Memories
from the past.....
Predictably rigid decorum was maintained at Hall-Moody.
“Desent” dress was required and, as one 1907 almna recalls, “teachers
did not allow any sweethearting in school.” Catalogs in the
mid-twenties specified that “young men and young women are not allowed
to waste time by constant association.”
During the
Hall-Moody era there wer no paved roads into Martin, and until the
twenties, Martin streets were gravel or cinder. In the last
years of Hall-Moody Junior College, some of the main streets in Martin
were paved.
Few if any students
owned automobiles, and the few teachers, like Dr. Barrett, who
had them, generally had what one alumnus calls “rattletraps.”
Even after Mechanic Street was extended up past Lovelace Hall, there
was a big mudhole - between the present Home Economics building and the
Woman’s gym - from which domoitory boys would routinely have to
extricate motorist.
As late as the
twenties, students often drove teams [of horses or mules] to school,
parking them in the field across from the Administration
building. Those who didn’t take buggies or wagons often
used the train to
get in and out of Martin. The Martin depot, where coaches let off
returning students, was a weekend gathering spot.
On a Sunday or Monday afternoon, one could walk down Mechanic Street,
past homes still standing, passing the Baptist Church on the left and
then the Martin Public School on the right, turn up Lindell as far as
the Post Office (now the Library), see who was arring, then perhaps
drop down by the
Railroad Park, a
$15,000 investment and the pride of Martin in the twenties, with
its “splendid rest room for ladies and children.” One 1907
alumna recalls getting home, but not often, by riding the
caboose on a freight train to Sharon, TN.
The
Academic Program
At first, given the limited course offerings, everybody at Hall-Moody
Institute took more or less the same things, but the variously
differentiated degrees -- A.B., B.S., B,L., and L.I. -- were awarded
after 1904. Most early students earned the A.B. or B.S.
Business graduates began to be recorded after 1903, as did recipients
of diplomas in special areas such as Expression. Expression and
Oratory -- like the language, classics, and Bible courses -- were
staples from the first. As one catalog remarked, "The voice can
be changed to better, deeper tones and it should be a pleasure to
cultivate it."
The academic program was boosted by Mr. Parker's $1,000 gift in 1912
for library books. By 1913 there were 4,000 "well-selected"
volumes. The 1915 catalog warned that the library was "not a
place for social enjoyment or idle pastime, nor our laboratories for
useless experiments."
Promotional literature throughout Hall-Moody's history, in fact,
emphasizes the seriousness of academic pursuits -- and the fruitful
results that serious application brings. The study of theology
was thus offered to the minister to "help him to help himself and
thereby help others." Studying music promised to lead the student
"to be able to appreciate fully a part of heaven which God has put on
earth." Band work was said to lead to "remarkable development of
the chest and muscles of the neck and face" -- and to be better for
"weak chests" than athletics. Art had practical significance in
"architecture, manufactury, ... home decoration." Particularly
until World War One, Hall-Moody programs mirrored Baptist orthodoxy,
the work ethic, and the lingering Emersonian belief in the capacity of
ordinary people for self-improvement and transcendence.
In 1915-16 the Preparatory Program was sorted out from other courses of
study, and received state accreditaion by requiring the 15 Carnegie
units (10 prescribed, 5 elective) also mandatory in public high
schools. Four years of Latin was a standard feature.
The junior college
curriculum after 1917-18, also standardized to lead to the
associate degree, offered variety but emphasized basic courses.
Tuition was $25 a
term in 1920.
The
Hall Moody Faculty
"THE TEACHERS were in control," says one 1911 Hall-Moody
graduate. Another alumnus, still disgruntled, recalls their "big
'I' little 'you' " attitude (and says most came to Hall-Moody because
"other schools wouldn't have them"). But many others remember
teachers fondly: Mrs. Burke, for her patience; Miss Hall for her
"marvelous stories"; Dean Witherington for his singing in chapel; Miss
Skinner for her "inspiring classes"; Miss McColloch for her "unique
personality"; Mrs. Davies, who required and "exact" Latin
pronunciation, for her "brilliance," for her ability to inspire "a love
for good literature"; Professor Robinson for his "wisdom and gentle
nature"; and
Mr.
Barrett, the former New York Giant pitcher, for his "strange
commingling of humor, philosophy, pathos, and good morals." One
graduate remembers the spring night in 1910 when Mr. Robinson took his
astronomy class up into the bell tower to watch Halley's Comet.
Another says,
"I
can still hear Dr. W. J. Davies call the roll in his long drawn out
manner."
