CHAPTER XIII.
PECUNIARY TROUBLE—WITHDRAWAL FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL.
Five years had passed in faithful, energetic labor,—five years
of much happiness in the congenial occupation of teaching and
influencing youthful minds, and in intimate association with the
pious, intelligent, and refined society of the "Seminary Hill."
Among the results of this work, in after-years, were thirty clergymen
of the Episcopal Church and a number of laymen leading
useful, Christian lives in their various spheres. Most of these
received their first serious religious impressions and made public
profession of their faith under Mr. Pendleton's influence and example.
Bishop Whittle, of Virginia, and Rev. Drs. Walker, of
the Alexandria Seminary, and Sprigg, of the Southern Churchman,
were among the alumni of these years.
But the difficulties arising from the inadequacy of the heavily-taxed
income had increased year by year until, at the close of the
fifth session, there was a debt on the school expenses of more
than five thousand dollars. This rested wholly on the principal,
who, in addition to this public debt, had, under a pressing call of
duty, incurred private obligations amounting to three thousand
dollars. He was thus, at the age of thirty-five, encumbered by
a burden of eight thousand dollars of debt, with a wife and six
children to support, and no resources but his education and orders,
a good library, and some scientific apparatus.
That this pecuniary failure was in no way the result of mismanagement
is shown in the following résumé of the financial statement
which accompanied the last report made by Mr. Pendleton
to the trustees:
There had been an attendance of three hundred and eighteen
pupils,—sixty-eight of them at reduced charges and twenty-two
who paid nothing. On this number the loss of income was seven
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five dollars; seventeen hundred
and fifty dollars had been paid towards the salaries of Seminary
professors, and five thousand three hundred and twenty-five
dollars per capita tax to the trustees,—making a total deficit of
fourteen thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars. Of this amount,
seven thousand and seventy-five dollars had actually been paid
out to other parties, while the daily necessary expenses for food,
fuel, etc., were left to rest upon the unsalaried principal. To go
on in this way was clearly impossible. Mr. Pendleton therefore
resigned his position in the summer of 1844.
In the report mentioned above he writes,—
". . . Of the remarkable success of the institution, during the
five years of its operation, towards the object for which it was
designed. To the close, its literary and religious character are
believed to have been deservedly high. Much and extensive
good was done. Especially was the Divine favor bestowed upon
the work in a remarkable spiritual blessing. And it is a cheering
reflection that, in the youthful hearts turned heavenward in the
institution during these five years, many a stream of mercy took
its rise, to flow on in varying and widening channels, spreading
without end the blessings of the Gospel Touching the condition
in which the constituent elements of the institution were left on
the resignation of the late Principal,—
"The Trustees, with the property, buildings, etc., remained unencumbered,
towards a reorganization and recommencement of
the school; and it is to be hoped that this may be accomplished,
with such modifications as to avoid the evils before experienced,
while attaining in some degree, at least, the good formerly attempted.
. . . The Principal, as the party on whom under the
former arrangement rested all the responsibility, had incurred all
the risk and experienced all the loss. Though his judgment had
from the first disapproved of this arrangement as hazardous, and
likely to prove injurious to himself, yet, with some enthusiasm
in a noble cause, with full confidence in the magnanimity of those
with whom he negotiated (a confidence still unabated), and in reliance
upon the call of a guardian Providence, he had made such
arrangement. All the pecuniary loss, therefore, incident to the
issue before described fell upon him. From this result, severe as
it is, he does not shrink; indeed, there is in it some ground for
congratulation; for though it must, for a season at least, interfere
with his usefulness in the ministry and with the comforts of
his family, till, by the blessing of God, he can work through the
debt; still, opportunity is thus left for the institution to be reopened
free of debt or hinderance."
The magnanimity and generous self-devotion of these words are
above praise. And a clear statement of the impossibility of carrying
on the school on the original plan once made, no censure
of others or self-justification is again heard from the sufferer in
the cause. With manly courage and resolute will he braced
himself to meet the emergency, and without complaint to endure
toil and privation until he should discharge the duty of paying
his heavy debt.
The news of Mr. Pendleton's resignation caused deep regret in
the school. The estimation in which he was held may be illustrated
by the words of good Mrs. Monroe, the laundress: "The
Scripture is against you, Mr. Pendleton, for it says,'Woe unto you
when all men speak well of you.'" The boys and teachers published
resolutions of the most commendatory and admiring character,
and the Seminary professors expressed their feelings in the following
letter:
"Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in Virginia, July 12, 1844.
"To Rev. W. N. Pendleton, Episcopal High School of Virginia:
"Rev. and Dear Sir,—We have just been informed that you
have resigned the charge of the High School of Virginia; and
considering the relations in which it has stood to the Theological
Seminary, with which we are connected (both being under the
control of the same board of trustees), we cannot allow the measure
to be consummated without giving expression to our feelings
on the occasion. Not that we deem it important to speak of our
personal feelings towards you as a Christian and a gentleman: on
that subject it is enough to say that our intercourse, and that of
our families, has been such during your residence here that the
thought of its discontinuance is truly painful to us all. But we
deem it our duty, having been neighbors for so long a time, and
eye-witnesses of your course as Principal of the High School,
and two of us your assistants in teaching a portion of your pupils,
explicitly to testify our conviction of the faithfulness and efficiency
and self-forgetting devotion with which you discharged your most
arduous duties. The respect and affection with which the students
of the High School have always regarded you; the many fine
young men whose characters have been developed under your
eye, and fitted for usefulness in the various stations of civil life;
and the very large proportion of your scholars who have become
pious through the blessings of God's spirit upon your instruction,
fully attest your efficiency as a guide and governor of youth
and a minister of Christ in the important station you have occupied.
Of your success merely as an instructor we do not speak.
That was proved and known, especially in mathematical and physical
science, in two collegiate institutions before you took charge
of the Virginia High School.
"In conclusion, we have only to hope and pray, in this hour
of separation, that Heaven's choicest blessings may rest upon you
and yours, and that, wherever your lot may be cast, your faithfulness
in all trusts and your efficiency in the execution of them,
and your most unselfish devotion to the interests of Christ's
Church and the cause of Christian education, may be as highly
appreciated as they most assuredly are by, reverend and dear
sir, your affectionate friends and brothers,
"Wm. Sparrow, D.D.,
"James May, D.D.,
"Joseph Packard, D.D.,
"Professors Episcopal Theological Seminary of Virginia."
The session over and the school broken up, Mr. Pendleton took
his family to Hanover County, where his own parents had come
to reside not far from his wife's father, and set himself to find
the most promising opening for a private school of high grade.
Many of his former pupils were from Maryland. His reputation
as a teacher was well known in that State, and, great as was his
regret to leave Virginia, Baltimore offered stronger inducements
than any other city. To it he therefore decided to remove, and
do what he could in teaching and preaching.[1]
