the first Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina.

We have the list of speakers on Commencement Day:

Richmond M. Pearson, the Latin Salutatory.

Thomas G. Graham, Natural Philosophy.

Debate—Ought Military Posts be established on Columbia River?, Alexander M. Boylan against James K. Leitch.

Robert B. Gilliam, American Literature.

George F. Davidson, Character of the Irish.

James H. Dickson, Will the new States of South America continue free?

James A. Washington, Superstition of the Hindoos.

George S. Bettner, Belles Lettres.

Daniel W. Courts, Theatrical Entertainments.

Thomas J. Sumner, Oratory.

John Rains, Effects of the Waverly Novels.

Wm. S. Chapman, Sympathy, with the Valedictory.

The grades of Pearson, Chapman and Graham have been mentioned. The third distinction was given to Bettner, Rains and Washington. What was called the “intermediate” grade was assigned to James H. Dickson, Robert B. Gilliam, Thomas J. Sumner, George F. Davidson, Daniel W. Courts and Matthias E. Sawyer.

Nineteen out of twenty-eight members of the Senior class of 1823 concluded, after they had passed their final examinations, to celebrate the event by having a “high old time.” They procured a large quantity of whiskey and brandy and carried it to a gushing spring north of the village, known as Foxhall, doubtless a corruption of Vauxhall, once a London pleasure resort, and proceeded to get on, as the phrase goes, a “glorious drunk.” The tradition of the extravagance of this carousal lingers yet about the village. After the reason of one of them was in a measure dethroned, he proceeded to make a wholesale toddy by pouring the liquor into the spring, forgetting how rapidly it would be diluted.

On being summoned before the Faculty the delinquents pleaded that they entered into the revelry because it was the last time they would be together, and these final “treats,” as they were called, were customary with the Senior classes. The sentence was that “proper concessions and acknowledgments” shall be made by all, except one, and that then their diplomas should be granted. Direful threatenings were made as to future like disorders. The excepted student almost lost his diploma, because, in addition to being inattentive to all his duties, he had behaved in a riotous manner on the streets after the “Senior treat.” Among the festive youths of 1823 were a future Chief Justice, a State Treasurer, two Judges of the Superior Court, four prominent physicians, several able lawyers and other like good citizens. It is comforting to know that the expected one wrote such a feeling and dignified letter of contrition as to induce the Faculty to pardon him and the tale of the class was not lessened.

About this time two students were accused of writing scurrilous and defamatory letters. One confessed and was reprimanded. The other, who falsely denied his guilt and had committed the same offence before, was suspended. He afterwards attained high legislative and judicial positions. It is altogether likely, though not so stated, that the defamation was abuse of the Faculty.

In February, 1824, President Caldwell addressed to the Board very important recommendations. The first was for the purchase of more books. Much advantage was derived from the expenditure for this purpose of the two dollars per annum fee from each student, but this was not sufficient. Without it “we must have become completely stationary, within limits, which if known to others, would have been disgraceful.” “A Professor in a college without books in tolerable supply, is analagous to the creation of nobility, which for want of estate is obliged to live in rags.” He then compares a bookless Professor to a lawyer without a legal library, to a shoemaker without awls or lasts, to a printer with insufficient types. Books were much cheaper in England than in America and cheaper on the Continent than in England.

He added that it was impossible to carry on the study of Natural, sometimes called Experimental, Philosophy, without a proper supply of apparatus. For the purchase of such a reliable agent is necessary. “An Astronomical Clock, a Transit Instrument, an Astronomical Telescope, are articles of high cost, and if they be not really good, they are so much money thrown away, only to tantalize us with standing objects of chagrin and disappointment.” Makers of philosophical apparatus, unless carefully watched, will have their defective articles “mingled with the mass of his instruments of the same kind and talked off upon the terms of the best.”

The President then modestly suggests his willingness to act for the Trustees, paying his own expenses. He would be compensated for the sacrifice by “personal improvement and accession of strength in regard to the affairs of the University.” He submits to the judgment of the Trustees. Whatever they shall judge to be the best he “shall be prepared to admit in a moment, and to settle upon it with the utmost complacency and conclusiveness.” The offer involved a trip to Europe, then a very expensive and prolonged journey, full of physical discomforts.

The Trustees felt strong enough to spend $6,000, to be divided equally between books and apparatus, and accepted the offer of the President. We have a long letter of his to Dr. Olmsted giving some account of his voyage. The writer was singularly lacking in enthusiasm, the wonderful sights of the Old World not seeming to quicken the heart-throbs of the back-woods mathematician. It is dated London, August 31, 1824. It was forwarded by “Y. A. Steamer, Thomas W. Evans, Liverpool,” and was received at New York October 4th. It is as follows:

Colonel Benjamin Forsyth was killed in battle in Canada in the war of 1812 and gave his name to a county. The education of his son, James N., was being paid for by the General Assembly. In 1824 he forfeited his place in the University by irregular conduct. He afterwards entered the navy and was lost with the ship Hornet, on which he was a petty officer.

One division of the Sophomores and the whole of the Freshman class absented themselves from recitation on the morning of Senior speaking. They were all required individually to acknowledge the impropriety of their conduct, and pledge themselves to refrain from similar conduct in the future. All gladly complied except R. J., who was dismissed. Ten days afterwards he made the required promises and was readmitted.

In 1824 occurred a flagrant outrage. A. A. and L. K. loaded themselves with whiskey in the village grog-shop, and arming themselves, one with a club and the other with a pistol, “sallied forth for the purpose of attacking the persons of different members of the Faculty.” They committed “violent outrages” on two of the persons hunted.

The Faculty concluded that extraordinary proceedings were necessary. The Trustees resident in Orange County were summoned to meet with the Faculty to consider the case, namely, Thomas D. Bennehan, Esq., Honorable Duncan Cameron, Francis L. Hawks, Esq., Hon. Thomas Ruffin, Dr. James S. Smith, Dr. James Webb.

The Faculty present were Rev. Elisha Mitchell, Presiding Professor; Ethan A. Andrews, Joseph H. Saunders, Elisha Young. Dr. Caldwell was in Europe.

The young criminals expressed their regret for their misconduct, but it appeared to the authorities assembled impossible that the peace and good order of the institution could be maintained, if such outrages were permitted to pass without exemplary punishment. The said A. A. and L. K. were therefore expelled. As we now say, “the line was drawn” at cudgelling the Faculty with sticks, while looking into the muzzle of loaded pistols.

W. R. was dismissed for twice throwing brickbats into the room of the Tutor.

A youth, who afterwards became a distinguished physician, came from the village in a state of intoxication and disturbed the good order of the College in a most outrageous and violent manner. As this was the first offence, he was sentenced to receive an admonition in the presence of the Faculty, and a minute of the proceedings was read in the Chapel after evening prayers.

There was a strange occurrence, at this day not to be accounted for. In November, 1828, after the students assembled for divine worship in the Chapel on Sunday morning, thirty of them retired from the hall, not all at once but by degrees. The Faculty proceeded next morning to investigate the matter. It was explained that two laws of the institution, one certainly and the other apparently, had been broken. The first was absence from Divine service, the second combination or conspiracy to break a law. The absentees were severally examined as to their conduct. Seven at once gave satisfactory excuses, and were allowed to retire. At an adjourned meeting six others offered valid excuses for withdrawing. The remaining seventeen after being questioned disavowed any combination, and the trial was ended. The causa causans of the movement cannot be ascertained, possibly some transient anger against the preacher. Some of the most orderly students were among the retiring party, for instance, Wm. Eaton, R. H. Smith of Halifax, Cadwallader Jones of Hillsboro, Judge James Grant of Iowa.

On the resignation of Professor Olmsted, passed into the ownership of the University the dwelling occupied for many years by Dr. James Phillips and of late by President Venable. Belonging to a widow lady, Mrs. Puckett, it was bought from her for $1,300 by Dr. Denison Olmsted, who spent $900 on it by way of additions and repairs. After having converted, to use his language, “an awkward, inconvenient and rude structure into a handsome, commodious and neat dwelling,” a description which must be deemed quite roseate by those who have seen its perpendicular outlines and inconvenient interior, he induced the Board of Trustees to take it off his hands at cost, using the argument that the expense of removal from New Haven and of living had exhausted his funds. The lot was set apart for the use of the Professors of Chemistry, but between Dr. Olmsted and Dr. Venable there was an interregnum of over three-score years.

Dr. Olmsted resigned his professorship in December, 1825, and accepted that of Mathematics in Yale College, (now University). In 1836 he was transferred to the Chair of Astronomy and Natural Philosophy. He published text-books of value in the departments of science under his charge, and a number of biographical memoirs. He made important observations on hail, meteors, the aurora borealis, etc., which were published in the Smithsonian Contributions. He was born in East Hartford, Conn., June 18, 1791, and died May 13, 1859. His work in North Carolina has been described elsewhere.

The distinctions of the class of 1825 were awarded as follows:

1st. To John M. Gee, Wm. H. Hodge, and Marshall T. Polk.

2d. To Wm. J. Bingham, Wm. P. Boylan, James Martin, James Moore, and John J. Wyche.

3d. In the order of their names, to Frederic W. Harrison, Walter Alves, Albert Vine Allen, Burwell B. Wilkes, Wm. A. Wright, and James C. Bruce.

The program at Commencement has been lost, except that Polk spoke the Latin Salutatory, Hodge the Valedictory, Gee the English Salutatory, Wright, Bruce Harrison and Alves had what were called Intermediate Orations, but the subjects are unknown.

Of these, Polk, a brother of President Polk, settled in North Carolina at Charlotte, and was cut off in early life, considered one of the most promising young lawyers in the State. His son, of the same name, who became Treasurer of Tennessee, not a son of the University, left children who are among the best citizens of that State. Hodge was a physician of Tarboro, and then of Granville. Wm. A. Wright was an able lawyer of Wilmington and President of the Bank of Cape Fear; Harrison was a physician in Virginia; Bruce a wealthy and cultured planter of Virginia, and member of its General Assembly; William J. Bingham, the second able Principal of the Bingham School, whose fame under him was extended; Wyche was a Tutor of the University and Professor in Jefferson College, Mississippi; Alves, a physician in Kentucky; Allen, a lawyer of much reputation.

The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) was conferred on Nathaniel Macon, United States Senator; that of Master of Arts (A. M.) on Charles Bailly and on John H. Eaton, of Tennessee, a matriculate of 1803. To William Glascock, of Virginia, a matriculate of 1816, was granted the degree of Bachelor of Arts (A. B.)

In August and September of the year 1825 there was a very serious sickness in the University, evidently typhoid fever. Three students died—Wm. H. Beard, Zenas Johnston, and another whose name is not recorded. The acting President reported that the first two brought the seeds of disease with them. From an unknown cause it was thought that the air was worse than usual, as was shown by the pallid countenances of the students generally. There were no ponds or marshes near Chapel Hill and the disorder was attributed to “unknown conditions of the air or water.” The learned Professor drops no hints of ferocious and treacherous bacteria. Skilled physicians had stated that the elevated parts of the country had suffered most. He recommends that a resident physician should be obtained, who should teach a class of medical students.

At that date the Faculty had no power to prevent theatrical and other shows. Urgent request was made that they be invested with such authority. A band of strolling players had given nightly dramatic performances for a week and had received, it was estimated, $383, more than $300 of which was from students. Value received cannot possibly be expected from such acting and scenery as can be exhibited in a room over a store in this village. The use of the University Chapel was refused, as intolerable profanation. The General Assembly passed a law in compliance with the wishes of the Faculty, giving them prohibitory powers.

On motion of Bartlett Yancey, a number of resolutions were submitted to a Committee, and at the June meeting, 1825, were substantially reported back and adopted. They were:

1st. The appointment by the Trustees of a Superintendent of the property and financial concerns of the University, who shall reside at Chapel Hill, give a $10,000 bond, and receive not exceeding $500 salary per annum.

2d. He was to care for all the property of the institution and carry out all orders of the Trustees.

3d. Each student shall pay him all his money, and shall pledge his honor to pay all received at any time. The Superintendent shall out of the same pay college dues and other necessary expenses, the repair of injury to College property done by the student; also such purchases of merchants as the student may buy, and to the student not over one dollar pocket-money each month.

The next year a properly fitted up room in the College buildings was ordered to be assigned to each professor, and it was made his duty to be in it from 9 a.m. to 12 m., and from 2 p.m. to 5 each day, except “Sundays and other College holidays.” The object was to aid in the administration of discipline and give occasional assistance to the students in their studies.

It was stated that the nightly visitations of the rooms of students by the Tutors had been insufficient to maintain order and insure the presence of the students in their apartments. It was therefore required that each student's room should be visited by a professor at night at least three times a week.

This rigorous code was at the instance of Col. Wm. Polk, who always regarded students in the light of soldiers in barracks and professors as military officers. They were, with some modifications, obeyed, by some without failure, by others spasmodically, until near the beginning of the Civil War. They led to numberless clashings and ill feelings. The halls and campus were not lighted, and occasionally stones and cold water were thrown at an unwelcome visitor. One, who was accused of opening a drawer of the absent inmate, was forced to hide under a table in order to escape the missiles through crashing glass. Signals were invented which showed to the listening students the progress of the professor, so that card-players would have time to open their dictionaries, and the corn-whiskey bottle could be safely hid. When the word DOGS! or FACULTY! was shouted from the window of one building, it was the sign that those in another might expect at once the professorial policeman. While the manners of some professors were so agreeable that they were usually welcomed, others were so rough that they became odious. Every species of disorder was prevalent in the recitation rooms of these latter, partly in the spirit of childish fun, but mainly for the annoyance of the instructor.

The professors vigorously protested against the mandatory provision in regard to spending their mornings and afternoons in the College buildings, and nightly visitation of rooms. Dr. Mitchell addressed an able letter to the Board, giving cogent reasons against it. He himself could not comply, as he must spend most of his time in his laboratory, which was in Steward's Hall. It was unfortunate that the professors were not consulted, as they are in the position of both witnesses and lawyers. The visiting rooms at night will do no good, as students wishing to go on excursions will wait, as they do now in case of the Tutors, until the visits are over. The students will not consult professors about their studies, as was found by experience at Yale and at Chapel Hill. They are afraid of the jeers of their fellows. If rooms were provided the professors would undoubtedly be in them often and so secure better order without requiring them to spend their mornings and evenings in them. The professors have not been slow to improve the work of the University of their own accord. As an instance, when he came to Chapel Hill the two upper classes recited only once a day, the lower twice. The Faculty have continually increased the number of recitations, and he believes that they are more frequent than in any Northern college. The provision will be peculiarly burdensome for several reasons:

One of the most popular Chapel Hill belles of this period, very winning and beautiful, a good singer, accustomed to raise the tunes in church service, was Miss Sarah Williams Kittrell, whose father removed from Granville to a home about two miles southwest of the University buildings, where he carried on a farm and took student boarders. Tradition says that she agreed to marry a promising Senior, afterwards United States Senator, but the match was broken off because of his poverty and great distance from Chapel Hill. After he became famous, he returned by invitation to deliver the annual Commencement address, and his old boarding house keeper, Mrs. Betsey Nunn, upbraided him for breaking faith with her favorite Sally Kittrell. Learning that she was living in Midway, Texas, in her 90th year, Mrs. Goree, aunt of Judge George W. Kittrell of California, I wrote to her and received in reply a most sprightly letter, giving her reminiscences of Chapel Hill society. I add that five of her sons and grandsons were officers in the Confederate Army, and that during a visit of Miss Winnie Davis to Texas she rode one hundred miles to pay her respects to the “Daughter of the Confederacy.” The kindly manner in which she speaks of her old flame indicates that their engagement and its disruption, if true, left no permanent scar on her happy soul. With her aid and from other sources I endeavor to depict the life of Chapel Hill in the twenties.

There were few residents of the village, but among them were strong characters, male and female. Among the men Dr. Caldwell and Dr. Mitchell overtopped all in learning and influence, while in society Major Henderson and his four sons, James, William, Pleasant, and Tippoo Saib, *

* Note.—The hatred of England by our people is shown by their naming sons after cruel oriental despots, simply because they fought our old enemy. Thus Davie had a Hyder Ali, Major Henderson a Tippoo Saib, and a prominent citizen of Edenton a Tippoo Saib Haughton.

There was an excellent Sunday School held in Person Hall, called the Chapel, now the Medical Building. The teachers were Mrs. Caldwell and the wives of the Professors. The task was memorizing five or six verses of the Bible and part or whole of a hymn. Four score years afterwards the pious “Mother in Israel” recalled vividly the moral and educational value of this, one of our earliest religious institutions for the young.

The multitudinous speeches on the programme of 1826 probably led to the radical change of 1827. In that year began the series of orations by eminent men elected by the two Literary Societies alternately. The Dialectic had the first choice, which fell on ex-Judge Archibald Debow Murphey. His address was in the main historical and reminiscent and was perhaps the last work of one who had done much for his State. His portrait in the Dialectic Hall, taken at this time, shows that his physical powers were rapidly waning, but his mind was strong and lucid. A contemporary writer in the Raleigh Register testified that “the debility of his body gave an interest to his appearance. Unassuming, yet easy and insinuating in his address, clear and distinct in his enunciations, perspicuous and eloquent in his style, he was sustained through a long and eloquent oration by the admiration and applause of a crowded assembly.—None of his audience will soon forget their own emotions, or the glow of sympathy imparted to them by the orator's beautiful remembrance of his friend and patron, the late Wm. Duffy.”

The writer described the exercises as “No longer, as on former occasions, a monotonous succession of heavy and uninteresting speeches, but a Literary Banquet, where the different tastes of the audience were gratified by alternate displays of Oratory and Wit.” “We were all particularly pleased with a little ‘ludicro-comico’ piece written and (as the Dramatists say) gotten up by one of the Professors, and called, I think, ‘Improvements in Modern Duelling.’ It was well delivered Tuesday evening by five young gentlemen, and exhibited in the most ridiculous attitude certain late exquisites and proficients in that sublime art.” As Dr. William Hooper was skillful in this kind of writing, conspicuous in his own address in 1859, entitled “Fifty Years Since,” it is evident that he was the author.

It was at this time that, on motion of Chief Justice Ruffin, the once-a-month holidays, which had been in vogue for some time, were discontinued, to the great discontent especially of boys of a smaller growth, or less studious disposition.

The speakers of the graduating class of 1827 were: Richard Henry Lewis, the Latin Salutatory; Charles B. Shepard, the Valedictory; Thomas P. Hall, Oration in Greek; Lorenza Lea, Oration in French; Alfred O. P. Nicholson, Oration on Political Economy; Jesse H. Lindsay and Alexander Mackey, Intermediate Orations.

The Trustees were occasionally embarrassed by petitions from persons who claimed that they were injured by escheated property vesting in the University. One Mary Bell stated the pitiable fact that by twenty-five years hard labor in keeping a public house she and her husband had accumulated some property, the title of which under the law vested in her husband; that on his death without heirs half of the property devolved on the University; that she was sixty years old and could not live on what the statute allowed her. “I am a poor widow, citizen of a country whose policy and well regulated government does not need the assistance of property drawn from old age and infirmity, leaving me to starve, in order to support most valuable institutions.”

The minds of the Trustees were torn by the conflicting ideas of natural pity and fiduciary duty. They finally concluded to invest the money and pay the interest to Mrs. Mary Bell so long as she should live.

They seemed to experience no difficulty in deciding another case, which in our times would be considered hard. A free negro had a daughter, the slave of another. He bought her, and she then became the mother of a boy. The woman's father died without kin and intestate. His child and grandchild being his personal property became the property of the University. They were ordered to be sold. This sounds hard, but it was proved to the Board that they were in the lowest stage of poverty and degradation and that it would redound to their happiness to have a master. It must be remembered that slaves were considered to be as a rule in a better condition than free negroes.

One of the saddest claims which devolved on the University was that of Governor Benjamin Smith, the first benefactor. In his old age he became surety for a man who owed the institution, and the Trustees felt compelled to enforce payment. There is on record a petition by him for extension of time, which was granted. The tradition already mentioned that he was imprisoned has a modicum of truth, but the detention was only for a short while and, as he himself says, by the hard action of a lawyer, who was his personal enemy. The Trustees released him as soon as the matter was brought to their attention. It must be remembered, too, that ex-Governor Smith was hopelessly insolvent, and if the University had released him from the debt, his other creditors and not himself, would have reaped the benefit. All his valuable lands on the Cape Fear were subject to the judgment obtained by the United States to make good the defalcations of Collector Reid, for whom he was bondsman.

At the Commencement, on Monday evening there was a declamation by James Lea, William Owen, Julian E. Sawyer, Wm. Smith, John S. Hargrave, Thomas F. Jones, Solomon Lea.

On Tuesday evening, the 21st of June, the speakers were James Grant, J. DeBerniere Hooper, Wm. W. Spear, Jacob Thompson, Thomas S. Ashe, Michael W. Holt, and James O. Stedman.

On Wednesday, there were original speeches delivered by representatives of the two Societies.

The best scholar, to whom was given the Latin Salutatory, was Nathaniel H. McCain. James W. Osborne was next, with a speech on Moral Philosophy. Next came Cicero Stephens Hawks, whose subject was Influence of Rewards Bestowed on Distinguished Characters. The fourth in scholarship was John A. Backhouse, to whom was assigned the Valedictory. The fifth in scholarship was Richard K. Hill, with a speech on Political Economy, and sixth was Aaron J. Spivey, whose subject was “The Use and Abuse of Parliamentary Debates.” The next honor men were George G. Lea, who spoke on the Importance of Liberal Education to all professional men; then Mr. W. L. Kennedy, on the Influence of Periodical Literature, and lastly came Rawley Galloway, who discussed Design in the Constitution of Nature. Benjamin F. Terry and William K. Ruffin debated whether the gold mines, recently discovered in North Carolina and elsewhere, are attended with greater advantages or disadvantages to our State and to the Union. There was evidently in the air dread of inflation of the currency and diversion of labor from other pursuits, as well of the evils of making haste to be rich.

John H. Edwards and Elisha Stedman, both afterwards physicians, discussed this question: “Could the United States maintain its Constitution if the Atlantic Ocean did not separate her from Europe?” J. M. Stedman's thesis was whether there could be a Permanent Government without Education.

McCain removed to Mississippi, and was a highly respected and successful planter. Backhouse had a strange career. He was of fine promise, was a Tutor of his Alma Mater after graduation; then studied theology, teaching at the same time. After being ordained a minister of the Gospel, he was deposed for conduct unbecoming a minister, and died early. Osborne was a prominent lawyer and Judge, member of the Legislature and of the Convention of 1861. Hawks was Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Missouri. Hill was a teacher of repute in North Carolina and Texas.

At the Commencement of 1830, Hon. John H. Bryan, who changed his home from Newbern to Raleigh, chosen by the Philanthropic Society, was the orator. The reporter described his effort as chaste and eloquent.

The report of the President at the annual meeting of the Board in December, 1827, deplores the falling off in numbers. This was attributed to three causes: 1st, the establishment of Universities and Colleges in Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia; 2nd, to the financial stress and unparalleled depreciation in the pecuniary resources of the people; 3rd, vast efflux of population to the West.

He also informed the Board that the Main Building was in ruins. It had not been occupied for years. The materials were worthless, the work wretched. The experiment of employing a Superintendent of Buildings not connected with the University, at a salary of $20, was unsatisfactory. Prof. Mitchell assumed the duties.

The financial panic of 1825, with its sequelae, was in truth a fearful blow to the University. The receipts from Western lands and payments for those sold were largely cut off. The tuition receipts diminished with the number of students. The debts to the banks, incurred for building the Old West and work on the Old East and unfinished Gerrard Hall, were unpaid. The Trustees thought that turning off Professors would destroy the prestige of the institution, and therefore borrowed money to meet their salaries. By 1830 the University seemed on the verge of ruin. Energetic steps were necessary to avert it. The President of the Board of Trustees called a special session to consider the matter. It was on the 21st June, 1830, at Chapel Hill.

There were present, Governor Owen, Dr. Caldwell, Messrs. John H. Bryan, Willie P. Mangum, Charles Manly, James Mebane, Alfred Moore, John M. Morehead, Wm. Robards, John Scott, James S. Smith, John Witherspoon, D.D.

On motion of Judge Mangum, a committee of seven were appointed to draft an address to the Trustees, setting forth the urgent necessity for them to meet in Raleigh on the 19th of July. Dr. Caldwell was directed to send by express, that is, a special messenger, a copy to every Trustee within a reasonable distance of Raleigh, and to the rest by mail.

Considering the difficulties of travel in the hot July days, there was a very respectable attendance, about one-third of the Trustees. Their names should be held in remembrance. They were: Governor John Owen, Dr. Caldwell, Messrs. George E. Badger, Thos. D. Bennehan, John H. Bryan, Duncan Cameron, James Craven, Wm. Gaston, John D. Hawkins, Louis D. Henry, James Iredell, Charles Manly, Alfred Moore, Willie P. Mangum, Angus McBryde, Frederick Nash, Wm. Robards, Thos. Ruffin, Romulus M. Saunders, John Scott, Hugh Waddell, James Webb, W. McPheeters, D.D. Of these, nine were residents of Raleigh, ten of Orange, one of Fayetteville, one of Moore County, one of Franklin, one of Craven, one of Kinston. None except those from Fayetteville, Moore, Franklin, and Kinston lived more than one day's distance from Raleigh, and they only a two-days' easy journey. It is possible that Messrs. Gaston and Henry were in attendance on the Supreme Court. On motion of Mr. Gaston, not then a judge, a strong committee, Messrs. Iredell, Cameron, Moore, Henry, Bryan, Webb, Robards (State Treasurer), and Waddell, were appointed to report the debts and resources of the University, and recommend a plan of relief.

President Caldwell had always been fond of the Science of Astronomy. It was on this account that, in 1813, as I have shown, he was called on to be the scientific expert on the part of North Carolina in running the South Carolina boundary line. He built on the top of his dwelling a platform, on which he would take the Seniors in squads of three and four, and point out to them the heavenly bodies. He erected in his garden a sun dial, which stood until the invasion of the Federal cavalry. He also built two pillars, still standing, covered with vines, their eastern and western faces accurately showing the true North and south line in his day.

In this period an American woman, said to have lived among the Indians as a captive, coarse and ignorant, Mrs. Anne Royall by name, was the authoress of “Sketches of History, Life, Manners, in the United States, by a Traveller.” In 1830 was published her “Southern Tour, or Second Series of the Black Book.” She visited Chapel Hill the preceding year and evidently was avoided by the Faculty ladies, as her pen was dipped into gall when she wrote of her visit. Her first impression was unpleasant, as the inn keeper's lady met her with the question, “have you no man with you?” The University, she said, was in a most delightful situation, sitting upon an eminence, in the midst of a handsome grove, but, to the disgrace of the State, is under the influence of a woman, the President's wife. She is ruled by priests, the priests are ruled by money, and she rules the University. The institution, which cost so much money, is under the dominion of “these she wild cats, a Priest loving woman, fleecing the last cent of pocket money from the innocent, unsuspecting young men. Meantime they are ruled by a rod of iron by this she wolf. Not a step dare the hen-pecked President take without apprising this tyrannical woman.” As Mrs. Royall was leaving Chapel Hill, a tall, genteel young man stepped into the stage. He had been dismissed, she said, for “smiling in church.” The students, fine, manly looking young men, came to take leave of the dismissed man. In the opinion of Mrs. Royall, he deserved a statue, and “so would any man who would raise his voice against such hypocrites and besotted fools.” “This young gentleman possessed more virtue and honor than the whole posse of the Faculty, with Madam President to boot.”

The truth is, that the student was dismissed for bad behaviour at the preaching in the village chapel on Sunday night, before the arrival of the preacher. There was much noise, vociferation, laughter, and tumult. “The house was turned into a scene of wild riot.” After the arrival of a member of the Faculty, he persisted in ill-behaviour, conspicuously disregarding the order of the place, was directed to leave the house, but refused to obey. On the next morning at Prayers he interrupted the prayer by scraping with his feet. He had repeatedly been guilty of disorder, and had incurred the censure of the Faculty.

Mrs. Royall was either a malicious, untruthful woman, or demented. Mrs. Caldwell was a woman of talent, of polished manners, and excellent heart. She naturally dominated and gave tone to the village society, but her husband was distinguished for his independence of character and inflexible will. Neither she nor any other human influence could dominate or lead him. I quote from the bitterness of the slighted vanity of Mrs. Royall, because, although long ago consigned to oblivion, her book was once the theme of amused conversation. Her vitriolic satire on Chapel Hill ladies is really a high tribute to their conservative feminine virtues. Notoriety-seeking, “mannish” females could get no countenance from them.

After leaving North Carolina, Mrs. Royall sojourned in Washington City, where she engaged in writing vituperative books and edited a “Paul Pry” newspaper, so full of scandal that she was arraigned and convicted of the crime of being a common scold—“communis rixatrix.” She was sentenced to the old common law punishment of being ducked in the Potomac, but, modern ideas being against the infliction of this primitive rough penalty on a woman, the Court was induced to substitute a pecuniary fine.

At the Commencement of 1831, the Freshman competitors were Julius C. S. Bracken, of Caswell County; Thomas Pollock Burgwyn, of Craven County; William H. R. Wood, of Alabama; Thomas G. Haughton, of Edenton; Pleasant Buchanan, of Alabama; James B. Shepard, of Craven; John Gray Bynum, of Stokes County; Addi Edwin Donnel Thom, of Greensboro.

For Tuesday evening the Declaimers were James N. Neal, of Chatham; William H. Owen, of Oxford; William N. Mebane, Greensboro; Julian E. Sawyer, Elizabeth City; Thomas L. Clingman, of Surry County; Thomas W. Harris, of Halifax; John H. Haughton, of Tyrrell County; James R. Holt, of Orange.

Of the Class of 1831, numbering 15, the best in scholarship was John DeBerniere Hooper, who spoke the Latin. The Valedictory was the next highest, by Calvin Jones, of Tennessee. Next to him was Jacob Thompson. His subject was, “Inducements to the men of talents to improve their powers.” Then was Lemuel B. Powell, who spoke on “National Pride”; then Giles Mebane, on the Most Effectual Means of Promoting National Wealth, and Thomas J. Pitchford, on the Advantages Derived from the Study of Natural History. Then came John L. Hargrove, on the Influence of America on the Future of Europe; James O. Stedman, on Christianity as a Civilizer; John H. Haughton, on Christianity and Civil Liberty; Thomas F. Jones, on the Intellect of the North American Indians; Samuel B. Stephens, on the Fine Arts; and Thomas P. Armstrong, on the great question, “Ought the Legislature to Provide for Public Liberal Education?”; Samuel S. Biddle, on the effect of multiplying Colleges on Education; Michael W. Holt, on the Community of Interests between North and South American Republics. After this, the following subjects were debated: “Is the Salic law correct in principle and practice?”, by Charles C. Wilson and Thomas W. Harris; “Are Honorary Distinctions in College expedient?”, by Stephen S. Sorsby and Thomas E. Taylor; “Is the character of the Athenians or Spartans more worthy of admiration?”, by George Hairston and Thomas E. Taylor; “Can a Christian properly become a Soldier by profession?”, by Thomas W. Harris and Rufus M. Roseborough; “Would it be expedient for the United States to employ Exploring Expeditions for the advancement of Science?”, by Thomas B. Hill and Richard H. Smith; “Is National Calumny properly an Occasion of War by the Law of Nations?”, Cadwallader Jones, Stephen S. Sorsby and Samuel A. Williams.

These are the most pretentious Commencement Day exercises on record. All had places on the programme except Doak and Grant, probably absent. Some spoke twice, as seen above.

The honor men did well in after life. Hooper was Tutor and then Professor successively of Latin, of Modern Languages, and of Greek and French in the University. Jones was a Professor in the University of Alabama and Chancellor of West Tennessee. Thompson was Tutor, lawyer, Congressman from Mississippi, Governor, Secretary of the Interior, Inspector-General of the Confederate States. Powell was a physician of reputation. Giles Mebane was an able and upright member of the Legislature, President of the Senate; Thomas J. Pitchford a prominent physician and State Senator.

Among other strong men was James Grant, a Judge of the Superior Court of Iowa and a benefactor of the University.

The only honorary degree was that of Master of Arts, conferred on John Tate, of North Carolina.

The Oration before the two Societies was delivered by Rev. Wm. Mercer Green, Rector of the Episcopal Church in Hillsboro, of the Dialectic Society, a graduate of 1818.

During the week, on the 22d of June, 1831, an organization was made of the friends of education into an association called “The North Carolina Institute of Education.” A constitution and by-laws were adopted on motion of Benjamin M. Smith of Milton, who explained the objects of the Association in a highly interesting and appropriate address. Doctor Simmons J. Baker, of Martin, was unanimously elected President, and Wm. McPheeters, D.D., of Raleigh, Rev. Wm. M. Green, and Hon. Frederick Nash, of Hillsboro, Vice-Presidents. Dr. Walter A. Norwood, of Hillsboro, was Recording Secretary, and Mr. Wm. J. Bingham, Corresponding Secretary. The Executive Committee were Professors Mitchell, Wm. Hooper, and James Phillips of the University. The Committee met and elected Hon. Alfred Moore, of Orange, Orator for 1832.

Lectures were appointed to be given at the Commencement of 1832, as follows: On Imperfections in “Teaching in Primary Schools,” by Prof. Wm. Hooper; on “Elocution, with Particular Reference to Reading,” by H. S. Ellenwood, of Hillsboro; on “Lyceums and Similar Institutions,” by James D. Johnson, of Oxford. The subject selected for discussion was, “The Period Necessary for Preparing for College.”

The Corresponding Secretary was directed to obtain for the Institute the “Annals of Education,” and five copies of the “Educational Reporter,” afterwards reduced to one copy.

In the summer of 1829, some of the students formed themselves into a Temperance Society. It had a marked effect in causing a decline in the drinking of spirituous liquors. In 1831, Professor Mitchell delivered a very able discourse before the University at the request of the Society. It was printed, and the strength of his argument and the excellence of the style extended the reputation of the speaker. By the kindness of a friend, I have a copy, and quote a few sentences which vividly portray the downward career of the drunkard.

“It seems hardly necessary to state in detail how fatal are habits of Intemperance to the poor wretch who has become their victim. Standing perhaps high in the society of which he is a member, he finds the respect with which an antecedent life of virtue, temperance, and integrity have been rewarded, passing silently away, like the snows of spring beneath the influence of the sun. The old, whose conduct used to show how highly they prized his friendship, and the young, who were once so eager to exhibit evidence of their esteem and regard, now pass him by without more than a cold and distant salutation. His opinions no longer have the same weight in cases of doubt and perplexity. His neighbors think that a cloud has settled down upon his judgment, and darkened that mental eye once so clear and keen. * * * His affairs are involved in confusion and disorder, and either his schemes are not laid with his usual sagacity, or the turns of accident or misfortune are very much against him. He finds that he has lost a portion of his power for both physical and mental exertion. His family appear melancholy and dejected, and it is in vain that he wakes up all his wit and tries to revive their drooping spirit. They used to meet him when he returned from a distance with countenances lighted up with smiles and welcome home the protector, husband, friend, and father. But the time comes at length when his wife and children no longer rejoice at his return, but, as he approaches they stand silent; their hearts wrung with unuttered sorrow, and turn away their eyes and refuse to look upon the ruin and degradation of what was once so venerable and lovely. Oh, if there be one thing beneath the circuit of the sky, of which there is any hope that it will awaken the strong feelings of nature that are either asleep or dead within him, and rouse him to one last despairing effort to shake off his chains and regain his freedom, it is that distress of his family. But often, as we know, even that is unavailing. The voice of the strong appetite he has created is stronger than the voice of nature, and the mansion that has hitherto been the abode of love and peace, becomes the very scene of his excesses, and when his brain is heated to frenzy, the arm of violence is perhaps raised against a woman—the wife of his bosom, or against those children, who should be the object of his tenderest love. But why pursue the melancholy story, the particulars of which from the unhappy frequency of their occurrence, are but too well known to us all? Why speak of the ruin of his credit, the wasting of his property, the quarrels (with his best friends, too,) into which he is betrayed, when petulant and ill-natured through the effect of intoxication? His friends deriving no pleasure from his society, at length forsake him. His estate is squandered, and his children (because the wealth that should have come down to them from their ancestors, is intercepted in its descent by the author of their being, whom the law of nature that binds even the brute creation, required to be their friend and protector), are driven away to seek their fortune in some foreign land or distant shore.

“The poor wretch himself feels at length the access of those diseases, of which he has so long been sowing the seeds. The poison he has for years been taking into his system operates decisively. He sinks beneath a complicated load of disorders and infirmities—shall I say into a late or an early grave? An early grave, inasmuch as he has but just reached the age when the sober and temperate part of mankind are in their prime—a late one also, for he has long since ceased to be useful in the world, and ceased therefore to execute the office for which God created him, and for which his life was prolonged from day to day.”

“If the youth of a country be neglected, no matter what may be its physical advantages, or the form of its government, its soil may be fertile as the border of the Nile, its government monarchical, aristocratical, or democratical, as you choose, that country, taken as a whole, will be poor and wretched. * * * We may borrow the pen of Draco, and write the statute book from end to end in letters of blood; we may crown the summit of every mountain and hill with a gibbet and a prison—amidst all that apparatus of law and justice, vice will present herself with a bold and unblushing countenance in the most public places, and laugh the lawgiver and judge to scorn.”

“The moral and religious education of the children of the drunkard must be miserably neglected. How will he dare to assemble his children about him to unfold and explain to them the distinctions between good and evil, vice and virtue, with their eternal sanctions—recommend the one and warn them to avoid the other—he whose conduct is an open violation of the laws and morality and religion every day he lives?”

“The mind in ancient days did not demand the application of stimulants more than the body. The orators of Greece and Rome needed not those aids to eloquence, which our modern statesmen and declaimers employ. To the poet, the fervor of his own bosom—to the philosopher the regular and natural operation of his own vigorous and unclouded mind, were fully sufficient for the production of those masterpieces of taste and wisdom which have been the admiration of every following age. The lips of Moses, the Jewish lawgiver—of David, the sweet singer of Israel—of the holy and sublime Isaiah—of the Redeemer of mankind, were never polluted by the products of distillation.”

These extracts are given because Professor Mitchell is known to have been a many-sided man in science, but it is less known that he possessed no little literary ability. As said elsewhere, his reputation as a writer of sermons and addresses was obscured by his monotonous and awkward delivery. It is worthy of notice that he believed that the ancients did not use—did not know how to make—distilled spirits, that the “strong drinks” mentioned in the Bible, meant the products of simple fermentation from honey, grain and substances other than grapes, and neither “wine” nor strong drink were much stronger than cider or ale. He states that our whiskey, brandy and other liquors did not influence the morals and happiness of mankind earlier than the end of the reign of James I. of England.

There is a notable tradition dating from this year. Peter Dromgoole of Virginia came to enter the University in 1831. He was fond of card-playing and of wild company. He was not a matriculate. He took offence at a remark of one of the professors and refused to submit to further examination. After a few days he disappeared and was never heard of afterwards. A story was started that he was killed in a duel and his body carefully concealed. His uncle, Hon. George C. Dromgoole, one of our alumni, an able lawyer, came to Chapel Hill and for weeks investigated the case. It is said that he was satisfied that there was no truth in the rumor. The room-mate of Peter, a very reputable man, Mr. John Buxton Williams, of Warren County, in a letter to the press, stated that he never heard of Peter's getting into a quarrel, and that he started from Chapel Hill in a public stage. I conclude that he was ashamed to go home, journeyed to what was then the turbulent Southwest, and was killed in a brawl or assassinated. A modern tradition originating within my knowledge places the scene of his fatal duel on Piney Prospect, and asserts that he was buried under a rounded rock on its summit. Certain stains of iron in the rock are pointed out as drops of his blood, and a still later story is that his sweetheart, Miss Fanny, hurried to stop the combat, arrived too late, went into rapid loss of reason and health, and was buried by his side. The spring at the base of the hill, where the lovers are said to have sat and cooed, bears the name of Miss Fanny's Spring. This last story is embodied in a short poem of merit by Mr. L. B. Hamberlin, an Instructor of Expression in this University, and that of Texas, and published in our University Magazine of 1892.

