University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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,tmmmhw s; 2 W L km 5 fwamwmmwmk ggtj are now status symbols of the Grounds, the situation was not always thus. In the early quarter of our present century, the Cavalier, to be considered a true tweed, had to live at one of the several large boarding houses which then housed the University. These houses were renowned for their Hnely furnished isitting rooms and their sumptuous fried Chicken, and, although a room on the Lawn was nice, a room at Miss Betty Bookefs or Miss Pageis was said to be paradise. Students were required to live in the boarding-houses so that the landlords would have a steady income. Freedom from competition caused the living standards to fall, and the students complained bitterly. They reasoned that if a keeper failed in his re- sponsibility, the boarder should be permitted to seek a new residence. In this manner reasonable standards could be maintained. We can certainly sympathize with our predecessors even though these monopolistic practices no longer exist? Sayers made good use of this attentiveness 0f the group and launched into anoth- er story, iiThroughout the history of the University, the Cavaliers have shown great ingenuity in devising ways to trouble those who were either uncooperative or ornery. One of the most ornery and uncooperative of this motley group was Mr. William Pratt, who was gatekeeper of the University during the 1850s Mr. Pratt, who had to arise at night to open the gate for late visitors to the Uni- versity, was quick to condemn any student who remained out past the idecent, hour of nine oiclock. Yet the University men, unheedful of his preaching, still caroused in the Vinegar Hill bars, especially on weekend nights, and tapped on the gate to get Mr. Pratt to let them in. iiSour from his loss of sleep, Mr. Pratt abandoned his; evangelism and decided to leave the gate open on weekends. The students, however, soon devised ways to deprive Mr. Pratt of his sleep. Upon returning from a sortie into Vinegar Hill the students would file by Pratt,s house and reach out with their riding or buggy whips to tap once on the window of Mr. Prattls bedroom and once on his front door. iiThe University soon lost Mr. Prattls services. He reportedly moved to Washington and Lee, which, as he declared, was a quieter place? Seemingly pleased with himself, Grant again drew from his vast storehouse of knowledge and recounted one more story he had heard. iiBack in the days when the University was under construction, Mr. Jefferson commissioned an Italian named Raggi to come over and carve some columns. Raggi came over, made some preliminary drawings, and then returned to Italy. Shortly thereafter the Universityls founder received an enormous bill for the drawings. Despite his rage, Mr. Jefferson allowed the Italian to return and commence carving the actual capitals for the columns. Raggi, confirming his nationis propensity for large families, arrived on the Grounds with his wife, children, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Mr. Jeflerson set him to work carving Corinthian capitals out of Albemarle stone tan impossible tasky, and Raggi spent his remaining days hacking away with hammer and chisel 0n the steps of the Rotunda? Lambert opened another beer and with a faraway gleam in his eye began to re- count his favorite story. iiI bet you haveift heard the real reason why the serpen- tine walls are serpentine rather than straight like most walls. The Student Guides may have told you that Mr. Jefferson designed them that way in order to conserve brick, as only one thickness is needed. Or, perhaps they told you that the undulating pattern directs more heat and light towards the rare and exotic plants in the gardens Well, these explanations are only clever contrivances - the real story is much less ingenious. It seems that for some reason or another, Mr. Jefferson was one afternoon locked in his wine cellar at Monticello. Having at hand no other nourishment, he was obliged to indulge himself with wine until

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held every Sunday afternoon, and colorful they were, with the girls dressed up in their fancy dresses and carrying parasols. Unfortunately, the Rivanna did not prove to be the best waterway for shell races. Most of the shells were too long to negotiate some of the Rivannas tricky hairpins, while others drew too much' water to make it over the rapids. Despite the frequent portaging and occasional salvaging, however, a good time was had by all. After the race, of course, every- one settled down to a glass of Blue-Ribbon beer, as that was the fashionable thing to do in the Gay 905. This is one part of the sport Yd like to see continued? iiTraditions are fine? H. T. Liner said, iibut I am certainly glad they did away with some of them. Believe it or not, things used to be very regimented at the University. Students were required to wear starch-stilf, grey uniforms on many special occasions. But I suppose the most hated regulation was having to get up at a designated time each morning. Eight oblocks were fashionable in the old days tat least in the faculty,s opiniony, and a janitor would make the rounds each morning to make sure that everyone had unracked soon enough to get to class on time. This system wasn,t hard to beat, however. The first person to spot the jani- tor would run around and wake up everyone else. They usually had time to get to their closets and hide. The janitor could tell when he was being tricked. So, whenever he found an empty bed and spied a few toes sticking out from under the Closet curtain, he would come in and stretch out in front of the fire. The stu- dent, left shivering in what amounted to a homemade refrigerator, would sooner or later have no Choice but to come out and get dressed. In his usual unpredictable fashion, and with no seeming reason for changing the subject, Richard Cotts began to speak. iiYou know, one of the most interesting spots