trusted officers or legislators of our State, or in the pursuits of private life. With these Person was a fit associate. As Senator from Granville he gave his vote for the new institution. He did more. He put his hand into his pocket. He pulled out and dropped into its treasury shining gold. In grateful memory of his services to the State the General Assembly gave his name to a gallant little county carved out of old Orange. In gratitude for his generous gift the Trustees called the new Chapel after him--Person Hall--or as it still appears on the diploma, Aula Personica.
In this Hall our ancestors worshipped for nearly fifty years. On its platform verdant Freshmen and sapient Sophomores and dignified Juniors spouted about "They tell us, sir, that we are weak," and "Blind old Bard of Scio's Rocky Isle," and "Boys standing on Burning Decks," and "Lindens when the Sun was low," and on grand Commencement occasions "most potent, grave and reverend Seniors made Latin Salutatories, in which every allusion to "formosissimoe puelloe Septentrionalis Carolinnoe," (all the Latin the boys understood), was greeted with tumultuous applause, delivered valedictories loaded with mournful farewells, and dissertations in Literature, Science and History, worthy to live forever--or at any rate to fill the pages of a University Monthly,
Although this building is named Person Hall, yet, because of its use as a church on Sundays and for morning and evening prayers, it gained the name of "the Chapel," and when Gerrard Hall was built, the former was called and is so known to this day by old students as "the Old Chapel." I have heard recent students speak of Physics Hall, but that is a desecration. "Throw Physic(s) to the dogs". I would as soon steal the old General's monument and convert it into a door-step, as purloin his name from his building. So whenever a visitor asks you where is Dr. Venerable's Industrial Museum, which he has collected and arranged with such intelligent skill, carry him straight to PERSON HALL.
A larger Hall was needed for the growing institution. The building where we now are assembled was begun in 1822. It was called after another revolutionary hero--not a bachelor, but childless. He was a native of Carteret, but long a resident of Edgecombe. Major Chas. Gerrerd. He served in the war of the revolution from the beginning to the end. As a soldier he was "brave, active and persevering." His character as a citizen, husband, father, friend and neighbor was justly admired by all who knew him. His rank in the army (Lieutenant) entitled him to a grant of 2560 acres, which he located at the junction of Yellow Creek with Cumberland river, not far below the city of Nashville. I hold in my hand the original grant sealed with the great seal of the State. This tract, the fruit of his toil and suffering and blood, he regarded with peculiar affection, and when he bequeathed this, with some 10,000 acres additional' which he had purchased, he requested in his will that it should perpetually remain the property of the University. For 35 years the Trustees regarded this wish as sacred. But after this long experiment, after losses from neglect and perfidy of agents and the onerous charges of high taxes, while the black cloud of debt hung over the institution, they concluded with sorrow to authorize its sale. Two of their ablest lawyers, Gaston & Badger, after examination reported the following resolution,
"WHEREAS, The Trustees of the University of North Carolina have been compelled to direct a sale of a valuable tract of land, bequeathed by Major Charles Gerrard, with the request that the same might be perpetually retained by the University, and
WHEREAS, They are solicitous not only to manifest their own sense of the liberality of
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