The persistency of belief in student circles in the Dromgoole legend and its accretions throws light on the growth of similar legends elsewhere and in the times of old. It doubtless suggested to Edwin Fuller in his novel of Sea-Gift to create a fatal duel in which De Vare was killed. Some credulous young people unblushingly avow their belief that the rains and snows of three-quarters of a century have not washed out Dromgoole's blood spots on a rounded granite rock.

At the Commencement of 1832 the address before the two Societies was delivered by Hon. William Gaston, chosen by the Philanthropic Society. It met with public favor to a most extraordinary degree. It ran through four editions, the first of 5,000, published by the Philanthropic Society, a second shortly afterwards by LaGrange College. Alabama, a third by Mr. Thomas W. Whyte at Richmond, Virginia, with a strong commendation by Chief Justice Marshall. It was also published in part in various periodicals and entire in the North Carolina University Magazine of 1844. To satisfy the popular demand, the two Societies in 1849 jointly issued a new edition.

It is remarkable that when the public mind was inflamed peculiarly on account of the bloody insurrection of Nat Turner in the preceding year the orator should have frankly avowed himself an advocate of the ultimate abolition of slavery, and that the audience cheered the utterance. “Disguise the truth as we may,” he said, “and throw the blame where we will, it is Slavery which, more than any other cause, keeps us back in the career of improvement. It stifles industry and represses enterprise—it is fatal to economy and providence—it discourages skill—it impairs our strength as a community, and poisons morals at the fountain head.” This bold language did not weaken his standing in the State. Six months afterwards, although a Roman Catholic, and the Constitution contained a clause inhibiting men of that faith from holding office, he was, by the General Assembly, elected a Supreme Court Judge. He accepted the office, being persuaded that the clause was contrary to the Declaration of Rights and therefore void. One cause of the popularity of the address was the eloquent denunciation of Disunion and praise of the Constitution, at a time when South Carolina threatened Nullification and many openly advocated Secession.

The Graduating Class had 36 members and was notable for merit. The honors were as follows: The best, Thomas L. Clingman, who had the Latin Salutatory. Next, John Haywood Parker, who had the Valedictory. Thomas S. Ashe, speaking on the Application of Steam to the Arts, being third, and James C. Dobbin, on Mental Philosophy, being fourth.

As a rule, the members were successful in after life. Of the honor men, Clingman was a Representative in Congress, and a Senator, also prominent in State legislation. He was, moreover, a Brigadier General of the Confederate States. Parker was an Episcopal clergyman of power; Ashe was a Senator of the Confederate States and Justice of the Supreme Court of this State. Dobbin was an able member of the State Legislature and Secretary of the Navy. To this class belonged Richard H. Smith, a sound lawyer, wise member of the Legislature, and Delegate to the General Conventions of the Episcopal Church; Cadwallader Jones, Solicitor for his Circuit and Colonel in the Confederate army, and John H. Haughton, a very able lawyer, and efficient in the General Assembly in shaping the legislation of the State.

Among the non-graduates was the eminent physician, Wm. F. Strudwick, of Hillsboro. Of the matriculates of 1832, Charles G. Nelms, of Anson County, after reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, lost his life in the Civil War.

The honorary degree of Master of Arts was granted to Rev. Jarvis Barry Buxton, Rector of the Episcopal Church of Fayetteville, and Rev. Samuel Lyle Graham, of Virginia.

The second meeting of the North Carolina Institute of Education was on June 19, 1832. Mr. Alfred Moore delivered the Annual Address according to appointment. Rev. Dr. Wm. McPheeters and Messrs. Wm. Hooper and Wm. J. Bingham were appointed a Committee to report on questions and subjects for the next Commencement. Mr. James Grant, afterwards Judge Grant of Iowa, moved that a Committee be appointed to memorialize the Legislature on the subject of Popular Education. The motion was carried, and Wm. Gaston, Frederick Nash and David L. Swain were appointed.

The Institute adjourned until 3 o'clock, at which time was heard the lecture on Primary Schools by Prof. Wm. Hooper. It met with such favor that it was published in pamphlet form. He began by stating that good schools cannot abound in communities where all are engaged in clearing and subduing new lands. Then his first point was that the imperfections of our schools were due to the circumstances of our youth, raised amid active toil and hunting and fishing, and the slack discipline of parents. He was noted for his numerous illustrations. I give a sentence or two as showing this, and also the nicety of his scholarship. “Will it be wonderful if a youth sent from domestic indulgences, should find school ungrateful and accuse his teachers of being cruel, that he should recite with mournful recollections, and still sadder forebodings, that awful Greek verb, tupto, to beat, particularly in the passive voice, tuptomai, I am under beating now; etuptomen, I was under beating a little while ago, and then the dismal future, tuphthesomai, I shall be beaten—but above all the tenses (denoting the imminence of his dangers), tetupsomai, I shall be very soon beaten again.” He then argues for more severe training, praising the father of John Adams, the President, who, when his son was reluctant to learn Latin, put him to ditching as a punishment.

Those acquainted with college life are surprised at the intensity of earnestness felt in this microcosm, miniature world, over matters trivial in the estimation of those who move in the greater world. An abstract of a petition to the Trustees in 1833, signed by Christopher C. Battle, John H. Watson and William P. Webb, written by Battle, will illustrate this. They were a Committee appointed by a mass-meeting of students, for the purpose of procuring from the Board of Trustees permission to use a room in Steward's Hall for the Commencement Ball. The petitioners are “sensibly touched with the delicacy of presenting their petition at so early a period (November 6th), but, knowing not whether there will be another meeting of the Trustees before Commencement, the strongest motives of policy constrain their sending it in now, though stamped with the impress of prematurity.” The intellectual improvement and gentlemanly accomplishments caused by dancing would justify a special ball-room, and if the New Chapel were completed, they would have asked permission to fit up the old Chapel for the purpose at their own expense. It would be extreme presumption to argue the propriety of balls, since the Trustees “deduce conclusions from the wisdom of experience.” No genius, however promising, can effect much in the present enlightened era, destitute of the polished accomplishments.—Since on this retired Hill of Science, we are precluded from the improvement of Society, we feel an inevitable drawback upon our literary acquirements. As balls greatly promote gentility, acquiescence in the petition is earnestly asked for. Waiving all personal concern, we strenuously advocate its principles as promoting the best interests of the institution, as enhancing the splendors of our Commencements, and as contributing much, very much, to the gratification and pleasure of the adored Fair, who honor us with their company on that universal jubilee.”

The Trustees could not stand against such eloquence. The Ball Managers in their gratification concluded to send special invitations to all the great men in the State. Young Battle (a brother of Judge Battle) wrote to the Governor, Swain, a personal letter, asking him to attend the Ball, “in order to give dignity and stability” to it. The Governor replied, regretting that he could not attend, and suggested that “agility” would be more needed than “stability.” Battle was so afraid of this becoming known to the students, that he made his colleague, Judge Webb, promise to keep the correspondence secret, which he did faithfully until after their graduation.

In 1833, Tutor John DeBerniere Hooper resigned his place in order to become a teacher in the Episcopal School in Raleigh, which had been inaugurated with great promise of usefulness, which however for various causes failed as a school for boys, but afterwards as St. Mary's Girls' School became a power for good. The Sophomore Class passed resolutions, which show the strong hold the Tutor had on their admiration.. The letter of the Committee accompanying the resolutions is such a characteristic specimen of the peculiar style which has given the name of Sophomoric to a species of Oratory, that I quote some sentences. In truth, no history of a University would be complete without embalming a specimen of such euphuism. The praises, though grandiloquently expressed, were well deserved.

“In every day occupations Farewell has an awful and ill-boding sound in it, but when we reflect that we are now about to be parted, and perhaps forever, with one who has labored so diligently for our present happiness and future aggrandisement, and who, by his own example of piety and virtue, has also pointed out to us the bright and glittering paths of morality, we are constrained to transcend the usual cold formalities of separation and bid you that word bearing in its aspect our true expressions of grief in a valedictory letter.” . . . “Now since we are all in the glow of youth and health, and have ample opportunity, let us take an affectionate and deep-impressioned farewell, such a one as long-cherished friends take when they part with the expectation of meeting no more on this side of eternity. Working out the great course of Nature, some dire pestilence may sweep across our country and fell you or us, and perhaps both; war and famine may hurry us into oblivion, or an earthquake may submerge us; to part we must, and whether we ever again shall meet is on the fluctuating tides of chance, therefore let us part as convicts doomed to die, but not despairing of hope. To the reckless and unthinking this may indeed appear more the outward expressions of grief than the spontaneous emotions of sorrow-stricken hearts, but they should recollect that we are about to bid adieu to him that has so honorably conducted us through the Sophomore year, to him that has laid the foundations of our future eminence, to him that has connected the beauties of the scholar and the refinements of the gentleman. It belongs alone to the viper to implant his fangs in the bosom that warmed him, but to a man who is endowed with the finer sensibilities of his God, it belongs to repay in a two-fold proportion every generous and benevolent action.” . . . “Now, in all the emotions which the word naturally suggests, we bid you an affectionate ‘farewell.’ In the name of the whole class, ‘farewell.’ ”

It was in 1833 that Messrs. Gaston and Badger gave the opinion that the Board had the right to sell the “service tract” of Maj. Charles Garrard, at the mouth of Yellow Creek in Tennessee, notwithstanding the wish expressed in his will that it should be retained by the University. Colonel Polk as attorney made the sale, $6,400 for the 2,560 acres, and $2,000 of the proceeds was voted to the finishing of the new Chapel. It was resolved, that in order to manifest a grateful sense of the liberality of the donor and perpetuate his memory of it, this building be forever known as Gerrard Hall. Col. J. B. Killebrew, the late very intelligent ex-State Geologist of Tennessee, informed me that the tract is not of especial fertility, and that the iron deposits once reported to be in its limits are of little value.

In 1832 the list of attorneys for the University was revised. On motion of Louis D. Henry the requirement of a bond was dispensed with, as being unusual, and sometimes mischievous, because excluding superior lawyers, who consider the requirement a reflection on their professional character. I give their names as a matter of history. The numbers begin in the mountain counties.

No. 1. Joshua Roberts Asheville 2. Anderson Mitchell Statesville 3. Robert H. Burton Lincolnton 4. Washington Morrison Mecklenburg 5. Clement Marshall Anson 6. John M. Dick Greensboro 7. John W. Norwood Hillsboro 8. John D. Eccles Fayetteville 9. John D. Hawkins Franklin County 10. Thomas P. Devereux Raleigh 11. William D. Mosely Lenoir County 12. Hardy L. Holmes Clinton 13. Joseph A. Hill Wilmington 14. Matthias E. Manly Newbern 15. Benj. J. Blume 16. Joseph R. Lloyd Tarboro 17. John S. Hawks Washington 18. John L. Bailey Elizabeth City

In the same year the Board sold at public auction their 243 shares in the Bank of New Bern. The average price per share was 63.10 1-2, the purchasers being Col. Wm. Polk and Messrs. John Snead and Alfred Jones. The purchase money, $15,208.56, was at once paid on the debts to the Bank of New Bern and the State Bank, leaving only $1,500 due the branch of the Bank of New Bern at Raleigh.

President Caldwell's disease proved to be beyond the surgeons' skill, and caused him excruciating pain the remainder of his life. Possessed of remarkable fortitude, he did not at once lay down his accustomed work. In December, 1833, the disease had made such ravages on his strength that for the first time he asked for help. At his suggestion it was ordered that when the President was unable by failure of health to take a personal and active part in preventing disorders in and among the College Buildings and the vicinity, the professor of oldest standing should be peculiarly vested with the responsibility and power to aid in the active duties of the Presidency. Thus Elisha Mitchell was at first partially, and then entirely, the acting President until the advent of President Swain.

Although President Caldwell insisted on doing his part in instruction, the Trustees determined to relieve him to some extent. On motion of Wm. Julius Alexander, an Adjunct Professorship of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy was created, with a salary of $1,000, soon raised to $1,240. The Standing Committee of Appointments elected Walker Anderson to the Chair. The house expected to be purchased from Thomas H. Taylor, that east of the Episcopal Church, was promised to him.

The following by-laws, regulating the conduct of students, were the last proposed by President Caldwell, and they, together with that above mentioned, in regard to the Senior Professor, show clearly his disciplinary ideas.

A mandate was laid on every member of the Faculty to be vigilant in carrying out the laws of the College, and to report transgressions.

It was declared to be a great object of the Trustees in assigning rooms in the buildings to Tutors, that they should individually and unitedly suppress disorders, not only in their own, but in all the buildings. They could not be absent without permission of the President.

The Tutors must go to their recitation rooms a reasonable time before the bell rings and teach the whole hour, unless bell for dismission should sound earlier.

Among other provisions, after several years of entreaty on the part of the Seniors, the vacation asked for by them of one month prior to Commencement, was granted. This became the settled practice for years, to the great satisfaction of those who had speeches to prepare for Commencement, and the delight of those to whom text-books were a torment.

As Professor Wm. Hooper owned his dwelling and Prof. Anderson rented one, they were allowed a commutation of $75 per annum, which was about the rental of the best houses in Chapel Hill.

Our modern football has not unrivalled distinction of peril to life and limb. The President reported that the favorite game of the students, known as Bandy, or Shinny, was dangerous, especially if played with a round wooden ball. The players were frequently knocked apparently lifeless and were incapacitated for duty several days. The students themselves were once so shocked that they voluntarily gave up the sport, but renewed it. It was so firmly established by prescription that the Faculty doubted their power of prohibiting it without the previous action of the Board, which action, however, was not had.

Rev. Dr. Wm. McPheeters, the Principal of the flourishing Raleigh Academy, earnestly pressed raising the standard for admission into the University. This was acceded to, and the following requirements were enacted.

In Mathematics, the whole of Arithmetic (Barnard's or Adam's) and Young's Algebra to Simple Equations. In the Classics, Jacob's Greek Reader, the whole of the prose; or Græca Minora and the latter part of Jacob's Greek Reader; the whole of Virgil, and Cicero's Select Orations, except the Philippics.

The work of the Faculty was assigned as follows:

President Caldwell to hear each week (if his health permit, and if not, Professor Anderson to hear for him), three recitations; Professor Anderson, six recitations; Professor Mitchell, eight recitations; Professor Hooper, eight recitations; Professor Phillips, eight recitations; three Tutors, each nine recitations.

For the coming session the President, or Dr. Mitchell, was to appoint three Tutors, temporarily, but from and after the 1st of January, 1835, the Trustees were to appoint three, at a salary of $500 each. One should be styled Tutor of Ancient and Modern Languages, one of Ancient Languages, and the third of Mathematics.

In 1834 there was published by Isaac C. Partridge, under the auspices of the Faculty, a weekly newspaper called the Harbinger. The terms were $3.00 if paid in advance, $4.00 if delayed six months, the publication being conditioned on obtaining six hundred subscribers.

The objects of this novel enterprise, as stated in the Prospectus, were very ambitious and patriotic,—“to diffuse literary information with correct taste, to impress the importance of popular and academic education, and explain the best methods discreetly but with independent freedom of stricture; to discuss subjects on which it is important to enlighten the public mind; to furnish events and circumstances occurring among ourselves, that deserve notice; to exhibit science in popular form that will solicit curiosity and be generally intelligible; to promote the cause of Internal Improvement; and to give a competent portion of the political and religious intelligence of the time, with studious exclusion of all party character.”

The opinion is expressed that the public had long expected such a publication from the site of the University, “the express purpose of which is to cultivate and diffuse valuable knowledge, such as is already treasured up and is constantly increasing with the progress of the age.”

Fears are expressed as to the promptness of remittances, which was all the more necessary, “as the enterprise will be wholly without profit except the necessary remuneration to the publishers and his employees. A periodical paper in all its movements must by the very terms run against time, and every experienced and reflecting man knows the truth expressed by Dr. Johnson, that he, who enters the lists with time for his antagonist, must toil with diligence not to find himself beaten. Every one who favors the Harbinger with his patronage we hope will do it with presence of mind to the importance of fidelity in his remittance. On this the establishment must depend for its support.”

Then the publisher comes in with a modest disclaimer that he “would not enlarge on the qualities of the proposed periodical even to excite in the bosom of his fellow citizens a disposition to give it countenance and support, lest while consulting that object, he might seem to expose himself to the charge of making vain promises, or raise expectations too high to be fulfilled. But that a paper of such a character, as perhaps has been already imagined in the minds of his readers, is desirable in our State, he cannot but think few will deny.”

The prospectus closes with the request that all to whom copies have been sent will not only subscribe for themselves, but procure subscriptions from others. Moreover, the publisher naively asks all the papers in the United States not only to copy it, but to act as agents to further its object. It is dated January 26, 1833, and it was hoped to begin publication by the first of the following June.

We do not have a file of the Harbinger, but fragments of it were cut out and pasted in a book, from which we are enabled to get a glimpse of its character. Judging from the subjects discussed and the style, the mixture of humor and gravity, Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Wm. Hooper were evidently the chief contributors. I give abstracts of some of the leading articles.

There is a very intelligent paper on “The Stars,” suggested by the great fall of meteors on the night of November 13, 1833. The writer suggested that they were “Terrible indications of war—between certain members of the editorial corps in North Carolina” (a Raleigh editor had recently felled another with a bludgeon), or “the Legislature are going to have a stormy session,” or, by their laws, “wage fatal war upon the best interests of their constituents.” This ridicule was then useful, as many ignorant people were really frightened. The article then treats, 1st of Lightning, 2nd, of “Fire-balls or proper Meteors,” 3rd, of the Aurora Borealis, 4th, of Shooting Stars, 5th, of Ignis Fatuus, 6th, of San Elmos. The first is pronounced the most dangerous of all. As to the Fire Balls, after giving three hypotheses, the author believes in a fourth, that they are terrestrial comets, which, becoming visible to us when in their perigeum, and, electrified passing through the atmosphere, discharge their electricity with an explosion that rends off part of their mass, and pass on. Shooting stars are very common, but never so brilliant as on the morning of the 13th November, 1833. The author, however, thinks their number was exaggerated, as he saw only one at intervals of two or three seconds, but greater numbers may have fallen earlier in the night. Of the Aurora Borealis, he states that it was so brilliant on the night of September 28, 1828, in Paris that the fire companies turned out and drove furiously through the streets, thinking the city was on fire. It is produced by “electricity in motion, we cannot tell why or how.” Of the Ignis Fatuus, he says that he has been tempted to pronounce it a delusion, but its appearance is too well authenticated to be doubted. The chemist can form nothing like it. It is “like rotten wood, which according to our theories ought not to be luminous, but it shines notwithstanding.” There is a note here which resembles the style of Dr. Mitchell laughing at the Professor of Ancient Languages. “The words (Jack-o'-the-Lantern, Will-o'-the-Wisp) will afford to the future investigator of the English tongue, when it shall have become a dead language, an ample field for dissertation. If we may be allowed to substitute the signs of the dialects of Greece for those he will use, we may suppose him to state that the original form was Jackwithalantern, which became Ionice, Jackothelantern; Doric, Jackomelantern; Attic, Jackalantern. He will also remark, that Willwithawisp is altogether irregular, from an obsolete root, as Haireo makes eilon in the second aorist.” San Elmo is a Spanish name for a meteor of electric origin. When there were two the ancients called them Castor and Pollux.

On January 2, 1835, the Trustees determined to place the management of the University in the hands of an Executive Committee of seven Trustees, of whom the President of the Board (the Governor), should be ex officio, a member, the other six to be elected annually by the Board; the Secretary of the Board to be Secretary of the Committee.

Their powers were:

1. All those of the Land Committee, of the Committee of Appointments, and the Building Committee.

The lands bequeathed to the University by Major Charles Gerrard had all been sold, but the 20,000 acres donated by Governor Benjamin Smith still remained. Of these 15,000 acres were well night unsalable, almost of no value. They had been shaken up by the great earthquake, called by the settlers “the Shake,” and were largely covered by the waters of the Obion river, which in places formed extensive lakes and swamps. Other portions were rocky and unfit for cultivation. After much negotiation 42,345 83-100 acres at one dollar per acre, and the 20,000 Smith acres at seventy cents an acre were sold to Messrs. Orme and Gifford, of Boston, for a Northern company, and the $56,345.83 purchase money was paid by drafts on New York and Philadelphia.

This sale included all the University land except three tracts, which were in litigation, and eight other parcels aggregating 5,020 acres, which Secretary Manly expressed the desire to purchase for himself on such terms as the Executive Committee should deem fair. He made collections of bonds for rent of part of the Gerrard lands due before their sale, $543.48 and “a tolerable good work horse and three mule colts.” “Finding the animals rather inconvenient baggage for a stage coach, he converted them into cash at the price of $204.”

The Secretary highly praised the fidelity, energy and accuracy of his associate, and gave a statement of his accounts from 1822 to the period of their joint action. He had sold 59,319 acres for $160,147.05, and had paid into the University Treasury $69,618.94, having disbursed on warrants of the Land and Building Committee, fees to attorneys, taxes on lands held under the Resolution warrants, his own compensation and other contingencies, $23,613.96, showing uncollected $81,079.71 and $10,309.13 interest; total uncollected $91,388.90.

The Secretary and Treasurer then gives a condensed statement of the financial condition of the University November 21, 1835:

Cash in the Treasury $77,235.99 Bonds for lands sold, in the hands of Col. Dickens 91,388.90 Bonds of one Kelly for land 1,500.00 Bonds for rent of Gerrard lands before sale 533.48 Interest of Trustees in litigated lands 1,000.00 Making an aggregate of $171,658.37

It seems proper to give a history of the Library up to the death of President Caldwell. I am aided by an eight-page pamphlet on the subject published by Fisk P. Brewer (A. B. Yale), Professor of Greek in this University, 1869-70.

In the charter of the University the importance of a Library is indicated by the direction that it shall be called by the name of its largest donor. As no one appeared to claim the honor, after about fifty years, the building was called after Governor Benjamin Smith, on account of his gift to the infant institution. The first book given was a folio copy of Bishop Wilson's works, one of a number presented to Congress by his son and by that body distributed to the States. The resolution of Congress March 22, 1785, is recited on the fly-leaf and then the following: “In pursuance of the above resolution the undersigned, delegates from the State of North Carolina, have agreed to transmit the works of Dr. Thomas Wilson to Newberne, to be deposited there in the Library, belonging to the Public Academy, till the time arrives, which they hope is not far distant, when the wisdom of the Legislature, according to the express intention of the Constitution, shall have caused a College or University to be erected in the State. HU. WILLIAMSON, JNO. SITGREAVES.

The next donation was by the “Father of the University,” Wm. Richardson Davie, thirty-nine volumes of such histories as those of Hume and Gibbon. Richard Bennehan gave eight volumes and Joseph Blount Hill an Encyclopedia of eighteen volumes.

Next came Rev. James Hall, D.D., the Revolutionary captain of cavalry, with forty-nine volumes. Joseph Gautier of Bladen County, a lawyer of ability and a State Senator, bequeathed by will his library of about 100 volumes, mostly in the French language. Besides public documents, nearly one hundred others contributed by Judge John Williams, James Reid of Wilmington, David Ker, first presiding professor; Abraham Hodge, the editor, of Halifax; the Centre Benevolent Society of Iredell, through Rev. Samuel E. McCorckle, D.D.; Francis N. W. Burton of Murfreesborough, Tenn.; Wm. Henry Hill, representative in Congress, of Wilmington; Edward Jones, Wilmington and Chatham County, Solicitor General; and General Calvin Jones of Wake and then of Tennessee. In 1812 it was reported that there were in the Society libraries 800 to 1,000 volumes and in the University library 1,500.

In 1803 it was enacted by the Board that every student should be considered as using the public library and should pay a tax for the privilege. The fee was fifty cents per term or one dollar per annum. This was doubled in 1813. We have a record of 174 books bought with this fund in the three years ending 1816. Afterward in 1824 there is a mention of forty-three volumes and sixty-four numbers of journals purchased for $350.25. As there is no further mention of receipts from the source it is probable that the tax was abolished, the students using their funds for the building up of the Society libraries.

Among the regulations were the following: A borrowed book could be kept out three weeks. Only juniors and seniors could take an Encyclopedia. The Faculty fixed the price of “hiring books,” i. e., those text-books which were kept on hand for this purpose. Of course injuries to books must be paid for.

The Librarian's salary was one-half the fees. His duties were light. The library was for some years in the President's house, in the room at the head of the stairs; afterward in the University building.

There were few works which undergraduates cared to read. The late Judge Battle said that it was a matter of pride to borrow them, and then use them as dead-falls for the swarming mice. The tall tomes of St. Augustine were as efficacious in slaughtering these troublesome rodents as was their great author in crushing the religious heresies of his day.

In 1822 the Faculty reported to the Trustees that the chief need of the institution was the procurement of books and apparatus. If five thousand or even one thousand dollars should be at once expended for this it would be a great relief of the distressing want. In 1824 President Caldwell went into the subject at length and earnestly. He began by testifying to the usefulness of the purchases made out of the library fees. He urged that it is perhaps hardly considered that a Professor in a College, who is without books in a tolerable supply, is analagous to the creation of nobility, which for want of estate is obliged to live in rags. He compared the bookless professor to a lawyer without copies of the statutes and reports of decisions. So a Professor of a College should “employ his whole time and utmost diligence in the extension of his knowledge by the examination and study of the multitude of authors who have written upon the subjects upon which it is his business to teach and deliver lectures.” He then gave illustrations of shoemakers without awls and lasts, of carpenters without planes and chisels, and printers with one or two fonts of worn-out type. “We have, however,” he said “been greatly relieved by the resource furnished by the library money, with which we have had it in our power to furnish some supplies of that species of food on which, as instructors, we are called upon to subsist and grow.”

Dr. Caldwell then asked for $6,000 for books and apparatus for instruction, offering to go in person to Europe at his own expense to make the purchases. As had been stated the offer was accepted, the money to be equally divided between additions to the library and apparatus. The books, 979 in number, were placed in the library by December, 1825. Donations were made by a bookseller in London of Thuanus in six folio volumes and fifty-four volumes by the British and Foreign Bible Societies.

In 1827 the Board expressed its intention to appropriate $250 per annum for additions to the library, abolishing the $1 tax on students, but owing to want of funds no purchases were made. Each professor sent in a list of works needed in his department, but there was no response. Dr. Mitchell recommended nine, including Gillie's History of the World. In expectation of an up-to-date collection it was enacted that a student should not take a book from the shelves. It must be delivered by the Librarian. Each Tutor in turn was to be Librarian.

The Record Commission of the English Government from 1833 to 1841 donated to the University eighty-three folios and twenty-four octavos, which was accompanied by twelve books and many pamphlets written or edited by Charles Parton Cooper, the Secretary of the Commission. Among the books presented by the Commission is a copy of the Domesday Book, compiled by order of William, the Conqueror.

In 1836 Professor Mitchell journeyed to the North for the purpose of examining a mineralogical collection. He reported that the greatest need of the University was books, philosophical apparatus, cabinets of minerals, rocks and shells, for which eight or ten thousand dollars should be expended. “We have a professorship of modern languages,” he said, “and with the exception of a broken copy of Voltaire's works and some old books of controversy between the Catholics and Protestants, presented many years ago by Gautier of Elizabeth, in Bladen, have hardly a French work—in Italian, Spanish and Portugese we have nothing. Books are continually published in the different departments of science and learning, which the professors must have, without which the library of the University can not be respectable.”

On the 27th of January, 1835, the sufferings of President Caldwell were ended. His death brought grief to the officers and alumni of the University, and to the friends of education and enlightened progress throughout the land. He had stood by the cradle of the University, had worked for it through its infancy up to strong manhood; had been the most potent factor in placing it on the highest table-land of Southern institutions. He had lived to see its pupils in all positions of usefulness and honor throughout our Southland, and he had their profound admiration. He had won the position of educational headship in our State. He was the recognized authority on matters connected with mathematical and astronomical questions.

The early history of Dr. Caldwell has been already given.

As a preacher, although not eloquent, he was an orthodox and fervid expounder of Christian principles. Some of his sermons were sought for with a view to publication, and a few, notably that on the death of Washington and at the funeral of Prof. Samuel A. Holmes, were printed in pamphlet form by admiring hearers. His style was elevated, too diffuse for modern taste, yet highly appreciated by his contemporaries.

Dr. Caldwell was on several occasions driven into print on account of attacks on himself for alleged aristocratic views, and on the institution under his charge. His adversaries found that he wielded with potency the weapons of ridicule and of sarcasm.

In his private relations he was neighborly, amiable and beloved. His accomplished and able step-son, Rev. Dr. William Hooper, has shown how the grave, almost stern, University President, at home disdained not the relaxation of genial humor, radiated happiness around him, was affectionate and kindly to all from his brilliant wife to the humblest slave.

He wrote a series of letters to the public over the nom de plume of Carlton, advocating, with much wealth of argument and information, gathered during his visit to Europe, and by reading, the construction of railroads. This gained for him the reputation of being one of the fathers of internal improvements in our State. He advocated with similar intelligence and ability common school education and thus took rank with Judge Murphey and Bartlett Yancey as a pioneer in this great work. It has been mentioned that he was the State astronomer in locating part of the Southern boundary of the State.

It was in recognition of his services to the State and its institutions that the General Assembly of 1841 conferred on a Piedmont county the name of Caldwell, the only county which honors a teacher.

Dr. Caldwell was a man brave and strong, of tireless energy, a scholar yet a man of action, stern in discipline, yet of kindly heart, a true Christian, firm in his Presbyterian convictions, but never intolerant towards others, a preacher fervent and forcible, a teacher patient and inspiring.

The following resolutions of the Trustees, whom he served, have the merit of truth without exaggeration:

The reply of Mrs. Caldwell is in excellent taste:

He was first buried in the middle of the village cemetery, which was originally designed for use of Faculty and Students of the University as well as the inhabitants of Chapel Hill, in a grave dug and walled, in pursuance of his orders. The body has been twice exhumed. In November after his death at the instance of the Philanthropic Society, it was taken up under the direction of Alfred S. Waugh, an artist, in order to get a plaster cast of his features. The bust then executed is in Gerrard Hall and is a faithful reproduction. The grave was again reopened on the 31st of October, 1846, and the remains were reinterred by the side of his wife on the east side of the old monument.

Judge Frederick Nash and Rev. Wm. McPheeters, D.D., were appointed by the Trustees to erect an appropriate monument over his grave. In the first impulse of enthusiasm a shaft worthy of the man and the University was contemplated. We find that Mr. Robert Donaldson, of New York, sent designs, as did the sculptor, Alfred S. Waugh. These were submitted by the Trustees to David Paton, a Scotchman, one of the architects of the Capitol, but there is no record of any report made by him. Eventually, in 1837, the design submitted by Thomas Waite, an energetic, but careless, master mechanic, who then had charge of carrying on the repairs of University buildings, was adopted.

This monument was of sandstone from one of the quarries near the University, either that on the plantation of Robert W. Strowd, or that of Solomon Morgan, since bequeathed to the University by his daughter, Mrs. Mary E. Mason. The shaft was cut by J. B. Turney, a skilled mechanic. It soon began to crumble and grow dingy. Moreover, the plan was to insert on the eastern face a marble slab with appropriate inscriptions in Latin, written by the scholarly teacher, Dr. Wm. McPheeters. When the slab came from the workman at the North, the Latin was found to be, by careless workmanship, so atrociously bad as to be beyond amendment. The professor of that language in disgust seized a hammer and smashed the offending marble into fragments. The unfortunate stone became offensive to good taste and all interest in it was lost. No inscription was ever cut showing to whom the structure was reared. When the New West building was erected its front was in close proximity to the rugged and gruesome stone. The only recognition of it was the raising of hats by the processions as they marched near it at Commencements.

The site chosen was, at the time, thought to be sufficiently remote from any building then standing or likely to be erected. Its inconvenient proximity to the New West building shows at once the progress of the University, and the want of foresight in the able Committee. To their minds six and seven score students were gratifying numbers and the locality selected was hidden away from the active life of the University. The history of the new monument will be told hereafter.

At the request of the Executive Committee Prof. Walker Anderson, soon to leave the institution for his eminent career at the bar in Florida, at the ensuing Commencement, June, 1835, delivered an eloquent and appreciative address on the career of the deceased President. He was peculiarly well fitted for the task, having been his pupil, a professor in his Faculty, and his assistant. He thus had a more intimate knowledge of the character of his superior officer than was vouchsafed to others. The address was printed and much enhanced the reputation of Judge Anderson as a graceful and eloquent orator. It was his last work for the State and the institution which he had served so long.

I give some specimens of his style: “The religious character of Dr. Caldwell was not the formation of a day, nor the hasty and imperfect work of a dying bed. * * * He had made religion the guide of his youth; it beautified and sanctified the labors of his well-spent life; nor did it fail him in the trying hour, which an all-wise, but inscrutable Providence permitted to be to him peculiarly dark and fearful. The rich consolations of his faith became brighter and stronger amidst the wreck of the decaying of flesh; and, if the dying testimony of a pure and humble spirit may be received, death had for him no sting—the grave achieved no triumph. * * * His hope of a happy immortality beyond the grave was to him a principle of strength that sustained him amidst the conflicts of the dark valley; and to us, who witnessed the agonies of his parting hour, a bright radiance illumined the gloom which memory throws around the trying scene. On the evening of the 24th of January his terrible disease made its last ferocious assault. * * * By the exercise of prayers and other acts of the holy religion he professed, he strengthened himself for the last conflict, and spoke words of consolation and hope to his sorrowing friends. But death was yet to be indulged with a brief triumph, and for three days his sufferings were protracted with such intensity that his vigorous and well-balanced mind sank beneath the contest. We willingly drop the veil over the bitter recollections of that hour, and we take refuge in those high and holy hopes which were the last objects of his fading consciousness, and which had lent to the long twilight of his mortal career some of the light of that heaven to which they had directed his longing gaze.

“The labors of a useful life, to use the thought of an old stoick, are like things consecrated to God, over which mortality has no power. ‘Haec est temporis nostri sacra ac dedicata; quam non inopia, non metus non morborum incursus exagitat.’ The pure and patient spirit had escaped its narrow and tempest-stricken prison house, the wasted form is resting from its sore conflict in the blessed hope of a joyful resurrection, but those consecrated acts of his useful life remain with us, to spread their beneficent influence through successive generations. * * * We may say, without the fear of contradiction, that the whole present generation of the citizens of North Carolina owe to the memory of Dr. Caldwell gratitude as well as admiration; and that we are indebted to his agency,

The changes in the Faculty during President Caldwell's second term, not already mentioned, may be seen in the following summary:

The President himself in 1816 changed from Mathematics to Moral Philosophy. In 1834 he added Astronomy to his title. Elisha Mitchell was in charge of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy (Physics), from 1817 to 1826, when he took the chair of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology and held it for the remainder of his life.

Denison Olmsted was in 1817 Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy. In 1825, in consequence doubtless of having been chosen Director of the State Geological Survey, he added Geology to his title. He resigned the same year.

Ethan Allen Andrews was Professor of Languages from 1822 to 1826 when his title was changed to Professor of Ancient Languages, which continued until his resignation in 1828.

Walker Anderson, elected Adjunct Professor in order to aid President Caldwell, was a native of Petersburg, Virginia, born July 11, 1801. His parents were Daniel Anderson, a merchant, and Mary R. Cameron, a sister of Judge Duncan Cameron, of North Carolina. Graduating with highest honor at this University in 1819 he studied law under his uncle, Judge Cameron. Having on his 21st birthday married Phebe R. Hawks, sister of Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawks, he was induced to become the principal of a boarding school for females in Hillsboro. He was called from this position to the University, at first as Professor of Rhetoric and Logic, and then as Adjunct Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy.

Resigning his chair in 1836 he emigrated at once to the Territory of Florida and engaged in milling and mercantile business. Failing in these he entered on the practice of law, and soon won eminence therein. Florida was admitted into the Union as a state in 1846 and in 1851 the Legislature organized her Supreme Court. Mr. Anderson was the first Chief Justice. He resigned in 1853 and died in Pensacola January, 1857. He had fourteen children, of whom three are living.

Judge Anderson was a man of loftiest and purest character, of most winning manners, of fine literary taste, and possessed of an easy, flowing style. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

William Hooper was Professor of Languages from 1817 to 1822, when he resigned for his work as Episcopal minister. He returned in 1825 and was for three years in charge of Rhetoric and Logic. In 1828 he succeeded Andrews in Ancient Languages and held that place until 1837 when he left finally the service of the University.

Shepard K. Kollock was the first Professor of Rhetoric and Logic, in 1819, and resigned in 1825. This chair was vacant, except for a few months in 1828, but Professor Mitchell voluntarily added the duties to his own, during much of the time.

James Phillips succeeded Mitchell as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1826 and held that chair until his death. He was not elected without opposition. Mr. Ferdinand R. Hassler, an eminent mathematical author, seemed to have been the favorite of President Caldwell, but he probably declined to be a candidate. The claims of Matthias Evans Manly, a tutor, destined to a most honorable career in the profession of law, were pressed, the President admitted his ability, but while not opposing, declined to recommend him, probably on account of his youth, he having graduated only two years before.

Nicholas Marcellus Hentz was elected Professor of Modern Languages in 1826 and held the place until his resignation in 1833. This chair was established under a resolution offered by Mr. Badger, that a “Professor of Modern Languages, including French, Spanish and as far as possible other living languages of Europe be employed.” Treasurer Haywood, Judge Potter and Rev. Dr. McPheeters voted aganst it, probably on economical grounds. Although a majority of the Board were thus liberal at a time when they were borrowing money wherewith to pay the Faculty, they approved unanimously the report of a committee, of which Colonel Polk was Chairman, that it was highly objectionable to pay one Raleigh newspaper $6.00, $1.25, $3.50 and $4.50 for advertisements for which its rival charged only $2.50, 75c, $1.87 1-2 and $2.50, aggregating $15.25 for one and $7.62 1-2 for the other. These sums were the total expenses for advertising for the year. As the newspapers were of opposite politics it is easy to understand Colonel Polk's criticism.

Mr. Hentz seemed to have had little opposition though the President very much distrusted the employment of foreigners. He urged in a general way on the Board their probably inability to enforce discipline, arising from the impossibility of their understanding the disposition of American youth. Weight of character and personal influence are as much needed as learning. He especially inclined to a Virginian applicant, who signed the pen name, Inconnue, whose real name was Gessner W. Harrison, afterwards a noted educator and author. It is probable, too, that the President distrusted the reliious principles of the foreign born.

After the death of Caldwell to the arrival of President Swain, Dr. Elisha Mitchell continued to be the Acting President. It has been stated that Dr. Wm. Hooper desired the office. Of this there is no evidence, but the tradition that he was in favor of the continuance of Dr. Mitchell, is probably true.

The highest honor man of the class of 1835 was Haywood William Guion, who spoke the Salutatory. The next to him, declared equal, were Augustus J. Foster and Wm. Peter Webb. They drew lots for the Valedictory, and Foster won it. Honorary orations were assigned to Samuel H. Ruffin, James Hill Hutchins, Wm. Alexander Rose, Henry Lee Graves and James Campbell Smith.

Guion became a leader at the bar, an efficient President of the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherfordton, now Carolina Central, Railroad Company, and author of a scientific work, called the Comet; Foster was a farmer and a most efficient Justice of the Peace, unable to engage in active pursuits by reason of being a victim of rheumatism. Wm. P. Webb was a Judge in Alabama. Of those not gaining honors, C. C. Battle was a lawyer, Private Secretary to Governor Dudley, and a volunteer in the Mexican War. Richard B. Creecy is a useful and honored editor and lawyer and author of many monographs illustrative of the history of our State, now (1895) the oldest living graduate of this University. One matriculate, Colonel Clarke M. Avery, was killed in battle.

