The news & observer., 1905-12-17
Leads all North Carolina Dailes i'm News and Circulate

Never was q braVer man or a truer
artist.
Mr. RandalIs Experience at the Uni
VerSity.
From the reports of President Kemp
p Battle and the Committee of Visi
tation to the Board of Trustees of the
University published in 1887 the fol-
lowing account of Randall's experience
at Chapel Hill as written by himself
is taken:
The middle of November 1879, found
me an awkward farm boy of nineteen.
/ had worked on the farm since ] was
large enough to use a hoe and L
plOWed q summer or two before l
could lift the ploW around at the end
of the furrOw, dragging it around. Till
l was seventeen l had only attended
free schools a few months during the
winter, sometimes walking as far as
| three and a half miles through rain
and snow. l was at last fortunate
enough to be able to attend a good
private school Cat Table Rock) pretty
regularly for nearly two years. work.
| ing during the making of the crops.
Concluding that / was getting older
faster than | was getting an education,
| determined TO go to the University
and see what l could do, | intended,
| if l could do no better. to get work in
night and recte to any Of the Profess
sors who might be willing to help me
in my studies. Having "a cousin who
was of the same mind as myself, eX-
| cept he had chosen to go to Trinity,
we got some bread and meat for
| lunches, bundled up some clothes. and
set out to walk late in the afternoon
of Tuesday We walked about ten
miles. and slept on some planks in an
unfinished ScnOOl-hOuSe by the road
side. We could not afford to pay lodg
| ings, as my cousin had only three or
| four dollars, and / had about three.
| Next morning we passed through. Le-
noir, Caldwell county. and walked
about thirty-five miles. AT dark We
| were so tired and feeling in low spirits
| we tried to get a bed at some of the
houses on the road and were turned off
| again and again, till at last about nine
| o'clock we were taken in and slept in
| a bed that night. The next day we
! passed Wilkesboro, and went into Yad-
kin county. We found that the train
(which we intended taking at Winston,
| left during the afternoon for Green's
| boro, and if we did not reach Winston
| Friday in time for it we could not
reach our destination Saturday. This
meant that we must walk most OF
| Thursday night. About dark l gave
out from walking and carrying a
| heavy valse. We started fire in the
woods by the road and lay down in
pile of shaVings where shingles had
| been made till about midnight. BY
that time my legs had quit aching and
| / felt we'll enough to go on. We
walked on and crossed the. Yadkin
| river about daylight | think that it
was about two or three o'clock when
! we reached the depot at Winston tired
| and foot-sore. We parted in Green's
L Ci,a, flna
| train for Trinity and | was left alone.
| He staid at Trinity about a month,
| and returned home. | found a grove
| not far from the depot scraped up
some leaves and lay down with my
valise for a pillow at the foot of
| large oak. / did not sleep soundly, |
| felt the chill and heard the shrieks of
the November wind even in my
| dreams.
Next morning / walked out of the
| town and found a little steam where
l could wash my face, | was ashamed
| to be seen washing at any of the town
| pumps My provisions being out, l
| bought two ham sandwiches for ten
| cents and had a feast preparatory to
| entering the University. | bought
| ticket to Hillsboro and walked over to
| Chapel Hill getting there about four
| o'clock in the afternoon. l had heard
such great tales about students at
| Chapel Hill that / expected to be
| tarred and feathered as soon as [
made my appearance. / walked in
| through the gate and up the walk to-
wards the New East. with my heart in
my mouth. / saw little negro pick
! ing up hickory nuts and called to him
to know where Mr.. McCall's room was
| (McC. being an old school mate |
wanted to find him as soon as possible
| for protecton). The little negro
didn't stop to answer me but ran away.
I was surprised at not seeing a single
| student; l afterwards found that they
were all on the play ground. | came
| across a college servant and he di-
rected me to the room and Mccall
| came in just at that moment.
l had just thirty cents in my pocket
and this was all l had in the world,
and / didn't know where the next was
| to come from. l was dressed in home
| spun jeans, a hickory shirt, no collar
| and an old Topped hat and home
| made shoes. That night it got noised
abroad that there was new student
in college and before l knew what was
| up the room was full and the passage
| outside. They yelled and sang
| Freshman, don't get weary, you're 60
| ing TO get q blacking by and bye
| They teased me and tried to get me
| to dance. All was in a good humor
| and / enjoyed it as much as any one.
That was the only Freshing 1 got, ex-
| cept being whistled at a few times
| in passing groups of students. One
| boy in the crowd remarked. Fresh
| man, why don't you wear collar"
| The others hissed and shamed him.
Though / dressed very badly the
| first year, l never heard an allusion
| to it except on one occasion. party
| of us were coming from StrOud'S pond,
after having taken a bath, and pupil
noted for his length of tongue and
| lack of brains, pointed to scare-crow
and said, There is Randall's hat" He
wore ragged flannel under his good
clothes, and SO l turned the laugh on
him by saying And there is IS
i shirt" A student at Chapel Hill is
not obliged to dress above his means,
and his fellow-students are so cour-
| teous and kind-hearted that he is
never made to feel hurt or sighted on
| that account Mccall took me in the
| room with him, encouraged me, and
| loaned me some money. Monday,
President Battle made me feel quite
at home. and l felt as if he had been
| waiting for the opportunity or making