Lewis, Kenelm Harrison, 1816-1866
Page 1
Chapel
Hill
Feb 28th 1836
Dear
Sister
,
I received a letter from
Father some few weeks since, stating that
Mother
was mending slowly. I also received a letter his
morning, from
Sister E.
(not from
Sister E
of
Mount
Prospect)
2
which says that
Mother
is gradually improving. I have waited with intense
anxiety to receive
a letter a letter
from you, but I have waited invain, invain have I stood at the Post Office when
the mail was opening, expecting to receive a letter from you, but alas! no
letter has come, viz from you. Perhaps you may say that you defered writing
until you should receive a letter from me, is this so?
I have no news that will either please, or instruct you, the whole
world appears to be covered with snow, but Winter brings with it charms as well
as sorrows, the dreariness and desolation of the landscape, the short gloomy
days, while they circumscribe our wanderings, shut in our feelings also from
rambling abroad, and make us more keenly disposed for the pleasures of the social circle. Our thoughts
are more concentrated, our friendly sympathies more aroused. But however
agreeable it may be, it is not very pleasant to me
in the morning at 6 o'clock, when the college bell arouses us from our slumbers
&c.,–
We had a celebration here last 22
nd in honour of
the illoustrous
Washington. after proceding
Page 2
to the chapel, and hearing a beautiful and appropriate oration deliverd
by
Mr McQueen
late senator from
chatham, we repaired to the principal hotel
3
& partook of a sumptuous dinner, the table was covered with syllabub, plumb
cakes, sugar cakes, sweet cakes, & as
Washington Irving says the whole "family of
cakes,"
4
&c &c. &c.
The
President
tells us that the
Trustees are determined to support the character of
this institution!!! they intend
finishing a
building, which was commenced some 10 or 15 years ago, they also intend
erecting another building to correspond with the former one.
5
Monsieur
Burgevin a native of
France has
been appointed Professor of modern languages, and is now on the
Hill performing the duties assigned by the Faculty; he is
no doubt well qualified to teach the French, & Spanish languges, Being a
native of
France, he
can teach the true pronounciation, which he says is the main object in learning
french.
My reading this session has been various, Histories, Novels,
Biography &c. some of which were very entertaining, and indespensably
necessary in the acquirement of a liberal education.
6 I
heard from
Brother
Exum
a few weeks since, they were all well;
Couisin
Willis was acting as clerk, But perhaps you have heard from him since I
have, if so, please inform me.
Page 3
Present my love to
Mother
,
Father, & all my relations, I shall expect a letter
from you in a few days, let me not be disappointed.
Envelope page
Endnotes:
1.
John Francis Speight Papers, SHC. The letter is addressed
"
Miss Emma Lewis
/
Mount
Prospect/
Edgecomb." The amount of postage, "12 1/2"
cents, is handwritten in the upper right corner. Though the letter has been
postmarked with a circular stamp, the date is too faint to read.
2. "Sister E" is
Elizabeth
(Betsy) Figures Lewis, named for her grandmother. "Sister E. of
Mount
Prospect," the family home, is
Emma
, to whom this letter is addressed.
Kenelm
also had a sister by the name of
Mary
Ann.
3. Probably the
Watts
Hotel, near present day
Graham Memorial on
Franklin
Street, owned from 1834 to 1846 by former sheriff
Thomas
D. Watts and after his death, by his widow
Lucy.
In 1834
Isaac
C. Patridge built a second hotel directly across
Franklin
Street from the
Watts
Hotel. It was open by December 30, 1834, but floundered until 1837, when
Patridge, heavily in debt, left for
New York
City (
Vickers 39).
4.
Washington Irving, "The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow," The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., ed.
Haskell
Springer (Boston: Twayne, 1978), 287.
5. The campaign to complete
Gerrard
Hall was begun in June 1832. The
Grammar School was sold, and contributions were
solicited from friends and alumni. In 1833 the trustees sold a tract of 2,560
acres not far from
Nashville,
TN, which
Major
Charles Gerrard, a
Revolutionary War veteran, had bequeathed to the
University on the condition that it "forever
remain the property of the
University." "On May 22 of [1835], the
Executive
Committee of the Board ordered that immediate steps be taken for the
completion of
Gerrard
Hall" (
Henderson 87).
Gerrard
Hall was completed by the 1837 Commencement.
Lewis
refers to "another building to
correspond with"
Gerrard
Hall; this building,
Smith Hall, now known as
Playmakers Theater, was not completed until
1851.
6. The
Philanthropic Society's "Library Register"
for 1833 to 1837 reveals that between February 2 and June 2, 1836, Lewis
checked out the following books:
History of New York,
The Disowned,
Last of the Mohicans,
Pope,
Addison's Works,
Sketch Book,
Pompeii,
Falkland, [unrecovered] Novels,
Gipsey & Infidel,
Guy Mannering,
Johnson's Introduction,
Poetical Quotations,
Junius
(
Philanthropic Society Circulation Records, Vol. S-12, UA).