A ROMANCE OF EDUCATION

Transcription

1 A ROMANCE OF EDUCATION A Narrative Including Recollections and Other Facts Connected With GREENSBORO COLLEGE SAMUEL BRYANT TURRENTINE President Emeritus, Greensboro College ILLUSTRATED THE PIEDMONT PRESS GREENSBORO NORTH CAROLINA

2 COPYRIGHT 1946 BY SAMUEL BRYANT TURRENTINE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

3 DEDICATED TO the memory of my beloved wife, who, for twenty-five years, shared the joys and trials of the Methodist Itinerancy; for twenty-two years during my presidency of Greensboro College, contributed to promoting Christian education; and, during fifty-five years, inspired me in radiant companionship along Life s journey, this book is affectionately dedicated.

4 ILLUSTRATIONS (Inserts: Including Word-Pictures and Other Records) Page G.F.C. Gold Breastpin 11 (From a drawing by Mrs. Anne Turrentine Simmonds) Between Pages Rev Peter Doub (From a Steel Engraving) 12 and 13 President and Mrs. Solomon Lea and 35 View of First Main Building 42 and 43 President and Mrs. Albert Micajah Shipp 48 and 49 (From a Daguerreotype) President and Mrs. Charles F Deems and 57 President and Mrs. Turner M Jones and 71 View of Second Main Building and 89 (From Architect s Drawing) Miss Dora Duty Jones 98 and 99 President and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Dixon 100 and 101 (President Dixon From a Wood-Cut) President and Mrs. Frank L Reid and 111 President and Mrs. Dred Peacock and 117 (President Peacock-From a Steel Engraving) President Lucy H Robertson (From a Steel Engraving) 120 and 121 View of Third Main Building and Architect s Drawing 122 and 123 Fitzgerald Hall (Dormitory) 124 and 125 Mr. Joseph Wood Fitzgerald 124 and 125 President and Mrs. Samuel B Turrentine and 127 (President Turrentine From an Oil Portrait) Miss Nannie Lee Smith 130 and 131 Governor Charles B Aycock (From a Steel Engraving) 132 and 133 Mr. and Mrs. Charles H Ireland and 139 Hon. Josephus Daniels and 145 Hudson Hall (Dormitory) 152 and 153 Mrs. Mary Taylor Hudson 152 and 153 Odell Memorial (Auditorium) 180 and 181 Mr. and Mrs. J A Odell 180 and 181 (Mrs. Odell From an Oil Portrait) Mr. Benjamin Newton Duke 200 and 201 President and Mrs. Luther Lafayette Gobbel 236 and 237 View of Fourth Main Building (Present, 1946) Aurelia Bowman Gray Student Hospital and 259 Mrs. Aurelia Bowman Gray 258 and 259 Mrs. John W Hanes 266 and 267 Air-View of College Campus and Environment 272 and 273 (Taken in 1945)

5 CONTENTS Page Dedication 3 Illustrations (Inserts: Including Word-Pictures and Other Records) 4 Introduction 6 Foreword 7 CHAPTER I Frontier Conceptions in Establishing Greensboro College 13 CHAPTER II President Solomon Lea s Administration ( ) 35 CHAPTER III President Albert M. Shipp s Administration ( ) 48 CHAPTER IV President Charles F. Deems Administration ( ) 56 CHAPTER V President Turner M. Jones Administration ( ) 71 CHAPTER VI President Benjamin Franklin Dixon s Administration ( ) 101 CHAPTER VII President Frank L. Reid s Administration ( ) 110 CHAPTER VIII President Dred Peacock s Administration ( ) 116 CHAPTER IX President Lucy H. Robertson s Administration ( ) 120 CHAPTER X President Samuel B. Turrentine s Administration ( ) 126 CHAPTER XI President Luther Lafayette Gobbel s Administration (1935-Present) Conclusion 272 Appendix (Not Indexed) 273 Index-Including Table of Contents-Enumerated 315

