University of Virginia Library

I am sure I need make no apology for troubling you with
this letter, as the object of my writing is to subserve the cause
of education.

The Trustees of a School about to be started in the southwestern
part of this county have solicited me, as their old acquaintance
and friend, to give them my aid in procuring suitable Teachers;
and in the first place a Principal; and I have consented to do what
I can for them. They prefer one who has been raised and educated in
the South, and especially one who is a graduate of the University of
Virginia. In discharging the task, which I have agreed to undertake
for them, it has occurred to me that I could not do better than to
address you for information upon the subject. Of the many who have
gone through a course of study in your school of Ancient Languages,
there no doubt may be some who have been preparing themselves for the
profession of Teachers, and who would, of course, be glad to get a
lucrative situation in that capacity in a healthy, pleasant section
of the country, where the society is good, liberal minded and intelligent.
Precisely such a situation is offered in the high school, proposed
to be started at Crawfordsville in this county. I send you the
advertisement of the Trustees, to which I would beg your attention.
I have visited that neighborhood often, am well acquainted there,
and know that it is all it is represented to be in the advertisement.
The people are planters all, most of them independent in fortune,
generous hearted and intelligent—the fortunati agricolaeof Virgil.
They want a school of the first order at their doors, and they will
pay liberally for it. What the exact salary will be, I do not feel
authorized to say, but I presume about one thousand dollars per
annum, which, considering the cheapness of living in that section of
country, I should think would be a tempting offer to a man just setting
out in life, and whose only fortune, or hope of a fortune consist
in his good moral characterm his intellect and his energy. If, out
of the many who have attended your classes and have completed their
studies at the University, you know of any one whom you could recommend
as competent and faithful, and who would be willing to accept
such a situation as that offered in the enclosed advertisement, I
shall be happy to be made the medium through you of giving the information
to the Trustees; and I hope I shall not be considered intrusive,
if I request an early answer from you. Mississippi has heretofore,
I believe, been well represented at the University of Virginia,
and in order that she may be better represented in future, it is
all important that we should have good Teachers to take charge of our
schools. No where, we feel persuaded, can we more safely look for
such Teachers than to Virginia and to the Alumni of your Institution.

I cannot close this letter, without congratulating you
on the highly flourishing present condition and still brighter prospects
of the University, in which you, for a quarter of a century

have been one of the chief and honored Professors. My latest information
is that the number of students already reaches four hundred
and fifty for the present session, and that it is increasing.
When I left the University in 1827, there were not two hundred—a
change indeed!

With my best wishes for your health and happiness and
for the continued prosperity of the University, I remain, dear Sir,

Teachers Wanted

The undersigned, as Trustees, have been instructed by the members of
the Dabney Lipscomb Lodge of Masons no. 144, to make public application
for a teacher or teachers to take charge of a first class
school, which will go into operation on the 1st of January next, at
Crawfordsville in the south western part of Lowndes county, Mississippi.
They have purchased a house and lot, and everything will be
ready for the opening of the school by the day mentioned. The location
is one of the best in all the southern country. Though in a
prairie region, the lot is sandy land, the only spot of the kind in
all that part of the country, and the water is excellent—pure, cool
and limpid. The Mobile and Ohio Rail Road, now fast approaching its
completion, will run directly by the place; this with the branch rail
road to Columbus will afford it unsurpassed facilities for traveling
in every direction. The teacher or teachers to be selected will be
expected to be thoroughly proficient in every branch of English Education,
as well as in the Classics, Mathematics, etc, and must
bring undoubted references of good moral character. None others need
apply. And while we would not be exclusive, we yet deem it pertinent
to say that a member of the Masonic Fraternity would be preferred.

The salary will be liberal and punctually paid.

Apply to Scott Thompson Esq., Chairman of the Board of Trustees
at Crawfordsville, Lowndes county, Mississippi.