Jones, Alpheus
Page 1
Chapel
Hill
9th May 1838.
Dear
Peter
:
I have been on the verge of writing to you for the last fortnight;
but owing to some casual occurrences, at the time when I would have commenced,
I have been prevented from it; and thus have I deferred to answer your letter,
which I was happy to receive some time last month, until the present time.
Moreover I heard Walker
2
speak of writing to you; and as I suppose it would be more agreeable to you to
receive the two letters, being from the same place, after a short interval, it
may be that I have fallen upon a more suitable time for writing than I should
have done had I commenced a week or two ago. I hope, however, you will not
employ my delay in writing to you as an excuse not to answer this shortly.
The Faculty have begun to make some slight preparations for
Commencement. The
3
broken places in the plastering of our library, too, have been repaired, &
Fanning, from
Wilmington, is expected to come up in a few days to paint
the hall in the best of style;
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and I think it more
than probable that we will employ him to paint the ceiling; & then the
places which have been mended, will not be at all apparent. Our new mantle
pieces, also, will be put up in a short time; so that, with the aid of our new
curtains, I hope we will be able to make a pretty good show in June.
The two Societies have ratified the stipulation of which I have
already written to you (viz.) "That each Society shall, alternately,
select one of its members to address the Senior Class & alumni of the
University on the Wednesday evening preceeding
Commencement."
4
Mr. C.
Manly
of
Raleigh
has been chosen by our
Society to deliver this address next June & he
has accepted the appointment. I have no doubt but that he will do
the
Society and himself considerable honor not only on
account of his own talents but also by being contrasted with
Shepard
.
5
Professor Green
is to address our
Society on the Tuesday night before Commencement.
Considering all these circumstances, I think the inducements to attend our next
Commencement, are greater than they have been for attending others heretofore;
and, from what I have heard, I suppose the numbers of visitors
6 will
be very great.
The Senior speaking took place on the evenings of the 2nd, 3rd &
4th of instant; the speeches were generally very good; one of the best was
Hobson's
on the relation of
N.
Carolina &
Virginia;
near the
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close, he introduced
Va. as
addressing
N.
C. and
N.
C. as replying; this part was excellent. Another of the best was
Long's
on the pleasures of a College life—a
'funny'—; this was excellent throughout and he was applauded
throughout at every sentence; it has
been acknowledged by all whom I have heard speak of it the best of the kind
they ever
heard—I would give you an idea
or two contained in it but they are all so good I don't ~ know to which one to
give the preference. The Senior report will be read in about a fortnight. I
would be glad, if I could, to inform you who will get first; but I believe it
is generally thought by the Class that
Cuthbert
and
Davis
will [be] put equal.
7
Our Ball, so far as the supper is concerned (which will be furnished
by
Miss N. Hilliard
) will be superior to that of last
Commencement; but I fear it will be inferior to it in some other respects; for
something had been said of admitting all who may wish to attend, free of
charges; & you know if this is the case, the society will not be very
select.
Gov.
Swain
expects to teach a private law school if he can get a
sufficient number of Students; five, I believe, is the number with which he
would commence. Davis, Long, Walker & Wilder
8
speak of studying under him.
W. W. Avery
, (who is now in
Newbern under the instruction of
Judge Gaston
) is expected up shortly,
& more than probable he will also study under him; write shortly.
Envelope page
Endnotes:
1.
Wilson and Hairston Family Papers, SHC. The letter is addressed
"
Mr. Peter W. Hairston
,/
University of/Virginia." and is stamped with a
circular postmark in the upper left corner; "
CHAPEL
HILL
N.C." appears in the circumference of the
circle, and "MAY 10" appears in the center of the circle. The amount
of postage, "18 3/4" cents, is handwritten in the upper right corner
of the envelope.
3.
Jones
wrote
The on top of
Our.
4. The resolution is recorded in the minutes of the
Philanthropic Society for April 6, 1838 (
Vol. S-9,
UA) and in the minutes of the
Dialectic Society for April 13, 1838 (
Vol. 8,
UA).
5. Whereas
Manly
gave what was called the "alumni address,"
William Biddle Shepard
(1799-1852) gave the "annual
address" on "The Value of the Classics in Education" at the 1838
Commencement.
Shepard
had been a member of the
Philanthropic Society before he was expelled in 1816
(see Chapter One,
"Speech of William B. Shepard").
Battle
comments, "His accepting this trust shows that
he had forgiven his dismissal for injecting politics into his Senior speech of
1816" (
1:438).
6.
Jones
wrote
o on top of
e.