6 INTRODUCTION THE traditional negative attitude of Americans in regard to higher education for women had hardly changed from colonial times until a quarter of the nineteenth century had passed. A few brave souls with courage to launch into intellectual and social frontiers began to pioneer as the first third of that century was coming to a close. There was no institution in existence in the United States providing higher education for women when, in the first administration of a great pioneering president, Andrew Jackson, a brave Methodist divine, Dr. Peter Doub, launched a Christian adventure in North Carolina. Just after retiring from active ministry this Christian leader wrote: In 1832 the writer commenced a school in the town of Greensborough, N.C. This was intended by the writer as the incipient measure for the establishment of a college provided he could succeed in this. He was the pioneer in the movement in Greensboro, North Carolina, and in the North Carolina Methodist Conference to establish a college for women. The seed sown on good ground seems to have germinated into an institution for women, chartered in 1838 and flourishing in full bloom today. In this volume, A Romance of Education, Dr. S. B. Turrentine, President Emeritus of Greensboro College, has given his many admirers an interesting account of that heroic institution. He has sought widely for personal letters and papers of those who have been connected with or known the college and has found much very interesting material, even from living alumnae who graduated as early as the middle 1870 s. Among the interesting materials will be found more than forty photographs of important people, of buildings and grounds, from the early years of the institution s founding to the administration of the present President. A considerable portion of the book is autobiographical, with interesting reminiscences, treating of Dr. Turrentine s own fine contribution to the life of the institution and to Christian education in general. The Appendix contains many condensed facts, including information contained in extracts taken from old catalogues of the early years of the college. These materials, and the many personal letters and papers quoted, are valuable for use in research. All in all, it is an interesting and inspiring chapter in the history of education for women. M. L. SKAGGS Head of Department of History and Economics July 20, Greensboro College

7 FOREWORD T H E fact that Methodism was a pioneer in the higher education of women in America accords with the true spirit of that church. Greensboro College, Greensboro, North Carolina, was chartered in 1838 as Greensboro Female College, and is the second oldest chartered college for women in the South and the third oldest in the United States. Of all chartered colleges for women now in existence, it is the first chartered by the Methodist Church. (Bulletin of Greensboro College Catalogue Historical Sketch, p. 13.) In the book of Dr. Paul Neff Garber, Dean of Divinity School, Duke University, now Bishop Garber, published by the Piedmont Press, Greensboro, N.C., 1928, entitled, That Fighting Spirit of Methodism, the author wrote: Although John Wesley had a great father, he had a much greater mother. It was Susanna Wesley who did the major part in moulding the life of her son, thus indirectly influencing the future of Methodism. After the age of five they (Susanna Wesley s children) spent six hours a day in study under the individual instruction of their mother Susanna Wesley s influence followed John to Oxford University The above facts verify the statement of Dr. Stevens: In the household of the Epworth rectory can be traced the origin of Methodism. Another historian has said that the mother of John Wesley was the mother of Methodism. This book mentioned was followed by another work by the same author, published by the Piedmont Press, 1931, entitled: The Romance of American Methodism. In the preface to The Romance of American Methodism, Dr. Garber states: The purpose of this book is to present to the followers of Wesley a picture of the heroic era of Methodism. The following transcript of a letter from the late Dr. C. Alphonso Smith, native of Greensboro, N.C., is significant in the narrative which is herewith attempted: UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY Annapolis, Maryland Department of English 7 April, 1923 Dr. Samuel B. Turrentine Greensboro College Greensboro, N.C. MY dear Dr. Turrentine: In my O. Henry Biography, page 27, I say: The later history of the Greensboro College for Women has been the romance of education in North Carolina. And it is a pleasure to add that at no time in

8 its history has it been serving a wider constituency or serving it more effectively than at present. The College had its cornerstone laid in 1843 and has thus been a significant factor in the growth and development of the city and state and indeed of the entire South. Any aid extended it will be wisely invested and will bear rich dividends in character and usefulness. Sincerely yours, C, ALPHONSO SMITH Head of Department of English The term Romance has a varied meaning, including: A tale of chivalry. Chivalry includes: Especially, the system as marked by the championship of woman and of knightly honor. The only chivalry worth having is that which is the readiest to pay deference to the old, protect the feeble, and serve womankind, regardless of rank, age or color. -Louisa M. Alcott in Little Women. Miss Nannie Lee Smith of Greensboro, N.C., an alumna of Greensboro College, having led in rescuing the Dear Old Alma Mater from oblivion, especially during the period of , named by Dr. C. Alphonso Smith The romance of education in North Carolina, has been called the Joan of Arc in leading the forces of Alumnae and other friends of the College for saving the veteran institution of learning in the time of dire distress. This sobriquet indicates the heroine in leading the forces to victory. Accordingly, Miss Smith occupies a distinct place in the romance of education. Decision has been made to include in this volume the pictures of the presidents, of the wives of the presidents, and the pictures of a few others who rendered essential service in behalf of the College. Such recognition of the women indicated is in accord with giving honor to whom honor is due to such members of the uncrowned heroines of history in the cause of Christian education. In addition to inserting the pictures mentioned, effort has also been made to include a word-picture, or a description of each of the men and women indicated by the pictures. At first, the author of this book intended to record some recollections connected with Greensboro College, including especially events familiar to the writer, to preserve such matter for future history. However, suggestions were made by various friends of both the College and the author to enlarge the scope of the narrative by including a comprehensive history of Greensboro College before important material might become unavailable. Accordingly, an editorial appeared in the Greensboro Daily News, Greensboro, N.C. ( ), announcing that material was being gathered for a Greensboro College History, and requesting that any information which might be helpfui in the writing of such a history should be sent to Miss Mary C. Brock, alumnae secretary, Greensboro College.

