McLaurin, William H.
Page 1
Chapel Hill
N. C Sept 2nd 1860
Dear
Bro,
Your last of the 27
th
2
came to hand this morning and was read and reread, and the "remark"
made by afriend pondered and reflected upon. With all honor due him, whoever he
may be, I beg leave to differ with him in saying "that the very fact of a
mans having the opportunity of graduating, and does not avail himself of it,
will be of more injury to him in any future undertaking, than he can obliterate
by four years of fruitful labor, even if he should be as good a scholboy as
though he had graduated". I deny this assertion "in toto". but
do not say that I will not receive any advice from or profit
from by the remarks of a friend. The fact that "a man refuses
to graduate" is not an injury that cannot be obliterated, but it certainly
is an injury to spend time for the mere emptiness of being a graduate without
any improvement, it is not only a sheer waste of time, but it is the travelling
of a long—a dreary road beset with many dangers and quicksands peculiarly
attractive to those the least inclined to relax their labors and listen to the
syren song of a deluded fancy, which one would acquire in the course of four
years of idleness subjected to but a very slight temptation, he would indulge
in vices and form habits more injurious and difficult to rid one's self of,
than to cleanse the Augean stables of their filth, for it not unfrequently
happens that a promising youth enters
college
highly elated with the prospect of success—cheered on by the encouraging
words of every passer by—ambitious to satisfy the sanguine expectation of
his most zealous relatives and friends,—the laurel wreath impatient to
press his fervid brow—and the lovely, bewitching smiles of his
"dulcinia" flitting upon the clear sky of his unclouded imagination,
promissing him ten
Page 2
thousand thousand kisses and
giving him a few to start on—with the avowal that the rest shall be as
good or better—and they not taken into the account. Yet when the race is
run and the end is nearly attained, the venomed shaft is hurled—the vile
old demon has outstripped the pauser reason—despondency, gloom, and
disappointment now reign supreme when once all was sunshine and smiles, and to
suppose that one would fall from such an eminence and fail of sucess under such
encouragments,—epecially the latter—, what would be the condition
of one who would serve an apprenticeship of four years for the vain title of a
graduate? He certainly would trust his reputation
& his fortune to the rawhide-rattle of a
"sheepskin" and the reputation of an instition, which he
would tends to defame, polute, and
destroy by his own slothful and idle example and when the aprenticeship is
served, and the late bondman steps into the new arena,—the active scenes
of life—, he'll find full soon, that, insted of lolling on flowing beds
of ease, the pen of the poet never recorded a more homely truth than that
contained in the few words,—to wit;
"This world is all a fleeting show
To mans illusion given."
3
Then it is that
is that he sees the fruit of his choice
and the error of his way—contrasts his condition with what he was and
what he might have been, if his time had been otherwise employed—and
firmly convinces himself that he could accomplish
more in four weeks of
moderate labor than his
habits formed and "sheepskin" unworthily obtained can
ever accomplish for him in any
future undertaking, and if disposed to put the blame on any other than his
own devoted head, will point with a scornful finger to the suggestor of the
"sheepskin" and be want to consider him his fellest foe and a most
consumate villain.
Page 3
These are some of the objections that might be urged. If a man is
a perfect schollar he needs
no diploma, but if he trust to a diploma that he
can't read to wind his way for him, his crown will never be studded with pearls
and gems that will eclipse the splendor of the noonday sun.
From the tenor of your letter you have certainly misunderstood
what I said, or I didn't say enough to convey the idea I intended. whatever I
did say I intended saying "quit for a while"
at which makes the inference somewhat
plainer.
It is contrary to human nature not to accept a generous and
friendly offer, and I can't say that I am an exception to the general rule. 1/2
the amount is as much as I want and more than I could ask for or reasonably
expect, and when I have obtained the other half by my own exertion, if insisted
upon will accept the generous offer of a kind uncle, for which I am much
obliged. In quitting College it is not my intention to stop entirely or assume
the retrograde notion, which I agree with you that it would be out
of place and absurd, but cant convince myself that you have placed your figures
within bounds in saying that "by quitting College now you could not expect
to occupy a position acceptable to two thirds of mankind". In your
eagerness to have me continue you have been extravagant in your comparisons or
have placed the "positions acceptable to mankind" in a very high
scale, as I think that any man with common sense—whether I posess that
quality or not—can occupy a position acceptable to 99/100 of mankind, and
the other 1/100 are only those who would reject with contempt and brand with
infamy the honest vocations, the latter I have no desire to imitate nor do I
suppose any one would
Page 4
I was in
Harnett
[County, NC] promptly at the appointed time and remained there four days
spending them very pleasantly.
Nannie
was there on a visit when I arrived.
Mr Flemming will move to
Arkansas this
winter and is now on a visit to that country at least he was to start in about
two weeks when I was down. I also had the pleasure of delivering an enveloped
package from you to young cousin, and upon being
allowed the priviledge of reading it was truly sorry to see that you still
insist upon it that c-o-u-d, w-o-u-d, s-h-o-u-d are all the letters requisite
to the good spelling of the words could, would, & should, if you will
insist that it is so I insist that you appeal to an
unabridged authority or any other that may be convenient, and I think that you
will be thoroughly convinced of your error. In the hurry of writing any one is
liable to leave out a letter or a word, but when any one leaves out a
particular letter of particular words every particular time that those
particular words are used and that too after that particular omission of a
particular letter being particularly pointed out, particularly often, it
indicates a particular peculiarity of a particular person to be particularly
negligent of particular spelling, and I particularly asked your
"cousin" to particularly ask you how you spelled particular words,
and after this if you still insist upon having it so, I can't particularly
insist upon any particularity whatever. I hope that you make no such mistakes
upon your books, if you do you are certainly deficient in one of the essentials
of a good book-keeper and must make particular improvements before you'll be
considered an adept in the art
Father,
Angus,
M[o]llie &
Mary
are with you or will be before this and you will hear the news from them if
they have any tell
Mollie that I havenot heard from
[unrecovered]—since he left
Raleigh—where he wanted the engineer to go by
Averasboro
4
as it was the shortest way to
Wilmn
poor fellow
Endnotes:
2.
Archy's letter to
William
survives. It is dated September 27, 1860, and
advises
William
not to leave college for financial reasons because it would limit his
options for employment. The letter also cautions
William
against working at a depot. Given the date of
Archy's letter,
William
evidently misdated his letter, which probably was
written on October 2, not September 2, 1860.
3.
Thomas
Moore,
"This World Is All a Fleeting Show,"
Sacred
Songs (1816).
4. Formerly a town on the
Cape Fear
River in southeast
Harnett
County, NC, near present-day
Erwin. The
town declined after the
Civil War
and was practically abandoned by 1888.
5. The postscript, beginning "Where is Hugh D.", appears
in the upper right corner of page one and is written upside down with respect
to the rest of page one.