Raleigh High School - Rattler Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

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Biographical Sketch if Hugh Morson, the Principal of the Raleigh High School, was born at Little Falls, near Fredericksburg, Stafford County, Va., 1850. His father, Dr. Hugh Morson, though he lived on his farm in later life, was at an earlier period a surgeon in the United States Navy, serving with the cele- brated Lieutenant Maury, the first man to make a systematic study of the currents and the bottom of the sea. His mother was, before her marriage to Dr. Morson, Miss Rosalie Light- foot. He was prepared for college at the academy of Judge Coleman, and went to the University of Virginia in 1869, remaining two years. Mr. Morson's first experience as a teacher was gained as a private tutor in the family of Col. Thos. Carter, in King William County, Va. In 187 4 he moved to Hillsbo-ro, N. C., where he taught in the military academy of Horner and Graves. From Hillsboro he moved to Raleigh, in 1877, where he first taught with a Mr. Scott. In 1878 Mr. Morson and Capt. John Fray established the Raleigh Male Academy, successor of the old Lovejoy Academy, on the site of what is now the Governor's Mansion. The following spring Mr. Morson married Miss Sallie Field, of Port Royal, Va., and settled permanently in Raleigh. In 1884 the Raleigh Male Academy was moved to Bloodworth St., between Eden- ton and Jones streets. Captain Fray died in 1885, and soon afterwards Mr. Morson formed a partnership with Capt. C. B. Denson. The school was conducted by Mr. Morson and Captain Denson for thirteen years. After Captain Denson retired Mr. Morson managed the Raleigh Male Academy alone until 1905, when he became Principal of the High School which, under his competent supervision, has developed to a remarkable degree during the past four years. 6

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His life is gentle, and the elements So mixf d in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, This is a man l '

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Mr. Morson will be known in the educational history of North Carolina as one of the State's truly great teachers. Few others, perhaps, have exerted a greater influence upon the destiny of North Carolina than this modest and Halto- gether private individual. Many of the men, in every call- ing of life, engaged in every form of activity, who have pro- moted and are promoting the educational, industrial and scientific interests of the commonwealth in the period of un- precedented growth it is now undergoing, owe a large part of their efficiency and character to Mr. Hugh Morson. If any one doubts this he should talk with some of the old boys and those who have assisted Mr. Morson at various times in his teaching. It is the writer's pleasure to know many of these, and he can truthfully say that 'none knows him but to love him, none names him but to praise' Thoroughness of instruction and the inculcation of noble, manly ideals of character have ever been the highest aims of Mr. Morson. Abjuring educational fads, he has been wont to stress the fundamentals of education rather than to dissi- pate his energy in teaching subjects for which his facilities were inadequate. In the athletic and other contests of the schools of which he has been the head, he has invariably re- pudiated everything that might smack of fraud or deception. Singularly candid in his dealings with students, they have with few exceptions been unreserved in their attitude toward him. The students of the High School are justly proud of their Principal. They know that they have in him no ordinary man, that they have in him a. Christian gentleman of the highest type, and an accomplished scholar, albeit one who is characterized by an almost excessive modesty and an almost too strict devotion to duty. It is their sincerest hope that he may for many years longer preside over the destinies of the Raleigh High School, until that institution becomes the 'fbright morning star of the North Carolina public school system. 7