Dabney's decision to become a journalist
Dabney explains his entrance into the field of journalism as serendipity. His experiences at and his relationship with teachers at his private Episcopalian high school helped influence Dabney's decision to become a journalist.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Virginius Dabney, June 10-13, 1975. Interview A-0311-1. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- DANIEL JORDAN:
-
I believe that we have touched on your early education under the
direction of your father and I wondered if we might move now to
Episcopal High School and your experiences there and the activities.
- VIRGINIUS DABNEY:
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Well, I went there at age thirteen, my father went up with me on the
train the day before, I never understood the reason why. We were
supposed to be there on a certain day and we went the day before. We
walked there from Alexandria, in those rugged individualist days, you
didn't worry about walking three miles, so we just walked on up. I and
one other boy were the only ones there that day. He is still living and
a good friend of mine, John T. Lewis, Jr. The Episcopal High School then
was a little smaller than it is now, but not very much, it had about 185
boys. They had just finished two new dormitories which were regarded as
the ultimate in luxury, I suppose, although they were just like horse
stalls if you lived in them.
(laughter)
Really, literally, it was just a stall with a curtain in front
of it and a narrow bed and a wardrobe to put things in and one small
chair with a straw bottom. No desk, no light, just the window. You were
not supposed to stay in there, you weren't supposed to stay in there at
all, it was just to sleep. You got up in the morning and got out of
there and went to breakfast and came back and brushed your teeth and
then you went to class and then you played in some game or athletics or
something in the afternoon and then went to study
hall at night. I was, as I mentioned awhile ago, very fortunate in my
previous instruction, since I was a couple of years younger than most of
the boys in my class. I graduated at sixteen and I played on the
baseball team, I was singles tennis champion. I was homesick as the
devil the first year, like everybody else. The school did a great deal
for me; I couldn't admire it more than I do. Mr. Hoxton, the headmaster,
was a great leader of the boys, he was a tremendous personality and a
great athlete, which was what we thought was most impressive. He was not
particularly intellectual, which I find unfortunate now, but at the
time, it didn't hurt me in the least. He was a charming gentleman, very
upright, and honorable, devoutly religious, but he never discussed any
cultural subject, as far as I can recall. On Sunday nights, the boys
would call on him and on other teachers and he was very agreeable and
would talk about almost anything except books or art. He was really just
not interested in those subjects. When I went on the board of the
school, some of us got together and decided that we were going to try to
get an art course in the curriculum. There wasn't any when I was in the
school. On the board, as I said, we brought the matter up and didn't get
anywhere with Mr. Hoxton; he just didn't think that was the sort of
thing that ought to be taught in a boy's school. Latin, Greek and
mathematics were the three things that he thought were fundamental, plus
a few other things like English, government, and history. Well, after
we butted our heads against a brick wall on
that, I talked to Mr. John Stewart Bryan, the publisher of the paper I
was working for, who was a great intimate of Mr. Hoxton. I asked Mr.
Bryan to please get hold of Mr. Hoxton the next time he went up to the
school and talk to him about an art course, which Mr. Bryan was all for
doing. He did talk to Mr. Hoxton the night before the board meeting, and
Mr. Hoxton was so completely converted that he wanted to build an entire
building devoted to art. Well, none of us wanted to do that.
(laughter)
We didn't have any money to do it with in the first place, but
we did get the art course in, and after that, musci, and musci
appreciationIt was a better balanced
curriculum. Another shortcoming was that we were not urged by the school
to take advantage of the cultural opportunities in Washington. We had
holiday every Monday and you could go to Washington once a month, if you
had the money. If you were a monitor, you could go once a week. I was a
monitor my third year, but I seldom had the money to go to Washington,
even once a month. I had an allowance of 25¢ a week, which
wasn't too unusual at that time. Some plutocrats had a dollar a week,
which seemed astronomical to me. I would sometimes get money at
Christmas and hoard it so that I could go to Washington. When we went to
Washington, it seldom occurred to use to go to an art gallery or a
symphony or to see the workings of Congress. We would go to a cheap
restaurant and get lunch and maybe to a movie. We couldn't afford to go
to any good restaurant; we would go to the Washington Lunch and get hot
cakes with syrup. That was usually the extent of our splurge.
The school did a lot for me in the sense that they
had a fine honor system and very good instruction in the courses that
they had. The teachers were remarkable; a number of them were quite
exceptional, and made a lasting impression. While the curriculum was
limited, it was typical of the era, and similar to that in most Southern
prep schools.
- DANIEL JORDAN:
-
You were editor of the school paper, weren't you?
- VIRGINIUS DABNEY:
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No, I was on it but I wasn't editor. I was only fifteen in the beginning
of my last year.
- WILLIAM H. TURPIN:
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Do you think that this was the beginning of your leanings toward
journalism, at that time, at fifteen?
- VIRGINIUS DABNEY:
-
Well, this is an interesting angle. I was on the school paper one term
and tried out the next term and didn't get it. So, my experience was
limited. I was not on the annual. I came to Virginia and tried out for
College Topics; it's the Cavalier
Daily now. I tried out for College Topics and
didn't make that. I was on the annual and it did not occur to me during
my college career to go in for journalism, especially since I had failed
to get on the college paper. I always had some facility in writing; I
didn't have any trouble with English, but I just never thought about
going into journalism. When I was in my final year at Virginia, Mr.
Hoxton, the headmaster of Episcopal High, wrote and asked me if I would
be interested in teaching at the school next year, and I said I would. I
didn't know what I wanted to do and I thought that
would be a good way to spend a year. It wouldn't be wasted and at the
same time, I would think about what I was going to do.
It still didn't occur to me to go into newspaper work until the middle of
that year, when my father wrote me and said, "Did you ever
think of going into journalism?" It was astonishing that I
hadn't thought of it, and as soon as he said that, the suggestion
appealed to me. So, I went down to Richmond to see Mr. Bryan the
publisher of the News Leader, He gave me a job
effective that next summer, at the magnificent salary of $20 a
week, which was just about par for the course.
- WILLIAM H. TURPIN:
-
This was about 1921?
- VIRGINIUS DABNEY:
-
It was 1922, I came down in March of '22 and was to go to work the first
of July.