and therefore that he had still the inestimable blessings of meus sana in corpore sano, and that other still greater blessings, mens sibi conscia recti. In his autobiography, printed only for his relatives--a copy being given our Historical Society at the urgent request of Mrs. Spencer, we find an account of the Ball given in compliment to his class, when graduating. I must extract a description of his dress:
"The style of costume," says Gen. Mallet, "and even the manners of the present generation are not in my opinion an improvement on a half century ago. The managers would not admit a gentleman into a ball-room with boots, or even a frock coat; and to dance without gloves was simply vulgar. At Commencement Hall, (when I graduated, 1818,) my coat was broadcloth of sea-green color, high velvet collar to match, swallow-tail, pockets outside with lapels, and large silver-plated buttons; wnite satin damask vest, showing the edge of a blue undervest; a wide opening for bosom ruffles, and no shirt collar. The neck was dressed with a layer of four or five three-cornered cravats, artistically laid, and surmounted with a cambrick stock, pleated and buckled behind. My pantaloons were white canton crape, lined with pink muslin, and showed a peach blossom tint. They were rather short, in order to display flesh colored silk stockings, and this exposure was increased by very low cut pumps with shiny buckles. My hair was very black, very long and queued. I should be taken for a lunatic or a harlequin in such costume now."
I challenge Mr. Chief Manager Roberts to produce a dress as gorgeous as this on any student of the Ball of 1883.
Having provided dormitories
for sheltering the students and food for their bodily sustenance, and halls for
their mental instruction, the Trustees next addressed themselves for provision
for the religious and moral training. The old ante-revolutionary Chapel of the
Church of England, from which the place took its name, originally New Hope
Chapel, the place being likewise New Hope Chapel Hill, had gone to decay. A
building under the control of the Trustees must be erected. When it was barely
above the ground the treasury ran low; when the strong box was tapped it gave a
hollow sound. An old bachelor, one of that class, which having no immediate
claims on its bounty, sometimes redeems by beneficence to public objects their
failures in social duty, came to their relief. His name was Thomas Person. He
had been an ardent lover of liberty, had sympathized with the Regulators in
their abortive effort to shake off colonial oppressors, and had suffered from
the ravages of Tryon's army. He was prominent in resisting the exactions of the
British Government, which led to the war of Independence. He appeared at Newbern
as a
Index - Contents