Of those not graduates, Johnston Blakeley Jones of Chapel Hill and Charlotte, was a physician of skill and genius, and John Archibald Bingham was a preacher and teacher in the noted Bingham School, his brother William J. being Principal.

The chief feature of the occasion was the eloquent eulogy, already mentioned, on the character of the late President Caldwell by Professor Walker Anderson.

A meeting of the Institute of Education was held, but the proceedings were not recorded, except that Professor Mitchell gave a talk on Agriculture.

Thomas S. Ashe, a recent graduate, afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, was elected Tutor, but declined. It was stated that he was in all respects an excellent student.

The Commencement of 1835 under the management of Professor Mitchell, Chairman, was the first after the death of Dr. Caldwell. The Trustees ratified all the acts of the Executive Committee, including the resolutions about the late venerated President. The students, with the happy buoyancy of youth, had begun to make preparations for the usual ball, but the Faculty thought it would be heartless and unbecoming. Both sides appealed to the Trustees, who sustained the Faculty.

On the 5th of December, 1835, David Lowrie Swain, on the nomination of Duncan Cameron, was elected by ballot President of the University. It is not stated that the vote was unanimous, but, as there was no other nominee, his majority must have been large, as tradition so states. He was fond of mentioning that, while he desired the place, he was unwilling to have it without the support of the strong men of the Board. He therefore consulted Judge Frederick Nash and asked him to confer with ex-Judge Duncan Cameron, and he would be guided by their opinion. The latter was enthusiastic in his favor, the former acquiesced, and the Trustees generally approved.

He was elected on account of having been by his talents and winning manners, a wise, energetic, successful administrator in the high public offices to which he had been elected. Born on the 4th of January, 1801, he was well taught by the skilled Rev. George Newton of Asheville, in the classics and mathematics. He entered Sophomore Class of the University of North Carolina in 1822, but, on account of the bad health of his father and straitened means, in a few months he left the institution for the study of law under Chief Justice John Louis Taylor at Raleigh. He began practice in 1822 at Asheville, with immediate success. He served in the House of Commons 1824 to 1829, when he was chosen to be Solicitor of the Edenton Circuit, and was transferred the next year to the Superior Court bench. The General Assembly, on the 1st of January, 1832, inaugurated him Governor. By successive elections he continued in that high office for three years. After leaving the executive chair, he was an active member of the Constitutional Convention of 1835. In all these positions he studied with care and decided intelligently the questions which came before him. In our State history he was peculiarly learned, and in that of the United States, well versed.

Although Professor Wm. Hooper sneeringly said, “the people of North Carolina have given Governor Swain all the offices they have to bestow and now have sent him to the University to be educated,” he was by no means an illiterate man. Governor Perry of South Carolina in his book of Reminiscences, states that he was the best scholar at the classical school of Mr. Newton, and was proficient in Homer and other ancient authors. He was known to quote lines from the Iliad after his coming to Chapel Hill. He had a tenacious memory, was well acquainted with the genealogies of the leading families of the State, and excelled as a popular speaker. His person was very imposing, over six feet high, but so ungainly that numberless witticisms were perpetrated on its deviation from the standards of manly beauty. An old Whig, boasting of the triumph of his party in a debate in the Legislature, said: “The Democrats were beating us until old ‘Warping Bars’ from beyond the mountains thrashed them out.” But notwithstanding this defect, his genial temper, ready wit, his kindliness, his gift of speech, made him a favorite in all companies, while his industry in preparation on the questions under debate and skill in arranging his argument made him a formidable antagonist. I add that in a long life his integrity was never impeached, and that he was prudent in the management of his private affairs. His great popularity in the State was a manifest gain to the University.

The new President was of a goodly lineage. His father, George Swain, was of sturdy New England stock. Emigrating to Georgia, he was soon a member of the State Legislature and of the Constitutional Convention. For the sake of his health, he removed to a small farm near Asheville. Here he planted fruit trees, some varieties imported from New England, raised the crops usual in his region, and carried on the trade of a hatter. For years he was also Postmaster of Asheville. Like New Englanders generally, he highly valued education, and gave his children the best available opportunities.

Governor Swain's mother was of a prominent North Carolina family, said to have been connected with Governor Ralph Lane, who led a colony to Roanoke Island. Her name was Caroline Lane, the widow of a good man, named Lowrie. She was a sister of Colonel Joel Lane, long State Senator from Wake, who sold the site of the seat of Government. Another brother was Jesse Lane, whose son, Joseph, was a General in the Mexican War, a Senator from Oregon, and a candidate for the Vice-Presidency on the Breckenridge ticket.

It was intended by the Trustees that the new President should occupy the dwelling on the west side of the Campus on Cameron Avenue, originally built for its chief officer. But President Swain disliked to dispossess Professor Mitchell of his home, and his wife did not approve the dwelling last occupied by Dr. Caldwell, because inconvenient for young children. That next to the Episcopal Church on the east was preferred, and was the executive mansion until 1848.

There was much speculation as to whether the high standing and personal popularity of President Swain would bring new students. In his favor was the relief of the University from severe financial strain; against him was the panic of 1837 and the depression of many following years. As late as 1845 cotton, the chief Southern money crop, brought only five cents a pound. Remembering this, we conclude that his administration had a very successful beginning. There were only 89 matriculates in 1835, entering in the fall before his election. In 1837 there were 142; in 1838, 164; in 1839, 160; in 1840, 169; 1841, 167.

The Faculty starting with President Swain were Elisha Mitchell, Professor of Chemistry, Geology and Mineralogy; Wm. Hooper, of Ancient Languages; James Phillips, of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy; Walker Anderson, of Rhetoric and Logic; A. Burgevin, of Modern Languages. The Tutors were Wm. H. Owen, of Ancient Languages, and David McAllister, of Mathematics.

Some friction arose between Dr. Mitchell and the new President because of a criticism by the latter as to the deficiency of class work done by the Department of Chemistry and Geology. The sensitive Doctor showed that by adding his conducting of prayers and preaching of sermons, and his duties as bursar, to his lecture work, he was not behind any other professor. The ruffled tempers were soon appeased, and his relations with his chief were henceforth harmonious.

The village of Chapel Hill being of sparse population, and circuses, theatres and such like entertainments being excluded, Commencements were important occasions. The number of equipages and visitors was surprising. The day was the first Thursday in June, selected so as not to conflict with the courts of the neighboring counties. On Monday night of 1836 there were declamations by members of the Freshman class, namely, Wm. R. Walker, Gaston H. Wilder, Wm. F. Brown, Dennis D. Ferebee, James H. Headen, Duncan K. McRae, and Thomas D. Meares.

On Tuesday night the declaimers were Augustus Benners, James Sidney Smith, George Davis, J. W. Evans, John O. L. Goggin, J. J. Jackson, and James Somerville of South Carolina.

Of these, Brown, McRae, Smith, Benners and Goggin did not remain for graduation. Smith was a lawyer and Assemblyman with reputation as a speaker. Two of this year's matriculates, Lucius J. Johnson, Major, and Oliver H. Prince, Captain, lost their lives in the Civil War.

On Wednesday the orator chosen by the Philanthropic Society, Henry L. Pinckney, a Representative in Congress from South Carolina, was to deliver an address, but was unable to be present, on account of sickness. He forwarded a copy of it to the Society, and at their request it was read by the President. The newspaper correspondent reported that he “performed this duty to the entire satisfaction of all and gave promise of making an able and popular President.”

In assigning the honors of Commencement day to the members of the Senior class, it was resolved, 1st, that only two separate distinctions be awarded to the two best scholars; the remainder to be divided into two orders, to one of which honorary, called Popular, orations to be assigned, the other to be required to prepare “Forensics.”

To Wm. B. Rodman was assigned the Latin Salutatory, the highest honor. To Lawrence W. Scott, the Valedictory in English. To James E. Crichton, Ralph H. Graves, Wm. W. Hooper, Thomas Jones, Frederick N. McWilliams, and Charles L. Pettigrew, “Popular Orations.”

To the remainder were assigned what were called Forensics.

Speeches at Commencement were by all the Seniors. The subjects are of interest as showing what young men were thinking about in the closing years of Andrew Jackson's administration.

The Salutatory in Latin, Wm. B. Rodman. History, Ralph H. Graves. The Influence of Fame on Genius, Fred N. McWilliams. The Influence of Catholicism on Free Institutions, James E. Crichton. Shall the Indians be Trained to be Free Citizens or Made Slaves? debate, Thomas Gholson, Thos. S. Jacocks. Should Universal Education be Enforced?, James Saunders. Should Texas be Annexed to the United States? Debate, Benj. I. Howze, Wm. L. Stamps. Should the United States Recognize Texas? Debate, James E. Hamlet, Henry K. Nash. The Indians of North America, Thomas Jones. The Inequality of Genius, Wm. W. Hooper. Should Education be Compulsory?, Charles L. Pettigrew. Should England and France Restore Poland? Debate, Robert G. McCutchen, Thomas Stamps. Is the Salic Law Just and Wise? Debate, John A. Downey, John G. Tull. Valedictory, Lawrence W. Scott.

Although there was a recess for dinner, this formidable programme illustrates the superior patience of our fathers and grandfathers.

Of the honor men, Rodman was one of the ablest lawyers of the State, and reached a seat on the Supreme Court bench. He was also a Colonel and member of the Convention of 1868; Scott was a lawyer and also a physician; Crichton was a physician, Graves a Tutor of Mathematics at the University and then Principal of a classical school of very high standing and co-Principal of the Horner School, father of the late very able Professor of the same name; Hooper was a physician, who died early; Jones was a minister of the Gospel; Pettigrew, brother of General J. J. Pettigrew, a successful planter and of wide influence. Of those without honors, Henry Kollock Nash was a member of the Legislature, Presidential Elector for Scott and Graham, and of high rank as a lawyer and orator.

Of the matriculates with the class not graduating were Andrew Jackson Donaldson, nephew and Private Secretary to President Jackson, Minister to Prussia and Germany, and candidate for the Vice-Presidency with Fillmore; and William H. Polk, brother of President Polk, Chargé d'Affaires at Naples.

Professor Mitchell and Rev. Dr. McPheeters were appointed a committee to examine the curricula of the leading colleges of the United States and report as to what advance should be made in order to assimilate the University of North Carolina to them. They found that there was substantially little difference in the terms of admission, and no change was then made.

Among other events of this year, a Civil Engineer, W. D. Riddick, was employed to investigate the sandstone formation east of the village to ascertain if a quarry of building stone could be secured. Material for the steps and window-sills was obtained at two places, as is shown by the sunken pits, but has not proved to be durable. The first Caldwell monument is from this rock. As only $13 was paid the engineer, the examination could not have been extensive.

Professor Mitchell, while on one of his annual visits to his old home, was instructed to examine the cabinet of minerals belonging to Dr. J. H. Griscom. The good doctor, evidently a Quaker, wrote from Philadelphia in December, 1835, with an artlessness not expected of those living north of Mason and Dixon's line, that his price was $1,500, but if he could not get that he would take $1,250, and if a sale could not be effected by the spring he would take even less. Professor Mitchell was not much impressed, stating that he believed better results could be obtained by purchasing of M. Moldenhauer of Heidelburg, Germany. He adds: “Baron Laderer, the Austrian Consul, has one that he holds at $4,000. He has paid more for single specimens than Dr. Caldwell did for the whole cabinet he purchased for the Trustees.” As it is stated elsewhere that Caldwell paid only fifteen dollars, the Baron must not have had very costly stones.

While on this journey, Professor Mitchell went out of the way to inspect Northern colleges, in order to inform the Trustees of our deficiences—Yale, “the Methodist College in Middletown,” now Wesleyan, Washington College at Hartford, Brown University at Amherst. He was furnished with letters of introduction at Harvard and Princeton, but “was so little gratified by what he had already seen that he neglected to use them.” He advised that instruments purchased should be those useful for illustration before a class, and gave a gentle criticism of Dr. Caldwell's purchases in Europe, the Astronomical Clock, the Altitude and Azimuth instrument, and the Transit, “all good and necessary in an Observatory,” but consumed a large part of the funds. Two thousand dollars are needed for the department of Natural Philosophy.

While the appropriations for Chemistry were once liberal, there was then needed $1,000 additional to meet its wants, including Apparatus for Electro-Magnetism and the Polarization of Light.

He stated that the University had a Professorship of Modern Languages, but the only books owned were a broken copy of Voltaire's works and some old books illustrating the controversies between the Catholics and Protestants, the gift of Senator Gautier of Bladen County. We had nothing in Italian, Spanish or Portugese. Books are continually published in the different departments of science and learning which the Professors must have and without which the library can not be respectable. It is remarkable that the Professor in enumerating the modern languages in which our deficiency was apparent, omitted altogether German. He seemed to think we needed instruction only in Latin tongues.

For all these needs, $8,000 or $10,000 should be expended. If a larger telescope should be desired, $1,200 or $1,500 must be added. One at $1,200 had just been received at Middletown from Leubours of Paris, and Princeton was expecting one more costly from the shop of Fraunhofer.

The Professor then takes up the question of cheap board for poor students. The usual plan has been the establishment of Commons with dearer and cheaper tables, of which the boarder can take his choice. This is liable to great objections. We are brought into collision with the most capricious and unmanageable part of the student's system—his stomach. All of them lead an inactive life, and therefore have not the ravening appetite they have at home after a day's work or hunting. The Steward's Hall is a common source of vexation and disturbance at all colleges. It is suggested that students earnestly desirous of an education, “willing to live on very plain food and make out their dinner on Greek roots and Conic sections,” shall have a house where they can manage for themselves. The Professor hopes, with the approval of the Trustees, with the funds accruing from the tuition money, to provide such an establishment.

Dr. Mitchell was, when this letter was written, temporary President, and his recommendations were made as such. It does not appear that he carried into effect his plan of helping poor students to cheap board, but in recent years it has been adopted with great success. The Steward's Hall was rented to persons willing to charge reasonable rates to students, but the latter were not compelled to patronize its tables. Among those who entered into the obligations were John B. Tenny, Mrs. McCauley, widow of Wm. McCauley, Mrs. Caroline Scott, widow of John Scott, who removed from Hillsboro to Texas and died soon afterwards, and Miss Sally Mallett. In 1847 the wings were given to President Swain to be used in erecting a servants' house, and the main structure was sold.

The building designed for public exercises, Gerrard Hall, was finished in 1837. As most of the exercises during the year were of a sacred character, it was known as the New Chapel. Person Hall, or the Old Chapel, was soon given up to lectures, divided into four rooms for this purpose. The chief carpenter and manager was Thomas Waitt, a man of force but careless in his financial dealings; extravagant, but not chargeable with dishonesty. He was succeeded by Kendal Waitt, probably his son, who was for many years the carpenter, locksmith and plumber for the institution. They were from New England.

In this year the vacations were enlarged to six weeks in summer and the same in winter.

An entry in the Treasurer's book of 1836 brings to mind that the astutest of men could be caught by the fallacious hopes of what are now called “boom towns.” Peter Brown was a hardheaded, closefisted lawyer, a native of Scotland, who accumulated a fortune of $200,000. A town was laid out at the junction of the Cape Fear and Haw Rivers, which it was expected to be connected with the ocean by slackwater navigation and to become a prosperous commercial city. It was named after the State Treasurer, John Haywood, and aspired to be the capital of the State and the site of the University. Many leading citizens hoped to share in the golden harvest by buying lots, among them the sagacious Peter Brown. When he turned his real estate into money in order that his Scottish nephew might obtain the fund under his will, his Haywood investment escaped his memory, and the University, by escheat, obtained $25, not for each front foot, but for the whole acre.

One —— Seabrook was appointed Tutor of Modern Languages at $600 per year. The Faculty books show that he did not accept the offer, but for several months, February to May, 1836, A. Burgevin was numbered among the Professors, his chair being that of Modern Languages. Of him we know nothing.

After paying off pressing debts, the Trustees bought from the State 100 of the five per cent certificates of $1,000, each bearing five per cent interest, issued under an Act passed in 1835, “to provide for paying for the Shares reserved to the State in the Capital Stock of the Bank of the State of North Carolina.” In 1837 the certificates were surrendered in exchange for one thousand shares of stock in the bank. As the bank paid an average of eight per cent dividends, the $8,000 annually thence derived, together with the tuition money, occasional escheats and interest on money loaned, constituted the income of the University until the ruin of the Civil War.

The Commencement of 1837 was held in Gerrard Hall. The newspaper of the day, the Raleigh Register, describes it as a “commodious building, with large galleries, just completed with becoming taste and good style.” The reporter became enthusiastic and poetical in depicting the occasion. “It is the first young budding of fame to a Collegian, to see an ocean of bonnets and ribbons, and the banks of snow gauze waving and rustling at his appearance, as if the gentle south had breathed on a wheat field; but it is the full bloom of popularity, if, when he retires, he shall see the ocean toss with emotion that rolls beneath its surface.”

On Monday night came the Freshmen declaimers, generally called Competitors, Tod R. Caldwell, John W. Cameron, Wm. H. Henderson, John A. Lillington, Duncan Sellers, Albert Shipp and Wm. M. Shipp. The Sophomore Competitors were George Davis, Joseph W. Evans, James Summerville, Wm. R. Walker, Dennis D. Ferebee, James H. Headen, Walter A. Huske. All graduated in regular course.

The address before the Literary Societies was by Hon. Robert Strange, a Senator of the United States, who had been a Judge of the Superior Courts. He was a polished speaker, a graduate of Hampden-Sidney College, especially successful as a criminal lawyer, when appearing for the defence.

The Representatives chosen by the Dialectic Society were Benjamin M. Hobson, Joseph John Jackson, Thomas D. Meares, and by the Philanthropic, James M. Burke, Hazell W. Burgwyn, and William S. Pettigrew. William J. Long was added by the Faculty.

In those days there was no prize to the winner and no adjudication by a committee or by the audience, as to the merits of the speakers, but the best always learned from his friends the good news of his triumph. All these became graduates except Burke, who died three years afterwards.

The honors in the Senior class were awarded, the highest to Wm. Waightstill Avery, who spoke the Valedictory, and the next to James G. Womack, with the Latin Salutatory. Honorary orations were next assigned to the following, whose rank was in the order of their names. Augustus Benners, on The Importance of Southern Literature. Perrin H. Busbee, on The Causes which have retarded Political Economy. Peter W. Hairston, Future Prospects of our Country. Leonard H. Taylor, Character of the Aborigines of America.

Forensic orations, that is, those carrying no honor, were assigned to Alexander Swann, Samuel B. Massey, George Holley, and Kemp P. Alston. Afterwards Massey, Alston and Holley were excused, and Swann being displeased with the report, refused to stand the examinations and speak.

The first-honor man, Avery, attained a distinguished position at the bar and was a leader in the Democratic party. He was Speaker of the State Senate and a Senator of the Confederate States. He was killed in 1864 while repelling a raid of bushwhackers on Morganton. Womack was a physician in Tennessee. Benners, the next scholar, was a lawyer and member of the Legislature in Alabama. Busbee was an able lawyer, of large practice and Reporter of the Supreme Court. He was cut off in middle life; Hairston was a wealthy planter of much influence; Taylor was a physician of great repute in Granville.

Some non-graduates of this class were Wm. Barringer of Cabarrus, a Methodist minister, accidentally killed while superintending the building of the Greensboro Female College; Joseph Branch, Attorney-General of Florida; Richard S. Sims, a physician in Virginia. Two matriculates were killed in battle, General Isom Garrett of Alabama and Thomas Ruffin, Colonel, of Goldsboro.

On the 19th of June of this year there appeared in the Raleigh Register, a bad-tempered attack on the University under the guise of a reply to a circular of the Executive Committee. It was asserted that the Legislature had expended on the institution nearly half a million dollars; that it was cruel to dismiss a student for contracting a debt; that the terms of admission were far below those of Columbia, Yale, Harvard and other institutions; that no certificate of character was required for entrance; that the situation of Chapel Hill was bad, except for health; that visitors had extreme difficulty in being accommodated; that the Faculty are under a moral compulsion to throw open their doors and virtually keep houses of entertainment without charge; that clergymen were excluded from the Board of Trustees, that a majority of the Faculty belonged to one denomination; that religion was not provided for—the South Carolina College in a measure failed because its head was an infidel; that the University of Virginia had Religion engrafted into it by its friends; that there should be a Christian chair; that lampooning the Faculty at Commencement should be stopped; that merriment should not be excited by such expressions as “Old Charley,” “Mike,” etc., designed to ridicule some peculiarities of Professors; that ladies were the subject of vulgar sarcasm; that there was want of commanding elevation of character; that good schools were needed in different parts of the State; that the Chair of Ancient Languages should be divided; that there should be a separate chair of Civil Engineering; that there were five institutions under control of only three denominations; that if the University should not be improved it would be of little value; that there were only 101 students out of 750,000 inhabitants, and only 66 were citizens of the State, whereas Massachusetts had three colleges and 600 students; that of 500 or 600 preachers in the State, only about 20 had collegiate training.

These criticisms are either petty or untrue. President Swain did not reply.

In 1837 the ordinance in regard to intoxicating liquors was strengthened by making it a dismissable offence to bring them into the college buildings. The same penalty on one publicly intoxicated was enacted. A committee of the Trustees, of which Wm. Gaston was chairman, reported in favor of making the resolution of the Faculty on this subject a by-law of the institution. Since that time drunkenness, private as well as public, and indeed drinking spirituous liquors of any kind, have been made grave offences. The use of wine was not prohibited under this resolution, but was left to be dealt with under the general laws of the institution, punishment following drinking to excess.

It is evidence of the conscientious regard for duty to the public shown by the Trustees of this day, that in the petty matter of detail of covering the South Building with tin, it did not occur to them to charge the President solely with its execution. One of the Executive Committee, General Samuel F. Patterson, was associated with President Swain in having the work done.

A resolution was passed for building two new dormitories, but the project was abandoned. The Societies pressed this or some other structure, urging the necessity for greater accommodation for their libraries and debating halls. An argument was made that rooms should be provided for “frank” students, often called beneficiaries. As the by-law stood, these could not live in the college buildings, unless there were vacant rooms after pay students were accommodated.

As Prof. William Hooper left the University finally in 1837, a sketch of him is here given. He was born in Hillsboro, August 31, 1792, the son of William Hooper, a merchant, whose father of the same name was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His mother was Helen, daughter of James Hogg, one of the commissioners who selected the site of the University. His father died when he was a boy, and his mother, as has been said, became the second wife of President Caldwell. He entered the University of North Carolina, obtained his degree of A.B. in 1809 and A.M. in 1812; was Tutor in the University 1810-1817, and Professor of Ancient Languages 1817-22. He studied at Princeton Theological Seminary 1812-13. His mother was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and naturally he followed her footsteps for a time. He was made a Deacon in 1819, and ordained Priest in 1822. He resigned his professorship and was Rector of St. John's Church, Fayetteville, 1822-24. In 1825 he rejoined the University, as Professor of Rhetoric and Logic, 1825-28, and then held his old chair of Ancient Languages until 1837.

In 1831 he became dissatisfied with the doctrines of the Episcopal Church on the subject of regeneration and infant baptism, and joined the Baptist denomination. In 1838-40 he was Theological Professor in Furman Institute in South Carolina; Professor of Roman Literature in the South Carolina College, 1840-46, and President pro tempore; President of Wake Forest College, 1846-49; teacher of a classical school for boys near Littleton, 1849-51; Pastor of the Baptist Church at Newbern, 1852-54; President of the Chowan Female Collegiate Institute, Murfreesboro, 1855-61; teacher in the Female Seminary, Fayetteville, 1861-65, and associate principal, with his son-in-law, Professor John DeBerniere Hooper, of Wilson Collegiate Seminary for Young Ladies, 1866-75, when he removed with his son-in-law to Chapel Hill. He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts (A.M.) from the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, in 1888; that of Doctor of Divinity from the University of North Carolina in 1857, and that of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) elsewhere.

Dr. Hooper married in December, 1814, Fanny P., daughter of Colonel Edward Jones, Solicitor-General of North Carolina. They had seven children; William, a physician; Edward, also a physician; Mary, who married Professor J. DeBerniere Hooper, her second cousin; Joseph Caldwell, a teacher; Elizabeth; Thomas Clark, a lawyer and teacher; and Duponceau, who was mortally wounded at Fredericksburg. The descendants of Dr. Hooper are the only descendants of Wm. Hooper, the signer, his other children having left no issue.

Dr. Hooper was distinguished for accurate and varied scholarship and literary power. He wrote no book, but many of his sermons and addresses were printed and were widely appreciated for the soundness of their teachings, and their delightfully interesting style. I have given extracts from one—“Fifty Years Since”—delivered at the Commencement of 1859. His addresses were usually of a religious or educational character, but occasionally he deviated from this rule. Once he made a severe attack on the code of morals of the legal profession, and was answered with the keenest satire by Judge Edwin G. Reade in what were called the Pickle Rod Papers.

Though often brimming over with delightful humor, he was sometimes subject to melancholy. Some thought that his accidentally killing in his boyhood a young girl relative left a permanent impression on his mind. It is more likely that impairment of his health, which more than once caused him to change his residence and his pursuits, was the cause of his occasional gloominess of spirit. This did not prevent his being a genial companion, or interfere with his laborious reading, enlightened teaching, or heart-searching sermons.

On July 4, 1876, Dr. Hooper, by invitation, attended the celebration at Philadelphia of the Declaration of Independence. He died on the 19th of the next month and, at his request, was buried by the side of his mother at the base of the Caldwell monument.

At the Commencement of 1838, Charles Manly delivered the address before the Alumni; an earnest plea for pride in the University. The annual address was by Wm. B. Shepard, an accomplished lawyer and member of Congress, who ably proved the value of the classics as a liberal education. His accepting this trust shows that he had forgiven his dismissal for injecting politics into his Senior speech of 1816.

In preparing for this Commencement, the Faculty disclaimed all right to control the expression in the speeches of political opinion, not in violation of good taste. This resolution was, after some years, repealed, because such expressions were offensive to part of the audience.

The Freshmen Declaimers were C. C. Graham, V. A. McBee, Wm. J. Clarke, F. M. Pearson, J. J. Norcott, A. O. Harrison, T. H. Scott, and Samuel Hall.

Those from the Sophomore class were J. H. Headen, W. H. McLeod, W. A. Huske, J. A. Lillington, F. H. Hawks, A. H. Caldwell, Thomas D. Meares, and Wm. Thompson. All of the Declaimers became graduates except Norcott and Hall. The latter became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia; and Caldwell, prominent at the bar and of weight in the Legislature. Meares a very forcible speaker in the Convention of 1861 and in the Legislature.

The Society representatives were Wm. Marcellus McPheeters, who spoke on the Disadvantage of Early Entrance into Political Life.

Isaac N. Tillett on the Pernicious Influence of Great Talents without Moral Integrity.

John W. Cameron, on Party Spirit.

Jarvis Buxton, on National Pride.

John N. Barksdale and Dennis D. Ferebee debated the great question whether there should be Liberal or Strict Construction of the Constitution.

Barksdale, Cameron and McPheeters were of the Dialectic Society, the others of the Philanthropic.

In awarding the distinctions in the Senior class of 19 members, Green M. Cuthbert and George R. Davis were pronounced first and equal. The second rank was assigned to Joseph Washington Evans, James Summerville, Albert Gallatin Hubbard, and William Richmond Walker; the third to Joseph John Jackson.

A special distinction was given Benjamin Mosely Hobson for proficiency in Composition. On drawing lots, Davis drew what was recently made the prize, the Valedictory, leaving the Latin Salutatory to Cuthbert. The others had original speeches in English on various subjects. The Commencement was pronounced to be brilliant. The addresses were said to show “manliness of thought, a propriety of diction in the composition, indicating much strength of mind and high intellectual culture.”

We have the rest of the scheme of the exercises. After prayer and Cuthbert's Latin Salutatory, J. W. Evans spoke on the Importance of Exclusive Application to Collegiate Studies; James Summerville on the Influence of Steam Navigation on our Relations with Europe; W. R. Walker on the Adaptation of the United States to the Advancement of Literature; H. W. Burgwin, on the Pernicious Influence of Unprincipled Politicians; N. W. Herring on the causes of the Present Prosperous Condition of our Country; and Colin Shaw and Wilson W. Whitaker debated whether the Oregon Territory should be colonized by the United States.

Then was the adjournment for dinner. On reassembling, A. G. Hubbard spoke on the Causes which have retarded American Literature; J. J. Jackson on the Influence of the American Congress on the Eloquence of the Country; K. H. Lewis on the Nature and Tendency of Executive Power; Wm. J. Long, on the Propriety of Educating Southern Youth at Southern Institutions; Benj. M. Hobson, on the Mutual Relations and Interests of Virginia and North Carolina; Gaston H. Wilder on the Spirit of the American Government. The Valedictory by George Davis followed, then the Report on the public Examination, then the Degrees were conferred, and lastly the Benediction.

Of the first-honor men, one was especially distinguished in after life, George Davis. The middle letter of his name, R., inserted from boyish fancy, was dropped after he left the University, this action possibly hastened by his fellow-students insisting that it stood for Rascal. He became eminent for eloquence, legal ability, and loftiness of character, reaching the dignity of Attorney-General of the Confederate States, and refusing a seat on the State Supreme Court bench. Cuthbert, his rival, was a lawyer in Newbern, of good style as a writer, much sought after as the orator on anniversary occasions, of fine promise as an adviser in law, but cut off in early manhood by pulmonary consumption. Many of his kin were excited by his example to seek higher education and in teaching and other vocations exerted broad influences for good.

Of those who attained second and third honors, Hubbird (or Hubbard) and Jackson were prominent lawyers and Representatives in the Legislature.

Of those receiving no honors, John J. Roberts became an Episcopal minister, Professor of French in this University, after qualifying himself in France, and Principal of High Schools for Females in New York and Massachusetts; McCauley, a grandson of one of the donors of the University site, was a Captain in the Confederate army and Senator from Union. Wilder was Senator from Wake and Receiver of confiscated property under the Confederacy.

Of the non-graduates, Joseph B. Cherry was a member of the Legislature. Four matriculates, Gen. L. O'B. Branch, Sergeant Thomas H. Lane, Colonel Gaston Meares and Private George M. Ruffin, were killed in the Civil War.

The critical correspondent of the year before, “C,” continued his fault-finding, though in a lesser degree. There were instances of lampooning the Faculty, he wrote, and of lugging in politics, which the President promised to correct. Bad taste was shown in lauding distinguished men in their presence—better wait until they are dead. The Faculty afterwards prohibited political speeches and all allusions to any officer of the institution.

Professor Mitchell, who had been appointed Bursar the preceding year, made semi-annual reports of his actings as Bursar. I doubt if any financial officer ever mixed as much humor with his dry figures. I give a specimen. On November 29th, writing to Secretary-Treasurer Manly, then Clerk of the Senate, he says: “I do suppose the business connected with this same Bursarship is of as complicated and vexatious character as is done in North Carolina. There have been paid in this session something more than 1,200 dollars. This I have to pay out, and not a little of it in tens, fives, fours, and thus and so on down to a few cents, and to keep all these matters regular between Trustees, Faculty, Parents, Students, Merchants, Boarding-house Keepers, Washerwomen and niggers, and be able to prove that all is correct at any time, requires that a man be wide awake. A student changes his boarding-house or his washerwoman, and neither party dreams that it can be of any importance to note the time. So I have to investigate the whole matter and make all straight as best I can. I should do better if I had to do with men—knowing what the rules and proprieties of business are, but the Petticoat has the ascendancy at the Hill. My principal customers are women, some 15 in number—married women, widow and maid—to say nothing of those that are neither—and such a time as I have!

“Hoping that you may get plenty of wisdom and enlightenment or of folly and fun during your attendance on the Magnates of the Land (General Assembly), I remain, “Yours, E. MITCHELL.”

Again, he describes the condition of his dwelling. “The fences are in ruins, the piazza in front could hardly be supported by all the props that could be collected. The rain pours through the roof. We are obliged to exercise no little skill in the sleeping apartments to keep dry. The repairs were commenced in 1833, and have been going on slowly ever since.” The records show that this dismal condition was at once rectified.

The Doctor's letters and accounts are in an excellent legible hand, with almost no corrections. They show that he charged himself with the tuition dues of every student, so that non-collections, unless excused by the Faculty, on the ground of poverty, were deducted from his commissions.

I give another specimen of the Doctor's humorous reports. In November, 1841, he states that he journeyed to Hillsboro to receive the funds forwarded for the payment of the salaries of the Faculty, and “a jolly set of fellows they are. They have folded up their lanthorn jaws and look sleek and greasy like so many monks. With this excellent salve applied to their feelings, they will improve wonderfully and give the boys a mild and gentle examination.”

He had sent on to John Randolph Clay, our Chargé d'Affaires in Vienna, $1,200, and had received the invoice for the cabinet of minerals purchased by him for the University and had effected insurance from Trieste to Petersburg. The Captain stopped at the Ionian Isles for a load of currants, which, he interjects, “are not currants but grapes,” and so vitiated the policy. As the University had twice lost goods and their price by want of insurance, he had ordered a new insurance or ratification of the old. He goes on to state that M. Partosch, the Curator of the Emperor's Cabinet, certifies that the collection is worth more than 3,000 florins (48 1-2 cents each, or $1,455). “The letter of Mr. Clay has taken a load of at least a ton and a half from my mind.”

He informs Mr. Manly, who, by the by, was not averse to the pleasures of the sideboard, that there are three bottles of Tokay in one of the boxes, so when he comes up he shall be permitted to look at it through the sides of the bottle and smile at it through the cork—the utmost that can be allowed to one supposed to share in the late Temperance movements in Raleigh.

In thinking of this famous wine he was reminded of the antiquated maiden, who, rehearsing the attractions of her youth, mentioned the lover who

When the Doctor could not recall the writer of these lines, it is not perhaps remarkable that his daughters promptly reminded him.

The Doctor then shows the difficulties he has in regard to collections of tuition money. Although he charged himself with every student, it was impossible to collect from all at once, as they must wait until funds are sent by parents. Why not let him render his account at the end of the term and show what he has collected and in what instance failed. Those being reported as deficient would be stirred to promptness. Students would doubtless acquiesce. The ancient Greeks and Romans when they captured a city first ravished the women and married them afterwards. This acquiescence was doubtless due to the fact that the practice was well understood in international law, as to which he refers to Dr. Swain, in charge of that department, who discusses the matter at large with zeal, interest and feeling. It appears that the Trustees did not change the mode of keeping accounts, but after his death allowances were made sufficient to cover all losses. No instance is known of any student being excluded for not settling his bills.

The collection of minerals, an exceedingly fine one, arrived in due time, and forms what is known as the Vienna Cabinet of Minerals.

The unsuccessful attempt to establish the Delphian Society deserves special notice.

The seceders were mainly from the Dialectic, only one member from the Philanthropic Society joining them. The memorial address by them to the Board of Trustees, asking for recognition and the counter memorial state the grounds of the movement.

The Committee, in strong language, portrayed the bitter sectional feeling between eastern and western students. The members of the Dialectic Society are mainly from the West, those of the other from the East. The moment a new student arrives at the Hill he is seized by the members of one of the two, receives every attention, has every wish gratified, taken to the libraries, introduced to other members, is flattered and cajoled. If this isn't sufficient to secure him, every little inconsistency or rash act of the other society is pressed upon him. He then, during his University course, not only imbibes feelings of aversion to those in his own society not living in his section, but dislike to those of the other society, which are not dissipated because from the arrangement of the dormitories they can not be dissipated or softened by mutual intercourse. These positions are elaborated at length, the argument being directed against compulsory joining either society. Protest is especially made against the right to eject the Delphians from the College building on the grounds that the Trustees have assigned the rooms to the members of the old societies. The Committee ask a fair division of rooms, it being gently hinted that otherwise the Delphians will not be present at the next session to make any claims.

The ties which once bound the Delphians to the other societies, it was alleged, are dissolved now and forever. They have formed a body for mutual improvement in oratory and science, for advantages impossible to be secured in bodies containing as many members as the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies. It is believed that “the Trustees will hardly condescend to throw aside the dignity of their office for the purpose of taking sides in puerile associations for literary improvement. There are but few, if any, of the members of the old societies, who do not find the duties arduous and fatiguing. From the increase of numbers these duties have become a burden rather than a pleasure. For advantageous improvement fifty are sufficient for any literary body.”

The Delphians seek recognition by the Trustees. They believe they will eventually equal in usefulness to the University the other two societies. The ill-feeling heretofore existing being divided among three bodies will be less harsh and permanent. They ask for one-third of the rooms, agreeing to have the same responsibility for damages as had been promised by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, with the understanding that rooms not occupied by Delphians may be used by members of the other societies, they becoming responsible for damages.

The memorial is dated November 29th, 1838, and is signed by Thomas D. Meares of Wilmington, a fair student; John A. Maultsby of Columbus, one of the best in his class; and Wm. H. Dudley of Wilmington, not fond of his books, a son of Governor E. B. Dudley. All were influential.

A committee of the Dialectic Society, all strong men, W. H. Henderson of Kentucky, Isham W. Garrott of Wake County, and John Worthy Cameron of Richmond County, wrote to Secretary Manly, stating that “for private reasons several individuals had lately withdrawn and wholly separated themselves from the body, that by the 9th chapter of the last revised code of laws the rooms of College therein appropriated respectively to the two Societies belong exclusively to themselves.” The Society desires to know whether this will be adhered to, and if not, whether its guaranty against dilapidation does not cease.

The Society acted with singular moderation and good temper. Reciting in a preamble that false reports were in circulation that unfairness and injustice had been done the seceders, knowing that in differences of this nature a spirit of conciliation must first come from the majority, it was “Resolved, that if it meets with the wish of the dissenters, our differences be laid before a committee consisting of the following gentlemen: Governor Dudley, Governor Swain, Judge Cameron, Judge Ruffin, Charles Manly, Esq., and the Rev. Wm. McPheeters, for their examination and adjustment, and we agree to abide by their decision.”

A committee, namely J. N. Barksdale, J. W. Cameron and I. W. Garrott, notified the Executive Committee of this action. They stated “that the only ostensible reason for the withdrawing is the existence of certain laws, which have been adopted in our constitution and executed for many years, requiring a regular attendance at prayers and recitations, and others regulating the moral deportment of our members, which were coeval with the very foundation of the Society. If any other causes exist they were not made known at the time of the withdrawal.” They add that the Society authorize them to promise that if any one wishes to return, neither his withdrawal nor his obstinacy in rejecting the measures of reconciliation, shall be an obstacle to his readmission.

It appears that after this communication, a letter was received from Secretary Manly, kind in tone, but suggesting that some of the laws were too stringent, if not tyrannical. This was laid before the Society and an answer adopted, which was reported by a new committee, Wm. F. Brown, I. W. Garrott and W. H. Henderson.

It is asserted that the laws requiring attention to University duties and regulating morals have met, so far as was known, with the approval of the older members, and especially of Secretary Manly, as was expressed in his address at the preceding Commencement. Efforts have been yearly made to repeal these laws by obtaining the votes of the new members, but in vain.

Some of the present Freshmen who voted for repeal are now advocates of the laws. “If the Society's retaining in its code laws, which tend to make its members regular in their attendance on prayers and recitations, and to suppress drunkenness and vice, be considered tyrannical and oppressive, then the members of the Dialectic Society confess themselves guilty of this charge, but that the majority ever exercised any tyranny or oppression over the minority, the committee do most positively deny.” Only about one-half of the minority seceded, the others are staunch members of the Society. Does not this show that the charge is imaginary. It is obvious that it is to the interest of the Society that the seceders should return, and the committee pledge themselves that the return of all, or any, “will be hailed with joy.” Efforts have already been made to this end. The proposition of the Society to refer all the questions at issue to arbitrators was returned without answer by the Delphians, because it was addressed to “The Dissenters,” instead of the Delphian Society. Another objection was that one member had seceded from the Philanthropic Society and could not be called a dissenter from the Dialectic. A request that the ex-Dialectics should consider the proposal separately was refused.

The committee profess the highest regard for Secretary Manly and request him to lay their letter before the Trustees. “Let the whole matter be probed to the bottom, and the escutcheon of the Dialectic Society will be found as bright and untarnished as when our predecessors had it in their keeping.”

