USA > Louisiana > Orleans Parish > New Orleans > Standard history of New Orleans, Louisiana, giving a description of the natural advantages, natural history settlement, Indians, Creoles, municipal and military history, mercantile and commercial interests, banking, transportation, etc. > Part 26
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The Constitution of 1879 recognized the University of Louisiana in its three departments of law, medical, and academic; and declared that the General Assem- bly should make appropriations for the maintenance and support of the same, but that the amount appropriated should not exceed $10,000 a year.
A high school was established as a feeder to the College, and of this depart- ment the first principal was Alcee Fortier ; the second was L. C. Reed, with whom J. R. Ficklen served later as associate principal. Under the energetic management of the Board of Administrators and Dean R. H. Jesse, the academic department enjoyed a considerable measures of success. As, however, it received only a moderate sum from the State, and had to depend upon tuition fees for further support, it often found itself much cramped for means.
In 1882 a wider field was opened to the old university through the beneficence of Paul Tulane, of Princeton, N. J. Mr. Tulane had spent more than fifty years of his life in New Orleans, and had acquired there a large fortune. In 1881 he sent for Senator R. L. Gibson, of Louisiana, and offered him a considerable amount of property to be used for the education of the white youth of Louisiana. Senator Gibson accepted the trust, and later on became the president of the first Board of Administrators.
By act of the Legislature of the year 1884, the University of Louisiana was transferred to and merged in the Tulane University of Louisiana. Of this institu- tion, an accomplished scholar and knightly gentleman, Colonel William Preston Johnston, became president, organizing it on a very different basis from that of the old university, and presiding over it with wisdom and ability until his death in 1899. Retaining the professors of the former institution, President Johnston
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called others to his aid, and soon began to broaden the scope of the Academie Department. He organized a University Department of Philosophy and Seienee, a Collegiate Department, and a High School, "as a temporary adjunct." The last department was now plaeed under the control of Headmaster A. D. Hurt, who condueted it with marked suecess until its abolition in 1894. In the same year Tulane College was divided into a College of Arts and Seiences and a College of Technology, each presided over by a dean. To these subdivisions were added at a later period an art department and a department for the higher education of teachers. On the 27th of January, 1894, the corner-stone of the present home of the Academie Department was laid on the extensive grounds purchased for the purpose just opposite to Audubon Park.
When the University of Louisiana was merged into Tulane, the State cut off the appropriation of $10,000, which for five years it had given to that institu- tion. The present university, therefore, receives no direct aid from the State, but it is aided indirectly by a constitutional exemption from taxation on all its property. In return for this important privilege, the Academic Department offers to the white youth of the State 226 free scholarships, the equivalent in tuition fees of $24,150, far more than the amount of the exemption. Moreover, to graduates, both male and female, and to teachers in the Teachers' Department the courses of the university are offered free of charge.
The line of demareation is sharply drawn between College and University work. In the former only the baccalaureate degrees are given; in the latter the higher degrees of A. M., C. E., and Ph. D. are conferred.
The government of the Academic Department has one feature worthy of special remark. Each of the four elasses in the eollege elects a president, a vice- president, and a seeretary. These twelve students form what is ealled the Academic Board. To this Board, of which the president of the Senior elass is ex-offieio presi- dent, is largely intrusted the diseipline of the College. To it are referred all ques- tions touching the honor of the College or the violation of rules and regulations (except absences and neglect of work, which are cared for by the deans). Its decisions are sent to the president of the University, who approves them or sends them to the faculty for review. The student affected may also appeal from the decision to the faculty. Very seldom does the faculty find it necessary to do more than advise a reconsideration by the board. This method of self-government, instituted by President Johnston, has met with remarkable success. As an effeet of this system and other causes the students of Tulane bear an enviable reputation for good order and gentlemanly conduct.
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One of the greatest needs of the university has been a large library. The present one contains about 15,000 volumes-a number far below the necessities of the students and the professors. Among the benefactors of this department men- tion should be made of Mrs. Charles Conrad, who has presented the law library of her husband, the late Charles Conrad; and Mrs. Caroline Tilton, who has re- cently (1900) given the Administrators the sum of $50,000 to erect a library building in memory of her husband.
