Letter from
Thomas Ruffin, Jr. to his father,
Thomas Ruffin
, July 24, 1843
Ruffin, Thomas, Jr.
Page [1]
Chapel
Hill
July 24th 1843
Dear Father
!
Knowing, as I did, that you would be desirous to hear of our situations in
college, I should surely have written ere this, had not circumstances prevented
my so doing. I suppose that you heard, from D
r
Brodnax, that I was unwell
whilst he was here. My indisposition continued for several days &
indeed I have not entirely recovered yet, though I am better by a good deal. But
I was so fortunate as not to miss any of my requisite duties. for we arrived
before the commencement of the session, by two days & by that time I
had improved so much as to be able to attend prayers. though not without some
pain & contrary to D
r
Jones
injunctions.
George & myself have
a room together. It is quite a good room, just under that of Tutor
Graves.
James
&
Rufus Smith took a
room togather, but unfortunately
Rufus was compelled to return home. after two day'
s
confinement. from ill health. He expressed a great reluctance to leave
& I think, would have remained even at the expense of his health, had
not
Page [2]
his friends persuaded him to venture
home. as it was his father'
s wish that he should do, in
case, his heath was at all affected.
The number of students has increased some what since last session & the
new numbers are quite an addition. as a large number of them joined high
classes.
The faculty, by permission of the Trustees, have
returned to us the Saturday Mornings, in pursuance with a partition sent them.
from the two Societies.
D
r
Mitchell
has had an interview with me this session & stated
that it was his intention. not to take any boarders after this session. I
infered from this, that he had taken some exceptions to my conduct &
accordingly I told him that since that was the case, I was willing to with draw
at present, but he gave me perfect assurance that this was not the case
& expressed a desire that I should remain with him. so long as he
continued to keep boarders, which I did accordingly. He stated as his reason for
quiting, that he knew it was wrong for him to have young men as boarders. To
what he infered I do not know, but think that he has heard of all his boarders
requesting permission to leave his house. which was the case & all
except two, besides myself, have left them & one of those has written
home asking leave to quit now.
George McNeil has left him. D
r
Page [3]
Mitchell
stated to me that he
did not care for
James'
s having left him, but that
George fail to treat him rightly. in not giving him
previous notice the consequence being that he had made arrangements to take him,
which
George was bound to
comply with.
I heard from home to-day by Chany, who came down on yesterday. She stated that all were well. She
intends leaving on tomorrow for Hillsborough where she has permission to
remain untill Saturday next.
James received a letter from
his father by the last mail. He expects to pay us a visit some time during this
week.
I suppose that you have heard of the [unrecovered] of Mr Cad, Jones' child.
Give my best respects to Mrs Taylor & to Judge Cameron & family, if you please.
We all join in love to you
Beleive me to be your affectionate Son
Thos Ruffin
Jr
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