In December, 1838, the letters from the Dialectic Society and “a committee of students styling themselves the Delphian Society,” were referred by the Board of Trustees to a committee consisting of Messrs. Badger, John H. Bryan, and Secretary Manly. In January, 1839, the committee, through Mr. Bryan, reported that it was inexpedient to establish a third literary society. The Board concurred in the report and referred the matter to the Executive Committee. On the 10th of the same month these met and were so much impressed with the gravity of the situation that they requested Governor Dudley and Messrs. R. M. Saunders, John H. Bryan, and Charles Manly, a quorum of the committee, to hold a meeting at Chapel Hill “to consider, hear and determine these disputes.” This was done. The Delphians were reasonable, and after an eloquent appeal by Secretary Manly, the society was dissolved.

There is an old saying in substance that the real controlling motive for human action is not that which is publicly given. This is probably true as to the reasons given for the attempted formation of the Delphian Society. About four years ago an eminent physician of St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Wm. Marcellus McPheeters, son of Rev. Dr. Wm. McPheeters, revisited his alma mater, which he left about fifty years before. On his authority, and that of Hon. S. F. Phillips, I give the chief causes of the secession movement. Thomas Davis Meares of Wilmington was a dominant force in the Dialectic Society. He had a ready, forcible and often eloquent style of speaking. He was a prime favorite of his set, mostly city-bred and leaders in balls and social entertainments. While he was of an open, manly nature and manners, and personally entirely free from snobbishness, many of the members thought that his associates formed themselves into a species of caste, claiming social superiority. McPheeters, the son of a Presbyterian minister, the principal of a school for boys of wide reputation, the Raleigh Academy, came to the University city-bred and well taught. Owing to his father's scruples about dancing and similar amusements, he naturally did not become a follower of Meares and was persuaded to be his competitor for the office of Representative at Commencement. Much to his surprise he was elected. The ardent friends of his opponent attributed the result to hostility to him as an eastern man, the sectional feeling on the subject of inequality of Representation in the General Assembly not having died out. They concluded that if so popular a man as Meares is beaten they were bound to be in a hopeless minority.

In August, 1838, the Professorship of Ancient Languages was abolished and separate chairs of Greek and Latin were established. The professorship of Modern Languages was changed into the more modest chair of the French Language. Manuel Fetter of New York was chosen to the chair of Greek and John DeBerniere Hooper to that of Latin. Charles Marey was appointed to teach the French Language, to hear seven recitations per week, in addition to giving instructions in Topographical drawing. His salary was $750 per annum. At the same time the Faculty were required to introduce Civil Engineering, upon such plan as they deemed advisable and expedient. This was not carried into effect, the Executive Committee reserving the right to abolish the foregoing improvements if the receipts from tuition money should fall below $7,000 per annum.

Manuel Fetter was of German descent, born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1809. Noticing his bright parts Rev. Wm. Augustus Muhlenberg, the eminent divine and author, took charge of his education and trained him to an unusual knowledge of the classics, Hebrew, French, and German. It was expected that he would enter the ministry, but after attending school at Flushing, Long Island, and Andover, he embraced the profession of teaching. The testimonials submitted to the Board of Trustees were exceptionally strong and he was unanimously elected. He brought with him his young bride, a lady of great vivacity and kindness of heart and fitted to adorn the social life of Chapel Hill.

For reasons probably personal Professor Marey, who was a Frenchman born, was accorded only the rank of Instructor. He was a man of good accomplishments and handsome physique, but his usefulness was ruined by his fondness for ardent spirits. After serving a year the President heard an uproarious row going on in his recitation room. Hurrying thereto he found the Instructor too drunk to teach, mercilessly guyed by his class. The President sternly said, “Mr. Marey (pronounced Mar-ee), I will take charge of this class. You are relieved, sir.” With lofty and drunken gravity, Marey replied, “If you give this order as President of the University, I obey. But if you give it as David L. Swain I demand satisfaction!” On being assured that the action was official, he vacated, speedily left the Hill and soon the news came that he had been killed in a brawl in Charleston, South Carolina.

Owing to the resignation of the Clerk, Prof. J. DeBerniere Hooper, coupled with the extreme illness of President Caldwell, and the interruptions caused thereby, there were no further entries of cases of discipline decided by the Faculty until January, 1836. After this there was for awhile a marked diminution of disorder. There was a fight in which a dirk was drawn and another in which a pistol was used only to intimidate the victim from resisting a beating with a stick. There was the running off to Pittsboro of three students under the strong suspicion of intoxication. We read of an egg-nogg frolic in a room in college, for all of which appropriate punishments were meted out, suspensions and pledges for the drinkers, while the man with the pistol was dismissed. With these exceptions all was very quiet until 1838. On the first Saturday night of the session of that year an organization, styling itself “The Ugly Club,” with horns and tin pans and lusty lungs and whatever ingenuity can devise to make a noise, including of course the College bell, was organized to banish sleep from old and young. Nineteen of them were caught and made to sign the appropriate pledge.

To illustrate the patience of the Faculty this case is given. J. B. continued to talk audibly in Professor Hooper's recitation room, although pointedly admonished to refrain. He was then requested to leave the room which he refused to do. The Faculty gave him three opportunities to admit his error, kindly reasoning with him on the subject and explaining to him that obstinacy would certainly incur the penalty of dismission. As he continued obstinate a resolution to suspend him was adopted. Here Professor Hooper interceded and the Faculty rescinded the resolution. This could not have happened in the days of Caldwell.

In the summer of 1838 the proceedings of The Ugly Club were described as particularly disreputable. The members were disguised with lamp black, gave gross insults to sundry citizens of the village, threatened violence to members of the Faculty and “committed trespasses of peculiarly low and disgusting character on private property.”

W. G. was the leader. He promised amendment, but did not keep his promise. He rode a horse through the west building, was repeatedly reproved for disorders in the recitation rooms and irreverence at prayers. He was suspected of various other disorders of an aggravated character and was frequently absent from recitation. He was dismissed, but on the usual pledge and at the request of his class he was retained. In a few months, however, he was dismissed again. It is noticeable that dismissed students were now readmitted without promising to obey the laws in the future.

A novel case presented itself in this year. At the Senior speaking in November one of the most orderly was found to be intoxicated on the stage. His excuse was that he drank wine in order to declaim with animation and that, being unaccustomed to stimulants, he took too much by mistake. The recently passed law about drunkenness compelled the Faculty to suspend him for two months.

At a later date a Senior who had nerved himself with “Dutch courage,” remarked to a colleague sitting near him, in a seriocomical whisper, “if my time doesn't come on shortly, I'm afraid my liquor will die out.”

A number of the Seniors, during the Senior vacation were delinquent in attending prayers. They were called up and informed that further unpunctuality in this regard would forfeit their diplomas.

The Ugly Club of 1840 seems to have been comparatively mild mannered, as only five participants were haled before the Faculty and duly lectured.

The behavior in the Chapel, during divine services, was such as might have been expected from compulsory attendance, especially when in the winter there was no fire. We find constant complaints of disorderly conduct. The three clerical members of the Faculty, Mitchell, Phillips and Green, were appointed a special committee to report on the best means of enforcing order on such occasions. Their recommendations are not on record, except that two of the college servants were ordered to attend during divine service. Their potent aid must have been needed to remove the obstacles to decent worship prepared by busy and impious hands the night before. These obstructions were sometimes piles of lumber, sometimes tar on the benches, sometimes a patient bull yearling fastened in the nave, vulgarly called “bull-pen.” One recommendation of the committee in regard to order in the Recitation room was adopted, that spitting on the floor should be a misdemeanor. The recommendation that the students should sit in the alphabetical order of their names was laid on the table, but afterwards adopted.

In 1836 the Societies petitioned the Trustees for the appointment of a regular Chaplain according to the plan of the University of Virginia. They offered to contribute $200 per annum toward the salary, provided that the Faculty and students would pay $400. The Trustees agreed to this, promising to pay the latter sum out of the University Treasury, a Methodist, Episcopalian, Baptist and Presbyterian to be employed in rotation. President Swain in 1837 applied to the Methodist Bishop, Rt. Rev. Dr. Thos. A. Morris, for the assignment of Rev. E. Wadsworth, a very competent man, husband of a sister of Mrs. Swain. Bishop Morris gave a peremptory refusal, stating as his reason that Chapel Hill was small and, apart from the University, presented insufficient prospect of successful labor to justify making it a regular station to be supplied annually; and to supply it for the sake of the University, once in four years, would not probably justify the deduction of time and labor to be made from the regular work of itinerant ministers. Besides, when the next Methodist year comes around there may not be at command such a man as the University would chose for a preacher. President Swain was greatly disappointed at the failure of a scheme which he thought likely to relieve the University from the accusation of being under the influence of two denominations only, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, with the incidental advantage of having his wife's sister a resident of Chapel Hill. It was conjectured by some that Bishop Morris thought that all the energies of his church should be devoted to the upbuilding of Randolph-Macon College.

The reply of Bishop Morris was regarded as final and the President recommended, with the approval of the Faculty, the election of Rev. Wm. Mercer Green, as Professor of Rhetoric and Logic, with four recitations a week, to be likewise Chaplain. His duties as Chaplain were to preach in the Chapel once a week and to conduct morning prayers throughout the year. Professor Mitchell was to hold evening prayers and of his own motion relieved Mr. Green of one-half of his Sunday morning preaching. The Faculty offered to pay $300 toward the new professor's salary of $1,000, and house rent, but the Trustees refused to accept this liberality. In consideration of being relieved of preaching every alternate Sunday Mr. Green took additional teaching, namely a class in elocution, and coaching the Seniors and Commencement Speakers, besides correcting original speeches and theses.

Rev. Mr. Green, born in Wlmington, was, when elected, Rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Hillsboro. He had held this charge since 1825. He graduated with high honor in 1818 in the class of which President James K. Polk was the leader. He was particularly distinguished for attention to the duties of the Dialectic Society. He was ordered Deacon in 1821 and the next year was ordained Priest. His first charge was St. John's Church, Williamsboro, in Granville County. While at Hillsboro he was Superintendent of a Female School of high standing. He was a man of great industry, the kindliest temper and manners, of fervent piety and faithfulness to every duty. He entered on his labors in 1838.

At the same time a salary of $100 a year was voted the Librarian of the University, Tutor Wm. H. Owen. This was done as it was in contemplation to increase the Library, but though $3,000 was placed at the disposal of the President, and subsequently $1,000 per annum, the appropriation was not expended. I note, however, that $22 was paid for binding eleven volumes of a Greek Lexicon.

In 1839 it was determined to improve the Campus. Three thousand dollars were voted for the purpose. The money, however, could not have been spent, as no material changes were made. The Societies, by petition, pressed for new halls, offering to pay one-third of the cost.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF 1839 was on June 27th and was distinguished by the presence of all the ex-Governors of the State, but one. Those present must have been John Branch, James Iredell, John Owen, David L. Swain and Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr.; the absent being Montfort Stokes, Indian Agent in Arkansas, who died three years afterward.

The first Chief Marshal was appointed by the Faculty for this Commencement, Thomas Davis Meares of Wilmington, a young man of remarkably fine address and force of character. Doubtless under his management the proceedings moved like clock-work. Of course the appointment was intended to conciliate the defeated Delphian party, of which he was head.

The first of the Baccalaureate sermons was preached by the Rev. Professor Mitchell. He was chosen by the Faculty, but afterward the choice was given to the Senior class. The election of the Marshal likewise was soon afterward given to the Senior class, the person elected to be a regular member of the Junior class.

In the fall of 1840 the Professor of Mathematics, Phillips, laid down the rule that text books should not be carried by students into the recitation rooms. At the first meeting of the class thereafter about one-half the class complied. At the third all obeyed except five. At the next eleven appeared with their books. A meeting of the Faculty was then called and the President requested to explain the reasonableness of this rule and the determination to carry it into effect. At the next mathematical recitation twelve broke the rule. The Faculty were convened and the delinquents were called on for their final determination. Nine surrendered and promised obedience, but three, Messrs. Branch, Buchanan and Covington were dismissed. Branch was the son of Governor Branch, who expressed dissatisfaction with the action of the Faculty, whereupon President Swain procured from Dr. William Hooper a statement of an appeal made by him on this subject to the Board of Trustees and of their ruling that each Professor had the right to conduct the recitation as he thought best. Branch endeavored to enter Princeton University, and pressed upon the Faculty his right to a statement that he left not under censure. This was refused. Whether he succeeded eventually in his design the record does not show. Covington soon submitted and became a graduate.

Another trouble during this fall arose from what was called the Fresh Treat. Under the plea that it was an established institution and the new members would be considered niggardly if they refused to pay the two dollars demanded, the materials of a bountiful feast, principally alcoholic liquors, were provided. The result was riots and disorders, during which the windows of the Tutors were shattered, stones were thrown at members of the Faculty, the University bell was rung violently and long, the laboratory and recitation rooms were broken and nearly destroyed, the stables of several Professors entered and the horses ridden. There were four dismissals of upper classmen, but the Freshmen were allowed to take the usual pledge and go free.

Shortly afterward there was an assemblage in front of the South building, which held a blasphemous revival of religion, calling up mourners, singing ribald songs, ringing the bell, and afterward painting the horses of a Professor, cutting off his mane and tail and placing him in Person Hall. Two students were caught participating in these misdemeanors and were dismissed. They were, however, re-admitted on taking the pledge of penitence and reformation.

About a fortnight afterward a holocaust was made of all the blackboards in the institution. There were three dismissals for this offence and a resolution passed that in case of any serious outrage on the property of the University, or of any individual, criminal proceedings against the perpetrators should be instituted. This was reported to the Board of Trustees and was approved by them.

The foregoing statements give an accurate idea of the spirit of mischief among the students in the early part of President Swain's administration. It should be added that some of the wild set afterward became valuable members of society, and warm friends of the University. Some became members of the Legislature and Trustees of the University. Good Dr. Mitchell, who was kindly disposed towards errant boys, would often say, “Let him go! Let him go! He is good Legislature and Trustee material.”

We have a letter from a quite bright, but not very orderly student, one of the best speakers in the institution, written September 23rd, 1840, which paints the attitude of the students to the Faculty in lurid colors. He stated that College was in a state of rebellion. The discipline was for sometime very slack. The result of the lenient system has been that “the strictness of morality has vanished, while at the same time College is much more moral.” He explains this statement by saying that in small things, such as talking in recitation, drinking occasionally, and playing cards once in awhile, the students were more careless of detection, but in addiction to riots, habitual intoxication and gambling, they were completely reformed. The Faculty, however, announced that the cords of discipline must be tightened. This fired the tempers of the students. The Ugly Club was at once organized. When the Faculty attempted to suppress it they were pelted with rocks and compelled to retire. Thereupon Professor Mitchell sallied forth with a sword cane and was again driven back.

Another regulation was adopted, wrote Mr. Mullins, and it was threatened to apply it to the Sophomore class. He does not state what it was, but from other sources it is learned that it was probably the prohibition against taking text-books, except the classics, into the recitation rooms. The whole class signed an agreement not to submit and sent it to the Faculty. They were required to withdraw it but refused, although “threats,” persuasions and prayers were resorted to.” After three conferences and notifications that dismissal would follow further stubbornness, the Faculty gave way and the class triumphed. President Swain then requested a meeting of the Trustees and the writer fears that this will cause a defeat of the students.

How much of this narrative is exaggerated it is hard to say. The writer was evidently a leader in the disorders and his animus is shown by his harsh epithets.

The scale of salaries was fixed as follows:

The President, $2,000 per annum, with seven recitations each week.

The Professor of Chemistry, $1,250, with ten recitations.

Whenever the aggregate amount of tuition per annum shall not be less than $4,000 the Professor of Ancient Languages shall receive $1,250 per annum, with ten recitations per week. The Professor of Mathematics $1,250, with ten recitations; the Professor of Modern Languages $1,000, with ten recitations, and each Tutor $600, with ten recitations each.

Whenever the tuition receipts shall be less than $5,000 the Professor of Ancient Languages and Mathematics to have $1,400 each, the Professor of Modern Language $1,150, and the Tutors $700 each.

When the tuition receipts shall exceed $6,000 the salaries of the Professors of Ancient Languages and Mathematics shall be $1,500 each, and the Professor of Modern Languages $1,250.

It will be noticed that the salaries of the President and Professor Mitchell were not dependent on tuition receipts. The latter, in addition, was entitled to commissions on receipts, as Bursar. This added about $600 to his salary during the year, and much more afterward.

It was made obligatory on the Professor of Chemistry to preach in the Chapel every alternate Sunday. The Caldwell residence at the Southeast corner of Raleigh and Franklin Street was set apart for the President and the other places belonging to the University were to be occupied by the Professors oldest in office. At the same time the dates of Commencements were to be the first Thursdays in June.

As throwing light on academical training in the State at that period, I state that out of thirty-two applicants for admission twenty-two, two-thirds, were found deficient in one or more studies, principally in Algebra and the Ancient and Modern Languages. It was agreed to exclude anyone under censure in his school.

On motion of Professor DeBerniere Hooper the Valedictory was declared to be the highest honor in the future and the Latin Salutatory the next. As a rule, however, it became the practice to group the first, second and third honor men into classes, in which case those in the first class decided by lot which were to have the honorary speeches. Occasionally one was so decidedly superior that he obtained the Valedictory by assignment of the Faculty.

It was at this time that Dr. Mitchell, who was an amateur Roadmaker and Civil Engineer, in addition to his other accomplishments, presented a plan for making the Raleigh roads enter the campus at the new athletic field and then divide, one branch going by the rear of the South building to Cameron Avenue at Commons Hall; the other, passing by the East building to Franklin street at the west of the Chapel Hill Hotel. The recommendation had such weight with the Trustees that Gerrard Hall, then being built, was made to front to the South, as was evidenced by the porch on that side, with large Doric columns. Those who had business houses on Franklin street, as well as wagoners, who had dealings with them, made a silent, but effective resistance to the change, so the scheme was dropped, leaving the porch on the wrong side of Gerrard Hall, an unsolvable puzzle to future visitors and students. This porch was recently torn down, with a floating intent to rebuild it over the East door.

AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF 1840 Daniel Moreau Barringer, of the Class of 1826, elected to Congress three years afterward, was the Orator, chosen by the Dialectic Society. John Y. Mason of Virginia had agreed to deliver the Address before the Alumni Association, but was unable to be present. Col. John D. Long of Halifax supplied his place by an extempore talk, which was much praised.

The Freshman Declaimers were Walter L. Steele, Leonidas C. Edwards, Wm. Augustus Blount, Robin Ap C. Jones, Robert H. Cowan, John Cowan. On the next night the Sophomores appeared—Richard B. Hill, Joseph M. Bunch, Richard T. Jones, Ashbel G. Brown, Robert P. Dick, John L. Meares. All the declaimers, except Bunch, became graduates.

The speeches of the Society Representatives were declared by the reporter as burdensome from their length. The names and subjects were: Wm. S. Mullins, on the “Triumph of Free Principles in France;” Rufus Barringer, on the “Extension of the British Empire;” Joseph C. Huske, on “Influence of Christianity on Society;” Richard Don Wilson, on “Influence of Woman;” John F. Flack, on the “Superiority of the Present Over the Past Ages;” James W. Campbell, on the “Influence of Science on Individual Happiness.” The close of the speech of Mullins was long remembered. Speaking of the victory of French Democracy he predicted that the energy and progressive spirit of the new France will fuse with the conservatism of the old, and “the Eagle will bear up the Lily in its onward course to Heaven.”

After several years' experience it was found that the Society Representatives claimed too wearisome length for their orations. The Faculty therefore abolished this feature of the exercises after 1840. No original speeches were to be delivered in future except by the Seniors. Representatives and Competitors selected by the Faculty were to declaim selections approved by the President or Professor of Rhetoric. This resolution was not to go into effect if the Representatives would agree to shorten their speeches.

The Faculty were determined not to be accused of partiality as they had been by the friends of Maultsby in 1839. They grouped the honor men into two classes, the first distinction being assigned to William H. Henderson, John A. Lillington, Albert M. Shipp, William M. Shipp and Thomas H. Spruill. To Henderson, however, was given the first honor speech, the Valedictory, because he had been among the highest at every examination for four years.

The second honor came to Daniel B. Currie, Tod Robinson Caldwell, John Worthy Cameron and Francis H. Hawks.

The third honor men, if there were such, are not recorded.

The exercises of Commencement Day were as follows:

Latin Salutatory—Wm. M. Shipp, Lincoln County.

Duty of Submission to Constitutional Government—Thos. H. Spruill, Warren County.

Advancement of Literature and Science in North Carolina—Albert M. Shipp, Lincoln County.

Influence of Poetry in the Formation of Character—John A. Lillington, Wilmington.

The Responsibility of American Youth—Daniel B. Guthrie, Robeson County.

Defense of American Character—Tod R. Caldwell, Burke County.

Duelling—John W. Cameron, Moore County.

Life and Character of Aaron Burr—Francis H. Hawks, Beaufort County.

Valedictory—Wm. H. Henderson, Tennessee.

Of the best scholars William M. Shipp became a popular member of the General Assembly and the Convention of 1861, Attorney-General by vote of the people in 1870 and Judge of the Superor Court; Spruill was a promising lawyer cut off by pulmonary consumption; A. M. Shipp, cousin of William, a Methodist Doctor of Divinity, Professor of History, teaching at different times also French and English literature in this University, Professor in Furman University and Dean of the Theological Department of Vanderbilt University; Lillington was an able lawyer and legislator, dying in middle age; William H. Henderson I have been unable to trace.

Of the second honor men, Currie was a Presbyterian minister; Caldwell became a prominent lawyer and member of the Assembly, Lieutenant-Governor, and then Governor of North Carolina; Cameron a lawyer, member of the Legislature and editor, keeping up a reputation for humor and kindliness to his death. Hawks was a sound lawyer.

Of those not gaining honors, John W. Cunningham was long a trustee of the University, an able State Senator, a planter and merchant of unbounded influence in his county; David A. Barnes, a wise Legislator and Judge; William Johnston, Railroad President, Mayor of Charlotte, Quarter Mater General of North Carolina; Calvin H. Wiley, a Presbyterian minister, author, and efficient Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Barnes, Wiley and Samuel J. Proctor were reported as especially distinguished “for ability and punctuality in discharging the duty of composition.”

The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on Rev. Nehemiah H. Harding, a Presbyterian divine of this State and of Batchelor of Arts on Walter W. Pharr, of Cabarrus.

Of the matriculates during this year, 1840, Robin Ap Caldwallader Jones, Captain, and James H. McNeill, Colonel, were victims of the Civil War.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF 1841 was held on June 3rd. The reporter praised the colored walls of the buildings. There was a general air of neatness, marred, however, by the numerous cows and swine frequenting the Campus, an evil promised to be remedied by the rock walls soon to be finished. The grove had been grubbed and the water-boughs of the trees removed. The students had improved greatly in behavior. The music was excellent.

The address before the two Societies was delivered by Wm. Henry Haywood, a graduate of the class of 1819. Speaker of the House of Commons, a great lawyer, the next year to be Senator of the United States, but to lose his seat and his popularity because he differed from his party on the tariff question. His subject was, “Want of State Pride,” peculiarly appropriate in North Carolina. It was pronounced to be practical, occasionally lighted up by true eloquence.

The address before the Alumni Association was by James Cole Bruce, of the class of 1825, a man of talent and literary tastes, but hindered from high public career by the possession of thousands of acres of Dan River land and hundreds of slaves. He spoke of the causes impeding American Literature. The reporter thought that if the orator succeeded in convincing us of our inferiority to our mother land in Literature and Arts, he left the audience in doubt whether the genuine eloquence they listened to could be surpassed by the writers of that or any other land. His manner was forcible and imposing rather than graceful. The address has recently been reprinted by his descendants.

The Freshmen Declaimers were DeWitt C. Stone of Franklin, Eugene J. Hinton of Bertie, Owen D. Holmes of Sampson, Jesse P. Smith of Cumberland, James J. Herring of Lenoir, Waller R. Staples of Virginia. On the part of the Sophomores were John Cowan and Robt. H. Cowan of New Hanover, John Ballanfant of Tennessee, Robert T. Fuller of Alabama, William Augustus Blount of Beaufort County, Robert Ap C. Jones of Hillsboro. Of these all graduated except Staples, who obtained his diploma from the University of Virginia.

There were no Society Representatives, because the students refused to conform to the new regulation as to length of speeches. As a consequence of this clashing the honor of delivering original speeches was confined to the Seniors.

The Senior class was highly praised for punctuality and good behavior. R. R. Bridgers, W. F. Dancy, A. O. Harrison, A. R. Kelly, A. F. McCree, H. McAllister, Charles and S. F. Phillips were entirely punctual, and of these Bridgers, Dancy, Kelly, McAlister, and Charles and S. F. Phillips were totally free from censure during their University career. It thus appears that good behavior, good scholarship and success in after life went together.

The first distinction was awarded to Robert R. Bridgers, Wm. F. Dancy, Charles Phillips, Samuel F. Phillips, and James H. Viser; the second to James A. Delk and John Simianer Erwin; the third to Benjamin F. Atkins, Wm. J. Clarke, Wm. W. Green, James A. Long, Francis M. Pearson, Jesse G. Shepard, James F. Taylor and Thomas B. Wetmore. All the honor men were bound to speak on Commencement Day unless excused. Mr. Viser was so excused.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF 1842 was distinguished by being the first at which Bibles were presented to the members of the graduating class, a laudable custom kept up to this day. On a fly-leaf is the autograph of the President. Not a word of opposition, so far as is known, has ever been uttered by educational or religious critics.

The Baccalaureate sermon to the Graduating class on this occasion, once called the Valedictory address, was delivered by Rev. Wm. Mercer Green, Professor of Rhetoric and Logic. “It was characterized by great dignity, pathos and unction.” Judge John Y. Mason had agreed to deliver the annual oration before the two Literary Societies, but was prevented by pressure of business. He wrote an admirable letter, however, which was read to the audience by President Swain.

In consequence of not having the Annual Address, a novel feature, interesting to us on account of scientific achievements since, was introduced. The following is the contemporary account: “The indefatigable Professor of Chemistry, Dr. Mitchell, made various very successful experiments with the fine electro-magnetic apparatus, which the University has lately procured from Boston. He produced powerful and most rapid motion by magnetism alone, and demonstrated the practicability of its application to useful arts, but seemed to think that the cost of copper and zinc (materials indispensable to the excitation of the magnetic influence in such degree as to be useful), would hinder it from coming into competition with steam.”

On the 12th of December, 1842, the Board, on motion of Charles L. Hinton, enacted what was styled a “regula generalis” on the subject of secret societies or clubs. They were declared to be “not less injurious to the regularly established Literary Societies in the University than to the cause of good morals and sound learning.” The Faculty was ordered to suppress them, and authorized to receive no student unless on pledge of not joining any such association. This action was supplemented by the two societies, who entered into an agreement to fine heavily any of their members who should break this by-law. During my student life, 1845-49, I never heard of such a society in the institution.

The Trustees seem to have caught glimpses of unseemly conditions of the rooms of the students. The extraordinary resolution was passed solemnly requesting the Governor of the State to address them on the importance of neatness.

The Faculty were instructed to change the scheme of recitations so that each student should have sixteen hours per week and one at least every day. This included the Sunday recitation, which was compulsory.

It seems that the students had been making political speeches. A by-law was passed prohibiting speeches by them except in the Society Halls or in the performance of some literary exercise under the sanction of the President.

The two Societies petitioned for the abolition of Saturday recitations. The Faculty were authorized to grant the request, which was done on the agreement of the Societies to have regular exercises of their own on Saturday mornings. The reading of compositions and declamations was required, debates being on Friday night.

The Trustees had an exalted opinion of the persuasive powers of Governor Morehead. By resolution, he was requested to attend at the opening of the session in 1843, and explain the principles of the administration of the University and of its punishments. It does not appear that he heeded the request.

The first honor in this class was awarded to Wm. Alexander Bell, Francis Theodore Bryan, Thomas Junius Morisey, and Nathaniel Hill Quince; the second to Wm. Hooper Haigh, Wm. Figures Lewis, Wm. Francis Martin, Wm. Sidney Mullins, Ashley Wood Spaight, and Joseph John Summerell.

Mr. Quince was, at his request, excused from speaking. Morisey obtained the Valedictory and Bryan the Salutatory by lot. The rest delivered original speeches, Rufus Barringer being chosen, on account of his powers of oratory, to take the place of Quince.

The speeches on Commencement day were as follows:

Latin Salutatory, Francis T. Bryan, of Wake.

“Principles of the Old Federal Party,” Rufus Barringer.

“Obligations of Educated Men,” Joseph J. Summerell, Northampton.

“Spirit of Reform,” Wm. H. Haigh, Fayetteville.

“Reciprocal Influence of Science and Religion,” Wm. F. Lewis, Edgecombe.

“Eloge de Louis Philippe,” Wm. A. Bell, Alabama.

“Reverence for the Past,” Wm. F. Mullins, Fayetteville.

“The Middle Ages,” Wm. F. Martin, Elizabeth City.

The Valedictory, Thomas J. Morisey, Clinton.

The newspaper of the day says that the orations were distinguished by manly good sense and graceful elocution. Complaint was made that the attendance of the Trustees was meagre, but there were large praises for the refinement of the visitors and the management of the institution.

The Faculty record states that as a whole the class maintained an extraordinary reputation for punctuality, “yet there are various individuals who will not be able in after life to recur to the tables of absences without emotions both of surprise and regret.” An inspection of the tables justified this ominous prediction, though it is hardly possible that the eyes of the offenders ever rested on the doleful record. One individual has to his account 148 absences from Recitation, 90 from Prayers, and 18 from Church. Another 183, 190, and 19, another 132, 250, and 33, a fourth 119, 241, and 23, a fifth 54, 200, and 26, absences from those functions respectively. Only one Senior, Wm. W. Green, afterwards physician of Granville County, was perfectly punctual for four years.

Of the honor men, Bell became a lawyer in Alabama, volunteered in the Mexican War, and died in 1850. Bryan entered at West Point, was No. 6 at graduation, was First Lieutenant for gallant conduct at Buena Vista, where he was wounded. He resigned from the army and is a prominent and wealthy citizen of St. Louis, Missouri. Morisey was a leading lawyer of the Cape Fear section and a useful member of the General Assembly. Quince died early.

Of the second rank, Haigh was an esteemed lawyer, Lewis an influential planter and among the most useful Justices in his county; Martin was one of the best lawyers in the State, a trusted legislator, a Colonel in the Confederate Army; Mullins was a brilliant speaker at the bar and in the Legislature of South Carolina and president of a railroad company; Spaight was a lawyer and legislator in Texas, Brigadier-General in the Confederate service, and Secretary of State; Summerell a physician of eminence in Salisbury; Barringer was a sound lawyer, a broad-minded legislator, and an intrepid Brigadier-General in Hampton's Cavalry. His standing as a student was only respectable, his attention being mainly directed to composition and debates in his Society, the Dialectic. He has delivered valuable historic addresses.

Only one of the matriculates was a victim of the Confederate war, William L. Johnson.

The Alumni Association of the University was organized on the 31st of May, 1843. The following were present, being the first members:

At the Commencement of 1844 the Freshman Declaimers were Thomas I. Sharpe, Lionel L. Levy, Eli W. Hall, William Henry Manly, John A Benbury, John Pool. Those from the Sophomore class were Richard W. Forbes, Lucian Holmes, John Napoleon Daniel, Edward Hubbell Hicks, Owen W. Whitfield, Richard T. Weaver. The speeches were mainly selections from Webster, Clay, Pinckney, Sprague, Ames, and Shakespeare. All in due course obtained diplomas, except Sharpe and Benbury. Both were Captains in the Confederate service and were killed in battle, the former in the Southwest, the latter at Malvern Hill. Benbury was a very useful member of the Legislature.

The address before the Historical Society was eloquent and instructive, by the Right Reverend Levi Silliman Ives, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church. His theme was the guidance of the Almighty as shown in history. At the close he ventured an explanation of the generally conceded honesty of our State. He attributed it first to the soundness of our controlling minds, second to the poverty of our soil, “too poor to allow in anyone idleness or prodigality. Property is slowly acquired and slowly diffused.” The Bishop grew pessimistic, “There are some sad symptoms of a turn in the tide of our honorable, although humble, advance. We have manifestly become infected with the national contagion, the money-getting mania, now the blighting curse of our whole country. . . . Oh! what must be the end of the generation now living in our midst, absorbed as it seems in the thoughts and acquisition of earth!”

The orator before the Societies was James Biddle Shepard of the Class of 1834. His address was well received, well written, often eloquent, and well delivered. It was probably the cause of his nomination two years afterwards as the Democratic candidate for the office of Governor against the incumbent, William A. Graham, the latter being elected. It was noticed that he delivered his oration with his hands gloved in kid, with a ring on one of his fingers, a style quite unusual.

The following are the names and subjects of the Senior speakers:

Latin Salutatory, George B. Wetmore.

“State Sovereignty,” James S. Johnston.

“Genius—Fuller and Whitney,” Wm. F. Barbee.

“Columbus,” John H. Bryan.

“Influence of Literature on Science,” Robert H. Cowan.

“Our Navy,” Alfred G. Foster.

“The Deaf and Dumb,” Pleasant H. Dalton.

“Influence of Moral Principles on the Intellect,” John Ballanfant.

“Le Genie de Voltaire” (French), Edward B. Lewis.

“Progress of Free Principles,” Wm. S. Battle.

“Independence of the Judiciary,” James H. Horner.

“Prison Discipline,” Exum L. Whitaker.

“Parties in our Country,” Robert T. Fuller.

“Right of Instruction,” Walter L. Steele.

“Mutual Interests of Individuals and Society,” with the Valedictory, Stephen Addison Stanfield.

Robert H. Cowan, James Hunter Horner, James Sterling Johnston, Stephen Addison Stanfield and George Badger Wetmore obtained the first honor. The second honor men were Wm. Franklin Barbee, William Smith Battle, Pleasant Hunter Dalton, Robert Thomas Fuller, Edward Bulkley Lewis, Walter Leak Steele, and Exum Lewis Whitaker. The third honor went to John Ballanfant, John Herritage Bryan and Alfred Gaither Foster.

Nearly all of the honor men had successful careers. Cowan was a good lawyer, legislator and railroad president, as well as a brave and resourceful Colonel; Horner was founder of the celebrated Horner School at Oxford; Johnston, a most promising lawyer, with the elements of a great man, died early; Stanfield was a Presbyterian minister of high repute, and Wetmore, first a lawyer and then an active and useful Episcopal minister. Of the second rank, Battle was a large planter and cotton manufacturer, and member of the Convention of 1861; Dalton was a devoted Presbyterian minister; Fuller a Judge in Arkansas; Lewis, an efficient teacher, dying early; Steele an active politician, serving two terms in Congress, a cotton manufacturer, a most valuable Trustees of the University. He was Secretary of the Convention of 1861. Whitaker was a Captain in the Mexican War, lost his life in Mexico from disease. Of the third rank, Ballanfant was a leading planter and member of the Tennessee Legislature, and Foster stood high as a lawyer and legislator, dying in middle life.

It was stated by President Swain that one of the first honor men, Johnston, had attended every duty, Prayers, Recitations, and Church, for four years, nearly 5,000 in number.

Of those who did not obtain honors, Leonidas C. Edwards is a leader of the bar and was prominent in the General Assembly, a Colonel in the Confederate service. William H. Hinton was also prominent in the Legislature and much sought after as a political speaker, described by a listener as “flying a magnificent spread-eagle.” Thomas Ruffin was one of the most adroit verdict-winners in the State, a Colonel C. S. A., and Judge of a Military Court. He was afterwards a Judge both of the State Superior and Supreme Courts.

Of those who did not graduate, Hill Burgwin attained eminence as a lawyer in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on Rev. Albert Baldwin Dod, of New Jersey, Presbyterian preacher, author, and Professor of Mathematics in Princeton University, and on Rev. Robert Brent Drane, Episcopal minister in Wilmington, N. C.

Of the matriculates, who lost their lives in the Civil War, were James J. Iredell, Major; Edward M. Scott, Captain, and Leonidas C. Ferrell, Surgeon.

In 1833 an Act was passed to incorporate the North Carolina Historical Society. The incorporators were James Iredell, David L. Swain, Alfred Moore, Joseph S. Jones (Shocco), Louis D. Henry, Isaac T. Avery, Joseph A. Hill, Wiliam D. Mosely and Richmond M. Pearson. Nothing was done to carry this Act into effect.

In January, 1844, President Swain and his Professors and Tutors published some facts of the history of our State, especially in Colonial times, stating that a Historical Society had been formed, President Swain being President, the Professors being Executive Committee, Tutor Ralph H. Graves being Treasurer and Librarian, and Tutor A. G. Brown Secretary. It was announced that the first meeting would be on June 5, 1844, and that the Introductory Address would be delivered by Bishop Levi Silliman Ives.

The object of the Society was quite ambitious, viz.: 1st, to obtain from England documents throwing light on the Proprietary government; 2d, to collect and preserve every book, pamphlet and newspaper published in this State since the introduction of the Press in 1749; 3d, all books published in our own and foreign countries on the History of North Carolina, and especially all documents relating to the American Revolution.

Notwithstanding these important objects, it is remarkable that there was no charter, no organization, no effort to obtain members, other than the Faculty. In a short while the co-operation even of the Professors and Tutors was dispensed with, except those President Swain called on specially. Occasionally eminent men, by invitation of the Faculty, delivered addresses at Commencements before this mythical Society and the assembled company, but no meeting was held.

On the belief that the Society was an entity, a live organization, valuable books and documents were presented to it. A list of part of these I give in my narrative of 1846. The President was active and successful in procuring letters of men prominent in the State. When he could not obtain gifts of such he solicited loans, which were seldom returned. A story is told of a Mr. Webb journeying many miles in order to recover the family papers—all in vain, for the borrower “talked him out of them.”

In 1844 for the first time a North Carolina University Magazine was launched on the literary sea and had an honorable existence of one year. It was fathered by the Senior class and edited by a committee, namely, Edmund DeBerry Covington, of Richmond County, Robert H. Cowan, of Wilmington, and Samuel F. Phillips, of Chapel Hill, of the Dialectic Society, and James S. Johnston, of Halifax, Leonidas C. Edwards, of Person County, and a third, probably George B. Wetmore, of Fayetteville, or William H. Hinton, of Bertie. This uncertainty shows the modesty of the editors, whose names are not on the pages of the issues. All were Seniors except Mr. Phillips, who was a Post-graduate, studying for the legal profession. These were strong men and appear to have labored with diligence. They certainly produced a very creditable journal. Tradition differs as to the leading spirit, some giving the honor to Covington, others, in my opinion most justly, to Phillips.

The second meeting of the Alumni Association was on the 5th of June, 1844, Governor Morehead presiding. Charles Phillips was elected Secretary. There were twenty-four Alumni present and 27 new were added, in all 51. On motion of Hugh Waddell, all matriculates, whether graduates or not, might be admitted on vote, as honorary members, entitled to all the privileges of graduates. Eight were admitted under this resolution, including President Swain.

The Committee on the Constitution made their report. The name was The Alumni Association of the University of North Carolina. Its objects were to renew and perpetuate the friendships formed in their collegiate course, to promote the interests of their Alma Mater, and the cause of education generally. The members were those graduates who joined the Association in 1843, and others admitted by a unanimous vote. There was to be an annual meeting on the day preceding Commencement, at which the President, six Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, Treasurer, and Executive Committee were to be chosen, who were to hold office for one year and until their successors should be elected. By-laws could be adopted by a majority vote.

The first officers were John M. Morehead, President; Charles L. Hinton, W. A. Graham, Hugh Waddell, John D. Hawkins, the elder, Lucius Polk, and Wm. H. Haywood, Jr., Vice-Presidents; Rev. W. M. Green, W. H. Battle, and J. DeB. Hooper, Executive Committee; Charles Phillips, Secretary, and Ashbel G. Brown, Treasurer. The Executive Committee were authorized to select an orator for the next Commencement.