The administrators of the University* and the faculty of the Academic Department are as follows: Board of Administrators-Charles Erasmus Fenner, President; James McConnell, First Vice President ; Robert Miller Walmsley, Sec- ond Vice President ; Edgar Howard Farrar, Benjamin M. Palmer, D. D. LL. D., Walter Robinson Stauffer, Cartwright Eustis, Henry Ginder, Joseph C. Morris, George Quintard Whitney, John B. Levert, Walter C. Flower, Ashton Phelps, Charles Janvier, Walker Brainerd Spencer, Beverley Warner, D. D., and Walter D. Denegre. Ex-Officio-W. W. Hurd, Governor of Louisiana; Paul Capdevielle, Mayor of New Orleans, and Joseph V. Calhoun, State Superintendent of Public Education. Officers-E. A. Alderman, LL. D., President ; Joseph A. Hincks, Secre- tary and Treasurer of Board; William O. Rogers, LL. D., Secretary of the Uni- versity ; Richard K. Bruff, Assistant Secretary, and Miss Minnie Bell, Librarian.
Faculty of the Academic Department-E. A. Alderman, LL. D., President of the University ; William O. Rogers, LL. D., Secretary of the University; J. Hanno Deiler, Professor of German; Alcée Fortier, D. Lt., Professor of Romance Languages ; Brown Ayres, B. Sc., Ph. D., Professor of Physics; Robert Sharp, M. A., Ph. D., Professor of English; William Woodward, Professor of Drawing and Architecture; John R. Ficklen, B. Let., Professor of History and Political Science; John W. Caldwell, A. M., M. D., Professor of Chemistry and Geology; Brandt V. B. Dixon, A. M., LL. D., Professor of Psychology and Philosophy; G. E. Beyer, Acting Professor of Biology ; J. H. Dillard, M. A., D. Lt., Professor of Latin; William Benjamin Smith, A. M., Ph. D., Professor of Mathematics; W. H. P. Creighton, U. S. N., Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Levi W. Wilkin- son, M. Sc., Professor of Sugar Chemistry ; Thomas Carter, A. B., B. D., Professor of Greek; Douglas S. Anderson, A. M., Associate Professor of Physics; John E.
* Much of the history of Tulane University has been taken from an article by the late President Wm. Preston Johnston, published in Fay's "History of Education in Louisiana." For the description of the present institutions of New Orleans, the writer is largely indebted to data furnished by the publishers of this work.
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Lombard, M. E., Assistant Professor of Mathematics ; George E. Beyer, Assistant Professor of Natural History; William P. Brown, A. M., Assistant Professor of English and Latin; B. P. Caldwell, A. B. Ch. E., Assistant Professor of Chemistry ; W. B. Gregory, M. E., Assistant Professor of Engineering and Mechanism; and H. F. Rugan, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Arts.
TIIE II. SOPHIE NEWCOMB MEMORIAL COLLEGE.
In 1886, there was added to Tulane University a new department. This is the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College for Young Women, established by Mrs. Josephine Louise Newcomb, in memory of her daughter. It occupies a square of ground on Washington avenue. Here spacious and artistic buildings have been erected for its use. The course of instruction includes the preparatory, the college, and the normal art. Physical education, also, forms a part of the college course. Its graduates are admitted to Tulane University on the same terms as its own graduates. Under the direction of the Board of Administrators and the admirable management of its president, Brandt V. B. Dixon, this college has won for itself an honored name in Louisiana.
Its faculty for 1898-9 is as follows: The President of the University ; Brandt V. B. Dixon, A. M., LL. D., President of College, and Professor of Philosophy ; John M. Ordway, A. M., Professor of Biology ; Ulric Bettison, Professor of Mathe- matics ; Jennie C. Nixon, Professor of English and Rhetoric; Evelyn W. Ordway, B. S., Professor of Chemistry and Physics ; Marie J. Augustin, Professor of French ; Mary L. Harkness, A. M., Professor of Latin; Ellsworth Woodward, Professor of Drawing and Painting, and Director of Art Instruction; Gertrude R. Smith, As- sistant Professor of Drawing and Painting; Frederick Wespy, Ph. D., Professor of Greek and German; Clara G. Baer, Professor of Physical Education; Mary C. Spencer, M. S., Professor of Physics ; Mary G. Sheerer, Assistant Professor in Art Department ; Francis Devereux Jones, Instructor of Drawing; Katherine Kopman, Instructor of Drawing; L. J. Catlett, Principal of High School; Julia C. Logan, Instructor of English; Mattie M. Austin, Instructor of English; Kate A. Atkin- son, Instructor of Latin; Clarisse Cenas, Instructor of French; Alice Burt Sandidge, Instructor of Greek; Frank H. Simms, Director of Music; Leonora M. Cage, Secretary ; Emma P. Randolph, Librarian; and Alice Bowman, Lady in Charge of Josephine Louise House.
