History of Randolph-Macon College, Virginia / The Oldest Incorporated Methodist College in America

by Richard Irby

A. B.

JOHN C. GRANBERY, Va.
JOHN H. CLAIBORNE, Va.
JAMES R. BRANCH, Va.
JOHN S. MOORE, Va.
DALLAS SMITH, Ala.
TAZEWELL HARGROVE, N. C.
RICHARD G. MORRIS, Va.
GEORGE W. FRIEND, Va.
CHARLES E. WILLIAMS, Va.
JAMES D. BLACKWELL, Va.

A. M.

CHARLES B. STUART, Va.
TURNER M. JONES, N. C.
WILLIE M. PERSON, N. C.
J. W. SHELTON, N. C.
THOMAS B. RUSSELL, Ga.
JOHN G. BOYD, Va.
WILLIAMS T. DAVIS (Hon'y), Va.
BENJAMIN JENKINS (Honorary), Missionary M. E. Church, South, in China.

[Illustration: JAMES R. BRANCH, A. M., Colonel Artillery, C. S. A.]

D'Arcy Paul, Investing Agent and Chairman of the Finance Committee, reported the probable income for coming year at about $3,500, $2,000 of which amount to come from fees and the balance endowment dividends.

[Illustration: JOHN C. GRANBERY, A. M., D. D.]

We pause again in this narrative to give a reminiscence of College life as written in 1882 by a distinguished member of the class last named, John C. Granbery, who delivered the valedictory as first-honor man. The distinction then achieved was but a presage of his rank in the several positions he has been called to fill—Pastor, Chaplain to the University of Virginia, Chaplain in the Confederate army (in which service he was severely wounded and taken prisoner), Professor in the Vanderbilt University, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (elected 1882), and author of several works. At this writing he lives at Ashland, and is the President of the Board of Trustees.

"As the earliest of the American Methodist Colleges now extant, Randolph-Macon may be called venerable, if not ancient. But I use the prefix old in order to distinguish the College as it was at Boydton from the College as it is at Ashland. The features of contrast are many and important. In the old days slavery was, as we thought, a fixed and lasting institution; civil strife had not swept away lives and fortunes, and the South was proud, independent, fiery and enthusiastic, chivalrous withal, generous, genial; now we are just beginning to adjust ourselves to the new social and political conditions which have been imposed by a disastrous war. Then there was a single degree, Bachelor of Arts, for which the students strove, and the course of four years was prescribed, with its regular gradations of Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors; now the studies are eclectic, and the matriculates may select any one of several degrees, or study without reference to graduation. Then the lumbering stage brought up the tri-weekly, or perhaps daily, mail and passengers, and the word of the driver rang forth cheerily, but no shrill whistle of steam-engine or thunder of lightning trains disturbed the silence of the classic groves, and the attractions and distractions of the crowded, hurrying, clamorous city were out of reach and out of thought; now the steam-car and the steam-press are familiar objects, the capital is less than an hour's distance, and the stage-coach is a tradition.

"A change has taken place in the manner and measure of collegiate discipline. This is due not to the change of locality, but to the spirit of the age. It has come to be a maxim that the best government is that which governs least. We seek the minimum of restriction on liberty that is compatible with the ends of government, viz., order, morality and diligence. Formerly the dormitory system prevailed; students were required to be in their rooms during certain hours of the day and night; professors and tutors visited the buildings, seeking to surprise the inmates, in order to ascertain whether the rule was observed; there were many minute regulations which have since been abandoned. This continued exercise of authority and plan of watching provoked insubordination and evasion; the wits of the boys were set to work in order to deceive the teachers, and to break the rules without detection, or, at least, with impunity. The risk gave to mischief and lawlessness a relish they would not otherwise have possessed. Unwholesome suppers were stealthily brought to the rooms by negroes at late hours of the night; calathumps aroused the neighborhood with most hideous music; blackboards were greased; the bell-rope was cut, and old John had to blow his horn at daybreak in every row of the buildings, as a call to prayers and recitations. This provoked him greatly, and he used to say, 'If you won't be rung up as gentlemen, I must blow you up as hogs.' How heartily I have heard Dr. Smith laugh as he repeated the old negro's complaint at such times, 'We have the worstest young men, and the mostest on 'em, I ever seed!' Practical jokes, sometimes of a very disagreeable sort, were played on professors in their nocturnal rounds of inspecting the premises. Calves were hauled up into lecture-rooms, and other silly tricks were perpetrated. I am glad that these follies have passed away, that faculty and students treat each other as gentlemen and friends, and that the public sentiment of the College would not tolerate any rudeness, though disguised under the name of fun. It is well to appeal to the conscience, gentlemanly propriety and honor, and generous and kindly sentiments of young men, rather than resort to espionage and multiplied restraints.