An abortive scheme was unanimously adopted by the Faculty on the 27th of January, 1844, when they passed resolutions appropriate to the memory of Judge Wm. Gaston, lately deceased, for 42 years a wise and useful Trustee of the University. They requested that the Board would allow them to inaugurate a burial ground in plain view of the buildings, and they asked the relatives of Judge Gaston to allow his body, then temporarily resting in Raleigh, to be interred in this cemetery. It was promised that efforts would be made to remove to this spot the remains of other men prominent in our history, “with the high and noble object of keeping before the youth of the institution such ever present remembrances of the great as may incite them to a vigorous prosecution of their studies and assiduous cultivation of their hearts.” The letter to the Trustees was eloquently written by Professor Deems and signed by him and Professor Green. The graves, then almost forgotten, of Governor Caswell and General Nash, are especially mentioned. The Faculty evidently did not count the cost of this pious enterprise, but the Trustees, more practical, gave it a respectful quietus.

The chronicler grew enthusiastic over the Commencement of 1845. “A more imposing and brilliant occasion had never been witnessed in the republic of letters in North Carolina.” The numbers were at least 1,500. The ladies, more numerous than ever, “gave beauty and cheerfulness.” The Trustees present were Governor Graham, ex-Governor Morehead, President Swain, James Mebane, Dr. James Webb, John D. Hawkins, Judge Battle, Charles Manly, Hugh Waddell, Dr. James S. Smith, John H. Bryan, Louis D. Henry, Charles L. Hinton, Robert B. Gilliam, Nicholas L. Williams, George F. Davidson, Weston R. Gales.

The first exercise in order was the Baccalaureate sermon by Rev. Mr. Gilchrist, of Fayetteville, which was sound and inspiring.

The Freshman Declaimers were Henry G. Williams, Thomas C. Pinkard, James Gallier, Thomas H. Holmes, Thomas E. Watson, John K. Strange, John W. Cameron.

The Sophomore Competitors on the next evening were Lionel L. Levy, William M. Howerton, Eli W. Hall, Elias C. Hines, John Pool, Leonidas C. Ferrell, Wm. Henry Manly.

Six of the two classes of Declaimers were from different States. All became graduates except Williams, Pinckard, Gallier, and Ferrell.

The Marshals, Stephen F. Poole, of Alabama, Chief, and his aids, popularly known as Subs, Wm. A. Daniel of Halifax, Richard N. Forbes of Newbern, Lucian Holmes of Pittsboro, and William B. Meares of Wilmington were particularly praised. They wore gorgeous regalia, the blue predominating in that worn by the Dis and white in that worn by the Phis.

The Orator was the Rev. Thomas F. Davis, of the class of 1822, afterward Bishop of South Carolina. His subject was, “The Capacious Powers of the Mind and Duty of Cultivating Them,” and was ably handled.

In 1845 the Professorship of Law was established under William H. Battle, then Judge of the Superior Court, afterward Justice of the Supreme Court, who had been for two years in charge of a private school. The full course was that prescribed by the Supreme Court as necessary for license to practice law. It comprised Blackstone's and Kent's Commentaries, Stephen and Chitty on Pleading, Greenleaf's Evidence, Cruise's Digest of Real Property, Williams on Executors, together with lectures on the Municipal Laws of the State, as modified by Acts of the Legislature and decisions of the Courts.

There were two classes. The Independent had no connection with the College classes; the College class consisted of such undergraduates as the Faculty allowed to join it. The normal time required of the Independents was two years, and of the College class two and a half years. At the end of these terms those deemed worthy received the degree of Bachelor of Law. The Professor of Law received no salary from the University, but was entitled to charge $100 per annum of the Independents and $50 of the others. He was assisted by Samuel F. Phillips, a young lawyer of great promise.

The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on James Knox Polk, President; on John Young Mason, Attorney General; and on Willie Person Mangum, Senator of the United States. The honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred on John Randolph Clay, Secretary of Legation at Vienna, and Jeremiah Wm. Murphy, of North Carolina.

The Alumni Association met in the Library in Smith Hall on June 4th, President J. M. Morehead in the Chair. There were twenty-five old members and thirty-five accessions, making sixty present. The officers for the ensuing year were ex-Governor Morehead, President, Governor Graham, C. L. Hinton, H. Waddell, J. D. Hawkins, L. Polk and W. H. Haywood, Jr., Vice-Presidents; Wm. H. Battle, W. M. Green, and J. DeB. Hooper, Executive Committee; C. Phillips, Secretary, and A. G. Brown, Treasurer.

The Association then adjourned to meet in Gerrard Hall at 3:30 o'clock. The Executive Committee reported their inability to procure an orator. In lieu of an address sketches of the lives of ten of the Alumni, who had died during the year, were read, viz. Of James Martin, by Charles Manly; Joel Holleman, by George F. Davidson; Wm. S. Mhoon, by Wm H. Battle; Edward D. Sims, by Wm. M. Green; Robert H. Cowan, by Thomas F. Davis; Green M. Cuthbert, by Ralph H. Graves; John N. Barksdale, by Samuel F. Phillips; Thomas H. Spruill, by Ashbel G. Brown; James W. Campbell, by Wm. J. Clarke; Ruffin W. Tomlinson, by Wm. S. Mullins.

In 1846 the Freshman competitors in Declamation were Bryan Whitfield of Alabama, Thomas M. Arrington of Nash, William H. Jones of Wake, Martin A. Lyons of Alabama, William E. Hill of Duplin, Ridley Browne of Warren, and Augustus S. Graves of Georgia.

On the next night the Sophomore Declaimers spoke; Oliver P. Meares of Wilmington, John K. Strange of Cumberland, Thomas E. Watson of Chapel Hill, Seaton Gales of Raleigh, George Washington of Goldsboro, William A. Jenkins of Warren, and Belfield W. Cave of Chapel Hill. Of the Freshmen Lyon, Browne and Graves did not remain to graduation. Of the Sophomores all received their degrees in 1848, except Watson.

The Baccalaureate sermon was preached by Rev. Edward McCartney Forbes, an alumnus of 1828, an Episcopal minister of Eastern North Carolina. Before the Historical Society at a public meeting Rev. Dr. Fordyce M. Hubbard read a valuable paper on Sir Walter Raleigh. The annual Orator before the two Societies was Bartholomew F. Moore, a graduate of 1820. His theme was well and eloquently handled, “The Claims of the University on Her Sons for Cultivating Truth and Universal Justice.”

In our day we look on 1846 as only the beginning of great scientific discoveries and inventions, yet we find Mr. Moore saying in his oration, “The present age * * * to me is an age of Revolution. * * * While here and there Astronomers have been opening the secret pages of celestial nature, genius, under the guidance of science and art, with a thousand hands, and in every civilized country on the globe, has been handling the elements of the earth, and moulding them in every imaginable form for practical use and application. * * * * Water, fire, air, steam and electricity, are all yoked in the harness of art, and are creating, fetching, carrying, concentrating and distributing as taste and want may direct, the treasures of mountain and plain, of rivers and seas, of the poles and the equator. * * * Time overcome, and leagues shortened to furlongs, and the press free to discuss the principles of science and announce every discovery and invention, the knowledge of all men becomes the knowledge of one. * * * The number and variety of inventions and discoveries, the rapidity of their succession, and, above all, their successful application to the pursuits of life, at first staggering mankind with fearful apprehensions of a stupendous change, have by their use so suspended the occupations of men, and rooted up the fixed habits of business, within my own time, that I seem not only to have suffered a revolution, but to be in the midst of a far greater one still.

“As sensible, however, as I am made, of the immeasurable benefits which have accrued and are still accruing to us from the wonderful energies of mind, and as rapidly as I am whirled along in their dazzling march, I yet see much that obstructs the moral advancement of our species, and administers poison to the passions of the heart.”

Dr. Caldwell's widow died October 30, 1846, while on a visit to Professor DeBerniere Hooper at Chapel Hill. Her maiden name was Helen Hogg, she being a daughter of James Hogg. I repeat some facts of her history. Her first husband was Wm. Hooper, son of “the signer.” He died early, leaving two sons, William and Thomas Clark, and when the elder was prepared for the University she moved to Chapel Hill in order to have them with her. Dr. Caldwell had married Susan Rowan, daughter of Robert Rowan of Fayetteville who, with her infant daughter, died soon, leaving him a widower and childless. Before many years elapsed the fascinating young widow Hooper became the President's wife, and she adorned the station by the graciousness of her manners, the activity of her benevolence and leadership in good works. Her elder son, Rev. William Hooper, D.D., became eminent as is told elsewhere. Thomas was a lawyer, died early. After the President's death she moved back to Hillsboro, where were many relatives.

The following letter from the accomplished authoress, Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, well expresses the impression Mrs. Caldwell made on all who knew her:

Her son, Dr. William Hooper, on his death-bed requested that his body be placed by that of his mother, which was done August 19, 1876. In July, 1894, the remains of the three were reverently re-interred by the east side of the Caldwell monument, the wife being between her husband and her son.

It was at this Commencement that a dangerous panic occurred in the Chapel which created much fright, but no damage to anyone. The galleries were supported by very slender pillars, widely separated. While the exercises were in progress, every seat taken and many spectators standing, some one, alarmed perhaps by the breaking of a stick, shouted “The gallery is falling!” There was a general rush for the doors, and some young men had the pleasure of showing their gallantry by catching young ladies as they jumped from the windows. There was real danger to those in the galleries as the staircases were narrow and winding. Returning sense soon discerned the fact that the danger was imaginary. Some attempted to jump from the upper windows, but were held back.

The coolness of President Swain, Governor Graham, and other Trustees, contributed to pacifying the excited crowd and after an interval the exercises were resumed. Before the next Commencement additional pillars were placed, and a competent architect pronounced the galleries perfectly safe.

The Commencement of 1847 was the most interesting and conspicuous in our history up to that time. The President of the United States accepted the urgent invitation of President Swain and revisited his Alma Mater after an absence of twenty-nine years. He was accompanied by his Secretary of the Navy, John Young Mason, a Senior, when his chief was a Sophomore. With him, too, was Lieutenant Matthew P. Maury, then in the beginning of his great career in the study of the air and ocean. His classmate, Thomas J. Green, of Virginia, generally regarded at the University as the greater genius by nature, also accompanied him, as did also Branch, once Secretary of the Navy and Governor of this State and of Florida, and Wm. A. Graham, Governor of North Carolina, ex-Governor Morehead, and other prominent men. A classmate, Professor Green, was on hand to welcome his old associate. The chronicler averred that no other institution ever had a President and member of his cabinet and Governor of a distant State in attendance on its exercises.

The occasion was likewise memorable because the Senior Class contained many strong men, but especally two uncommonly conspicuous, and destined to eminent careers. These were James Johnston Pettigrew, whose brilliancy of scholarship has never been excelled, if equalled, at this institution, and Matt Whitaker Ransom, a close second to Pettigrew in scholarship, and superior to all in oratory.

The Commencement of 1848 showed a distinct reaction from the greatness of that of the preceding year. It was noted with sharp censure that there were only six or seven Trustees present. On Monday there was an examination of the Senior Class in Chemistry in presence of Messrs. Nicholas L. Williams and Wm. Eaton, Jr.

The Freshman Competitors in Delcamation were John McK. Henson, Joseph B. Bryan, Claudius B. Sanders, Malcolm J. McDuffie, Charles C. Terry, Rufus L. Patterson, Samuel B. Morisey, Neill McKay, Jr., and David M. Carter. The Sophomores were Joel C. Blake, Alexander R. Strange, John Manning, Washington C. Kerr, Richard Hines, Jr., Henry Hardie, Samuel E. Whitfield and Benjamin R. Huske. All were graduated except Henson, Morrisey and Strange.

On Wednesday Hon. William Eaton, Jr., of the class of 1829, then in the height of his reputation on account of the publication of his excellent book of Legal Forms, delivered the annual Address. His theme was the “Future Literary Prospects of America.” The reporter voiced the sentiments of the audience in saying that his ability as a writer was only exceeded by his modesty as a man.

A very able eulogy on John Quincy Adams, who died on the 23rd of the preceding February, was then pronounced at the request of the Historical Society by Hon. Samuel Field Phillips of the Class of 1841.

At night the sermon before the Graduating class was preached by an eminent Presbyterian divine and teacher, Rev. John A. Gretter, D.D. It was full of wise thought, clothed in devout and chaste language and delivered in a most reverend and earnest style.

The Alumni Association held their business meeting in the Library on May 31st, 1846, Governor Graham, Vice-President, in the Chair. The Committee for collecting funds for a new monument to Dr. Caldwell reported progress and were instructed, in conjunction with the Executive Committee, to decide on a suitable plan and to call on the Alumni for the necessary funds.

In order to provide for contingent expenses each of the Alumni was required to pay one dollar, unless he had already paid the same.

At the public meeting in Gerrard Hall obituaries of the Alumni who had died during the past year were read as follows:

That of Hinton James, the first student, by Governor Graham; Thomas D. Bennehan, by President Swain; John B. Brown, by Prof. W. M. Green; Wm. P. Ferrand, by Wm. Eaton, Jr.; Dr. James B. Slade, by Rufus Barringer; Rev. Philip W. Alston, by Prof W. M. Green; Captain Exum L. Whitaker, by James Johnston; Peter G. Burton, by Owen H. Whitfield; Wm. Henry Manly, by Menalcas Lankford.

The obituary of Dr. John Hill, prepared for the meeting in 1857, was read by the Secretary, Charles Phillips. President Swain paid a feeling tribute to the memory of Dr. James A. Washington and promised an extended notice for the next meeting.

As long ago as 1837 Gaston H. Wilder, James M. Burke and Dennis D. Ferebee were appointed a Committee on behalf of the Philanthropic Society to petition the Trustees for a new Hall. This was followed the next year by a similar petition on behalf of the Dialectic Society. A new building was estimated to cost $5,000. The Society agreed to subscribe liberally and the members on their own account promised subscriptions. It was urged that the exercises were seriously injured by the small size of the debating halls and the increase of the library was prevented by want of shelf room. The Committee of the latter body were Tod. R. Caldwell, Isham W. Garrott and William Johnston. The Trustees referred the petition to Messrs. D. L. Swain, Andrew Joyner and W. A. Graham, who reported in January, 1839, that the societies had accumulated libraries, aggregating about seven thousand volumes, which were in the shingle-covered South building, having in the winter season over twenty-five fires constantly burning. The erection of one or two new buildings would enable the Trustees to have six dormitories, out of the vacated halls, and at least four more could be had in the new building. The present dormitories accommodated one hundred and thirty students, whereas there were one hundred and sixty-five, one-fifth of whom reside in the village. Another consideration was that the existing Philanthropic rooms were smaller than those of the Dialectic, whereas there should be perfect equality. The Special Committee therefore recommended that the Executive Committee, after the payment of the debt to the Banks, as soon as the State of the funds would admit, join the Societies in the erection of two fireproof halls of the same dimensions and external plan, or one building of suitable proportions, the University to pay at least two-thirds of the cost. The Board concurred in the report.

Probably because of suits for Tennessee lands, the title of which the University had warranted, which as a rule, however, after considerable delay, were decided in its favor, nothing was done under the resolution for several years. In 1843 President Swain was instructed to correspond with Mr. Robert Donaldson, of New York, “on the best mode of procuring plans for the Society Halls, and of obtaining the services of an individual skilled in laying out pleasure grounds, landscape gardening, etc.” Under these instructions Mr. A. J. Davis, an architect of New York, was employed.

In the next year the plans and specifications for the enlargement of the East and West buildings for the accomodation of the two Societies with Halls and Libraries were submitted and approved. The Societies asked that the Trustees should credit their one-third subscription with fourteen hundred dollars for each society, that is, allowing one hundred dollars for every dormitory room added by the improvement. The East and West buildings were to be extended toward the North, one-half their former length, the halls for the meetings to be in the second story of the extension and the Libraries divided into alcoves in the third. The charges of the architect seem very moderate, namely one hundred dollars, besides expenses of his trip to and from New York, and an additional hundred on completion of the work. The improvements were finished four years later. The narrative of the ceremonies attending the removal of the Societies into the new quarters will be hereafter given. The Societies eventually were released from their promise to pay one-third of the cost.

The efforts of Professor Green to procure liberty to students to worship at the Church of their choice met, for some years, with little success.

There was excitement on the subject in distant quarters. On December 11, 1849, at a meeting of the Trustees it is recorded “that sundry petitions from different parts of the State and different Christian denominations on the subject of the modification of the ordinance relating to public worship in the College Chapel on the Sabbath was laid before the Board.” Ex-Governor James Iredell offered an ordinance that attendance at some Church should be obligatory, but that students of full age might choose their places of worship, and parents and guardians might choose for their sons and wards under age. This was referred to a Committee, viz: Walter F. Leak, B. F. Moore and Calvin Graves.

Mr. Leak, for the Committee, submitted a substitute, embracing the Iredell ordinance, with the addition that the places of worship should be selected within ten days after the admission of the student, and could not be changed during the session, except to the Chapel service.

The Board adjourned to January 4, 1850, when the Leak ordinance was voted down. There was so much feeling that the ayes and noes were called. Wm. B. Shepard, Wm. H. Washington, Wm. Julius Alexander, Robert B. Gilliam, James Iredell, John H. Bryan, are recorded in the affirmative, and Charles Manly, Daniel W. Courts, George P. Davidson, James C. Dobbin, John A. Gilmer, William A. Graham, Charles L. Hinton, Giles Mebane, Frederick Nash, Samuel F. Patterson, David L. Swain, Hugh Waddell and Nicholas L. Williams in the negative. General Samuel F. Patterson then offered a substitute, which was unanimously adopted, that communicants within ten days after entrance, on notifying the Faculty of their wishes, could attend the church of their choice, but could not change during the session. The Faculty should require regular attendance by all somewhere as a University duty. Here the matter rested for ten years, communicants only being excused from Chapel worship. There are some names recorded in the negative, whose sentiments in favor of liberality are so well known that it is clear their votes were given in deference to President Swain. His vote was, it is suspected, determined more by considerations of discipline than of religion.

At the Commencement of 1849 the large audience was arranged, said the reporter, to produce a beautiful and artistic effect. The assemblage of ladies was especially brilliant. The explanation of this improvement is that the ladies were all seated together, experience having proved that the sexes, when within talking distance, will effervesce in unseemly chatter. The change was very beneficial to order.

The Baccalaureate sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Charles Force Deems, and fully sustained his reputation as a pulpit orator.

The Declaimers from the Sophomore class were Bartholomew Fuller, Malcolm J. McDuffie, Neill McKay, Thomas J. Norcom, Rufus L. Patterson, James A. Patton, Claudius B. Sanders, Francis E. Shober and Charles C. Terry. For the Freshman class were Wm. D. Barnes, Thomas B. Burton, Wm. M. Carrigan, Thomas H. Gilliam, Benjamin A. Kittrell, Joseph A. Manning, Wm. A. Moore, James J. Slade, Basil M. Thompson, and Legh R. Waddell. All became graduates except Kittrell and Moore. Of these, Kittrell was a lawyer and politician of promise but died early. Moore became a Judge and Speaker of the State House of Representatives. He had a large brain, but lacked continuity of effort.

On Wednesday morning ex-Governor William A. Graham, of the class of 1824, chosen by the Dialectic Society, delivered the Literary Address. It was read from manuscript, and there was no room for oratory, but the thoughtful auditors pronounced it admirable. The subject was Popular Education, and his thoughts were full of wisdom.

After this, Dr. ——Togno, a native of Corsica, gave an instructive lecture on grasses, demonstrating their value as a crop, and the neglect of our farmers in cultivating them.

At twelve o'clock on Wednesday the Alumni Association had their meeting. Plans for the Caldwell monument were submitted. Only $600 had been raised, and it was estimated that $1,000 would be needed. The Committee were instructed to continue their efforts to secure additional funds, and the $3 limit was removed. Obituaries were read of Wm. Sneed (1799), by Prof. W. M. Green; Durant Hatch (1806), by Charles Phillips; James McClung (1816), by Judge Battle; H. W. Covington (1830), by S. F. Phillips; James S. Johnston (1844), by J. H. Horner; David W. Stone, by Dr. Thomas H. Wright.

Rev. Albert Micajah Shipp was elected Professor of English Literature and History. In 1851 French was stubstituted for English Literature, and in 1854, the French being transferred to M. Herrisse, he had charge of History only and so continued until 1860.

Dr. Shipp was born in Stokes County, North Carolina, February 15, 1819. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina in 1840, one of the first honor men. He was a Methodist preacher of uncommon power. He was not perhaps a specialist in the studies of his department, but had general cultivation and talents sufficient to enable him to qualify himself. His teaching lacked animation, though in the pulpit his manner was vigorous and exceedingly impressive.

In the fall of this year Rev. Wm. M. Green left the University to become Bishop of Mississippi, and in 1850 Rev. John Thomas Wheat, of Nashville, Tennessee, took his place. Bishop Green continued in his high office until his death in 1887. After the Civil War he was made Chancellor of the University of the South and often resided at Sewanee. Shortly before his death he revisited his Alma Mater, and the inscription on his tablet in Memorial Hall was penned by himself. He was a saintly man.

It was determined to enter in earnest on the improvement of the Campus, then still in its primeval state. One thousand dollars yearly for several years were spent under the supervision and personal labor of gardeners trained in England, first one Loader and soon afterwards Paxton, with colored laborers to assist them. They dug up many useless trees, macadamized a large part of Cameron Avenue and the three larger walks leading to the village, bordered two of the latter with beautiful flowers, especially roses, and hid the hotel back-yard and stables with osage oranges, hollies and shrubs. After the University lost its endowment the flowers were gradually destroyed by fire or neglect, but the other work is of value to this day. It is possible that the plan of A. J. Davis, architect, of New York, made some years before, may have been followed, but the gardeners understood their business.

After he was made a Judge, an office during good behaviour, that is, practically for life, my father removed his home to Chapel Hill in order to educate his five boys. This was in June, 1843. I was prepared for the University by recent graduates—A. G. Brown and R. Don Wilson— and entered Freshman in 1845. After graduating I was an instructor for one year and Tutor 1850-1854, sleeping in the old East Building. I have therefore vivid recollections of the Faculty and villagers, students and employees, the teaching and curriculum, manners and customs of this period. I propose to introduce them to the reader. The description will show what the University was under President Swain before it reached its greatest numbers.

1. Taking 1844 as a typical year. There were 64 Trustees They were then chosen by the General Assembly for life. It was considered to be a great honor to be a member. The Board was truly a noble body. At the head was Judge Henry Potter of the United States District Court, elected in the year in which Washington died. Next to him was Judge Gaston of the Supreme Court, elected in 1803, and then came John D. Hawkins and Judge Frederick Nash, both chosen in 1807. And then came a line of men prominent in our State.

The Trustees in attendance on the Commencement of 1843 were the following: John M. Morehead, Governor and ex officio President of the Board; George E. Badger, Simmons J. Baker, Wm. H. Battle, John H. Bryan, Weston R. Gales, Wm. A. Graham, James Iredell, Andrew Joyner, Charles Manly, Secretary and Treasurer of the University, Samuel F. Patterson, Thomas Ruffin, James Webb and Jonathan Worth. It would hardly be possible to get together an abler or more worthy body of men. As a rule, they were of imposing physique. Nearly all had attained or were destined to attain high office. Morehead, Graham, Iredell, Manly and Worth occupied. the Governor's chair; Badger and Graham were Secretaries of the Navy and Senators of the United States, Iredell likewise a United States Senator, Ruffin was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Battle Judge of the Superior and then of the Supreme Court; Bryan had been a member of Congress; Hinton, Patterson and Worth, State Treasurers, and Baker a State legislator, and he and Webb very prominent physicians; Joyner Speaker of the Senate; Gales editor of the leading newspaper and Mayor of Raleigh. “Old Dr. Baker,” as he was then called, wore an old-fashioned cue, and had the courtly manners of the old school. The Trustees sat on the rostrum with President Swain, and each student felt that, whenever in coming years he could be elevated to similar honors, his noblest ambition would be realized.

Judge Wm. Gaston, one of the greatest “all-round” men this State ever had, was absent from the Commencement of 1844. He died suddenly on January 23d previously. A Faculty Committee, Judge Battle being chairman, reported resolutions on the subject. They declare that his death was “a great loss to the Union, to the State, and to this University,” that “as members of an institution of which he was more than forty years a guardian and benefactor, we feel ourselves called upon in an especial manner to honor his memory, and to propose to the youth committed to our trust his life and character as a noble example of the legitimate results of a pure, well-regulated and virtuous ambition.” This is high praise and is well deserved. It was on his motion, as has been told, seconded by another active and sagacious Trustee, Judge Duncan Cameron, that the Board in 1804 resolved to have a President of the University, instead of a “Presiding Professor,” and unanimously elected the first President, Rev. Joseph Caldwell, twelve years afterward honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

In addition to President Swain and Professor Mitchell, Phillips and Tutor Owen heretofore mentioned, the heads of the departments were John DeBerniere Hooper, A.M., of the Latin and French Languages; Manuel Fetter, A.M., of the Greek Language and Literature; Rev. Wm. M. Green, A.M., of Rhetoric and Logic; Rev. Charles M. F. Deems, A.M., Adjutant Professor of Rhetoric and Logic; Ralph Henry Graves, the elder, Tutor of Mathematics.

In 1844 there were two changes in the Faculty. In January, Ashbel G. Brown, graduate of 1843, took the place Owen resigned, and Charles Phillips, of 1841, succeeded Graves, resigned.

President Swain—never so called, but always Governor Swain—was at the height of his powers, mental and physical. He was bright in conversation, fond of punning, had a powerful memory stored with genealogies of North Carolina families, and anecdotes of public men. He had a kind heart and genial manners. He was not an extensive reader. His range of learning was not wide, but accurate as far as it went. Having lived through important parts of our history, he had absorbed much. When sent by Governor Vance to meet General Sherman, and introduced to one of his aides, Colonel Hitchcock, he surprised the party by saying to the Colonel: “Your mother was a ——. She married your father at ——.” Similarly, students found that he could give them lessons about their ancestors, concerning whom, paternal and maternal, he diligently enquired. He was accustomed to talk familiarly with the students, especially the Seniors. He often visited them at their rooms in the daytime. He seldom went out at night on account of consumptive tendency. In wet weather he would walk to his lecture room, Indian moccasins in one hand and rubber shoes on his feet. His habit was to knock at the doors of students, and, being somewhat deaf, an infirmity which increased as he grew old, to walk in without waiting for a bidding. He thus occasionally found a party seated around a table enjoying a game of cards, then against the laws whether for stakes or for fun. He would confiscate the pack. It was said that he had a bushel basket full at home. He never reported the offenders, except in one case when the playing was on Sunday, and then the perpetrators were suspended. He was too nervous, but after a few pleasant words, would take his leave, making a pun or other humorous remark as a parting gift. His puns were sometimes atrociously bad. I have known him to be called back by his visitee with the words, “Come back, Governor; that is not good enough to leave on.” He was always welcomed except when there was a game of cards or other breach of the regulations going on. There was only one instance of disrespect, and that was at a later day, and intended as a practical joke. A student kept excellent shaving apparatus with razor especially sharp. The President often asked the privilege of using it. One morning the owner of the razor substituted a very dull instrument. After making one stroke the President silently washed off his face and left the room never to return, to the penitent grief of the joker. As a rule, however, he took good naturedly impudent fun though aimed at himself.

He was extremely restive under adverse criticism, and in his precautions to avoid censure was sometimes thought by some not to be ready to sustain in public items of reports of a harsh nature which he approved in committee. The late Colonel W. L. Steele, a Trustee, regular in attendance at Commencements, and on the preliminary examinations, when it was his duty as committeeman, made this charge against the President. The explanation probably was that while he agreed to the truthfulness of the report, he considered it bad policy to communicate names of delinquents to the public. A Mr. Land, of Louisiana, conceiving that his son, who was expelled from the institution, and forced to pay money for damages to University property, had been badly treated, sent a challenge to the President to mortal combat. Prof. Kimberly, with mock gravity, moved that, inasmuch as the age and station of the President prevented acceptance of the challenge, Prof. Fetter should be requested to take his place. Mr. Fetter, although fond of jokes on others, was sensitive at their being perpetrated on himself, repelled the motion with ludicrous heat. “I will not fight! I don't believe in duels.” Young Land was a good soldier, howbeit an unruly student, was killed in the early part of the war.

One impudent fellow had the presumption to call attention to the President's extraordinary knock-kneed conformation, by questioning his ability when a youth to successfully drive a pig, explaining that the animal must have escaped by running between his feet. The silence with which he received this attempted wit was a caustic rebuke. Good mimics, John H. Manly, for example, afterwards Colonel of a regiment and Mayor of Galveston, often imitated his peculiar voice, but never knowingly in his presence. At the sale of the old furniture of the Dialectic Society, the amateur auctioneer, the late Major R. S. Tucker, offered a pair of plated silver candlesticks. “Here, gentlemen, is a combination candlestick and mirror. They have the peculiar power of making an ugly man look handsome. Governor! they are the very thing for you!” The victim laughed as much as the crowd. Tucker was one of his favorites.

Later on the Governor made a bid on some article. Tucker rattled on, “Don't you hear, gentlemen? Governor Swain bids $—. Don't you know he never pays more than half price for anything?” He took the hit in good part. It was founded on fact, as he was a careful economist. He laughed and said, “That is true—at auctions.”

Nor was he offended at ridicule of his bad puns, of which he made many. Professor Fetter's name was an obvious target, and the Professor's invariable retort was, “That will do for a beardless Swain.” The Governor's face was nearly free from capillary adornment. He was much pleased at compliments to those puns which were worthy of applause. The following is one of his best. Robert H. Tate, in his Senior speech, spoke of the many uses of the Longleaf Pine, and bemoaned the recent losses to the State from the destruction of extensive forests of that valuable tree by myriads of pestilential insects. “What?”, he asked, “will become of our good old State, if this devastation of our pines goes on?” The answer of the President was, “Re-pine, of course!”

The following shows in a piquant way the friendly relations between the President and the students. After the marble shaft was erected to the memory of Presdent Caldwell, leaving the dilapidated sandstone monument first erected, gaunt and hideous, several young fellows waited on President Swain in mock gravity, saying, “Governor! we boys have had a meeting and resolved to keep the old monument for you.” For once he did not take the joke with his accustomed hilarity.

His curiosity for the news was insatiable. Every person arriving on “the Hill” was called on at once by the President and catechized as to what had happened of interest or importance within his knowledge. He kept up, even after postage fell to five cents for any distance, the old custom of sending letters by the hand of travellers, who often had to pay more than the postage to a specially employed delivery messenger. He retained always the practice of economy, which he learned in his straitened youth.

Although extremely knock-kneed and round-shouldered, and with homely features, his face illumined by a kind heart and by a strong mind, and his tall figure gave him a commanding appearance. On account of his intellectual power, the great offices he had held, his influence over Faculty and Trustees, together with courtesy to old and young and his inclination to merciful dealing with offenders, “Old Bunk,” as he was called behind his back, was almost universally popular with the students. I think he was intentionally insulted only once during his incumbency. That was when a Mississippi student, really crazy from whiskey, threw a chair in his direction, but did not touch him. The offender was dismissed, then expelled for refusing to leave Chapel Hill as the law required. He redeemed his wildness by becoming a good citizen and an officer in the church, and was killed in the Civil War, having reached the rank of Captain.

The President's deafness, which sorely affected him in his latter years, was of no great inconvenience at this period of his life.

For the most of the period the President taught the Seniors Constitutional and International, or as he published it, National Law, Intellectual Philosophy and Moral Science. The mode of recitation was almost altogether by questions and answers, the President adhering closely to the text. He required the table of contents or marginal topics to be memorized in order, an exaction considered by the class as burdensome. Occasionally he lectured most interestingly on such subjects as Magna Carta, the Petition and Bill of Rights, the character of the great men of North Carolina and the United States.

He introduced greater system in keeping the records of the students for scholarship and punctuality. Tables exist showing in his handwriting the standing of each after every examination, and the absences from Prayers, from Recitations, and from religious services in the Chapel.

Circular letters were sent to each parent or guardian, showing the standing of the student, and earnestly advising that they should not be allowed to buy anything on credit. At the end of the terms, then called sessions, the grades were reported. The President filled these out with his own hand, which was often tremulous. One parent told him that after careful study he had been unable to ascertain whether his son's standing was g-o-o-d or b-a-d.

President Swain was strict in requiring formal Faculty meetings once a week, usually on Friday night. At first these were held at the dwellings of the Faculty alternately, but afterwards at the President's. Tutors were considered regular members, entitled to vote. Informal meetings were held in the afternoons after Prayers, a majority of the Faculty usually being present. He introduced the practice of having the regular meetings opened with prayer by one of the clergy present. Then the roll of the students was called over twice, absences recorded, and all instances of misbehaviour discussed. The following partial list shows the character of the offences appearing on the Conduct Book: “Talking or laughing at recitations or Prayers”; “Spitting on the floor”; “Blowing a trumpet in study hours”; “Being out of one's room in study hours”; “Bringing book into recitation room”; “Throwing a bucket of water on a student”; “Shouting too loud when drenched”; “Loud shouting”; “Riding horseback in Campus”; “Shooting pistols”; “Exploding gunpowder”; “Hoisting pigs with ropes as they fed under the windows,” and so on.

The next business in order was the trial of those who were cited to appear to answer serious charges. The Professor making the charge was first heard, and then the accused answered. As a rule his statement was accepted. The members of the Faculty were then invited one by one, beginning with the youngest, to ask questions or make comments, which were sometimes caustic, sometimes kindly. Some made it a rule to keep silence. After this ordeal the offender retired and the vote was taken on the case, beginning with the Tutors, according to the court-martial rule, adopted to prevent junior officers being overawed by their superiors. The theory was that the majority ruled, but in practice, if the President thought best not to punish, he was sure to carry his point. Sometimes his leniency did not escape criticism on the part of his colleagues, and on one occasion a committee of the Trustees instructed their chairman, ex-Governor Iredell, to announce publicly from the rostrum at Commencement their opinion that it was injuring the institution. The President answered the charge with spirit, even with heat, we must presume satisfactorily, as the subject was not mentioned again.

The cases of discipline being disposed of, opportunity was given for a general discussion of the condition of the institution. No rules of order were deemed necessary, nor were lacking agreeable pleasantries and instructive comments on the affairs of the State and General Government. Sometimes, but not often, there would be heated differences of opinion.

Whether it arose from the President's politic carefulness or his nervousness, his usual rule was to appoint professors to write to parents about the delinquencies of their sons. Professors were also entrusted with the duty of admonishing those who needed to be rebuked or stirred up. In choosing the mentors, regard was had to considerations of their likelihood of being able to exert special influence from acquaintance with parents, church affiliations and the like.

As a rule he consulted the Faculty about other matters before acting, but was annoyed when they differed from him. By adroit management he generally carried his point, without causing dissatisfaction. He had decided ideas in regard to his prerogative. He often quoted the words of ex-Judge Duncan Cameron that the Captain of the University should have powers similar to those of a captain of a ship. When Professor DeBerniere Hooper wished for leave of absence at the close of the academic year, 1836-'7, the year be it noted of his marriage, the President, who believed that Commencement should be made as imposing as possible, declined permission, whereupon Professor Hooper appealed to the Faculty with success. Nothing daunted, the President carried the question before the Trustees and triumphed. He was a Trustee for life before he became President, and attended the meetings of the Board by right and not by courtesy. In general it may be said that the Trustees carried into effect his recommendations, but it should be observed that he was a cautious man and was careful to recommend nothing which would probably be disapproved. He prided himself on being independent of the Trustees, and often stated that for this reason he made it a rule never to invest a dollar in Chapel Hill property. He was prudent in money matters, as was his wife, and at death was worth at least $60,000, notwithstanding the losses of the war. It was an instance of his prudence that about 1862 he sold $10,000 stock in the Bank of North Carolina and invested the proceeds in a plantation in Pitt County.

Mrs. Swain, a granddaughter of Governor Caswell, a woman of fine intellect but retiring disposition, cared nothing for Society, and therefore the President did not dispense a large hospitality. As he did not for reasons of health often attend entertainments at night, there were not many at his home. Occasionally, however, he was the host of distinguished visitors, such as President Buchanan and Secretary Thompson, President Johnson, Secretary Seward, Postmaster-General Randall, and Governor Graham. And rarely he gave a banquet to the Trustees, Seniors and others.

In his domestic government he was conspicuously lenient. The neighbors thought that he “spoilt,” to use a common term, his children and his slaves. A story was told with much glee, how, when irritated beyond measure by his washerwoman, he seized a switch to punish her, she said with satirical emphasis, “Whip away! I can supply back as long as you can supply whip!” His female slaves multiplied rapidly, although they did not enter into the matrimonial engagements usual among slaves, which though not binding in law, were as much respected in fact as are now legal marriages in some of our States. One of his women was a grandmother at twenty-seven years of age. Some of them became conspicuous for fidelity and efficiency in after life. One, Wilson Swain Caldwell, for instance, was for many years one of the most trusted and efficient University servants, with the unbounded respect of Faculty and students. He held the office, though not with the name, of Janitor.

President Swain occasionally gave public lectures to the University officers and students, the villagers being also invited. I can recall one on the early history of the University, one on the comparative rank of North Carolina in geographical position, wealth, and population; another on the Importance of Agriculture; a fourth, which was published, on Military Operations in North Carolina in 1776. He had a floating intention to visit England in search for papers relating to our history, but the General Assembly, while appointing him agent for this purpose, made no appropriation for expenses. He wrote in an uncommonly good style some historical papers for the University Magazine on the War of the Regulation, and edited publications of papers of Governor Burke, Whitmill Hill, Cornelius Harnett, and others, mostly obtained from the collection of Judge Murphey. The history of this collection will be found in the second volume.

The President was a Presbyterian, an Elder in the Church, but I never heard of his praying or discoursing in public. There is a tablet to his memory in the Presbyterian Church at Chapel Hill. Mrs. Swain was a Methodist, but an infrequent attendant at church.

The President is commonly censured for using his influence to keep the North Carolina Railroad from coming to Chapel Hill, alleging that it would facilitate the running off of students during term time. It certainly was his policy, as was the policy of his predecessors, to keep the University dormitories isolated. No road was allowed through the Campus. A rail fence, along which a hedgerow grew up, separated the tree-covered part of it from the open field on the eastern side, and there was no access to the Raleigh road. Carriages could only reach the buildings by the west. Dr. Mitchell, as had been said, endeavored to have two public roads, one in the rear of the South Building and the other along the Old East, but the project failed. Still, I think that Governor Swain should not be held responsible for the railroad going by Hillsboro. In the first place its most powerful promotors, ex-Governor Morehead, ex-Governor Graham, John W. Norwood, Giles Mebane, Cadwallader Jones, the elder, John A. Gilmer, Ralph P. Gorrell, Paul C. Cameron, Calvin Graves, and other men, influential not only as stockholders to a large amount but as public leaders, without whose active labors the State appropriation could not have been procured, lived along the Hillsboro route. In the second place, the Chief Engineer, Col. Walter Gwynne, reported against the route by Chapel Hill. In his report of 1851 he says, “The result by any combination that could be made would be in favor of the route by Hillsboro in all the essentials of grades, cost, curvature and distance.” Again, “Owing to the frequent deflections this, (the Chapel Hill) route, although called the direct route, would be about two miles longer than the line by Hillsboro, and a comparison of the grades, curvature and cost would also be against it.”

Against the opposition of the most powerful stockholders and the adverse report of the Chief Engineer, of course President Swain could do nothing. It was wise in him to yield gracefully and to get what comfort he could from the inevitable.

As sustaining my charitable view, I add on the testimony of Mr. Paul C. Cameron that President Swain certainly advocated the Chapel Hill route before a meeting of the stockholders, while he himself urged that the road should go by his Farintosh and Flat River plantations, east of the adopted line. On the whole, I conclude that the President would not have opposed its location near the University if it could possibly have been procured, and that he persuaded himself that its loss was best for University discipline.