Students in all departments, 1899-1900: University Department for Graduate work, 24; College of Arts and Sciences, 91; College of Technology, 87; Art De-
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partment, including Evening class, 20; Department for Teachers, 152; Newcomb, including High School and Art Department, 259; Law Department, 76; Medical Department, including 31 Pharmacy Students, 422. Total, 1,129.
It is generally conceded that from the higher institutions of learning the secondary schools catch their inspiration, and that their progress depends upon the standard set by such institutions for success in their own courses of study. Tulane University feels this responsibility, and in all its departments, it is striving as rapidly as possible to raise the ideal of preparation throughout the city and country schools.
Moreover, as its graduates pass out into the world, it appeals through them to the people of the State to recognize the benefits conferred upon the young citizens by the pursuit of the higher learning. It may be safely maintained that not only has the ability of the professional men of New Orleans been greatly developed by the labors of the university, but the city has found the presence of the university in its midst to be an important factor in improving the general tone of society.
Authorities-Marie-Madeleine Hachard's Letters; Mother Mary Austin Car- roll's Essays; B. F. French's Collections No. 3; Gayarre's History of Louisiana ; Martin's History of Louisiana ; R. M. Lusher's Sketch of Public Schools in Louis- iana Journal of Education; "Origin and Development of the Public School Sys- tem in Louisiana," by J. R. Ficklen (in U. S. Report of Education, 1894-5) ; Alcée Fortier's "Louisiana Studies ;" Archives of the City Hall, Reports of the State Superintendents, and other educational documents in the Howard and Fisk libraries.
CHAPTER X.
OLD BURIAL PLACES.
BY A. G. DURNO.
A S HAS been repeatedly indicated elsewhere, New Orleans is situated in a marsh. Its greatest natural elevation above the sea level is 10 feet 8 inches, which is artificially increased to 15 feet by the levee on the river bank. Half a mile back from the river the elevation is but little above the sea-level, so that, especially during high stages of the river, a large part of the city is below the natural water line. Strangers are always struck by the singular phenomenon of water running in the gutters away from the river, instead of towards it, as would seem natural. And not only is it necessary to fence out the water that flows past our doors, but the ground upon which we tread is not yet fully re- deemed from the dominion of that element, it being impossible to dig three feet without striking water. Under these circumstances it is readily seen that burial, as understood in more elevated localities, is out of the question in New Orleans. The method of interment adopted, therefore, is that of tombs built upon the surface, consisting usually of two vaults, with a lower vault for the reception of bones when it is desired to use the upper chambers a second time. These tombs are built of brick, covered with stucco, of stone, iron or marble. The tombs belonging to societies and benevolent orders are mausoleums of imposing proportions, and often beautified with statues and other ornamental sculptures. The older cemeteries, within the limits of the thickly built portions of the city are enclosed by thick walls, which are honeycombed with vaults called "ovens," each provided with a small arched opening closed with cement and a memorial tablet. These vaults, as well as those built upon the ground, are private property, and are handed down from generation to generation in the same family. The first cemetery in New Orleans, utilized during the days of Bienville, was situated beyond the fortifications to the north of the city, near what is now the corner of Bourbon and Esplanade. Bodies were there buried in the ground.
The oldest of the walled cemeteries is known as the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1,
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and is the property of the Saint Louis Cathedral, having been acquired by that corporation by a French eoneession made in 1744. This cemetery is thiekly erowded with tombs which are huddled together without any attempt at orderly arrangement. The meager lots are separated only by narrow alleys, and no space has been spared to the ornamental plots of grass, shrubbery and flowers with which it is usual to surround the habitations of the dead. Many of the tombs are empty and falling to pieces, the tablets gone, or so worn by winter's storms and summer's heats that the inseriptions are no longer legible. Some of them, and these the oldest, appear never to have been furnished with tablets, their place being supplied by a small cross of wrought iron, upon which are rudely eut the name, age, and date of death. Even these are unexpectedly modern, the earliest date deeipherable being 1800. This date occurs on two erosses, on one of which can be indistinetly traced the words: "Nanette de P. Bailly, Decedée le 24-1800." A slab laid upon the top of this tomb at a later date repeats the inscription, and fills up the hiatuses, at the same time commemorating the two children of "Nanette," who died in 1812. The lady was, according to the revised inseription : "Annette Cadin, femme de Pierre Bailly," and died, "Octobre 24, 1800, agée de 45 ans." Two other crosses whose inseriptions are still legible bear the dates respectively of 1805, and 1811. On the others, two or three in number, the lettering is no longer visible.