around the Grounds is that little group of buildings next to Cabell Hall. The oldest building was built around 1850. It was the house of a farmer named Daw- son. Dawson,s property was separated by a large ravine from the University and was considered by the students of the day to be in the iboondocksf Dawson do- nated his house and nearby barn to the University. It was then taken over, sur- prisingly enough, by a group of students known as the Temperance League. They decided that the University should have a chaplain, so they got together with the four Churches in town: the Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Baptist. They all agreed that each church would alternately sponsor a minister for a three year period. After a while, however, the churches began to squabble among them- selves, and for a long time there was no chaplain at all. The chaplain never got much business from the students, anyway, it seems, if you know what I mean. So in 1895, Dawson,s old house and barn were turned over to the students for livinfbr quarters. For many years this was really the place to live, I mean, it was where all the wheels lived. The University decided to build some more houses there. Eventually, there were eight in all, by this time it was called Dawsonls Row. The houses were pretty nice, too. They were red brick with white columns. They looked a lot like fraternity houses do now, only smaller. Cows and goats were kept in some of the outbuildings, and the University had to build a fence across the Lawn to prevent them from grazing there. When the grass got too high, though, they would open the gate and let them in. Gradually, however, the Uni- versity began to build other things like the amphitheatre and Maury Hall, and part of Dawson,s Row had to be torn down. The remaining houses became facul- ty residences and still are today. The rest of Daws01fs Row is goianr to be torn down to make room for a parking garage. Itls too bad, but inevitable, I guess. An important part of the University will be lost? An embarassed silence followed this story. Grant Sayers walked over to the fire and, grasping one of the pokers, kindled the Hame of the waning fire. He began to speak in his own careful succinct manner. iiAlthough fraternity houses and cars

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the next morning, when servants unlocked the cellar door. Later that morning, while inspecting the work being done on the construction of the University, he noticed that the laborers were having a hard time laying out the walls. Taking the matter into his own hands, Mr. Jefferson directed the workers to lay the walls on the straight line he was walking. The workers, puzzled, followed his directions exactly, and thus were built the serpentine walls? Everybody but H. T. Liner groaned. H. T. laughed. Summoning all his courage, he asked for a beer. iiThink you can handle it, H. T? Martin Vanderslice quipped. Chuckling at the remark, Lambert handed H. T. a beer. Suddenly revitalized after two sips, H. T. said, TI heard that the University owned two slaves.n F letcher remarked that he had heard the same story. iiThat cant be right? Gotts said. iiFor your information? Cleghorne shouted, iithe University never really owned any slaves. I spent three weeks last semester working on a research paper on slav- ery in Virginia, and if anyone ought to know, I should? Having restored order, he resumed. iiAlthough the University cemetery was used to bury slaves in, they were almost entirely those owned by the faculty or the townspeople. In fact, in the period before The War, there were never really many actual bodies buried in the slave graves. It was the practice for the medical students here to dig up at night the bodies of freshly buried slaves and to use them as cadavers in the Medi- cal Hall - which stood where Alderman Library is now. The Negro families got wise to this and usually buried their relatives in the woods. The coilin was loaded with either logs or rocks and an actual ceremony was held in the University cemetery, complete with slave hymns. Still holding everyone,s attention, Cleghorne began on a second story. iiJust the other day I heard some other interesting facts about the cemetery which exists here. The first persons to be buried on the Grounds were a student and a professor who couldn,t quite handle the typhus epidemic of 1828. In the next few years such notorieties as a certain Mr. Glover, who met his untimely end when a drunk elephant trainer in a Charlottesville circus suddenly became whip-happy, found their resting places in the newly-created cemetery. I guess the most famous per- son ever to be buried there was a Prof. Davis, who was shot by a student in 1840. iiThe headstones in the cemetery were small and poorly-marked. Many were sim- ply round, unpolished slabs of granite. When the records of all burials were de- stroyed in the Rotunda fire, the administration was deeply concernedf, Reacting in his cynical manner, Vanderslice commented to Sayers that he had a story even Cleghorne had not heard. iiYou guys are familiar with the big tent used at alumni reunions every year. Well, therels an interesting little tale about how the tent first came to be used. It seems that back in 191.3, the first Alumni Association Secretary, Lewis Crenshaw, was busy planning for the fifth reunion of the Class of 1908. The response from the old grads of that class had been tremendous, and there had arisen the pros- pect that no facility on the Grounds could accommodate such an overflowing congregation. Crenshaw and another alumnus were pondering the imminent crisis over at Pavilion IV, after having inspected all the University structures. Just as desperation was beginning to assume frantic proportions, this alumnus was seized with an ingenious brainstorm. Half jokingly, he said, iIt seems to me you will have to-get a circus tent to accommodate the crowd, Delighted, Crenshaw, now in eager anticipation, commented, Excellent! I will try to rent a big tent gxlv l l l ,I il iii. Ilm ' $1th Hl' .