The Faculty of President Swain's early incumbency was very little changed for many years. When changes occurred by death or resignation, the new professors did not sensibly modify the accustomed order. The fashion of discipline and instruction set by Dr. Caldwell and his coadjutors, less sternly administered, however, was continued.

The Senior Professor, Dr. Elisha Mitchell, nicknamed “Old Mike” by the students, had a big frame and a big brain. While his body was formed for strength and not for grace, his face was handsome and intellectual. He might have been among the great specialists of this country, if he had not aspired to be universally learned. To his students he appeared to know everything in literature and science. He seemed familiar not only with flowers and rocks, minerals and ores, and the secrets of chemistry and physics, but with questions of fiction and poetry, theology and law, history and art. He was a strong mathematician, indeed, as has been shown, was professor in that department for several years. He once taught rhetoric and logic. He read Blackstone for recreation. He was well versed in the classics and was a good theologian. When a Junior he said to me, “Do you believe that Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines?” I replied that I thought I was bound to believe it. He said, “Well! I do not. The Bible comes to us after numerous transcriptions. A slight mark in Hebrew will make hundreds or thousands more or less. Perhaps some transcriber, Jewish of course, accidentally, or on purpose to increase the glory of Solomon, altered the figures.” This was my first experience of the Higher Criticism. His sermons were good, but were delivered in such a tame manner, without gesture and without raising his eyes from the manuscript, that they left no lasting impression as a whole. Particular expressions were remembered from their quaintness. For example, he began a sermon on Moral Courage thus: “If a man walking on the street sees a mad bull charging on him with lowered horns, and hastens to leap the fence to escape, he is not a coward. If he does not, he is a fool.” His prayers appeared to the youthful mind of undue length. They were always the same, and when he came to “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little,” we knew that he was half through and a thrill of gladness entered our souls.

While Dr. Mitchell was curious to know everything, he was also ready for active work wherever called for. It was said that a year's term of Chairman of the Faculty after Caldwell's death left him willing to undertake the Presidency. He was one of the most diligent in enforcing discipline, and as he had a bed in his private room in the South Building, in which he frequently spent his nights, was commonly on hand to lend his aid in preventing or suppressing riotous conduct. Once while Faison was running from hot pursuit of a Tutor, he leaped out of a door of the South Building right into Dr. Mitchell's arms, and was held in his embrace. The fun of the thing moved F.'s risibles and he burst into a jovial laugh. While often detecting offenders, the good Professor was very merciful in punishment.

He was, as has been told, the Bursar, and kept the accounts of the students. This involved much labor both of collecting and paying out money for tuition, room rent, servant hire, board, washing, and other expenses. The law required all funds of students, even pocket-money, to be deposited with him, a law smacking of espionage, and not obeyed except as to what was needed for expenses of board, books, and the like. No one ever saw his books, and it was a common belief that he carried all their accounts in his head, but this could not have been true. The only concrete criticism by the students was as to the deposit money. Each was required to pay $4 per annum to defray the expenses of damages to University property not traceable to any perpetrator. At the end of the session the unused residue was returned. As the students knew nothing of the aggregate damages, there was ample room for disappointment, and so they jocularly called the Bursar's old gray horse “Old Deposits,” as having been paid for out of the fund. Often in emergencies he employed his own property, slaves or horses and wagons, in aid of the University, and repaid himself in a rough way in kind.

As Bursar he took charge of all needed ordinary work and repairs, building stone walls and the like. As Town Commissioner, he improved our streets by supporting walls and culverts, and as Justice of the Peace he was always ready to try the petty cases of a sparse neighborhood. Occasionally in affrays among students, where serious trouble was threatened, he forced the fighters to give security to keep the peace.

As a teacher he was very interesting, often illustrating the subject by facts of history and even amusing anecdotes, at which he laughed as heartily as the students. I remember that one of my classmates had the habit of giving a convulsive snort, instead of genuine laughter. Once this was not uttered until the rest of us subsided into quiet, so that it sounded like ridicule. The Professor angrily said, “Is that man a fool that he cannot appreciate a joke?” At one period he read written lectures of his own on Chemistry, Geology and Mineralogy. The notes of these were handed on from class to class, and on the margin were the entries, “Here comes in the joke about A. B.,” “Here comes in the joke about C. D.,” and so on. He did not often make a slip. I remember one. He taught the Junior class Sunday afternoons in the Books of Kings. During the first term he finished the first book. The next term we were dreading the complicated reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel, when to our delight he began the first book again and never discovered the reiteration. We did not undeceive him.

In the laboratory he performed experiments well. The transformations he predicted all came according to the prophecy. But he did not require the students to work with their own hands. Indeed, there was not room for it in the combined lecture-hall and laboratory, which was on the first floor of the South Building, south side.

As a citizen, Dr. Mitchell was kind-hearted and public-spirited, ready to give counsel or material aid to all who asked for it, fond of humor, as well as grave conversation. He enjoyed a joke on himself if there was no malice. To a retort of a member of my class he laughed and said, “Well, Mr. Dusenbury! I forgive the impudence of that for the wit of it.” On a geological excursion with his class, when Vance invited him to go out of his way to inspect a newly found red stratum, and he found a divided watermelon, he said, “That Vance is a funny fellow,” but he declined to partake of the fruit because he doubted Vance's title and would not be guilty of concealing stolen goods in his capacious stomach. Passing an old mill-house near an empty pond he was much amuused at Vance's pretended grave inquiry, “Doctor, do you think that mill is worth a dam?” Once when I showed displeasure at a coarse joke by a Professor in which the name of a refined young lady, then a guest at my father's, was mentioned, he paid me a special visit to endeavor to persuade me that I was wrong. “People are becoming too squeamish,” he said; “when my wife was a girl she and her friends used to play dolls with human bones, which her father, Dr. North, had in his garret. The relations between the sexes were established by God, and there is no harm in talking about having children.” I was not convinced, although I appreciated his kindness.

The Doctor was one day explaining the transmission of qualities of mind and body by heredity. “Yes, gentlemen, often if you know the father and mother of a student and their idiosyncracies, you can form a fair estimate of his character.” Then turning to a tall, dignified member of the class, whose father he well knew, he said, “Mr. Alexander! what is your mother's name?” “Vi'let, sir!” was the answer. The Doctor laughed with the class and said, “well, I admit that I can not estimate your character from that name. I enquired after her family name.”

He explored thoroughly the woods and fields around Chapel Hill, showing the love for solitary journeyings which led him to make excursions over our mountains and other parts of the State, evincing the same self-reliance which led him to his death on Mt. Mitchell. The University has his manuscript book of notes. It has a dedication “To Myself.”

He was charitable to the extent of his ability. My observation was that he and others of like heart in Chapel Hill were greatly imposed upon by a few who were, not too proud, but too lazy to dig, and not ashamed to beg. One of his benefactions was a standing source of merriment to the villagers. He lent money to a neighbor on mortgage of his home. He was compelled to foreclose and buy the property to save his debt. The wife of the debtor, Mrs. Snipes, declared that she would not vacate her dwelling. Her husband died, and still she stood firm. The good Doctor was too kindhearted to eject her by legal process, and so she continued for years, paying neither interest nor rent. The Doctor was reading in the Bible one Sunday, “Beware of Scribes . . . which devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers.” My next neighbor, his son-in-law, Ashe, whispered to me, “the widow Snipes!” The remark exactly fitted the controversy of Mitchell vs. Snipes, coupled with the Doctor's longitudinous petitions, and was acutely ludicrous.

One weakness the Doctor had—impatience of criticism or contradiction. I will give an instance. When the old road, ascending the Piney Prospect hill on the north, became, about 1840, almost impassible, it was resolved to make a new road on the south side, beginning about two miles from the village. He was selected as the engineer, and laid out a fairly good highway, but ascending the hill by quite a steep grade. Afterwards Professor Green was made road-overseer, and he deemed it his duty, although at considerable expense to himself, to adopt a much more gentle grade, using his own negroes in aid of the county “hands.” Dr. Mitchell was so incensed at this implied reflection on his skill that he called Professor Green “no gentleman” and declined to speak to him afterwards.

He also showed much intolerance against allowing any students to attend church services on Sunday morning elsewhere than in the University Chapel, as proposed by Prof. Green, and he, as well as other members of the Faculty, always became heated in discussing the subject. He was engaged occasionaally in newspaper controversies, notably with the State Geologist, Dr. Emmons. The dispute was whether the Deep River coal deposit is a veritable coal bed or only a vein. Although denounced and ridiculed by speculators who wished that Emmons was right, the developments since, it is said, show that the dip of the stratum of coal is holding the same angle as was then known and that Mitchell possessed the superior sagacity. In his controversy with General Clingman on the subject of Mount Mitchell, conducted in excellent temper on both sides, he carried his point. After his death the General magnanimously yielded.

were chiefly Latin, Greek and Mathematics. Chemistry, Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology, occupied only three hours a week for nine months; Methaphysics, Political Economy, Constitutional and International Law occupied the same time. Even after the inauguration of the School of Engineering and Agricultural Chemistry more than one-third of the student's time was spent in the Dead Languages; one-half in the Languages, Ancient and Modern; three-fifths in Languages and Pure Mathematics; only one-fifth in Physics; in Mental Philosophy, Logic and Rhetoric only one-twentieth; and in Political Science, Law, Psychology and Rhetoric, all combined, only one-eighth of the time of four years. The English studies were assigned to the department of Metaphysics and allowed three hours a week for one year. In that time were attempted to be taught Logic, Psychology, Rhetoric, and the English Language and Literature. This is a brief statement of the curriculum for the twelve years of the period beginning with June, 1856. Prior to 1856 the proportion of Latin, Greek and Pure Mathematics was much greater.

No laboratory work was required before 1854, but the Professors of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy (Physics) performed experiments in presence of the classes. The Geology and Surveying students were once or twice a year taken out on excursions into the field to receive practical instruction. The teaching was generally quite thorough, but theoretical in its character. Much attention was paid to pure Mathematics, less to its application. In the classics there was no instruction in Latin and Greek composition, but there was required a minute acquaintance with the grammar and dictionary. The effect was to make these languages disagreeable to the average student. Recitations were exceedingly tedious and consequently disorder was common in more than one of the rooms.

The impression on the mind of the student was that the chief object of the Professors was to ascertain whether they had learned the lessons assigned. The rule was to mark the value of the answers as soon as the catechising ceased and the average of these showed the standing. There were seven grades, “very good,” “good,” “very respectable,” “respectable,” “tolerable,” “bad” and “very bad.” Those who obtained “very good” in all, or nearly all, their studies, had the first distinction. Those who averaged “good” obtained the second distinction. The “very respectable” had the third distinction. The students, however, classed these as 1st, 2nd and 3rd “might” men. I have been unable to discover any institution where the word “might” was used in the sense prevalent at Chapel Hill. It was usually spelt mite, but I think that the other is probably correct.

Even as late as this period the discipline was so harsh as to lead to hostile feelings and to greater disorder than it prevented. The crashing of stones through a Tutor's window was not then fashionable. But knowing that some of the Faculty would leave their warm beds and engage in a race after the offenders it was piquant fun to ring the bell, which was in a belfry near the well, shout, fire pistols and make other like noises. If caught the offenders were probably suspended, or in their own language “rusticated” for two or three weeks. Sometimes, I grieve to say, there would be bad corn whiskey which would incite to worse actions. The superior temperance of the students of today is a source of pride and joy to all who love the University and feel a kindly interest in young men.

Until 1848 the two Societies held their meetings in their library rooms, which were in the third story of the South building, the Dialectic occupying the central hall on the South, the Philanthropic being opposite. These halls were considered attractive. The students were proud to show them. The books, the portraits of eminent members, and the chairs for the members in session were all in the same room. Conversations with ladies, after introductions, were not on the hackneyed theme of the past or prospective state of the weather.

The first question was, “Is this your first visit to the Hill?” The second was, “Have you visited the Halls?” The third, “Are you a Di or a Phi?” It was then fair sailing. If the lady claimed to be of a different society from the questioner, a mock quarrel followed; if of the same a sweet bond of sympathy was established. From these beginnings there ensued hundreds of pleasant acquaintances and many ardent loves. Commencements were famous for making matches. This was aided by the non-accessibility of Chapel Hill by railroad or water. Scores of gentlemen and ladies came in carriages and buggies drawn by noble trotters. These were extensively used in the intervals of the exercises for flirtation purposes. They led often to life-long unions.

The order and decorum of the meetings of the two Societies were worthy of all praise. Not only was parliamentary law learned, but the power of extempore speaking and writing compositions, as well as gracefulness in delivery were acquired. The members were proud of their society and afraid of its censure. The habit of self-government, of using their own liberty so as not to interfere with the liberties of others, was inculcated. Many young men who neglected text-books obtained here a valuable education, while those who were candidates for offices learned here what they could not learn in the class room—how to manage men. Indeed, men who attained distinction in after life as Senators, Governors, Judges, and the like, have been known to date their beginning of success from their forensic exercises in the Society Halls. The chief debaters studied their subjects well and argued them with intelligent zeal and often eloquence. Of course these questions were generally those discussed in Congress, in the journals, and on the hustings, but sometimes the time-honored historical disputes about the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots; whether the career of Cromwell was beneficial to England, whether the civilization of Greece or Rome was most beneficial to the world, whether the United States was bound by treaty to aid France in her Revolutionary wars, and the like, were fought over again.

Of course, among a number of members of verdant hue, there were ludicrous sayings. For example, a Freshman, who had undoubted talent, though untrained, denounced the argument of his opponent as a “tissue of unintel-ligible jar-goon.” When he saw that he had caused merriment, he explained, “I know there is some tautology in the expression, but it is true.” He rose to be a very successful jury lawyer. Another, now a most reputable physician, whose duty it was to prosecute Warren Hastings for his conduct in India, contended that it was “atrocious robbery in him to despoil the Princesses of Oude of their bee-hives (Begums). But such mistakes were rare.

It was praiseworthy that the President and other officers were voted for, not on account of personal popularity, but for the substantial reason of attention to Society duties and attaining high marks in the class room. The members, too, listened with interest to the written theses, or compositions which were read on each alternate Saturday, and one deemed of sufficient excellence was on motion, by a vote of the members, filed in the archives. I recall that those of Dr. Theodore Kingsbury were repeatedly so honored. The Presidents were required to deliver inaugural addresses, which were bound in books and preserved in the archives, as a matter of course.

The relations between the Societies were, as a rule, harmonious. Once there was danger when two leaders had a fight in front of the Chapel and the “Dis” supposed that two or three “Phis” were helping their member. It was soon found that they were parting the combatants and hostile feelings vanished. Once when the sarcoptes scabei had affected certain individuals of both societies, so that the authorities quarantined them at Craig's, a farm house a mile from the town, in sulphurous loneliness, the other students were merry over the incident. “Phis” posted handbills warning all to avoid the dormitories inhabited by “Dis.” I heard an eloquent speech from a “Di” on the enormity of thus displaying “black-guards,” as he called placards. The “Dis” retaliated by inventing a story that the “Phis” had a scratching post in their Society Hall; that a member was overheard to say, “Mr. President! may I scratch?” “No, sir!” was the reply, “not at present, Mr. Koontz has the post.”

There was much emulation at Commencement. The “Di” color, blue, was worn by the Marshals, Ball Managers and Speakers of that Society, while the Representatives of the other Society wore white. Emulation was shown in inducing distinguished visitors to become honorary members. Committees were appointed to wait on them. The Eastern and Western dividing line was not recognized until after about 1850, so that there was great zeal, sometimes leading to bad feelings, in procuring recruits from the new members. Old students sometimes rode miles into the country to meet the incoming Freshmen. This electioneering, although bad, was not an unmixed evil. It often led to protection from hazing.

As such books as they desired were not purchased for the University Library, the two Societies levied a tax for supplying their own needs. Dr. William Hooper, in his “Fifty Years Since,” states, of course with some exaggeration, that in his day, whenever one Society bought a new book, the other duplicated it. This was by no means the case in “the forties,” but there was duplication of most reference books. The two libraries together had probably the best collection in the State. They were not accessible to the public, except for a few hours per week, so that continuous research was impossible. Certain costly works were marked “prohibited,” especially those with engravings placed on tables for the inspection of all comers. All the others could be borrowed for two weeks. Covers of cloth of various sizes were provided, to be fitted on by the borrower, but eventually the practice was discontinued because of injury to the backs of volumes. Fielding, Scott, James, Bulwer, Cooper, Irving and Dickens were the favorite authors. Shakespeare was much read. The “Dis” had quite a collection of antiques and curios, the larger part given by Lieutenant Boudinot, of the Navy, retired, but it has come to nothing.

If the law against Fraternities was violated, the secret was well kept. Occasionally a few students would associate together in such manner as to incur suspicion.

Sometimes the Society seemed to have more power than the Faculty. A youth of well-known and honorable family stole ten dollars from his room mate, a poor boy—all he had. He was not prosecuted in the Courts, but of course was dismissed from the University. He met this with brazen effrontery, but when his Literary Society, after a fair trial, convicted and expelled him, his spirit was broken. The piteous appeal of his mother, his only parent, for his restoration, moved every heart, but it was impossible to grant it.

I witnessed prior to 1849 a trial on impeachment for slander in one of the Societies. The proceedings were as orderly, and as carefully secured to the accused the provisions guaranteed by our Declaration of Rights for a fair trial, as may be seen in our Superior Courts. The members of the Society voted viva voce and there was a large majority for acquittal. Very rarely a course analagous to Lynch law was adopted outside the Societies. When a student perpetrated an act that made him unworthy to associate longer with gentlemen, a number of his fellows would give him notice to leave the institution at once, which order was obeyed. For example one —— slandered a virtuous young lady and was glad to be allowed to depart by the next train. This was deemed better than a formal trial. If he had denied his guilt a trial in his Society would have been promptly held.

As the Chief Marshal was elected out of the Junior class by all the students there was generally active electioneering, sometimes lasting for two years or more. One of the most heated contests was between Thomas J. Person of Northhampton, afterward a Militia General of North Carolina, and Bryan Grimes of Pitt, afterward a Major General of the Confederacy. Grimes' chances were ruined by the charge that he was the candidate of the aristocracy, while Person courted the democracy. Occasionally, however, as in the case of William M. Howerton of Virginia, in 1846, and William H. Hall of Wilmington, in 1854, the popularity of the candidate ensured no opposition. As treating to ardent spirits was fashionable everywhere in the country, there was no lack of it here. It was a serious evil. Libations were offered to secure victory and then to celebrate it. Sometimes the quantity furnished was the cause of a general spree. One Marshal, on account of his wealth, natural generosity and determination to win, left the University two thousand dollars in debt. Such results of universal suffrage led to the election of a Junior by the Senior class by order of the Trustees.

The greatest man at Commencement, except the Governor of the State, the President of the University and the Orator before the two Societies was the Marshal. The selections were, as a rule, excellent. The Marshal was conspicuous for good manners, a handsome person and savoir faire. He selected six assistants, called “Subs,” three from each Society, and took pains to make his term successful by having them possessed of qualities similar to his own.

Part of their duties was to ride out on the Raleigh road to meet and escort the band into the village. Truly it was a gallant sight. All the students and Faculty, and all the village turned out to listen to the music, and to witness one of the noblest spectacles in all the world, graceful young men, skillfully managing spirited horses.

Another duty of the Marshals, now partially discontinued, from which they probably got their names, was forming and preceding a procession of the men at Commencement to the Chapel. Standing on the steps of the South building the Chief called out sixteen classes, beginning with the Orators of the Day, then the Governor and President of the University, then the Trustees, Faculty and students of the University and so on, ending with the citizens and strangers generally.

As these were called they were arranged two and two by the “Subs,” along what was then a mere road, now Cameron Avenue, with the head of the column, including high officials, distinguished visitors, and the speakers of the day, toward the West. The Marshal placed the band at the east end, conducted the column in reverse order by the most convenient route around the old Caldwell monument, then a conspicuous object. As the monument was passed, all raised their hats. Arriving at Gerrard Hall a halt was called and the Marshal, leaving the band to play near the door, marched through the column dividing the men right and left, with his gold-headed cane. Through the lane of students and undistinguished visitors he conducted the officials and speakers into the Hall, the rest of the procession falling in behind them, according to the rule of precedence. This imitation of martial pomp was kept up successfully until our people became sickened by the results of the great Civil War. A revival of the procession was attempted in recent years, but after two or three failures they were discontinued. Our people were sick of war and all imitation of war.

The Chief Ball Manager was likewise elected by all the students and appointed three assistants from each Society. Although they had for dancing only the large dining room of the Hotel, and the ball was closed long before daylight, and, notwithstanding cotillons and waltzes and occasional reels were in place of Germans and Lancers, there was as much enjoyment as now, if not more. Pre-engagements for sets, long in advance, were not common. Such a thing as a young lady willing to dance not having an opportunity was never heard of. It was the duty of the managers to supply beauless ladies with partners. Then, as now, however, there was panicky terror at the prospect of being chained to a “wall-flower.”

The Band was composed of colored men—very much colored—mostly black. The leader was famous, Frank Johnston. They did not play as artistically as the Richmond Band of our day, but they were more enduring and accommodating. Frank's orders to the dancers, “Promenade all.” “Chassez.” “Dos-a-dos.” “Ladies to the Center.” “Turn Corners,” etc., floated into the air a mile from the Ball room.

An elaborate supper was always provided, usually by the skill of Miss Nancy Hilliard. It was the rule that gentlemen could not go to the “first table,” unless accompanied by a lady. It was not a violation of etiquette, when a Freshman, fourteen years of age, and not tall for his age, walked up to a stout old maid, weighing over two hundred pounds, and obtained her hand to be escorted to the feast. It was certainly a proof of his resourcefulness and pluck, which has led him to the presidency of a great and progressive State institution of learning.

The Managers, as well as the Marshals, wore very elaborate regalia, usually a broad band of silk ribbon diagonally from shoulder to waist, the “Dis” having blue upon white and the “Phis” the reverse. Sometimes the regalias were streamers of broad ribbon, worn on the left arm. It was the custom then, as now, to donate the regalias to chosen ladies at the close of the Ball, and very proud were the recipients.

“Commencement Day” being on Thursday, the ball was given that evening. It did not continue all night as now, but only to about three o'clock. There were short dances likewise Tuesday and Wednesday nights after the exercises in the Chapel. The Chapel exercises were usually attended by the dancing ladies. There were no Fraternity or other banquets, so that the Ball began about 9 o'clock. There was no expressed opposition to it among the people of the State, doubtless because it came down from the beginning of the University. Tradition is that in old times President Caldwell, a Presbyterian minister, often attended them, and a still more daring tradition asserts that, arrayed in shorts, silk stockings and pumps, he actually danced. I am unable to verify this startling statement and do not credit it. I add that no ladies ever came to Chapel Hill for the sole purpose of dancing, but all made it their duty and pleasure to be present at the exercises and cheer the speakers. Always the behaviour was good, the obedience to the Marshals and Managers being without question.

There were, of course, notable triumphs among the votaries of Terpsichore. I recall one. Ladies wore low-quarter and heelless slippers. A very vivacious and handsome girl from Warrenton, while waltzing, had one of her slippers to come off. Without stopping she adroitly, on the next round, inserted her stockined foot into the vacant slipper without losing time in the waltz. The gracefulness with which this feat was accomplished was much admired.

It would be an endless task to mention all the ladies at our Commencements distinguished for beauty, grace or vivacity. According to my memory Miss Sallie R. Jones, of Hillsboro, was conspicuous for splendid beauty and queenly bearing. We had a German artist, named Weigandt, under the patronage of Rev. Dr. Wheat, who worshipped her at a distance with the devotion shown by Petrarch to Laura. He wrote a poem addressed to “Lady Sallie R. Jones,” whether above mediocrity or not, I have forgotten.

A student who was leaving the University “under the weather” because he would not attend to his duties, suddenly attained fame by daring conduct which averted almost certain disaster to many. He had taken passage in one of the large four-horse stages. There were nine passengers inside and a number outside going home from Commencement. One of the horses fell, pulling to the ground the driver, who carried the reins with him. The spirited horses made a wild dash down a rocky hill. Our student crept out on the tongue, gathered up the reins and stopped the horses. His praise was in every mouth. His shortcomings in the matters of differential co-efficients and Ionic dialects and Juvenal's satires were forgotten. He became a hero.

The disposition of the students to stand by one another, whether right or wrong, came near leading to a serious affray. The boys were coming up from the direction of Raleigh at the end of a vacation. The popular dinner-house, Moring's (often called Moreen's), was eight miles from Chapel Hill. A Raleigh student inclined to be wild became engaged in an altercation with a passenger on the stage, named Carson. Feeling aggrieved by the result of the quarrel, the student and his friends hurried to their destination and roused up their fellows to meet the stage and punish the adversary. Carson had true pluck. With a pistol in each hand he marched through the angry crowd calmly to his supper. By this time President Swain appeared on the scene and induced the students to retire to their rooms.

Another incident illustrates this thick and thin comradeship. The University gardener, a powerful Englishman, became angry with a student and struck him. He said that he expected a ring would be formed and they would fight out the dispute according to the rules of the ring. He was surprised, however, to find a number of athletic youths rushing all at once with fire in their eyes to avenge their fellow. Like Hector from Achilles he fled from the danger, the pursuing company increasing in size at every leap. Fortunately President Swain was near enough to quiet the trouble, the gardener tendering an apology which was amicably accepted.

I give some incidents and sayings, which were the cause of interest or merriment in the past, now become “old times.”

A practical joke which gave much amusement to bystanders was for an upper classman who combined humor and gravity to be introduced as a member of the Faculty to an applicant for admission into the University who wished to stand an entrance examination. The mystification was sometimes considerably prolonged, until the overawed mind of the greenhorn was brought to realize the truth by the absurdity of the questions.

At Commencements, as I have said, our streets and roads into the country were gay with handsome equipages. Those who have tried it say that there is no better courting time and place than in a light buggy drawn by a spirited team. But let the amatory youth take warning from the mishap of a friend of mine. He borrowed of his grandfather a barouche and pair and took his lady-love on a four mile ride, determined to bring love matters to a focus. After skirmishing around with preliminary sweet speeches, he turned his head to gaze into her face while he asked her to share his life. As he did so he discovered that the colored boy, whom he had employed to hold his horses at the house of his girl, had jumped up behind and was listening with grinning delight to all tender words. The shock was so great that the opportunity was lost—and as matters turned out, lost forever. My readers need not weep over this story. “Mrs. Grundy” said that the young lady would have refused him. Another “smart” young man driving over Franklin street saw a cow lying contentedly in the way. He thought he would show his skillfulness as a driver by running one wheel over her side. Much to his grief the animal suddenly rose, upset the vehicle, and turned him and his lady-love sprawling into the sand. Unfailingly courteous, too, were the beaux of fifty years ago. I give one specimen of this: A lady friend of mine was taking a ride with a student of the forties. The buggy wheel ran into a deep rut on his side of the road and threw the lady with some violence on him. She said, “I beg your pardon, sir!” He replied with evident sincerity, “Not at all disagreeable, madam!”

There was no gymnasium. As mentioned heretofore, long walks and buggy rides were the fashion. There was seldom a fair evening which did not witness divers couples of ladies and gentlemen wending their way to a forest path. The favorite routes were to Piney Prospect and through the grove near Professor Williams' residence to Tenny's, then Professor Green's, plantation. The plantation house, once the residence of Benjamin Yeargin, was at the bottom of the hill near the creek, so there was no unpleasant farm yard litter on the way. It was a beautiful walk with lovely prospects. A side path led to Lone Pine Spring. A shorter, but more romantic walk, was to roaring Fountain, the water trickling beautifully from a mossy bank into a limpid spring. The fountain is still lovely, but the music of falling drops which gave the name is gone. Some ventured as far as Glenburnie, Otey's Retreat and Laurel Hill. Battle Park was then a pathless wilderness. During warm weather the walking was confined to well-traveled roads. Cows roamed at large and in consequence swarms of seed ticks were perched on blades of grass or sprigs of weeds ready to seize the dresses of passers by. Whenever, in pursuit of flowers, chinquepins or blackberries, the girls and boys daringly braved these enemies of peace and comfort, they carried in their hands bunches of pennyroyal, with which to thrash off the successive swarms. Even then some of the blood-thirsty wretches eluded all precautions and unerringly found their way to their coveted feeding ground.

Athletics was not under University supervision in any degree. The games were, in summer, marbles, in cooler weather, bandy, often called shinny. The latter was peculiarly exciting. It was played at one time on the old, on another on the present Athletic field. Nearly all of the students were engaged. The ball was of hard wood, turned round, and when struck by curved sticks wielded by powerful arms, spun through the air with fearful velocity. In the excitement the sticks were often brandished in disregard of the proximity of the noses and bodies of other players. On the whole it was quite as dangerous as football. There were no deaths, but many severe accidents. The ball once struck a student on one cheek bone and broke the bone on the other side. For many days he was forced to subsist on huge bowls full of soup. His mother said, “You ought to thank your stars that the ball did not strike you on the temple. You would have been killed.” The pain did not allow him a thankful heart. His peevish reply was, “I think I ought to curse my stars for its hitting me at all.” It seems to me that with the proper regulations to ensure safety this is one of the best college games. Everybody can play and can play much or little at pleasure. It exercises the legs, arms and, in fact, all the body. It requires strength and agility. It cultivates dexterity and quickness of thought, hardihood and pluck, self-possession and readiness of wit. In one form or another it has been in use probably in all nations. We played it as it was in the Highlands of Scotland.

I add that intercollegiate games and debates were not known. They, of necessity, awaited the introduction of railroads. I do not recall that there were any match games between the classes. The champions chose their assistants alternately, the privilege of naming first being settled by a rough kind of lottery. One tossed to the other a bandy stick. After being caught each lay hold of it alternately, the hand of one touching that of the other, until the end was reached. The champion who held by the extreme end, if his hold was strong enough to enable him to throw the stick over his head, had first choice of players on the ground. The other had second, and so alternately until all willing to play were in the game.

The Faculty made no objection to the teaching of the arts of dancing, boxing, fencing, single stick and the like by experts in those accomplishments. There was, however, no regular instructor in dancing until about 1850, when a Mr. Frensley made annual visits to the Hill. The students, before his arrival, practiced hilarious stag-dances in the halls (or passages) of the South building. About the beginning of the Mexican War a Captain, O. A. Buck, a tall, powerful, graceful man, had large classes in fencing, boxing and single stick. I recall that General J. J. Pettigrew, of the Gettysburg charge, was among the most skillful, if not the best. Captain Buck joined the army in Mexico, and died of pulmonary consumption, much regretted by his pupils and others who knew him.

Hunting partridges, or quail, was more pleasant and profitable than now. Only one plantation, about two and a half miles from town, was “posted,” i. e., prohibiting hunting. As no cotton, but only grain, was raised, the birds were more abundant. Two good huntsmen starting about sunrise, just after Morning Prayers, seldom brought in less than forty or fifty. A glorious supper followed, or they were given to the landlady for the next morning's breakfast. A silent, serious looking student, named Lawrence Smith, was fond of hunting alone. One day he found himself two miles from home, the dog pointing a covey in a broom-straw field. To his horror he had left his percussion caps on his chamber table. An oath rose to his lips, but he was a faithful member of the church and he suppressed it. Dropping his gun he shouted the despairing cry, “I've a good mind to cuss!”

The fishing was very inferior. Probably the lands through which the creeks run are too poor to supply food.

Opossum hunting was, in those days, a sport of entrancing interest. The picturesque appearance of trees, and rocks, ravines and streams in the flashing torch-light, the musical bark of the dogs eager on the trail, their frantic leaps toward the limbs, after the quarry sought refuge in a tree; the rapid flying of chips as the huntsman wielded his axe; the tottering of the tree, and the excited croy of “Look out!,” then the crash and triumphant capture of the animal with the fat of a thousand persimmons over his ribs. More prosaic, but still interesting, was the supper on the next night, the hot grease exuding from the crisp skin and covering the plump roasted potatoes and well-baked hoe cake.

The hunting of raccoons was still more exciting, but required a journey of many miles, with doubtful chance of success. The “coons” had mostly migrated to the rivers.

Of what was called “modern conveniences” there were none. There were practically no bath-rooms and no baths, except at two places half a mile off, where the waters of springs were conducted through gutters and fell sub divo in a delicious stream. Most of the students used bath tubs in their rooms. When the weather was warm a few resorted for swimming to Kings, afterwards Valley Pond, to Merritt's afterwards Purefoy's, to “Scott's Hole,” so called from a man drowned in it, to Barbee's afterwards Cave's, or to Suter's Pond. These, except the last, still exist, though, probably owing to the clearing of the land above them, they are more shallow and muddy. They range from one and a half to two and a half miles from the dormitories.

The vacations were six weeks in summer, from the first Thursday in June, and the same period in winter, beginning about the first of December. There was no “University Day.” The only certain holidays was the 22nd of February, and also a “skating holiday” if there happened to be a sufficiently cold spell. There was a good pond in front of Professor Williams' residence, often covered with skaters, some “cutting didos,” as fancy skating was called, others racing, others pulling chairs and sleds on which were seated ladies, all the prettier because the cool morning air brought roses to their cheeks. I recall no female skaters of that day. The Valley Mill pond, then called King's, and Suter's, on the same creek higher up, were also used.

Many students remained at Chapel Hill during the winter vacations, fewer in the summer. Those who went home in the winter had dreary times getting back over, and under, the miry roads. Eastern students came through Raleigh and Oxford, Westerners through Hillsboro, those from the Southwest by Fayetteville. The mail was carried in huge conveyances, called stages, drawn by four horses, and reached Chapel Hill three times a week from the East, about nine o'clock at night; three times from the West, about midday. The drivers were superior men and very popular. When a mile or two from the Post Office they were accustomed to blow long tin trumpets, usually called horns. It is impossible at this day to realize how exquisitely beautiful this music was in a clear cold night, the rattling of wheels over the stones being a fit accompaniment. Nor can those who are accustomed to daily mails imagine the thrilling excitement which stirred the breasts of their grandfathers at the opening of the tri-weekly mails from the East. The students and most of the male villagers collected at the Post Office and great was the crowding and the struggling when the one-eyed postmaster, Esquire McDade, after long delay, opened the door. A single letter or newspaper was a prize. The majority received nothing. If the letter contained money the owner hurried off with his intimate friends to a treat. I remember well Boggan Myers coming out on the top steps, waiving a thick letter and shouting, “Come on, boys. Bowels, boys! bowels! My treat! my treat!”

Most of the travel and trade of this section went to Raleigh and during the winter the roads, cut up by the heavily loaded four-horse stages and wagons, became almost impassable. The notice posted at a Virginia cross-road was not a great exaggeration, if applied as well to some of the pipe-clay stretches between Chapel Hill and Raleigh.

When the maximum softness and stickiness was reached, in order to get the mail through, the stage would be taken apart, a light box fastened on the front wheels, two seats in front, one for the driver and the other for a passenger. Four strong horses were attached. These would pull through at the rate of two and a half or three miles an hour. I have seen Governor Morehead coming from Greensboro by the side of the driver in such weather. A hack driver, bringing four passengers from Raleigh, charged six dollars each, and probably lost money at that. A student told with Munchausen gravity that in the widow Atkins' lane, about seven miles from Chapel Hill, the mud was so soft that a blanket spread on it sunk at once out of sight, and so tenacious that a knitting needle could not be pulled out except by an ox team. Seven vehicles are said to have been stuck in that lane at the same time. The difficulty of travel very seriously interfered with the opening of the winter term. As similarly it prevented the students from visiting other places, it made Chapel Hill all the more a microcosm.

I met a German pedestrian, who had walked in from the West and was splashed with mud, on his way to Raleigh. I said, “You find the roads muddy.” “Ya,” said he, “foots is more petter as a poggy on this road,” i. e., “feet are better than a buggy.”

As there was no dancing at Chapel Hill, except at Commencement, the social meetings, then called “parties,” or more elaborately “conversation parties,” now known as “receptions,” were frequent. It seemed that all the guests felt bound to keep up an unceasing flow of talk and laughter, and the clatter was such that, while the talking was always at flood-tide, the listening was at an ebb. In truth it required a practiced ear to distinguish the sounds at all. When a gentleman blew on the flute or sawed on the violin, or a lady, by pressing invitation, coyly or dashingly played on the piano, only those who made the request felt bound to be silent. The rest of the company rattled on with the cruel heedlessness of an alarm clock. But when the performer finished he or she was complimented profusely. Etiquette, however, required that when a male or female singer began all gave attention.

If a gentleman called on a lady who had a guitar or piano in sight, it was incumbent on him to ask for music, whether he liked it or not. It was keen enjoyment to his companions to watch a fellow visitor, who could not distinguish one note from another, standing by a piano, turning over leaves of the music book and pretending painfully to listen to a ballad of eight verses, eight lines to a verse, or to a “march” in which the imitations of rolling drums and ear-piercing fifes, and the tramp of armies in motion were prolonged to distressing weariness.

The College Carpenter was Kendall Waitt, a Northern man with the usual Yankee ingenuity and industry. He filled the place for he was “a Jack of all trades.” He was skillful in all kinds of carpenter's work, from building a house to making a coffin. He was an accomplished locksmith and cabinet maker, and if necessary could do good work in a blacksmith shop. He was sometimes paid a salary, about $500, but usually his remuneration was according to work done. In the latter case his bill seemed portentous, but considering the recklessness of breaking and smashing and the inevitable wear and tear of College buildings and Faculty houses, it was probably not exaggerated.

A white man worthy to be mentioned, although not officially connected with the University, was Washington or Wash Davis, the best athlete and best bootmaker in this part of the world. In the cant phrase of the present day his boots were “creations,” were “dreams.” Graduates, when courting the favor of the fair, frequently sent back to him for their footgear. For boots suitable for Commencement the charge was eight dollars. They were made very tight, but the wearers were willing to submit to pedal torture in order to have a graceful and shining fit. Students having smaller feet were in demand in order to “break,” as it was termed, or stretch, the constricting leather and ameliorate the tormenting twinges. According to my recollection no machine made shoes of modern days, of similar price, equal in elegance and durability Wash. Davis' make, while those then made by machinery were scorned by men aspiring to be well dressed. Patent leather was unknown.

The principal merchants of the village about 1845 were John W. Carr, of Orange County, and Jesse Hargrave, of Davidson County. The latter married a daughter of Wm. Barbee. Both were quiet, prosperous and useful citizens, the former being the father of one of the chief benefactors of the University, Julian S. Carr.

Transportation of packages by mail and express was not then developed to much extent, and country merchants did not suffer seriously from their competition. The following will show the range of prices about 1845: French calico, 35 cents a yard; white factory cloth, 25 cents; spool sewing thread, 10 cents; beef, mutton, fresh pork, 4 and 5 cents a pound; butter, 12 1-2 cents; eggs, 8 to 10 cents a dozen; turkeys, 40 to 50 cents each; flour, $5.00 a barrel; corn meal, 40 to 50 cents per bushel.

The average housekeeping expenses, exclusive of clothing, for a young professor, wife and two children, were about $750 per annum. The groceries were usually bought by barrel or sack and hauled by wagon from Fayetteville, at an earlier date from Petersburg. It must be remembered that the influences of the Panic of 1837 had not passed away entirely when these prices were recorded. Manufactured goods speedily fell in price by improvements in transportation and machinery. Of course the coming of the railroad made great changes. Up to that time the arrival of the McCauley wagon, with its coffee, sugar, molasses, and in the earlier days wine, was eagerly expected. This wagon line belonged to the father of our townsman, David McCauley.