A small brick tomb, still in a fairly good state of preservation, bears the name of Jean Etienne Boré, noted in the industrial history of Louisiana as the first planter who sueeeeded in making sugar from eane grown in the colony. The tablet is at the base of the tomb, the upper chamber of which is oeeupied by the remains of his daughter and son-in-law, the mother and father of Charles Gayerré, and the lower part of it is so sunken in the earth as to completely hide the record of his death. The upper part bears the inseription :
Iei Repose Jean Etienne Boré Né le 27 Decembre, 1741. Marié le 20 9bre, 1771.
In this cemetery also is the Tomb of Daniel Clark, an Irishman who, coming to Louisiana early in the century, beeame a naturalized eitizen of the United States, and, besides acquiring a large fortune, represented the State in Congress, and held other influential positions. But Clark's name is principally remembered as that of the reputed father of the famous Myra Clark Gaines, whose suit, as
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claimant of Clark's estate, is one of the "causes célèbres" of the century. A long Latin inscription on the handsome slab that covers thic tomb, which was erected by Richard Relf, friend and executor of the deceased, celebrates the virtues of Clark, and a tablet at the foot reiterates the claim of the redoubtable Myra, main- tained by her before hundreds of judges, throughout forty-eight years of litiga- tion, that she was the daughter of Danicl Clark and Zuleme Carrière, his lawful wife. Not far from the tomb of Clark and the woman who spent the best part of her life in trying to prove herself his daughter, slecps Stephen Zacharie, founder of the first bank in the Mississippi Valley. The handsomest tomb in the cemetery is that of the Italian Society, a really magnificent structure built of white marble, in the form of a Maltese cross. A sculptured figure leaning upon a cross, symbolic of Religion, surmounts the mausoleum, and other life-size statues representing Italia and her famous children, occupy niches about the walls. This tomb cost $50,000, and is really a work of art, but its situation among the crowding vaults and narrow alleys prevents its beauty from being properly appreciated.
The Layton family own the most spacious and well-kept plot of ground belonging to any one family within the walls, and divided from it by a rough board fence is what the sexton calls "the American part." Evidently the "Ameri- can" families wlio once buried their dead licre have either become extinct, or have ceased to cherish the memory of their remote ancestors whose names are carved on the ruinous tombs. One of the most interesting tombs of this section is a square stone structure, mounted on a pediment and bearing on one face in low relief a sculptured scene, representing a mother and child reclining on a canopied couchi, evidently in the article of death. At the foot of the couch kneels the grieving husband and father, and over the group hovers an angel with a palm branch, while below is graven the legend: "For the virtuous. there is a better and a happier world." The face of the lady is entirely featureless, time having destroyed all the finer lines of the chisel. On the side to the right of this is a crumbling inscription of which nothing can be distinguished except the lower lines : "wife of W-m C. C. Claiborne, Governor General of Louisiana, who died at New Orleans on the 27th of September, 1804, in the 21st year of her age." On the left face is graven : "Also of Cornelia Tenessee (sic) Claiborne, the only child of Eliza W. Claiborne, who died on the same day, aged three years," and on that opposite the sculpture : "Here also rests the body of Micajah Green Lewis, brother of Eliza W. Claiborne, and private secretary to Governor Claiborne, who fell in a duel, Feb'ry 14th, 1805, in the 25th year of his age." Young Lewis, it may be
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remarked here, died in his brother-in-law's quarrel, a political one. It is evident that nobody any longer cares for the tenants of this tomb, which shows every sign of neglect-its ornamental corners broken, its seams gaping, its inscriptions partially obliterated. Quite near stands another and more pretentious tomb, of monumental proportions, and well kept up, which, after once more assuring the visitor that "for the virtuous there is a better and a happier world," asserts itself as being "In memory of Clarice Duralde Claiborne, the youngest daughter of Martin Duralde of Mackupas, and wife of William C. C. Claiborne, Governor of the Territory of Orleans, who died in New Orleans on the 29th of November, 1809, in the 21st year of her age." The Governor seems to have been unfortunate with his youthful wives. It is to be hoped that in his next matrimonial venture he was prudent enough to select a lady who had passed the 21st anniversary of her birth.