9 In such task two classes of surprises have been realized: One class consists of learning of the absence or meagerness of much needed facts presumed to be available from relatives still living. The other class of surprises includes information and matter not expected to be discovered, but still much desired for the history. Many persons seem to lack interest in history, whether of family or of any other kind. For example: Dr. Albert Micajah Shipp was president of Greensboro College (1847 to 1850); was professor of history at the University of North Carolina ( ) ; president of Wofford College ( ); and was dean and professor of exegetical theology in Vanderbilt University (1876 to 1886). Yet, Dr. Edwin Mims, in research for material for History of Vanderbilt University, admitted that he had failed to find any information of interest on record at either the University of North Carolina or at Vanderbilt. Again, Sarah Augusta Tempest Stone Jones, first wife of Dr. Turner Myrick Jones, a native of Franklin County, N.C., the native county of Dr. Jones, born March 23, 1827, was the mother of the first five children of Dr. Jones, two of whom were born in Greensboro while Dr. Jones was president of Greensboro Female College, and the first wife died in Greensboro July 4, 1856, and was buried in the T. M. Jones plot in Green Hill Cemetery, Greensboro, where her grave is beside that of Dr. Jones, and the inscription of her name and date of birth and statement of age are on the obelisk; yet, there is no information available about her funeral, nor any trace of her picture, nor any personal description of her! Sic transit gloria mundi! Anticipating the readers surprise that fuller accounts of a few of the persons related to the College have not been given, I wish to explain that the reason for such brief treatment is that additional material for a more extended narrative could not be found. I have completed the writing of this book in the year My present connections with Greensboro College are as President Emeritus and a member of the faculty as special lecturer of Bible. I am in my eighty-fourth year, and, as I neared the completion of this work, I realized more fully how impossible it was to render the title of this book, A Romance of Education-A Narrative Including Recollections and Other Facts Connected with Greensboro College, complete justice. I am, therefore, obliged to be content with merely presenting the facts as I have experienced them during my various connections over the many years with the College; my research; and the assistance of a number of my good friends, who have rare knowledge of the institution s past, present, and their hopes for its future. Special acknowledgment is made to the Alumnae Secretary for her untiring service in co-operating to secure valuable matter for the history. To Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Jones, appreciation is expressed for co-operation in furnishing valuable aid, especially in research through

10 the Greensboro Public Library for matter suited to the history of the College. To my son, Walter W. Turrentine, who has been engaged in the publishing business for a number of years, I take this opportunity to express my thorough appreciation for the timely work he has contributed in the matter of typing of manuscript; proof-reading; and in the preparation of manuscript and pictures for the printer. And, to my daughter, Mrs. Anne T. Simmonds (attended G.F.C ; ) acknowledgment is made of the sketch of the old G.F.C., gold breastpin, originally worn by her mother-class of 1887). For the special interest taken in the supervision of the printing and binding of this book, I express my appreciation to Mr. R. R. Mitchell, of the Piedmont Press (The Methodist Board of Publication, Inc.) Appreciation is also recorded for very helpful co-operation on the part of many others in furnishing information for this book. The trials of the College have been numerous, and because of three disastrous fires, many valuable records have been destroyed. I have purposely included certain material verbatim in order to illustrate and typify the periods covered in the history of the institution. In presenting this book, I hope that it may be the forerunner of similar histories of the College, written by each succeeding retired president. In the course of time thereby a perpetual history of the College, written by each president from his own recollections and firsthand information of his administration, in connection with other facts, may be portrayed. Such books will be found valuable as reference books, and interesting and helpful reading, especially to those interested in Greensboro College. Since my resignation as president, effective at Commencement of 1935, I have been actively associated with the College, as stated, but I am not in a position to relate in figures and detailed facts the history of the College during its present administration. I, therefore, include mainly the facts during this period as an observer, and look forward to the present president s taking up anew the history of the College including his administration to the time of its writing. Greensboro, N.C. September 4, 1945, SAMUEL BRYANT TURRENTINE.

11 A Familiar Piece of Jewelry the old G.F.C. Breastpin; worn by Mothers and Grandmothers of many present-day students of Greensboro College. A Romance of Education