The physicians of the place were notable men. The leaders were Johnston Blakely Jones and George Moore. Both were of distinguished lineage, the former being a son of Solicitor General Edward Jones, claiming to be a descendant of Jeremy Taylor; the latter of the blood of Governor James Moore, of South Carolina, and of Governor Sir John Yeamans. Jones was a man of genius and an acknowledged authority in his profession. He was, however, except when aroused by a dangerous case, fond of his ease and without ambition. I have known him to come to my father's home by a circuitous route, in order to avoid a call for his services and spend hours in talking and reading Don Quixote. He had a theory which I mention to incite investigation by makers of perfumery—that successive odors could be made to play on the nerves of smell, and produce sensations analagous to musical sounds impinging on the nerves of hearing. Just prior to the Civil War he invested his own and wife's property in slaves and a cotton plantation in Lenoir County, and lost all. After the Civil War he removed to Charlotte and was a leader in his profession.

Doctor Moore was a silent, reserved man, the soul of truthfulness and honor; a good physician, but without the genius of his partner. He gave the impression that he did not know what fear was. He had great respect for religion, often attended church, but did not become a member. On his deathbed he called his nurse, Miss Sally Williams, who was a simple-minded, devout Christian, and said, “Miss Sally, do you think that a man will go to hell for not believing all that is in the Bible?” She faltered out, “I suppose I must.” “Well,” he replied, “I don't, I can't. I have never to my knowledge lied or cheated. I have been charitable to the extent of my means. I never was a coward. I have paid my debts as far as I possibly could. Now if they send me to hell, I will go a grumbling.” And so he died.

This Miss Sally Williams, long a housekeeper in Professor Green's large family and the forerunner in a humble way of the modern professional nurse, deserves further notice.

She performed her duty thoroughly, her wages being $5 a month. Unobtrusive as she was, she had the endurance of a martyr. When she died it was found that for years she had been suffering from a painful, eating cancer on her bosom. She had concealed it from all the world. I add that though she had no conception of a witticism, she once unintentionally, in a church meeting, by reason of the depth of her earnestness and fervor of her piety, made an inquiry which convulsed the company. There was a meeting of the Episcopal congregation to ascertain whether money could be raised sufficient to pay a preacher. After much canvassing it was pronounced impossible. Losing her bashfulness in her excitement, she burst out, “Can't we raise enough to hire a little deac?” The suggestion was adopted. The little deac. was hired. She had a sister of similar virtues, who went from house to house as a seamstress—very slow, but very sure. She took it good naturedly when a boy, whom she liked, said, “Miss Matilda, did you ever see a snail?” “Yes, why do you ask?” “Well, you must have met him, you did not overtake him.”

Doctors Jones and Moore had the practice of the well-to-do families. There was another physician, Charles Yancey, who was generally called “Bullet Yancey, because of having only one shining black eye. He had the reputation of possessing a fine natural talent for the healing science, but was of incorrigibly intemperate habits. He could be heard singing about “Commodore McDonough and General Jackson,” and “some love coffee and some love tea, but corn-cob whiskey is good enough for me,” in a most maudlin voice, while he was barely able to keep his horse as he rode at midnight, or later, through the streets. His second marriage gave much merriment to the village. The bride's father had no eyes, the groom had only one, the officiating Justice had the same defect, and the best man was a deaf mute, the groom's brother. The result was a fair measure of connubial bliss, cut short by the speedy death of the husband.

The deaf mute, Lemuel Yancey, brother of the doctor, was an important part of the community. He was totally uneducated, except by experience. He invented for himself vivid natural signs, sometime ludicrous, but always expressive. To represent President Swain, with his knock-kneed legs, he, with his hands, indicated this divergence, at the same time assuming an air of dignity. For the President's wife and daughters he added to the foregoing a motion indicating the swelling front of the upper part of a lady's dress. He designated Judge Battle by crossing his fingers like the bars of a jail window, then looking through them and imitating the turning of a key. He made it his business to gather the news and then walk about from man to man, retailing it, always pressing his hand on his mouth and shaking his head; thereby signifying secrecy. He was a Whig and was never known to vote a Democratic ticket. He selected as his advisers one of our best men, Mr. McCauley, and adhered rigidly to his advice. He was very intelligent and thoroughly reliable, but never was known to work. He had a small property whose income was supplemented by his brother and the generosity of neighbors. He was no beggar. He accepted, but never asked for gifts.

About 1845 the village of Chapel Hill seemed to make a beginning of prosperity. Sales were made—on Rosemary street, four acres to Gabriel Utley and others; on Columbia street, to William Hogan two acres; two acres to Miss Sally Mallett on College street, now called Cameron avenue. Sales had already been made to Dr. Johnston B. Jones of four acres on Franklin street, and to Judge Battle of two acres adjoining his residence. An application by Judge Battle to purchase the grove in front of his dwelling, East of the Raleigh road, was declined, as was also a proposal by Mrs. Anne C. Hall to buy a lot South of his dwelling. President Swain stated that it was the policy of the University to have no further settlements East and South of the Campus. Testimony proving this refusal induced the Circuit Court of the United States, Judge H. L. Bond presiding, to allow to the University as its site, as contradistinguished from endowment for support, the land from the Pittsboro road to the Durham road, including the Campus and buildings thereon, and also the Professors' residence, in all about 600 acres.

From time to time were sold other parcels of land belonging to the University at about $100 an acre as a rule. In 1846 the beautiful oak grove at the northwest corner of Franklin and Columbia streets, where the people were used to meet to listen to the speeches of candidates, was conveyed to John W. Carr for $300. In the same year the lot where was the Village Chapel, was bought for $200 by Prof. James Phillips, as trustee, for the site of the Presbyterian Church, with the stipulation that no burials should be had therein. The Chapel was removed a few hundred yards northward and, much enlarged, was, until lately, used for the public school. The lot between that of the Presbyterian Church and Henderson street was afterwards sold to Mickle and Ashe for $150.

Chapel Hill at the beginning of this period was diminutive and struggling, surrounded by extensive forests in all directions, except where broken here and there by cultivated or worn-out fields. Up to 1848 there was no church edifice used solely for divine services. Person Hall up to 1838 and then Gerrard Hall, the Old Chapel and the New Chapel, were used for all assemblies, sacred and profane, at one hour decorous divine worship, at another a boisterous mass-meeting of students, at another academic exercise of speaking, at others the various functions of Commencement. There was, however, the “Union” or “Village Chapel,” used at Sunday nights for the worship of God, in week days as a school-house. There was one Hotel, the Eagle, presided over by the eagle-eyed old maid, Miss Nancy Hilliard, who had all the traveling custom and most of that of the University. Her table was bountiful and the food well cooked, and the wonder was how receipts could balance expenses. She was accustomed to say that she lost on the students, but the travelers and the rich harvests at Commencements more than supplied the deficiency. How much her uncollected dues from students unable or unwilling to pay, amount to, will never be known, but they were very large. When the University was most prosperous, having no help but that of a good-natured but improvident brother-in-law, Benton Utley, she sold her hotel interest to Col. Hugh B. Guthrie and took charge of the North Carolina Railroad eating-house at Company Shops, now Burlington. The feebleness of old age and the losses of the war impoverished her. In her last sickness she was tenderly nursed by Mr. Utley, and was buried in the Chapel Hill Cemetery. At the instance of Mrs. C. P. Spencer, alumni, who retained an affectionate remembrance of their old landlady, erected over her grave a marble slab with this inscription:

Nor was there lacking the discovery of a Mineral Spring. It was below a mill, which then stood near the crossing of Bowling's Creek by the road to Durham. It was pronounced to be chalybeate and was soon reported to be effecting cures of half-sick bodies. A large hotel was talked of, and visions of fashionable visitors indulged in. But, alas! furious waters, after a great rain, broke the dam. The spring disappeared. It was merely the seepage of the water of the dam through the mud and trash accumulated at the bottom. Dr. Mitchell once said, “They take water which has percolated through decayed leaves and the carcases of dead cats or pigs and rusty horsehoes and the like, and because it stinks they send it to me to analyze as mineral water.” In quoting from the Doctor I must not be understood as reflecting on the Strowd spring, discovered in more modern times, and undoubtedly containing iron.

The cool drinking water used by the students was drawn from the famous “College well” by rope and windlass. Despite of the modern theory of bacteria and other germs, a case of sickness from this source was never heard of. The song of the Old Oaken Bucket was a reality in Chapel Hill.

The failure of the scheme of living at Commons was caused in a general way by the increase in the size of the village and the advent of boarding-house keepers, who supplied good food at moderate prices. Some parents made Chapel Hill their home in order to educate their boys, others to repair fortunes lost in the Panic of 1837 and the stringency following. But the chief cause was the unparalleled efficiency and popularity of Miss Nancy Hilliard. “Miss Nancy,” as she was called, redeemed a homely face by the correctness of her principles, her energy, pluck and good sense. To a student, sick or in trouble, she was as tender as a mother. To one who was wayward she was a candid and kind counsellor.

Another good lady of the old school who for fifty years cared for the stomachs of successive waves of students and unmarried professors, but was now nearing the close of an active and useful life, was Mrs. Elizabeth Nunn, widow of Captain William Nunn, of the Revolutionary army. In matters of business she had the strength and boldness of a man, but her disposition was kindly, generous and sympathetic. She was much beloved and respected by the students, and many hearts were moved when she died December 20, 1851, in the 92nd year of her age. She was one of the last survivors of the old troublous times, having in her girlhood lived among the Regulators and shared in the privations and anxieties of the War of the Revolution. When asked which side she favored in the Regulator troubles, her answer was, “I was as good a Regulator as ever hopped.”

The Campus prior to 1851 was a forest just as nature left it, with the underbrush cleared off. The trees were not thinned out, nor was it until then that the well-paved walks were constructed. The Campus practically extended only to the open space adjoining the Raleigh road, there being between them a rail fence and thick hedgerow, obstructing the outlook towards the east. The enclosure was used as a pasture for the President's cattle. On it afterwards browsed his white mule, Cuddie, who so often paid nocturnal visits to the attic of the South Building—frequently painted with stripes like a zebra. “It is the courage that marks the assassin!,” vehemently harrangued the President. “It is the courage that marks old Cuddie,” whispered William Knight, of Edgecombe, afterwards a gallant Confederate Colonel.

In the middle of Cameron Avenue, in front of the Carr Building, facing the west, was the wooden residence, white-painted, with green blinds, known as Steward's Hall, where for many years the students obtained their nutriment for the inner man. 1844 was the last year of its existence under University authority. The next year the building was rented as a private residence, and soon afterwards was sold and now forms a part of the late village school-house.

At the Commecement of 1850 the Baccalaureate sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Wm. Hooper, of the class of 1809. His subject was “The Force of Habit.” The sermon was printed, and its excellence caused it to be rated high among the classics of the State.

The Declaimers from the Freshman Class were Nathaniel C. Jones, John W. Johnston, Walker Meares, James M. Spencer, Junius B. Wheeler, George M. White, John T. Taylor, M. William Wise, David G. Worth. They appeared before the public Monday night. On Tuesday night appeared Wm. D. Barnes, Hutchins G. Burton, Wm. M. Carrington, John M. Dennis, Wm. E. Drisdale, Thomas H. Gilliam, Thomas C. Leak, Joseph A. Manning, James B. Slade, Basil M. Thompson. The audience seemed to favor Manning and Taylor as the best.

The Annual Address was by Wm. Waightstill Avery, of the Class of 1837, on State Pride, the duty of which, as well as our reasons for possessing it, he strongly enforced.

At the meeting of the Alumni Association the following were reported as having died the preceding year, namely: James K. Polk, 1818; Philip E. Bradley, 1839; Hillory M. Wilder, 1846, and James W. Duke, 1847. On motion of President Swain, a committee was appointed to prepare a suitable memoir of President Polk, to be filed in the Archives. The Annual Address was by Dr. Thomas H. Wright (1818), a copy of which was asked for likewise to be filed in the Archives. The Literary Address was by Hon. James C. Dobbin, of the Class of 1832, in a few years to be Secretary of the Navy under President Pierce. It was an eloquent portrayal of the sources of the enjoyment and influence of the cultivated mind.

The Senior speeches were as follows:

Salutatory (in Latin), Richard Hines.

There was a dangerous riot on the night of August 13th, 1850. A number of students, eight or ten, while drinking and shouting boisterously, became incensed with two of the professors for interfering, and stoned them so violently that they were forced to take refuge in the room of a student. A tall, strong rioter from the Southwest climbed up to the window, and was endeavoring to assault them with a huge stone when he was struck with a chair by one of the attacked party. There ensued a fierce cry to burst open the door and kill the assailant. J. J. Slade, a firm and orderly young man, afterwards Principal of a prominent Female School in Columbus, Georgia, assisted by others, parleyed with the rioters, and a treaty was made by which the members of the Faculty retired from the campus in safety. After one o'clock all the Faculty inspected the rooms in college. The tall rioter with the murderous stone was next day expelled, another was dismissed, and one suspended, eight found out of their rooms, but denying participation, were admonished. The case was laid before a special meeting of the Board of Trustees at Hillsboro, who ordered the evidence to be presented to the Solicitor of the Judicial District with a view of prosecuting the offenders. When at the next Commencement the Board concurred in the sentence of expulsion of the two leaders; it was entered of record that it had been proved in the Superior Court of Orange that they had destroyed wilfully much University property, and had assaulted with intent to kill, two of the Faculty. They were not however criminally punished, having left the State.

The Methodists of Chapel Hill first met for worship in the residence (not now standing) of Miles Davis, on the north side of Rosemary Street in the rear of the Presbyterian Church. Afterwards in the forties the upper story of Jesse Hargrave's store (now McCauley's) was used. In that room young Chas. F. Deems, afterwards D.D., LL.D., a Professor in the University, preached excellent sermons, at the invitation of the people, but not perhaps by appointment of the Bishop. Dr. Deems named the hall, which had once been a Mason's Lodge, Bethesda—the House of Mercy.

After Dr. Deems left the University in 1848, ministers were regularly appointed to this charge. In January, 1851, Rev. J. Milton Frost, afterwards D.D., of Mocksville, was stationed in Chapel Hill, not only taking charge of the congregation, but pursuing a course in the University leading to the degree of A.B., in 1852. Being an able man and of active temperament, he determined to build a church, and set himself to raise the funds necessary. He visited Greensboro, Salisbury, Lexington, Hillsboro, Pittsboro, Raleigh, Louisburg, Warrenton, Shady Grove in Warren County, Henderson, and South Lowell, and succeeded in raising the handsome sum of $5,000, which was sufficient to pay for the lot and build the church. It was dedicated July 31st, 1853, by Rev. Rufus T. Heflin. The contractor was Horn, of Pittsboro.

Dr. Frost was succeeded by Rev. J. L. Fisher, after whom, in 1853, came Rev. L. S. Burkhead, who married a beautiful daughter of Miles Davis. Subsequent preachers were Rev. P. Doub in 1854, Rev. H. T. Hudson in 1855-6, Rev. A. W. Mangum, 1857-8, afterwards D.D., and Professor in the University, Rev. J. A. Cunninggim 1859-60, Rev. J. W. Jenkins 1861-2, Rev. R. A. Willis 1863, Rev. W. C. Wilson 1864, Rev. R. S. Webb 1865, Rev. O. J. Brent 1866-67-68.

This church building is on the corner of Rosemary and Henderson streets. The lot was bought of the University. When the new church was erected on Franklin street the old lot was sold to the Congregationalists, who subsequently parted with it, and is now used for secular purposes.

I cannot find any ordinance of the Board or resolution of the Faculty admitting Fraternities, but in 1851 they began to enter the University.

It has been mentioned that by the charter escheats, i. e., real property whose owner died without an heir capable of inheriting, were given to the University. Lawyers were appointed in different sections of the State to look out for these windfalls. This plan was successful for many years, but in course of time, when escheats became fewer, these lawyers, being as a rule men of large business, became less attentive.

In 1798 the General Assembly enacted that if executors or administrators should have funds in their hands belonging to the estate, and the legatee or distributee entitled could not be found for seven years, the same should be paid to the University to be held without interest until the end of ten years, and if the claimant did not appear, it should be irreclaimable. In 1868 five years were substituted for seven.

About this time the University began to increase in numbers, and additional instructors were needed. In 1850 Kemp P. Battle was added as a Tutor of Mathematics, and the next year William H. Johnston, of Tarboro, as Tutor of Ancient Languages. In 1852 Richard Hines was made Tutor in the same department.

At the Commencement of 1851 the new Professor of Rhetoric and Logic, Rev. Dr. Wheat, preached the sermon to the Graduating Class. It was highly praised. Rev. Dr. Hubbard before the Historical Society read a valuable paper on the Historians of North Carolina, and in lieu of the address before the Alumni, President Swain spoke on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution.

The Freshman competitors were H. Sylvester Gibbs, Leonidas J. Merritt, W. LaFayette Scott, James C. Moore, Samuel S. Jackson, Jr., Thomas N. Crumpler, Richard B. Henderson, John B. Andrews, and Malachi Haughton.

Those of the Sophomore Class were John T. Taylor, Spencer A. O'Daniel, David G. Worth, J. Irving Scales, John W. Johnston, James H. Whitaker, J. Glenn Jeffreys, Baldy A. Capehart, James M. Spencer, Peter A. McEachin.

Of the Freshmen, Gibbs, Crumpler, Henderson, and Haughton did not remain for graduation. All these became useful citizens. Crumpler was a lawyer, member of the Legislature, an eloquent speaker, killed in battle, having become a Major.

The first honor in the Senior Class was awarded to Bartholomew Fuller, Benjamin S. Hedrick, James A. Patton, and Claudius B. Saunders. The second to Thomas A. E. Evans, Thomas M. Garrett, Jesse H. Lindsay, Jr., Malcolm J. McDuffie, Wm. M. Richardson, and Fred A. Toomer, and the third to David M. Carter, B. W. Leigh Claiborne, Julius Guion, Neill McKay, Jr., and Lowndes Treadwell.

The orations were as follows:

The Latin Salutatory, Claudius B. Sanders.

“The Early History of North Carolina,” Bartholomew Fuller.

“Party Spirit,” Thomas A. E. Evans.

“Infirmities of Men of Genius,” Benj. S. Guion.

“The Graduates' Aspirations,” Wm. M. Richardson.

“Virtue Alone Makes Men Free,” Thomas M. Garrett.

“Religious Tests of Office Unjust and Impolitic in a Republic,” David M. Carter.

“Excelsior,” Wm. Lowndes Treadwell.

“Socialism,” Jesse H. Lindsay, Jr.

“Public Opinion,” B. W. Leigh Claiborne.

“The Noblest Motive is the Public Good,” Charles C. Terry.

“The Late Crisis in Our National Affairs,” Fred A. Toomer.

“Flora MacDonald,” Malcolm J. McDuffie.

The Valedictory, James A. Patton.

Following the honor men in after life we find Sanders a lawyer, State Senator, and member of the Convention of 1861; Fuller a good lawyer, the candidate of the Democratic party for Judge of the Superior Court; Hendrick, Professor in the University and expert chemist in the Patent office; Patton a lawyer, Lieutenant C. S. A.

Of the others Carter was a very prominent lawyer, a leader in the Legislature, Colonel C. S. A., and Judge of the Military Court, of great natural ability. Of those not in the honor rank Samuel A. Holmes was a Judge of the Superior Court in California; Francis E. Shober, a Representative in Congress, Chief Clerk of the United States Senate, and State Senator. Peter E. Smith was an ingenious Civil Engineer, and Super-intendent of the building of the Ram Albemarle.

Of the contemporaneous matriculates not graduating, Theodore B. Kingsbury is an eminent journalist, of conspicuous power as a writer and a critic. George Burgwin Anderson, a graduate of West Point, Lieutenant in the U. S. Army, Brigadier-General C. S. A., mortally wounded at Sharpsburg.

In this year Cameron Avenue was extended through the University Forest westward, the new street called by the Village Commissioners College Avenue. The lots on the same were offered for sale. Professor Hubbard in 1851 induced the Trustees to set apart the lot at the corner of this avenue and Pittsboro street for his occupancy, and to build a dwelling house thereon, to be repaid by annual installments of $300 besides the interest. The house cost $2,541, being $541 more than the estimate. Very little of this was ever repaid, and the Trustees about 1869, when Dr. Pool was President, sold the premises for $1,200, village property being greatly depressed.

Another event of 1851 was the delivery of a Thanksgiving Sermon by Dr. Hubbard at the request of the Faculty and the students. He was a polished, able and interesting preacher. A forward step was resolved upon by the Trustees that the Library should be increased. The sum of $1,000 yearly was placed at the disposal of the President, but none of it was ever spent.

The list of the matriculates of 1851 who lost their lives in the great war is as follows: Wm. L. Alexander, Captain; William Bailey, Captain; Henry L. Battle, Private; Richard Bradford, Captain; Wm. H. Bunn, Captain; John S. Chambers, Lieutenant; Thomas Newton Crumpler, Major; James H. Fitts, Private; Richard H. Glaze, Private; John M. Mickle, Captain; James C. Moore, Lieutenant-Colonel; Theophilus Perry, Major; Peter P. Scales, Captain; Maurice T. Smith, Lieutenant-Colonel; Thomas McG. Smith, Major; Peter E. Spruill, Private; Owen A. Waddell, Major; James A. Wright, Captain.

There was a notable breach of order during the night of February 20th, 1851. The walls of the belfry, and a week after, the doors of the recitation rooms were decorated with caricatures of the Faculty, mostly amusing. Gunpowder was exploded at the door of the laboratory, breaking the door and many glass articles within the room. An organized party, blowing horns and ringing bells, singing and shouting, “created an uproar about the professors' houses and assaulted one of them with stones.” The Faculty in a body visited all the rooms; twenty-one of the absentees were summoned for inquiry, and their answers recorded and read to them. Ten were found guilty and dismissed. The President addressed them “in a most solemn manner about their past conduct and the precaution to be observed in their present situation.” “The Professors and Tutors immediately afterwards repaired to the house of Professor Phillips and wrote the necessary letters to the parents of those who were dismissed.”

The total suspensions for the year were seven, of dismissions thirteen, of expulsions one. All except the latter were afterwards readmitted.

The total number of delinquencies for which summoning before the Faculty was deemed necessary was 282 for 230 students. Of course some students were called up many times. A large majority were perfectly orderly. The records seem to show that if ten or a dozen had been rigidly excluded, disorder would have ceased, but on the other hand many rule-breakers became valuable citizens, proud of their Alma Mater and her strong supporters.

The honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on Rev. Wm. Norwood, Episcopal minister of Richmond, of the Class of 1826; on Rev. James Phillips, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, then absent as visitors to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, and of Master of Arts on Rev. Braxton Craven, President of Trinity College, N. C.

At the Commencement of 1852 Hon. Thomas Samuel Ashe, of the Class of 1832, was the orator. He was a distinguished lawyer, and held the office of Solicitor of his Judicial Circuit. He was afterwards member of the Confederate House and Senate, a Representative in the United States Congress, and Justice of the Supreme Court of the State. As was expected, his oration on the Relations of Knowledge abounded in wise suggestions, which had all the more weight on account of the loftiness of his character. There was no Alumni orator provided. Those who died during the year were ex-Governor Richard Dobbs Spaight, 1815; Rev. Junius B. King, 1833; Henry I. Toole, Esq., 1828; Rev. Daniel B. Currie, 1840; Joseph W. Small, 1850.

There was reported $840.29 collected for the Caldwell monument fund. Circulars were ordered to be sent to absent alumni requesting additional subscriptions.

The President, John M. Morehead, was flanked on the rostrum, while presiding, by President Swain and ex-Governor John Branch, the latter being in attendance on the semi-centenial anniversary of his graduation, and the former having matriculated in 1821.

The first distinction in the Senior Class was awarded to Thomas H. Gilliam, John Bernard Gretter, Leonidas F. Siler, and Jeremiah J. Slade. The second honor went to George A. Brett, John L. Dismukes, Alexander R. Smith, and James W. Wilson; the third to Edward Alston, Jr., Robert L. Beall, Richard H. Lewis, James A. McNeill, and Nathan Newby.

It was reported that Rev. S. Milton Frost was first in all but Mathematics, and James F. Bell was first in the Senior year. The only perfectly regular man for four years was J. J. Slade.

Of those of the first honor Gilliam was a promising lawyer, but died early; Gretter had great natural ability, but lacked ambition. He was a railroad Passenger Agent. Siler had uncommon weight of character, was a lawyer and then a Methodist minister; Slade was a Captain C. S. A., and is head of a Female School.

Of the others Wilson was an eminent Civil Engineer, President of the Western North Carolina Railroad Company, and then of the North Carolina Railroad Commission; Dismukes a Surgeon C. S. A., author of a medical work, and President of the Kentucky Medical Association.

Of contemporaneous matriculates, not graduating, Flavillus S. Goode was a Captain C. S. A., member of the Legislature of Louisiana, Presidential Elector, Attorney-General, and Judge of the Superior Court; Joseph H. Baker was a Surgeon C. S. A., a member of the Legislature and of the Convention of 1868.

In 1853 the books of the University were removed from their dusty shelves in the President's lecture-room in the South Building to Smith Hall. Messrs. Hubbard, Charles Phillips and the Librarian were appointed to prepare a catalogue for the same, which I think was never done. Here they rested until they were stored in a room in the East Building at the beginning of the war.

The Commencement of 1853 was called the Hawks' Commencement because of the conspicuous part taken in it by the Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawks, of New York, a graduate of 1815. On Monday night he preached the sermon to the Graduating Class, which was pronounced to be able and eloquent, and particularly impressive on account of his wonderful voice and oratorical grace.

The Commencement of 1854 was afflicted by rain and cold, so that fires were necessary. Ladies with thin and low-necked dresses suffered severely. There was no moonlight rambling. As Gerrard Hall could not be heated, there was shivering discomfort among old and young, small and great.

The journalistic critic reported that the extracts chosen by the Declaimers of the Freshman and Sophomore Classes were too tame and too long. If a good thing cannot be said in five minutes it cannot be in five years. The same is true in regard to the original addresses of the Seniors.

The Declaimers were as follows:

Sophomores—William Bingham, Henry R. Bryan, William H. Burwell, Clement Dowd, Solomon P. Green, Daniel W. Johnson, A. Haywood Merritt, E. Graham Morrow, Joseph W. Stephenson, Stuart White.

Freshmen—John Anthony, Andrew J. Manner, George H. Gregory, Wm. H. Hayley, Wm. H. Jordan, Henry Mullins, Henry C. Thompson, John H. Tillingshast, Nathan P. Ward, John E. Wharton.

One correspondent gave special praise to Gregory, Hayley, and Tillinghast; another to Bingham, Johnson, Saunders, and White.

All these speakers remained until they received their diplomas, except Tillinghast. He was chaplain in the Confederate Army, and is an Episcopal minister.

On Tuesday there was an examination of the Senior Class in Constitutional and International Law. The sermon before the Graduating Class was delivered by Rev. Thomas G. Lowe, of the Methodist Church. There was disappointment that the preacher did not indulge in the impassioned flights of eloquence for which he had high reputation, but the discourse was full of religious fervor and sound instruction.

The Literary Address was by ex-Governor Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, of the Class of 1814, once Representative in Congress, and soon to be Postmaster-General. His theme, Encouragement to Students from the Future Prospects of our Country, was ably handled.

There were before him ex-Governors Branch, Swain, Morehead, Graham, Manly, and Reid.

As they had been accustomed for several years, the Alumni then formed in the order of their classes in order to march to Smith Hall, their place of meeting. It was stated that one of the Class of 1799, Dr. W. S. Webb, and one, a citizen of Texas, of the Class of 1800, Dr. Thomas Hunt, still lived, but were not present. Ex-Governor Branch answered for that of 1801. Of the seven ex-Governors present, two were or had been Federal Senators and Secretaries of the Navy; two had been Ministers to Spain, and two Judges of the Supreme Court. There was no public speaking on behalf of the Alumni, no graduate of the Class of 1824 having been secured, according to the thirty years rule prescribed by the Association.

Among the sixty members of the Senior Class of 1854, the first honor was awarded to Wm. L. Alexander, William Badham, Jr., Richard H. Battle, Jr., John W. Graves, Samuel S. Jackson, Jr., Wm. LaFayette Scott, and Wm. R. Wetmore.

The second to John H. M. Bullock, John M. Gallaway, Robert B. Johnston, Willam S. Long, Leonidas J. Merritt, Oscar R. Rand, David G. Robeson, John K. Ruffin, Enoch J. Vann, and James A. Wright.

The third honor to Richard Bradford, Joseph A. Engelhard, John M. Morrison, William Lawrence Saunders, John D. Shaw, Wm. H. Spencer, Bryan Whitfield, and Theodore Whitfield.

John M. Andrews, Richard H. Battle, John W. Graves and Wm. L. Scott were reported as having been perfectly punctual for four years.

As the honor men numbered twenty-five, it was resolved to limit the number of speeches on Commencement Day to twenty. The Valedictory and Latin Salutatory were as usual drawn for by the first honor men.

The programme was as follows:

The Salutatory, Wm. Badham.

“Greeting to Our Friends,” John D. Shaw.

“Science in the Bible,” James Mangus Spencer.

“Young America,” John M. Gallaway.

“Why Love Turk and Hate Russia?” Enoch J. Vann.

“The Scale of Being,” Samuel S. Jackson, Jr.

“Distribution of the Bible,” Theodore Whitfield.

“The Future,” James A. Wright.

“Denominational Education,” Leonidas J. Merritt.

“English Liberty,” Oscar R. Rand.

“Farming Interest in North Carolina,” Robert B. Johnston.

“LaFayette” (in French), W. R. Wetmore.

“To Prepon” (in Greek), John W. Graves.

“Practical Benefits Conferred by Astronomy,” Richard H. Battle.

“Legislative Aid to University of North Carolina,” Wm. L. Alexander.

“Where Are We?” Joseph Engelhard.

The Valedictory, Wm. L. Scott.

The number of students increased rapidly after the middle of the century for several reasons: the increase of prosperity of the cotton-growing States, the extension of railroads, the want of public confidence in colleges South of our State. Moreover many planters who had left our State for the cheaper and richer lands of the Gulf States had a natural desire that their sons should finish their education in the State of their old home. The following figures show the extent of the movement: The matriculates for the ten years 1840 to 1850 were 1,602, averaging 160 per annum. From 1850 to 1860 they were 3,480, averaging 348 per annum; for the five years 1850 to 1855 the number was 1,344, or 269 per annum; for the five years 1855 to 1860 it was 2,736, averaging 427. To form some idea of the patronage from other States, I take at random the year of the largest attendance. There were 460, including four law students not counted in the catalogue. Of these 282 were from North Carolina, leaving 178 from other States, over one-third of the whole. Tennessee furnished the largest number, 39. Then came Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama with 28, 26 and 21, respectively. South Carolina and Texas furnished 15, Georgia 14, Virginia only eight. There were four each from Kentucky and Florida, two from Arkansas and one each from New York and Iowa. Contrast this with 620 in the catalogue of 1903-4, of whom 565 are from North Carolina, only 55 are from beyond our limits, about one in eleven. Tennessee now sends not one, nor do Alabama or Mississippi. Louisiana has only two, South Carolina has 17, but Texas only one. Most of the Southern States have universities and colleges satisfactory to themselves.

The continued increase in the number of students necessitated new buildings for dormitories, lecture rooms, and for halls for the two Societies. In 1856 a plan of extending the Old East and West Buildings was adopted, but this was abandoned.

The Revised Code of 1855 strengthened the acts of 1824 and 1827, in regard to the University, the substance of them being as follows:

License to retail spirituous or vinous liquors within two miles of Chapel Hill was prohibited. This limit extended nearly three miles from the dormitories. It is now four miles from the town limits. The prohibition applies to the selling by the drink or measure less than a quart.

The second section forbids within two miles all houses for the sale in any quantity of spirituous, vinous or malt liquors.

The third section forbids the selling or giving to any student or other person any cordial, wine, spirituous or malt liquor, with the intent that the same shall be used within two miles of Chapel Hill.

The fourth prohibits electioneering treats within said limits.

By the fifth section public billiard tables or other public tables for playing games of chance or skill are forbidden within five miles of Chapel Hill. By the sixth are forbidden within the same limits theatricals, sleight of hand or equestrian performances, dramatic representation or recitations, rope or wire dancing, natural or artificial curiosities, or any concert, serenade, or performances in music, singing or dancing, without the written permission of the President or member of the Faculty, given in writing seven days beforehand.

Seventhly. Offences against the preceding provisions shall be misdemeanors.

The eighth section declares void all contracts with shop-keepers, merchants, traders or other persons, including livery stable keepers, by students, if made within two miles of Chapel Hill, without the written permission of the President or some member of the Faculty; if without the two miles limit, the written permission of the person having control and authority over such students.

By the ninth section contracts contrary to the foregoing provisions may be avoided on plea of the general issue, and the fact of being a student raised the presumption that the defendant was a minor.

By the tenth section such contracts were made incapable of being confirmed by the student after reaching full age.

The eleventh section restored to the University escheated real estate.

As to the practical workings of these laws, it may be said that while there were no “grogshops” within the prohibited limits, there were some at no great distance outside, and while intoxicating liquors could not be openly bought, there were abundant underground streams which could be and were easily tapped by those who had money and inclination. The suppression of liquor shops, made first in 1827, was of great advantage in rendering drinking less common and less scandalous, and the danger of collisions between drunken students and still more drunken non-students was lessened. The law in regard to gaming tables and circuses and other performances passed in 1794 was well enforced. It was strengthened in regard to dramatic and other diversions by there being no suitable hall in the village, and the refusal of the Faculty of the use of the Gerrard Hall. Nothing however could prevent surreptitious excursions to Hillsboro and other places, even as far as Raleigh. Frequently seekers after pleasure would ride horseback twenty-eight miles to the metropolis, witness the entrancing circus or drama and answer to their names in the Chapel by sunrise, after an absence of little over twelve hours and a ride over an execrable road of fifty-six miles.

Copies of the laws were sent to the merchants of Chapel Hill and other places. Once when a Raleigh merchant sent whiskey to Chapel Hill for sale, a general warning was sent to all, whereat there was much indignation in the breasts of the innocent, who contended that there was timid sheltering of the guilty.

The attention of the merchants of Chapel Hill having been called to these laws, they met and agreed not to sell to students under age on credit, without permission in writing from their parent or guardian. The obligation was not to be binding without the concurrence of the Faculty of the University, and was to continue eighteen months. The following were the signers, being a large majority of the merchants of the village: Richard B. Saunders, J. R. Hutchins & Co., C. Scott & Co., J. T. Hogan & Co., Long and McCauley, Walter A. Thompson, F. A. Davies, H. L. Owen, John W. Carr.

Andrew Mickle, President of the meeting, and George M. Long, Secretary, approved its action and the Faculty, on their part, did likewise.

The Baptist Church was organized in Chapel Hill on September 15th, 1854. The building was dedicated May 6th, 1855. The most generous benefactor was Elder William Henry Merritt, who was the owner of the mill and plantation now called Purefoy's. The flour of this mill had a wide reputation in the days before the railroads came. Elder Merritt donated the lot on which are the church edifices, and $1,200 in money. Elder George W. Purefoy, D.D., was Chairman of the Building Committee, and Elder J. J. James preached the dedicatory sermon. The first pastor was Elder Brantley Jones Hackney.

At the Commencement of 1855 Rev. Benjamin M. Palmer, D.D., the eminent Presbyterian divine, then of Columbia, later of New Orleans, delivered the sermon to the Graduating Class. The audience generally agreed that it was learned, eloquent, impressive, beautiful, but some of the striplings thought it was too grand for young people. He enforced two cardinal truths, that all men are religious in temperament, and that the Bible is true.

The competitors in Declamation were, of the Freshmen, John A. Gilmer, Julius W. Wright, Thomas S. Price, Jesse S. Barnes, Rufus B. Mann, Joseph M. White, Wm. M. Coleman, Leroy M. McAfee, Reuell M. Stancill, Gilmer, Coleman, McAfee, Barnes, and Wright won the favor of the listeners.

The Sophomore competitors were Nathan B. Whitfield, James J. Perkins, John Anthony, Nathan P. Ward, Henry C. Thompson, John E. Wharton, Daniel M. Graham, Charles A. Mitchell, Junius B. Deberry. Mitchell, Graham, and Anthony were considered the best. All graduated except Whitfield, who became a Colonel C. S. A., and a Judge, and Perkins a planter.

During the speaking opportunity was given for the presentation of a prize offered by Professor Wheat, to Alphonzo C. Avery, for the best English Composition. Professor Wheat's speech of presentation and President Swain's reply were considered models of their kind.

On Wednesday there were three extraordinary addresses. The first was by Hon. George Davis, of the Class of 1838, afterwards Confederate States Senator and Attorney-General. His subject was Sketches of the History and Men of the Lower Cape Fear. The interest was enhanced by his excellent delivery. It was printed in pamphlet, and is now much sought for.

After him came Bishop Thomas Atkinson, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, on the True Character of Cromwell. The Bishop's clear, incisive and convincing address removed much of the odium heaped upon the great Oliver by royalist pens. The press reporter, however, thought he was “too apologetic for the artful tyrant and cunning statesman,” and complained that he read his address, but his reading was so clear and forcible as to command the attention of all.

The third address was by Mr. Wm. J. Bingham, of the Class of 1825, one of the ablest teachers the State has produced. The Alumni met at 4 P. M. to escart him to Gerrard Hall. Rev. Dr. Samuel I. Johnston, of the Class of 1826, and Lewis Thompson of that of 1827, marched with him. Ex-Governors Graham, Manly, and Morehead, John D. Hawkins, Robert B. Gilliam, Samuel J. Person, Bishop Atkinson, Rev. Dr. Alexander Wilson, Rev. Drs. Simeon Colton and Richard H. Mason, Congressman L. O'B. Branch, Treasurer Courts and other noted men were in the procession of about 200 Alumni. The subject of the address was “The Relative Wisdom of the Ancients and Moderns.” It was a satire on modern progress. “Young America suffered from the multitude and sharpness of the satiric arrows, and pseudo-progress, bleeding from innumerable wounds, fell an easy victim to successful lampooning,” said the reporter.

A pleasing incident was the dinner given by Richard H. Battle, of the Class of 1854, to all his classmates who had come together on this occasion; if not the pioneer of class dinners, the first recorded in public prints.

The Chief Marshal was James Bruce of the Junior Class. His assistants, or “Subs,” were Henry R. Bryan, Wm. H. Burwell, Samuel P. Caldwell, and Wm. G. Drake. There was much commendation of them for their activity and courtesy. The Ball Managers, Wm. Johnston Saunders being Chief, met with similar praise.

It should be noted that ex-Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin attended all the examinations except those of Commencement week, the Bible and Chemistry. He had just voluntarily resigned the high position as head of our Supreme Court, which he had so ably filled, and accepted the more humble but important position of Chairman of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Session of Alamance County.

Four members of the Class, Hall, Puttick, Slade, and Whitfield were not absent from one of the 4,700 services required in their four years' course.

The graduating speeches were:

The Latin Salutatory, James H. Colton.

“Influence Inevitable in Extent and Duration,” Peter E. Spruill.

In the fall of 1856, in the heated contest between Buchanan and Fremont, Professor Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick startled the public by declaring himself a Free-soiler and supporter of Fremont. He was attacked in the Raleigh Standard in a letter written by a law student, an honor graduate of 1854, Joseph A. Engelhard. Being a man of pluck he replied defending his position with ability, but taking the peculiar ground that the prevention of carrying slaves to the territories would increase the wealth of North Carolina by keeping her slaves and their incomes at home. The indignation of the public and of the students was furious, and the public press generally demanded his dismissal. The burning him in effigy in the campus, while the bell was funereally tolled, was but the beginning of the warfare against him.

President Swain stated to the Faculty and Trustees in substance that in an institution like this, patronized by all denominations and parties, nothing should be done calculated to disturb the harmonious intercourse of those who support, and those who direct and govern it. Professor Hedrick himself said, that he “knew of no institution North or South from which partisan politics and sectarian religion are so carefully excluded.” Cautious forbearance has been practiced by the Faculty and enjoined upon the students. Sermons in the chapel have been on the leading doctrines of Christianity about which no difference of opinion exists. And students for twenty years have not been allowed to discuss on the public stage questions of party politics. The Faculty resolved, on motion of Rev. Dr. Mitchell: 1st, that Professor Hedrick's course is not warranted by our usage, and his political opinions are not entertained by any other member of the Faculty; 2nd, that the Faculty have none other than feelings of personal respect and kindness and sincerely regret his indiscretion.

The vote was unanimous, except that the Instructor in French, Mr. Henri Herrissee, dissented on the ground that the Faculty is not charged with Black Republicanism, nor likely to be suspected of it.

The Executive Committee acted promptly. On the 11th of October, present Governor Bragg and Messrs. John H. Bryan, Daniel W. Courts, Charles L. Hinton, Bartholomew F. Moore, and Romulus M. Saunders, the Committee expressed great regret at the publication of Professor Hedrick in the Raleigh Standard on the 4th inst., because it violated the established usage of the University which forbids any Professor to become an agitator in the exciting politics of the day, and was well calculated to injure the prosperity and usefulness of the institution.”

It was further resolved that in the opinion of the Committee Mr. Hedrick had greatly, if not entirely, destroyed his power to be of further benefit to the University.

It was hoped that the Professor would have resigned after this action, but he was a man of singular persistency and pluck. In the meantime there were signs of a coming storm. Politicians were getting ready to attack the University on the stump, editors were meditating editorials denunciatory of an institution which would keep in its Faculty an avowed enemy of Southern institutions, parents were threatening to withdraw their sons from the University, and students were devising further schemes of insult and annoyance to make the Professor's position unendurable. The Committee prevented such evil consequences by declaring his chair vacant. In the preamble to the resolution it was recited that he seemed disposed to respect neither the opinions of the Faculty nor the Trustees, but persisted in retaining his situation to the manifest injury of the University. His salary was paid to the end of the term. Prof. Hedrick made no further opposition, and behaved with dignity. He was born in Davidson County February 13th, 1827, was of German descent. He was prepared for the University by Rev. Jesse Rankin. He entered the Sophomore Class of 1848, and graduated in 1851, among the first honor men. He was considered the ablest mathematician in the class, and was in consequence recommended and appointed to a clerkship in the Nautical Almanac office. He entered Harvard University in order to take advanced studies in Mathematics. After being elected to the Chair of Chemistry applied to Agriculture and the Arts, in 1854 he administered the department with ability. When his office came to an untimely end, it was supposed that the anti-slavery men of the North, where he sought employment, would take care of him, but they gave only words. After some delay he obtained a clerkship in the office of the Mayor of New York City, teaching and lecturing during his leisure. In 1861 he became principal Chemical Examiner in the United States Patent Office, residing in Georgetown, D. C. In 1865 he visited his native State and endeavored unsuccessfully to induce all parties to acquiesce in negro suffrage, which he foresaw would certainly be demanded by Congress, and then to place the government of the State in the hands of the best and ablest men. He died September 2nd, 1886, leaving his wife, Mary Ellen, daughter of William Thompson, of Orange County, N. C., four sons and four daughters. His failure to realize the success to which his uncommon talents, his thorough integrity, his energy and industry seemed to entitle him, shows the importance of tactful manners, and not hastily arousing the prejudices of communities on subjects about which there is feverish excitement. Many professors at the North have lost their places from inculcating doctrines odious to the governing bodies. Dr. Charles Phillips, a friend of Hedrick, and a man of broad views, in a letter written to Professor Kerr, then at Harvard, tells him that practically all the people think the Trustees did right and adds, “I take it as an axiom that when we wish to work for the people for the peoples' good, we are bound to consider their characteristics and not arouse their prejudices unnecessarily, else they won't let us work for them.”

As showing the intensity of the feeling in the South on the subject of slavery, such feeling as usually precedes resorts to war, I record the fact that when about this time Professor Hedrick visited Salisbury, as a delegate to an Educational Association, he was notified by the satellites of Judge Lynch that he must immediately leave the town or be subject to gross personal indignities. Brave as he was, he reluctantly made an abrupt departure for home.

Besides this Hedrick incident the Faculty were much stirred up near the same time by what I will call the Herrisse controversy. M. Henri Herrisse, who has distinguished himself in the field of letters in more recent years, was in 1856, as has been said, Instructor in French at this University, a very bright young man and a hard student. As is usually the case with foreigners, he had difficulty in managing his classes. One student in particular (W. W.), was not only impertinent, but outrageously insulting. After bearing with this youth for awhile, he brought him before the Faculty. On the motion to dismiss him there was a tie, and the President voted in the negative, giving as his reason that the Faculty meeting, not being a regular one, had not been called according to the by-laws.

Mr. Herrisse was much offended at the decision and determined to appeal to the Executive Committee of the Trustees. The Committee called for a copy of the proceedings of the Faculty. With it was submitted a second memorial by Herrisse, “setting forth a want of discipline and maladministration of the affairs and government of the college by the Faculty.” This was referred to the Faculty.

The consideration of the subject was resumed on October 18th, the several memorials of Mr. Herrissee, copies from the University Journal, together with answers and statements of the President and several of the Professors, being read, Governor Bragg presented other papers from Mr. Herrisse, called by him “a Poscript to Memorial No. 1, and a key and appendix to Memorial No. 2, and a Postscript to the Key and Memorial.”

The whole subject was referred to Messrs. B. F. Moore, J. H. Bryan and C. Manly. The Committee submitted sundry resolutions, which were amended and adopted. They were substantially as follows: “The case of W. W. presents repeated acts of disorder and irregularity in the recitation room of the French Instructor, and the Faculty appear to have treated him with extraordinary leniency.” The Committee however believe that the Faculty have superior means of judging of the expediency of the discipline and have confidence in their judgment. Mr. Herrissee has justly subjected himself to the complaints of the Faculty, the Committee hope from want of knowledge of the institution and the necessity of harmony. This last statement has reference to the charges against the President and his colleagues.

It could not be denied that the behavior of W. W. and others in the class of Mr. Herrisse was intolerable. The President and Faculty in declining to punish the offenders evidently acted from the belief that his want of tact and his foreign manners to some extent mitigated the offences. A judicious member of the Faculty stated that either the offenders should have been dismissed from the institution or the Instructor asked to resign his post, that the allowing such behavior to go on unpunished led to disorder in other classes, and injured the good name of the University.

During this year the Associate Professor of Greek, Mr. A. G. Brown, resigned, and it was resolved to employ two Tutors in his place. Mr. Herrisse, stating to his friends that President Swain would endeavor to select men who would vote at his dictation, of his own motion wrote to two graduates acceptable to himself. They were worthy of the place, but the President was unwilling to submit to such violations of propriety. He caused to be spread on the minutes of the Faculty a long statement, showing that he consulted the Professors of Greek and Latin, and acted under their advice; that during the twenty years of his connection with the University he had never adopted any important measure without notice to, and generally not without the unanimous concurrence of, the Faculty. He further stated that in relation to the delicate and difficult subject of appointments he had proceeded with caution and deliberation, and always when in his power had conferred freely with the Faculty before submitting a recommendation to the Board. No Tutor had been nominated without unanimous concurrence of the Faculty. He submitted resolutions, the substance of which I give: 1st, that the Instructor in French was ill-advised in opening correspondence with parties on the subject of Tutorships, without consultation with the President or any members of the Faculty; 2nd, his statement that he would prevent the election of Mr. Killebrew because he would, if chosen, sustain the views of the President, does not meet with the concurrence of the Faculty. There were three votes against the first resolution, those of Hedrick, Brown and Lucas, and on the second only Mr. Brown.

Mr. Herrisse did not remain in the service of the University longer than the end of the term in December. In January the Board of Trustees created the Professorship of Modern Languages, and elected Hosea H. Smith to fill it. Mr. Herrisse was not a candidate. A resolution was passed prohibiting communications by members of the Faculty to the Board except through the President.

The Trustees took up the question of new buildings. On motion of ex-Governor Graham on June 3, 1856, a committee of three were appointed to consider the question with power to employ an architect and report plans to the Board. The President of the Board appointed Messrs. Graham, Swain and Battle.

On June 3rd, 1857, the Committee were authorized to expend $30,000, but in June of the next year the plans of Mr. Percival, an architect, who had been an officer of the English army, were adopted, and the New East and New West Buildings were begun. The builder was Thomas H. Coates, the sum appropriated being $40,000. For the first time in the University history heating with other than fireplaces was adopted on the recommendation of Percival. Furnaces were placed in the basement of each building and the hot water system adopted. The plan proved a failure, the rooms near the furnaces being too warm and those at a distance being too cold. After much expense the system was disused, not because the principle was faulty, but because there was a defect in the work.

Hildreth Hosea Smith, elected Professor of Modern Languages, was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, February 17th, 1820, was prepared for college at Foxcroft Academy in Maine, and graduated in 1842, one of the best two in his class. He became Professor in Catawba College at Newton, North Carolina, in 1850, and the next year was made President, and continued as such until his election to the Chair of Modern Languages in the University. He continued in this position until the institution was closed in 1868.

After leaving the University at the request of Rev. Dr. Sears, the Superintendent of the Peabody Fund, he organized the public schools of Shelbyville, Tennessee. Four years later he performed the same service for Houston, Texas. He was then called to the Presidency of the Sam Houston State Normal College. He was afterwards for twelve years Literary Editor of the Atlanta Journal. His wife, Mary B., is a daughter of Michael Hoke, the candidate of the Democratic party for the Governorship in 1844, and sister of the Confederate General, Robert F. Hoke. Among their children is Hon. Hoke Smith, the next Governor of Georgia, Secretary of the Interior under Cleveland.

Professor Smith was a good teacher, has fine talents, and was accomplished in his department. He was possessed of such physical strength as to gain the nickname of “Old Tige.” Once in fighting a fire in the village the bystanders were amazed at his extraordinary skill and prowess.

Mr. John Kimberly was elected in place of Professor Hedrick. He was a man of superior talent, a native of New Jersey, and graduated at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University. He had high testimonials from Agassiz, Wyman and Horsford. Agassiz stated that the notes of his lectures written by him were the best ever submitted by any student since his connection with the school. He had been teaching for several years in Eastern North Carolina, married into the Capehart family and was a widower without children. Feeling the need of latest discoveries in his department, he asked and obtained leave to spend a year in a laboratory of the University of Berlin. He, too, occupied his chair until 1868, and was Professor for a year after the reopening.

I give briefly the studies of each department after the introduction of Civil Engineering and of Industrial Chemistry.

The Department of Moral Philosophy, Metaphysics, Political Economy, Constitutional Law, International Law, was administered by the President. Instruction was given the Seniors five hours per week for the academic year, less the Senior vacation of one month prior to Commencement. Metaphysics and Political Economy occupied the first term. The Sunday recitations throughout the year were given on the Pentateuch and Moral Science. The text-books were Wayland's Moral Science, Abercrombie's Intellectual Powers, Wayland's Political Economy, Sheppard's Constitutional Law and the first volume of Kent's Commentaries.

Oral lectures were given from time to time, and towards the close of the year a regular course on the History of Constitutional Law, beginning with Magna Charta and ending with the Constitution of the United States.

The Greek Language and Literature occupied four hours a week for the Freshman year. The books studied were the Anabasis of Xenophon and Herodotus. The Sophomore Class had four recitations a week during the first, and three during the second term. They read part of the Iliad, selected Orations of Demosthenes and Thucydides. The Junior Class, having two recitations a week, studied such Tragedies of Sophocles as the Professor designated and the Senior, with one recitation a week, read the Gorgias of Plato. The teachers were Manuel Fetter, Professor, and Tutors Richard H. Battle and Samuel S. Jackson.

It was during this year that the Executive Committee passed a resolution that they had heard with deep regret of gross irregularities of conduct by students on the railroad cars, at circuses and other places, and they had reason to believe that these irregularities are daily increasing for want of due execution of the Ordinances of the University. They then declare that the usefulness of the institution depends not so much on numbers as on exemplary conduct and that, not only in view of the approaching State Fair, but on all occasions, the Faculty are expected to execute the ordinances so as either to subdue all disobedient conduct or dismiss the refractory.

The specification in regard to misconduct on the railroad cars was that once when large numbers of students were traveling together in the rear coach their conduct was so boisterous that the conductor switched it off on a siding, uncoupled it and started off with the rest of the train with such rapidity as to induce signals of distress and promise of reformation of behavior. How much of this conduct was due to natural buoyancy of spirits at release from duties, and how much to the artificial buoyancy of John Barleycorn, is unknown, but the incident was widely spread, vires acquirit eundo, and was asserted to be the habitual method of traveling by the University boys. It could not be denied however that there was occasional rowdyism and, more rarely, excitement from spirituous liquors.

The Faculty, and especially President Swain, were greatly moved by the censure of the Committee. The President drew up a paper which was passed by the Faculty, declaring that the stories were greatly exaggerated; that all diligence was used in carrying out the laws of the University; that it was absolutely impossible to prevent sporadic breaches of discipline, and all detected infractions were duly punished.

Nothing further was done in the matter.

The Board of Examiners, members of the Board of Trustees, submitted through their chairman, Col. Walter L. Steele, a report which for the first time was publicly read. They expressed themselves as gratified on the whole, but stated that they found many deficient in scholarship and some very much deficient. The Trustees requested the Committee to make another report in 1858.

On the 27th of June, 1857, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and in the fortieth year of his service for the University, perished the Senior Professor, Elisha Mitchell. A sketch of his lineage and early life has already been given. Until 1825 he presided over Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, introducing the study of Calculus. When Dr. Olmsted was transferred to Yale Dr. Mitchell gladly became Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. He then began the practice of visiting the various sections of the State in order to study their rocky formations, their soils, fauna, flora, rivers and swamps. He was much attracted by the lofty summits of the Black, and explored them at various times, beginning with 1835. He discovered and measured the highest peak, called in his honor Mount Mitchell. Senator Thomas L. Clingham contended that the Doctor had been on a lower peak and claimed the name of the highest peak himself. After a discussion of the question in newspapers, Dr. Mitchell proceeded in the summer of 1857 to make an instrumental survey and obtain the testimony of those who had assisted him in his former barometrical measurement. He had been at the work about two weeks when on the 27th of June, on Saturday afternoon, he undertook alone to journey over the mountain, down the rugged defiles and through the tangled and pathless thickets, in order to reach the settlements on Caney River. His singular self-reliant nature proved his ruin. He slipped over a precipice forty feet high into a deep pool of the Sugar-camp branch of the Cat-tail Fork of the Caney River.

He was found on Tuesday, July 8th, and was buried at first in Asheville by the desire of his family, but on the 16th of June, 1858, in compliance with the general opinion of its fitness, he was with their consent reinterred on the summit of the loftiest peak east of the Mississippi. One of his former pupils and colleagues in the Faculty, Right Rev. James Hervey Otey, Bishop of Tennessee, conducted the funeral services and delivered a most impressive and eloquent sermon. It was followed by an interesting impromptu address by President Swain. Copies of these discourses, together with a sketch of Dr. Mitchell's life, by Rev. Dr. Charles Phillips, the history of the search for the body by Senator Z. B. Vance, and of the reburial by Mr. Richard H. Battle, together with sundry laudatory resolutions by different public bodies, have been published, with an excellent portrait of the good professor.

On Monday night of the Commencement of 1858 Rev. Dr. Moses A. Curtis, Rector of the Episcopal Church at Hillsboro, a learned divine and very distinguished botanist, preached the sermon to the Senior Class. It was a strong argument to prove that a devout recognition of God's glory, whether in the world of mind or matter, raised the soul nearer Him.

On Tuesday morning Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawks, at the request of the Historical Society, unfolded most eloquently the truths of the lesson bequeathed to us by Washington in his Farewell Address.

On Wednesday forenoon Rev. Dr. John Thomas Wheat, of the Philanthropic Society, delivered the Annual Address. His theme was the Proper Relation between Life and Literature. He showed how unprincipled heart and immoral life had ruined many a genius. Truth is essential to real greatness.

The Declaimers of the Freshman Class on Tuesday evening were John McK. Whitted, of Bladen; Guilford Nicholson, of Halifax; John Bradford, of Alabama; James E. Butts, of Georgia; James M. B. Hunt, of Granville; Joel P. Walker, of Mississippi; Robert S. Clark, Texas; Nicholas L. Williams, of Yadkin County; Thomas T. Allen, Windsor; John W. Pearson, Mississippi; Henry S. Puryear, Huntsville.

On Wednesday night came the Sophomores: George S. Martin, Tennessee; Louis West, Mississippi; T. Lucius Smith, Tennessee; William T. Nicholson, Halifax; Thomas W. Davis, Franklin County; Iowa M. Royster, Raleigh; Vernon H. Vaughan, Alabama; Pierce M. Butler, South Carolina; Daniel R. Coleman, Concord; Walter J. Jones, of Milton; George P. Bryan, Raleigh, and Charles Walsh, Jr., of Alabama.

The Freshmen were pronounced by the critics too tame, only Bradford rising above mediocrity. The Sophomores were much praised, especially Royster, Coleman, Walsh and West. Whitted, Bradford, Pearson, West and Puryear left before graduation. Whitted joined the army, Bradford also, and was killed at Seven Pines; Pearson was a merchant; West has not been traced; Puryear is a lawyer.

The prize for the best English Composition was presented on behalf of Dr. Wheat to George L. Wilson, of Newbern, by Dr. F. L. Hawks in his inimitably felicitous manner.

There were ninety-three graduates, twenty of whom spoke on Thursday:

Latin Salutatory, Thomas W. Mason, Virginia.

“A Plea for Ambition,” Robert D. Johnston, Lincoln County.

“Inventive Genius,” John B. Buchanan, Richmond County.

“Bene cogitare, non multo melius est, quam bene somniare,” Nathaniel P. Lusher, Tennessee.

“The Conservative Spirit of the South,” William C. Lord, Salisbury.

“The Influence of Religion on Government,” Hamilton C. Jones, Rowan County.

“The Mechanic Arts,” Robert H. Marsh, Chatham County.

“Josephine; a Poem,” James S. Hill, Stokes County.

“To Palaion Dramaton Hellenon,” Wm. M. Hammond, Wadesboro.

“Revolution an Element of Progress,” Philip T. May, Rockingham County.

“Byron,” Leroy M. McAfee, Cleveland County.

“Responsibility of American Youth,” Robert T. Harris, Alabama.

“The Historian's Trust,” John M. Perry, Beaufort.

“La Gloire de la France,” Robert W. Anderson, New Hanover County.

“Die Vaterlandsliche,” James Turner Morehead, Greensboro.

It was in these days, when the minds of many were unsettled by the portentious rumblings of the coming war and the angry passions of political strife, that in 1858 a lawless club was formed, the members pledged to stand by one another in their breaches of University rules. Spirituous liquor was drunk, the air was filled at late hours with direful uproars and furious din, the bell was rung violently and unceasingly, or the clapper was stolen and hid, in fact all disorder committed which ingenuity could devise, and when the Faculty endeavored to restore order, stones were thrown at them with dangerous accuracy. Finally the benches and black-boards were collected from the recitation rooms and piled for a huge bonfire. The leaders were expelled and, suit being brought against them in the Superior Court of Orange, they were compelled to reimburse the University for the damages sustained, about $200.

These outrages, coupled with rumors of others, gave the public such opinion of want of discipline at the University that the President thought it necessary to issue an elaborate circular on the subject to the friends of the institution. I give its substance:

He began by quoting from a similar circular by Dr. Caldwell, of which I copy the concluding sentence: “How unjust it is that calumny must be forever watching as if with a lynx's eye, the disorders of a few wrong-headed young people, who are mixed up in a college with the body of students, and then proceed to multiply and misrepresent and aggravate until the country is at length led to believe that the institution could not be worse if even filled with a parcel of inveterate demons.”

The President continued, “In modern times the Institution has been treated with much greater charity * * * than the foregoing statement would indicate, * * * but exaggerated accounts of occurrences have found their way into the newspapers.”

The most important occurrence of the year was the interest on the subject of religion, which resulted in an unprecedented accession to the various churches. A riot shortly afterwards, participated in by a tenth or twentieth of the students, for which the ring-leaders were severely punished, created a stronger impression on the public because so incongruous with the religious revival. Those engaged in the outrage met with such disapproval on the part of more than nine-tenths of their fellows that there was danger of a collision between them. The proceedings of the two Literary Societies, adopted with great unanimity, prove that the great body of the students did not sympathize with the malefactors.

The wounding almost to death of a student by one of the fellows was an accident. In sixty-four years only two serious wounds, and one of these by accident, have been received. There is a strong by-law against having deadly weapons, and the aid of patrons for enforcing it is earnestly requested.

The President hardly deemed it worth while to mention the warlike correspondence which appeared in the papers last fall. One of the young men had ceased to be a student before the affair was known, and the other was disciplined immediately when it was discovered. This of course refers to an abortive duel.

The President affirmed that the subordination and general quiet for the last ten years equalled that of any like period since the foundation. “Dr. Caldwell was frequently called upon to correct public sentiment as to the condition of things here forty or fifty years ago. In the course of these appeals he states facts that show that in those days among some fifty students there was a worse state of things than has existed among the three of four hundred that have crowded here durthe last half dozen years. * * * The balance of results from the extraordinary occurrences of the session has been vastly in favor of good.”

On June 2nd, 1858, the Committee on the erection of the new Caldwell Monument, reported that their commission had been executed and that the monument was ready to be dedicated; that ex-Governor Charles Manly, who had consented to deliver the eulogy on President Caldwell, was prevented by sickness, and that the President of the Association, Mr. Cameron, although he had short notice, would take his place.

A procession of the Alumni, preceded by music, marched from their place of meeting, the Library in Smith Hall, to the monument. Standing around it they sang the Doxology and joined in a prayer offered by Rev. Dr. James Phillips. The procession then moved to Gerrard Hall, where all Alumni who had been pupils of Dr. Caldwell, took their seats on the rostrum. Hon. John H. Bryan (1815) and Maj. Charles L. Hinton (1814) were the escort of the orator. The address was most appropriate and in excellent taste, the orator having strong personal regard for the subject of his eulogy, as well as admiration of his clients, his virtues and services to the University and to the State. The following extract from a printed address by Mr. Cameron in 1885, at the dedication of Memorial Hall, shows the character of his eulogy on this occasion:

In 1859 there were changes in the Faculty. Rev. Andrew D. Hepburn was elected in December to the chair of Rhetoric and Logic, and entered on his duties the next year. Prof. Hepburn was about thirty years old, the eldest son of Judge Samuel Hepburn, of Pennsylvania, a man of legal learning and good fortune. The son graduated early with the highest honors from Jefferson College, and then spent two years at the University of Virginia. After twelve months devoted to general reading, he spent three years in Princeton Theological Seminary, and obtained his degree and license to preach. He then exercised his ministry in Rockingham and Rockbridge counties in Virginia. His preaching was strong and often eloquent, his manners modest, retiring and those of a Christian gentleman. He was pronounced by his preceptor, the distinguished Dr. W. H. McGuffey, of the University of Virginia, to have special aptitude in psychological studies. He obtained the highest rank in his classes, and was pronounced to be “thoroughly acquainted with all that is requisite to ensure success in teaching Logic, Rhetoric, together with criticism and correct expression (with pen or orally) of whatever thoughts may convince or persuade.”

There were about thirty letters from eminent scholars and public men sustaining this estimate of Dr. Hepburn's qualifications, though not in such detail. His career here showed that they were not overdrawn.

The Commencement of 1859 was conspicuous on account of the presence of the President of the United States, James Buchanan, who, however, did not arrive until Wednesday. He missed therefore a sermon and an address, both of extraordinary power. The sermon was on Monday night, specially to the graduating class. The preacher was Rev. David S. Doggett, afterwards a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. It was on Paul in Athens, the centre of the educational world in his day. He showed how necessary it was, and is, to supplement the philosophy of the world with the religion of Christ.

On Tuesday evening the Freshmen Declaimers performed their parts. They were Henry C. Wall, of Richmond County; William M. Fetter, of Chapel Hill; Aurelius C. Jones, of Texas; William M. Jones, of Henderson; Thomas S. Webb, of Tennessee; Andrew J. Moore, of Pitt County; Wm. C. Jordan, of Greenville; John H. Bass, of Georgia; Herbert M. Varner, of Georgia; Leonidas P. Wheat, Chapel Hill. Messrs. Jordan, Varner and Wheat were most praised.

On Wednesday forenoon the address before the two Literary Societies was delivered by Hon. Duncan K. MacRae, a University student in 1837, lately Consul to Paris, and afterwards a Colonel in the Confederate service. His subject was the Cultivated Intellect—the Equal of Genius. He fully sustained his reputation for brilliancy and eloquence.

The passing of the Reconstruction Acts in March, 1867, the contemplated destruction of the State government inaugurated under President Johnson, the subjecting the State to the control of a General of the army, naturally impaired the confidence of the people in the prosperity of State institutions. This was shown in the attendance of students at the University. In the Fall of 1867 only 13 Freshmen appeared, as against 34 the preceding year. There was widespread uneasiness about the future. Very few shared in the vain belief of Mississippi and Georgia, that the Federal Supreme Court would declare the Reconstruction Acts unconstitutional. On the 14th of January, 1868, a Convention, by order of General Canby, met to form a new constitution for this State. On the 16th of March the instrument was adopted, submitted on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of April to the voters prescribed by Congress, and adopted.

A radical change in the government of the University was made by this Constitution. It was placed in charge of a new Board of Trustees, to be elected by the Board of Education. The Governor was to be Chairman both of the Board of Trustees and of the Executive Committee, which was the real governing power. The Board of Education, together with three appointed by the Board of Trustees, and the President of the University, constituted this committee.

When the names of the new Trustees were announced, it was seen that there was careful elimination of all who had been in the past active in the management of the University. Out of 78 new Trustees, only four belonged to the old Board, and not one of these four had been regular and constant on the meetings of the Board and exercises of the institution, whereas all those intimately identified with the institution, some of them for years, were omitted. There were 18 alumni out of the 78, but of the remaining 60 only a handfull had ever seen Chapel Hill or shown any interest in the University. It was clearly understood, even in advance of official action, that the old professors would be turned off and the doors would be reopened with new men to compose the Faculty. Of course there were many who were opposed to this complete breaking with the past. Naturally the old patrons and friends were displeased. Naturally they began to look out for other institutions where their sons could obtain higher education. Notwithstanding these adverse influences. President Swain never lost hope. This hope was ripened into realization, as he thought, when he read the Constitution of 1868. I never saw him in finer spirits than when he started to attend, by invitation, the first meeting of the new Board of Trustees.

Circumstances seemed to point him out as the proper successor of himself. He had for years abstained from active partisanship, so that he was not obnoxious for party reasons. The Republican General, Sherman, showed him marked attention, furnishing him a team and presenting the horse as a gift. President Johnson invited him, together with Wm. Eaton, B. F. Moore, R. P. Dick, W. W. Holden, perhaps others, to Washington to become his advisers as to the rehabilitation of the State government. His daughter had married a prominent Republican General of great influence as a politician and editor of an able journal. And lastly, not a word had been spoken in the Convention of 1868, showing any intention to change the President.

All these considerations indicated that he would be continued by the new Board as head of the University with opportunity to renew its prosperity.

The first meeting of the Trustees of the Reconstruction was on July 23rd, 1868. Secretary-Treasurer Manly was present by invitation and submitted his report—very full and accurate—for which he was courteously, and evidently not perfunctorily, thanked. I give the peroration of his report, the parting words of an officer who had grown gray in the service of the University.

“In conclusion I may be allowed an old man's privilege and say that I took leave of those books and papers with deep and unaffected pain. They appear to be the friends and associates of fifty years of the better part of my manhood. They awaken days that are gone, they recall scenes and incidents connected with many of the most eminent men of the State and they form a page in the annals of North Carolina, unstained and ineffaceable. In them you may trace the financial history of the Institution through perils, tribulations and poverty, and see how through the patriotic exertions of her Trustees her finances and means were improved and enlarged until she was raised to a condition of ease and affluence.”

“Here you may mark her honorable 1

1 Governor Manly made a slip here. University instruction was given from the beginning. There was a grammar school in addition.

“God grant that her sun may never set! that under your government her effulgence may grow bright and that her usefulness may increase more and more throughout all time!”

Ex-Governor Manly graduated fifty-four years before this, was Secretary-Treasurer from 1821 and Trustee since 1826. Losing the office was a cruel blow, especially as his income had been greatly reduced by the emancipation of his slaves. He had by nature a very bright mind, but was too unambitious to become great. His declamation was graceful and impressive; his manners agreeable and courteous. His mind abounded in humorous and instructive reminiscences, which he narrated most interestingly. He was always a welcome visitor at Commencements, from which he was never absent except from sickness. He died May 1, 1871, from a painful disease, gangrene in the feet.

President Swain attended the same meeting also by invitation. He had studied the new constitution and concluded that the clause making the Board of Education and President of the University ex officio Trustees and members of the Executive Committee, was a constitutional recognition of himself as President. He fully believed that the new Board invited his presence as the head of the institution, to receive his aid in starting and running the new machinery. According to his view his participation in the meeting was not as an invited guest, but as a member of the Board. It was on his motion as such member that the report of the Secretary-Treasurer was read.

No notice was then given him that his place was considered vacant, but the next day at a meeting held in his absence the Board declared his resignation and those of the Professors in 1867 final, ignoring the re-election by the former Board on June 4th, 1868. Of course the usual thanks for past faithful services were given.

The ex-President was profoundly astonished and shocked. It was a pathetic sight—this venerable man, full of years and honors, who had held high places in the executive, legislative and judicial departments of the State, who for over one-third of a century had charge of its chief institution of learning, who had influenced for good thousands of the leaders of the people in public and private life, so saturated with love of the University that he sought to control her even in her desolation, under new and untried guardians, but by them coldly and without explanation turned away.

When President Swain heard of the action of the Board on July 24th, he was at Chapel Hill. On August 4th he addressed a protest to Governor Holden, as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He began by reciting the low state of the institution at the death of Dr. Caldwell, and then showed how steadily it improved under his own management. It had numbers, he said, greater, with a single exception, than were at any similar institution in the United States. The net earnings in twenty-five years added a hundred thousand dollars to the cash endowment and permanent improvements.

The transfer to the University of the Agricultural and Mechanical Land Scrip gave, he thought, reasonable hope of incidental aid to be derived from this fund, but this hope was defeated by the action of Congress, postponing the enjoyment of the grant.

At no previous period, he insisted, had his labors been more zealous, faithful and unintermitting. When he tendered his resignation in 1867, the Board thanked him for his long, successful and eminent services and requested him to continue in office until the following Commencement, when his successor would be elected. When that time came the Board felt obliged to continue him in the government of the University in order that its property should be cared for, and assurance was given to the public that the doors would be re-opened at the usual time. They therefore re-elected him and other members of the Faculty.

The Charter of 1789 gives the Board power to remove the President, Professors and Tutors for “misbehavior, inability or neglect of duty.” No such charges had been made against him and he was unwilling to suppose that the resolution for accepting the resignation of 1867 was passed with due consideration. He desired in no spirit of captiousness, but with an earnest desire for the prosperity of the University and with a proper degree of self-respect, to solicit a reconsideration.

It can hardly be contended, he argued further, that a resignation accepted by a Board which has ceased to exist, could be resurrected and accepted by a Board which came into existence long afterwards. Still less can such tender and acceptance be valid to declare the chair of the President vacant, who is by the Constitution an integral part of the Executive Committee.

Doubtless it was the position of the new Board that prior to June 4th, 1868, the new State constitution had gone into operation, namely, on the 16th of March, and that, while it was proper that the old Board of Trustees, as de facto officers, should care for the property and for the ordinary exercises, it had no authority to elect officers to take permanent charge of the institution after they had notice that they would be superseded in office. His claim that, because the Constitution ordained that the President should be a member of the Executive Committee, it was a recognition of himself as such President, was not thought tenable, but the new Board published no justification of their action.

As corroborating the statements made by President Swain in his protest, I give the following estimates made by Secretary and Treasurer Manly at his request, and submitted as an exhibit.

Money expended on the University buildings and grounds from 1836 to 1863:

Cost of the Vienna Cabinet of Minerals $1,400. Cost of Stone Fences 2,000. Cost of the Mitchell Library and Apparatus 4,500. Cost of Sundry Improvements (1845) 4,385.11 Cost of Sundry Improvements (1848)-9-50) 4,498.35 Cost of Smith Hall, Captain Berry, builder 10,303.63 Cost of President's house, changes and repairs 2,575. Cost of Collier and Waite's bill 4,935.42 Cost of Infirmary and Architect Davis 2,259.11 Cost of Coates and Percival's work on New East and New West 45,703.72 Paid Captain John Berry, builder, at various times 4,762.05 Campus improvements and keeping in repair ten years 10,000. Repairs of buildings, thirty years 30,000.   $124,322.

It is not probable that the President would have sought by an action of mandamus to enforce his recognition. Before the Trustees met according to adjournment his long and brilliant career had come to a tragic end. Having lent money on mortgage of a plantation about six miles from Chapel Hill, called Babylon, he was forced to purchase it. On the 11th of August, in company with Professor Fetter, in a buggy drawn by the spirited horse, which General Sherman had given him, he rode out to inspect his farming operations. On their return the animal made a wild dash. Mr. Fetter was the driver, and probably could have controlled him; but the President, being of nervous temperament, made an effort to seize the reins. The result was the crushing of a wheel on a roadside stump and throwing both occupants of the vehicle violently to the ground. Mr. Fetter's recovery was rapid, but President Swain received such a nervous shock that he could not rally. His wounds healed rapidly, but his physical weakness continued, although his spirits seemed good. At last on the 29th he felt strong enough to sit up for an hour, but on lying down he soon passed away. His last words were whispered mutterings, indicating physical suffering. He was buried in his garden by the grave of his daughter Annie and son David. His funeral sermon was preached by one of his intimate friends, Rev. Dr. Charles Phillips of the Presbyterian Church. In his sickness he gave assurance of faith in the Christian religion. His wife who loved him with touching devotion, caused the bodies of him and his children to be removed to Oakwood Cemetery at Raleigh and erected over them a monument of rare beauty, of Scotch Granite.

I have heretofore at some length considered the character of President Swain. I think it can not be denied that according to modern standards he was lacking some essentials of a great College President. He did not, like Elliott, direct the streams of public or private generosity to the University. I have already shown that he bought no books, and provided no apparatus for scientific instruction. He seemed not to strive for the extension of the University's reputation in the literary and scientific world. In his carefully drawn paper of resignation, 1867, and which he repeats in his protest to the new Board in July, 1868, evidently intended as a summary of the results of the achievements of his Presidency, he mentions nothing but the increase of numbers, of endowment by saving from income, and of buildings.

What can be said in favor of his policy of increasing numbers and buildings? of granting diplomas without requiring proficiency in studies? Undoubtedly that he gave what the public demanded. The estimate of the success of the University was measured by numbers. Governor Swain's policy coincided with public opinion. The usual question about the success of the University was “how many boys have you?” Even at this late day the boast of her friends is that in the year before the war the Catalogue showed nearly five hundred names, and that her sons won wonderful success after leaving the institution.

The University of old times admirably supplied the public demand in the South. This was not for scientific specialists, or for scholars in history, literature or philosophy, but for men belonging to the so-called “professions,” law, medicine, teaching and, I will not say theology, but preaching. This was recognized in a curious University law, that the degree of Master of Arts, Artium Magister (A.M), could be had for the asking by any alumnus, who, after graduation, pursued for three years either of these “learned” professions. President Swain shocked the old time men by inducing the Faculty to give the degree to a successful merchant. The course of Dr. Mitchell in scattering his energies over many branches was caused not only by his personal tastes, but by want of appreciation by the people of specialists. The same statement could be made of Dr. Charles Phillips, a man of extraordinary talent in mathematics and energy of character.

No one was deceived as to the value of diplomas, and the sonorous assertions therein of profound learning in literature and the sciences. The list of those who had obtained honors by hard study was read from the Chapel rostrum and published in the newspapers. The public looked to this as showing who had done honest and successful work in the class-room. And many a youth who neglected his classics and mathematics became afterward a leader in the walks of life.

The University diploma, while it did not, unless accompanied by an honor, prove scholarship, yet was of great value. Its possessor in this little world had learned much that gave him an advantage over his neighbors not blessed as he was. He had learned human nature and how to manage men. He had learned to a considerable extent polished manners. He could think and speak on his feet. In county meetings he knew rules of order and how to conduct business. He had confidence in himself, and realized that he secures the fruit who has boldness to seize it and to hold it with tenacious grasp. He saw that his neighbors expected much of him and his self-respect forced him not to disappoint them, on the principle “noblesse oblige.”

A serious difficulty in the way of being strict in granting diplomas lay in the want of preparatory schools. There were excellent institutions of this sort, but large numbers of those desiring University education could not from poverty or other reason attend them. There were many counties where preliminary education could not be had. President Swain accepted the situation and did what he conceived to be the best for all the people.

Another effect of President Swain's policy, sometimes criticised, was the giving the students a preference for public life. This came from several causes. In the first place he himself had been a politician of brilliant record. He was well acquainted with all the public men of his day and with the histories of most of their predecessors. He was familiar with the questions which divided parties from the beginning of the government. He was an interesting talker, about the legal and official men, whom he had personally known. He necessarily turned the attention of ambitious young men towards political life. He particularly influenced the members of the Senior class, to whom he taught Constitutional law.

In the next place the obligation on all students to join one or the other of the two Literary Societies, the rules of order, the political questions debated, even the declamations of extracts from speeches of great statesmen, gave a bias to the young minds towards public life. This was increased by the prominence given to original speeches. All the Seniors delivered orations early in May and the honor men at Commencements. On these occasions there was never a thesis read and many a bashful youth made the discovery that he possessed the gift of debate.

The presence of the Trustees contributed to the glamour of political life. Nearly all of the eminent men, who occupied prominent seats and were the “outward and visible signs” of the dignity of the institution, were occupying or had occupied official positions.

Add to these surroundings the fact that the teaching of the classics was as a rule tiresome, not such as to attract the young mind, but on the contrary to repel it, that the wealth of English literature was not then opened to the student, that mathematics was a series of problems, often hard and prolix, the practical uses of which were insufficiently explained, and take into consideration the further fact that rewards of a professional life were more sure and brilliant than in any other, and it becomes evident why the influence of the University in moulding and preserving our political institutions was so great. Some of the influences towards this life were lacking under Caldwell, but they were sufficient to secure the general result.

Dr. Stephen B. Weeks in his Centennial (1895) address has, with his usual tireless industry, collected facts prior to 1868 concerning our Alumni of which I freely avail myself, abridging them as far as practicable. We have had a President and Vice-President of the United States, Polk and King; two Presidents of the Senate, Mangum and King; seven Cabinet officers, Eaton, Branch, Mason, Graham, Dobbin, Thompson and Brown; five foreign ministers, King, Mason, Barringer, Eaton and Saunders; three Governors of Florida, Branch, Eaton and Moseley; two of Tennessee, Brown and Polk; one of Mississippi, Thompson; one of New Mexico, Rencher. We have had of United States Senators, Branch, Brown, Graham, Haywood and Mangum of North Carolina; Nicholson of Tennessee, Benton of Missouri, and King of Alabama. The University had 41 members of the House, including the Speaker, Polk. She gave two Chancellors to Tennessee, Chief Justices to Florida, Alabama and Louisiana, and five Bishops to the Protestant Episcopal Church, Davis, Green, C. S. Hawks, Otey and Polk, besides many members at the head of the professions and avocations of life.

The first University graduates were in 1798. One of our alumni, Governor Miller, occupied the executive chair as early as 1814. From that date to 1866 this institution furnished thirteen 1

1 William Miller, John Branch, Hutchins G. Buxton, John Owen, David L. Swain, Richard Dobbs Spaight, John L. Morehead, William A. Graham, Charles Manly, Warren Winslow, John W. Ellis, Henry T. Clark, Zebulon B. Vance. Governor Bragg is usually included in the list, but while his name is found on the catalogue among the regular members of the Philanthropic Society, it does not appear in the roll of students. He was only twelve years of age at the time. His brother, John, was an alumnus and became a Representative in Congress and a Judge in Alabama.