"I appreciate the arguments in favor of locating institutions of learning on the great lines of travel, and in or near large towns. It should be easy to get to them, and get away from them. The frequent mail and the time-destroying telegraph are now indispensable where students are a small minority of the population, and where there is a vigilant and effective police many disorders are prevented, and faculties and boards of trust are saved much trouble. Low vice is cheap, and will go to the most secluded spot in search of victims; but the city presents many refined pleasures which may serve to draw off ingenuous youth from haunts of sin and projects of mischief. But there are advantages on the side of the more quiet and retired situation. It favors concentration of interest on books, lectures, and light collegiate exercises. The whole life at the country college becomes student life. There is no division of mind and heart. There is nothing to tempt the earnest youth from his proper work. The esprit du corps of old Randolph-Macon was very strong. There were hospitable and cultivated homes in the neighborhood, and most charming maidens; those who visited them found entangling alliances for life, if the fair sex consented. But the number of young ladies sufficiently near to be easily visited was small, and many of the students were not, if I must use the modern slang which was unknown in my day, calicoists. The two literary societies were centres of enthusiasm. A new Randolph-Macon student can hardly understand the intensity of devotion "Washs" and "Franks" had for their societies in those times. All students were members of the one or of the other, and were ready to brag for it, quarrel for it, and, if need be, fight for it. They did not all attend regularly the meetings, or take part in discussion and other literary exercises; their lack of presence or performance was amply atoned for by the payment of their fines, for we were always eager to replenish the treasury. But a number studied carefully the questions of debate, reading largely, and thus, forming a fondness for books and habit of reflection; they prepared their speeches, and often waxed very warm. Indeed, bitterness and strife would sometimes arise, but they soon passed away. A frequent and effective debater of rather waspish and contemptuous temper alluded one day to the arguments of his opponents as flimsy cobwebs, as he quoted one after another, and answered it, 'I brush that cobweb away,' said he. A modest, merry-hearted man on the other side—he is now one of Lee's one-armed heroes—responded: 'The gentleman called my arguments cobwebs, and it may be that they are; but to-day is not the first time that I have seen a fly caught in a spider's web, and vainly struggling to get loose.' Colonel R., an intelligent gentleman of the community, said to me more than once, when he had been listening to a spirited debate, 'It is not inferior to the best debates I have heard in the Legislature of Virginia.' Some of the most skilled debaters in church and state would give a large share of the credit for their power in deliberative assemblies to the inspiration and training of those old Randolph-Macon halls. Many foolish things were spoken there, I must admit. 'I don't know I did the thing with which I am charged,' said an excited Frank; 'but if I did, I oughtn't to be fined, for I did it with malice aforethought.' 'With malice aforethought!' responded the censor, who was our honored and beloved Duncan; 'who ever heard before of that being an excuse?' 'I said it, and I repeat it, that I did it with malice aforethought; and if the gentleman doesn't understand, I will explain that it is a law phrase, and means I didn't go to do it!'

"There were many traditions in my day of giants who had been at old Randolph-Macon. They told how Dr. Olin, the first President, a man of great head and heart, would send for an idle or offending student, place his feet on the chair where the delinquent sat so as to hold him, a close prisoner, and talk to him faithfully, yet tenderly, until with burning cheeks and floods of tears the youth promised never again to offend. It was a memorable event when the great man preached; solid thought in vast masses was driven to the mark with resistless power. There was a story of an eloquent and mighty sermon from Dr. Lovick Pierce, of Georgia, from a text which astonished every listener: 'Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.' There were glowing reports of the wonderful pathos and power of Russell, of Georgia; how he melted the cold, stone hearts of the Faculty, who were bent on sending him home, but they had all their resolves converted into admiration and sympathy for the youth who pleaded eloquently his own cause; how often he electrified his society. It was my good fortune to see and hear him in the pulpit and on the platform, when he visited the College as Commencement orator."

During the session of 1847-'48, a man of more than ordinary distinction and talent became connected as Professor with the College, Rev. Charles Force Deems. He was a native of New Jersey, and a graduate of Dickinson College. In very early manhood he came to North Carolina to represent the American Bible Society in that State. He was there only a short time before he was elected to a chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When Dr. Smith was elected President in November, 1846, he was elected Professor of Latin and Belles Lettres. He did not accept the chair at that time. In December, 1847, he did accept another, and the January following entered upon his duties as Professor of Chemistry. He remained that year and then returned to North Carolina, and entered on the regular work of an itinerant minister. It is not known why he so soon severed his connection with the College, for which he always to his latest day expressed an attachment, evidenced by more than one or two acts of interest and generosity. It is probable that there was little kindly feeling from some cause not known, or congeniality between him and the President of the College. This doubtless was the root of the bitter feud between him and Dr. Smith in after time, culminating in the alienation of many friends from each other and the North Carolina Conference from the College.

The portraits of the two now hang near together on the wall of the Trustees' room in the library, and it is hoped that all "bitterness and wrath" having been laid aside they together share the blessedness of heaven.

COLLEGE YEAR 1848-'49.

The report of the President and Faculty gives the following items for the year 1848-'49:

Students in College proper, 61; in Preparatory Schools, viz.: at the
College, 51; Ridgway, N. C., 20; Garysburg, 40; Lowell, N. C., 21;
Richlands, N. C., 20; in all, 213.

"The schools in North Carolina from the last quarterly returns are in a prosperous condition, and promise in reasonable time to operate as valuable auxiliaries."

Professor Deems resigned the chair about December, 1848. The vacancy was filled, or arranged to be filled, by Charles B. Stuart, of the class of 1845, with the privilege extended to him to spend about a year at Yale College, where Agricultural and Analytical Chemistry were made specialties. This arrangement was carried out.

At the meeting of the Board, June, 1849, a department of Agricultural
Chemistry was provided for, to be in charge of Professor Stuart.

[Illustration: RICHARD W. LEIGH, Major C. S. A.; killed at Murfreesboro,
Tenn.]

The following degrees were conferred: