Louisiana State University - Gumbo Yearbook (Baton Rouge, LA)

Page 8 text:

6 Nostalgia

Page 7 text:

... . in the mess hall, discipline of the boys, and the curriculum offered, but most of these problems were ironed out until the middle of the second ses- sion. At that time, Sherman was forced to resign owing to the out- break of the Civil War, and not before he told each of the Seminary ' s now 120 students personally goodbye. Sherman took command of the Union Army while the student body joined the Confederate forces. The Seminary- was closed during the duration of the war. In 1865, under the leadership of David French Boyd, a member of the original faculty, the school resumed. The next four years were full of hard- ships with the Seminary because of the loss of books and equipment at the school and the Reconstruction attitude in the South. Although race relations were precarious and eco- nomic conditions were critical, the Seminary managed to make some progress during early Reconstruction. A high point of the Reconstruction era wa s the Seminary ' s first graduat- ing class, eight young men were pres- ented diplomas in 1869. These cadets were the Seminary ' s only graduates while it was located in Rapides Par- ish. The hardships worsened also in 1869 when the Seminary building burned on October 1 5 of that year for unknown reasons. The building was destroyed, but many books and equip- ment were saved. One professor of modern language, whose hobby was botany, was reported by the cadets that instead of saving his clothes and possessions from the fire, he ran from the burning building with his arms full of wild flowers. Two weeks after the fire, classes resumed at the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind in Baton Rouge. . ...

Page 9 text:

uch was the high sense of honor of the old school that if a boy stole any- thing he was surely tried by the cadets themselves and escorted to the first boat; his buttons were cut from his coat and he was told to make himself scarce forever. In my whole experience we had but three cases where this course was necessary. We used to haze every fresh fish and made his life miserable for a few days. Fraternities did not exist in the school. They were looked upon with disapproval by the authorities. There was but one fraternity man in the fac- ulty. The chief club activities were the Madison and Jefferson debating socie- ties. Col. Prescott was an honored mem- ber of the former and he used to engage in fiery debates. The entire corps of cadets turned out to hear him thor- oughly thrash out such subjects as: Resolved, that there is more pleasure in Anticipation than in Realization. Resolved, that a negro is more stub- born than a mule. Most of the boys were dead-game sports. There were two things most enjoyed at the dinner meal: pie and milk. It was not an uncommon sight to see a cadet wager the entire session ' s pie or milk on a baseball game, or a foot race. The chief athletic interests were baseball and marching. The former was carried on under great difficulties, chiefly because the best games were played in West Baton Rouge on Sun- days. Once the President said that if they got on the ferry boat they would all be dismissed. They all took skiffs. Affairs of honor were rather encour- aged. They were so frequent that it was the custom when quarrels could not be settled amicably for the corps to go out about half a mile from the school and form a ring. Marquis of Queensbor- ough rules were always used, and every cadet did what he could to prevent an amicable adjustment. There was not one-fourth of the endowment, or one-fourth of the num- ber of the students of today. There were 11 in the faculty, not including the phys ician and his assistant, profes- sors of mathematics, ancient languages, modern languages, botany, chemistry, physics, English, and metaphysics, assistant in mathematics, and comman- dant of cadets, while the professor of agriculture was contemptuously refer- red to as the professor of beef or the butcher. Agricultural and Mechanical courses were not much. You could get a dip- loma in them by making a baseball bat and rolling pin. Mechanical drawing was more complete. In the early days the race feeling ran high. The cadets were in the habit of going swimming in the river a little below the school, where the levee now runs into the bluff. When a few white boys went a great number of negroes would also go. Naturally this led to trouble. One day a good swimmer ducked some negroes very deep. The white boys got out and when they were dressed the negroes fired on them. The next day the entire corps went swim- ming. They carried swords, bayonets, and old pistols. The negroes failed to materialize. When it grew dark three boys were set upon by a mob of three hundred negroes, who attempted to kill them. There were two hundred shots fired. War broke out. The entire corps under their officers, with muzzle load- ing rifles, marched out of the campus with the determination to exterminate the whole negro population. The Major and President Boyd finally induced them to return. The result was that five negroes were finally sent to the peni- tentiary. In 1879 Col. T. D. Boyd was Com- mandant of Cadets. The commissioned officers asked permission to go to a ball out in town. It was refused. The boys went anyhow. Next day all ranking commissioned officers were expelled. Little less than outlawry reigned. Law and order were overlooked. Bedding was thrown from the rooms; so were scuttles of coal and pitchers. The cadets formed a plot to march out on the bou- levard and stack arms. After about ten days things calmed down and, though some of the cadets had over one thou- sand demerits, they were not expelled. From 1870 to ' 80 the Dummies [the deaf mutes] occupied a part of the building with the cadets. They were highly respected among the cadets, chiefly because if they would engage in an encounter and want to say enough the Dummies would not understand them and would continue their pum- meling. In 1880 the Dummies were moved to the building now occupied by Dr. T. P. Singletary, comer of Church and Florida Street, where they remained till the University was moved to its present site. You have among you one ripe in years, an honorable professor, a pillar of the church, a pious man; but before I close I feel it is my duty to tell the truth, for I think perhaps it will never be told if I do not tell it. Once I heard it accidentally, I really believe, and yet I am not absolutely certain, I heard him use something that sounded mighty bad. I refer to Col. Nicholson. Our class in arithmetic was reciting and he sent a long, hungry-looking boy up to the board. The young man figured and figured, entirely out of line with the methods of working the sum, and then looking in the back of the book he put down the answer he found there. The Colonel who had been watching him suspiciously, looked provoked and when the boy put down a final answer, the Colonel said in a whisper, not thinking anybody heard him, By Gub- bins, he ' s fudged the answer! .0.. O LSV A jjju nc, U sfiJ Nocalgu -