Pettigrew, John, 1779-1799
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Orange
County,
University,
June 27th, 1797.
Revd Father
—
I was very much surprised to find by your letter which came to hand
by the last post that you had upon deliberating on your late resolution (with
respect to removing us from this) differed in opinion from what you first wrote
me; & which I am very sorry for as it will breed great confusion in my
studies, unless you should act up with your first resolution or what you first
wrote me; for upon hearing that I was to leave this on July and not expecting
that I should go to school anywhere else after
I
left here; I quit the study of Geography in order to get a sufficient
knowledge of Arithmetic, which I knew would be out of my power if I continued
the study of Geography, which I could study full as well at home; but if you
should persist in sending us here after July I do not suppose it would be
impracticable to enter the same class again as it went but a few lessons after
I left it, before it began to revise,
2 but it
will be much against both my brothers & my will to stay any longer than
than the time you proposed, as I can assure you the place has become very
disagreeable from the many inconveniences with which we are burthened. The
Chinches
3 or
what we call Sabines have increased & multiplied, & become so numrous,
that in the late engagements which they have had with us, they have qutite
defeated us, & obliged us to retreat from our rooms which they hold the
entire possession of at nigh
t; none of the
room-mates have been able to sleep in my room for upwards of three weeks, &
it is nearly the case with respect to all the rest; as for my part I generally
spead the tables in the passage & pour water around their feet, by which
means I escape them as they are in general bad swimers. The steward has
provided very poorly untill lately, when the
Trustees gave him a severe overhall, and I
believe threatened him severely.
4
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You desired me to give you a full & just statement of the
management of affairs, & also with regard to the conduct of the Students in
general; with such allowances as might be thought proper, with regard to the
conduct of students in general wi
performance of this request I can assure you that I feel myself quite
inadiquate to the performance of it, but in compliance with your request I
shall give you as true an account a possible. The Students in general have
nothing very criminal in their conduct excep a vile, & detestable practice
of cursing, & swearing, which has become very fashionable here, there can
be hardly a sentence spoken without some of those highflown word which sailors
commonly use to divert
on each other. As
to study I believe those who are in the senior classes, & far enough
advanced in years to study their own interest aply themselves perty clocely,
but on the contrary there are
here a great many
small boys the half of whom do little or nothing with regard to improvment;
those are the ones that make the greatest proficiency in the art of swearing. I
have given you as true a statement as I could, but as for making allowances I
know of none that could be made in those two cases, & I shall leave that
matter to be desided on according to your judgment. This I hope you will relate
to no person, as I should be sorry to be the means of spreading a report which
might injure the
University; I doubt not but its character will be
known soon enough to its own disadvantage, & confusion.
5
My
brother
& myself have both had the mumps, he had them midling
severely, & has been unwell ever since, untill within this few days; I had
the[m]
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very slightly. The students in general
have had them, but none have been injured by them excep one who had the
misfortune to be
[unrecovered] rejicula.
If you should conclude upon sending us here the remainder of this
year we must endeavour to boa
r
d in the village, as I cannot bare the thaughts of staying in
colledge, where, there is no chanse of sleeping, & there is no hause in the
village
which that is fit to take in boarders except
Mr Puckets
& I do not know whether they intend doing
doing it.
According to your request I write this letter but at the same time I
hardly think it worth while as you will certainly have determined on one or the
[oth]er before this can possibly reach you, & I question [w]hether it ever
will or not if it meets with as good
[su]ccess as its predecessors however it is quite likely that they are in the
mail at
Edenton, if
you have not inquired for them that being the place to which they were
directed.
The examination commences on the 14th of next
month. I have nothing more to relate at present. Please to present my duty to
my Mother.
Envelope page
Endnotes:
2. "it began to revise": students began to review
material previously studied in the course.
3. "Chinches": foul-smelling bugs that damage wheat,
corn, and other grains; bedbugs.
4. On December 7, 1797,
Pleasant Henderson
was appointed steward. His
contract with the
University obliged him "to furnish each Student
and other person living at commons at the said
University for Breakfast on each and every day, a
sufficient quantity of good milk or good Coffee, and Tea, or Chocolate and Tea,
together with a warm Roll or loaf of Wheat or Corn Flour, at the option of each
student, and a sufficient quantity of butter: For Dinner a Dish or Cover of
Bacon and Greens, or Beef and Turnips, together with a sufficient quantity of
fresh Meats or Fowls or Puddings and Tarts, with a sufficiency of Wheat or Corn
Bread; and for Supper a sufficiency of Coffee Tea or Milk at his option,
together with the necessary quantity of Bread or Biscuit—And to furnish
also Potatoes and all other kinds of vegetable food usually served up in
Carolina, in sufficient quantities—And to cause that the Tables be
covered every other day with clean Cloths" (
Connor 2:243). Breakfast was
to be on the table at 8:00 a.m.; dinner, at 1:00 p.m.; and supper, "before
or after Candle light as the Faculty shall direct" (
Connor 2:244).
5. The July 31, 1797, Report on the Semiannual Examinations is
positive. "The Students, in general, supported the examination with great
credit to themselves, and high honour to the Professors and Tutors."
"Rosy health appeared in the countenances of the Students, a few boys
excepted who came from the eastern parts of the state. The complaints which had
existed some short time past, against the
Steward
, had entirely subsided, and all was well"
(
Connor 2:193).
6.
John
received from the
Philanthropic Society a diploma dated
November 10, 1797, and did not return to the
University. It appears that
Ebenezer
also went home. On September 29, 1798,
Ebenezer
wrote to his friend
John London
, then at the
University: "I wish I was at the
University again. But I beleive my farther was
affraid that without strict Discipline the morals of the students would become
so depraved and vitiated that the useful knowledge they might acquire would
probably be of very little service to them or the world" (
Connor
2:355).