In one corner of this same "American" section among heaps of indistin- guishable wreckage, overgrown with wild blackberry vines and other vagrant herbage, are two empty and ruined vaults, whose fallen slabs revive memories of Great Britain's futile attempt upon New Orleans. One of these was the last resting place of William P. Canby, a native of Norfolk, Va., and a midshipman in the U. S. Navy, who "fell in the unequal contest between the U. S. Gunboat Squadron, and the British Flotilla, on Lake Borgne, Dec. 14th, 1814," at the age of eighteen. The other was erected to the memory of Oliver Parmlee, a New England youth who "was killed in the defense of New Orleans in the battle with the British Army, Dee. 23d, 1814. Æt. 29." It seems a little ungracious on the part of the eity that the very names of these two young strangers who left their homes to come and lay down their lives in her defense should be allowed to perish in the obscurity of a deserted cemetery.
Another of the defenders who is among this silent congregation has been more fortunate, his name at least having been preserved in the annals of the city, though probably more on account of its picturesque effect than of any sentiment of gratitude for his services. This is Dominique You, one of the captains of Lafitte appointed by Jackson to the command of a battery on the day of the decisive battle. You was eommended in general orders for gallantry and for the faithful per- formance of his pledge, and became thereafter a peaceful and law-abiding citizen. When Jackson visited New Orleans seven years after the victory, You entertained him at a breakfast, which the old hero pronounced the most enjoyable incident of his visit. He lived to an advanced age, and at his death was buried with much
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pomp and circumstance, the procession which escorted him to the tomb being cited as the standard for such demonstrations for many years afterward. Upon his memorial tablet is carved, by way of epitaph the following quatrain from Voltaire's "La Henriade":
Intrepide guerrier, sur la terre et sur l'onde Il sut, dans cent combats, signaler sa valeur, Et ce nouveau Bayard sans reproche et sans peur Aurait pu, sans trembler, voir s'ecrouler le monde.
Young Lewis was not the only man laid here who gave up his life as a sacrifice to the demands of the "code." At the very gate, on the left as one enters, in the lowest tier of "ovens" so that it is necessary to stoop low in order to read, is this : "Ci git J. Peut Berten. Ne a Bordeaux. Mort Victime de l'honneur. Age de 26 ans ;" and the legend, "Victime de l'honneur," or "Mort sur le champ d'hon- neur," is repeated on many tablets. Another which tells a still sadder story is "Poor Charlie, X. S."
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 comprises a single square, bounded by St. Louis, Conti, Basin and Liberty streets. At the time of its opening this was just beyond the fortifications, and was doubtless thought very much out of the way. In 1822 it had already become so crowded as to render necessary the opening of new ground. The City Council therefore donated to the Church Wardens three squares bounded by Customhouse, St. Louis, Robertson and Claiborne streets, which are known as St. Louis Cemetery No. 2. They are separated by the intervening streets-Bienville and Conti-running parallel with Customhouse and St. Louis, and each square has its own encircling wall, but the thrce form but one cemetery, though they are often spoken of as Nos. 2, 3 and 4. Here some attempt has been made toward symmetry of arrangement, and a broad central avenue traverses the en- tire length of the triple enclosure, the tombs being ranged on either side with narrow alleys between, but with a more generous allotment of ground. The tombs are often surrounded by neat iron railings, and some of them have pretty little "door- yards," with a bit of lawn bordered with box or some low growing shrub, and set off with a rose-bush, or a cape jessamine. As All-Saints day approaches, these quiet precincts take on an aspect of unwonted activity. The marble tombs are washed white and clean, those of stucco whitewashed, inscriptions are re-gilded or touched up with black paint, brick walks are "reddened," grass-plots re-sodded, and everything made ready for the yearly festival of the dead. For weeks before the event the windows of certain shops have been filled with wreaths of immortelles,
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of beads, minute shells and various other materials, the florists have been hurrying forward their chrysanthemums and other autumn blooming plants, and on the morning of the first day of November every cemetery seems to have been sud- denly transformed into a garden. The whole population of the city appears to be afoot, and the streets and cars are thronged with flower-laden women and children, hastening to lay the crowning offering upon the tomb of some dear departed one. All day long the throngs pour through the avenues and alleys of the cemeteries, laughing, talking, exchanging notes and comments on the decorations of the tombs they have visited, while at every gate, under the charge of a "Sister," sits a group of pink clad, pink bonneted orphans, making clamorous appeal for charity by beating incessantly with a silver coin upon a metal contribution plate.
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