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Montpelier: Life of a Scholar 1833-41

Life of a Scholar (1833-41) Montpelier Academy, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana
File submitted by Mrs. Inez Bridges Tate and prepared by D.N. Pardue

From publication "Old Montpelier, 1804, New Montpelier, 1904" compiled by Inez B. Tate and published by St. Helena Historical Association, 1993. Reprinted with permission.

Life of a Scholar 1833-41

by Mrs. Martina E. Buck
Professor of History

The Montpelier Academy was incorporated in 1833 by legislative act. It was the first Academy to be subsidized by the state and was located at Montpelier, St. Helena Parish. The original Board of Trustees consisted of Dempsey Kemp, Berlin Childress, James H. Harvey, Thomas Kennedy, Rainey Mercer, William Mathews, Thomas Green Davidson, J. Smith, David Hill, and James M. Bradford. This board elected Jacob Smith, president; Berlin Childress, secretary; and Dempsey Kemp, treasurer.

Tha academy provided for free and pay scholars. It was housed in the old Court House, which was dontated for the purpose. The boarding house was a two-story dwelling which was bought from S.J. Runnels. Both buildings were repaired, texts were chosen and purchased, by-laws written, and teachers elected. Thomas W. Dyer was elected principal teacher, and Rainey Mercer, steward of the boarding house. The academy opened its doors in Nov. 1833.

The year 1836 was marked by death and resignations of the members of the original board. The new appointees were not acceptable to old members and two factions developed. And this gave rise to conflicts and the struggles which resulted, gradually destoying the academy.

In the five years of its active existence, the Montpelier Academy received some 232 pupils, $17,249.76 income, and had maintenance costs of $21,648.12 1/4.

The following by-laws were drawn up by a committee consisting of James M. Bradford, Thomas Kennedy and Thomas Green Davidson. They are interesting for the light that they shed upon a scholar's life in 1836.

By-Laws of the Montpelier Academy Journal

For the temporary government of the Montpelier Academy.

Art. I. The immediate government of the academy shall be placed in the hands of the teacher employed by the Board of Trustees, who shall be responsible to that body for the neglect or abuse of their trust.

Art. II. The course of study for the time being shall be confined to studies in a preparatory school to an English education, and in the English couse the pupils shall be instructed from the alphabet forward.

Art. III. The hours of study shall be from half an hour after seven o'clock a.m. until a half an hour after twelve p.m., and from half after two o'clock p.m. until half after five p.m., from the twentieth of April until the twentieth of September, and from half after eight o'clock in the morning until noon, and from half after one until four o'clock in the afternoon from the twentieth of September until the twentieth of April in each year.

Art. IV. During the hours of study the students shall not depart from the school room without leave, but must diligently apply themselves to the course assigned them.

Art. V. No sectarian doctrine of religion, nor party politics shall be taught or advocated in any department of the academy, but when students are sufficiently advanced to form a class it shall be the duty of the principal teacher to lecture on the evidences of Christianity, and on the superior elegance of the repulican form of government, established by the Constitution of the United States, over every other.

Art. VI. There shall be a recess of study every Saturday and Sunday, when students who board in the institution and do not live at too great a distance, may be permitted to visit their parents.

Art. VII. The punishments in the academy shall be private and public admonition, and when these fail, the use of the rod within reason, at the discretion of the teachers.

Art. VIII. Every student shall conduct himself toward the teachers, the steward and the steward's family, with decorum and respect at all times.

Art. IX. No profane or indelicate language will be permitted to be used by any student, under pain of exemplary punishment.

Art. X. No fighting or quarreling will be permitted among the students, or with boys not attached to the institution, under pain of exemplary punishment.

Art. XI. No student will ber permitted to visit any billard table or other place where cards or other games of hazard is played; nor shall they visit any horse race, cock fight, or place where inebriating liquors are retailed, under pain of penalty of such punishment as the teachers may think proper to inflict.

Art. XII. No student will be permitted to leave the building or ground attached thereto, where he lodges, after candle light.

Art. XIII. There shall be two sessions in each year, to be called the summer and winter sessions. The summer session shall commence on the first day of April, and end on the thirtieth day of September; and the winter session shall begin on the first day of October, and end on the thirty-first day of March.

Art. XIV. There shall be two pulic examinations of the students of the academy in each year, one to commence on the second Monday of June, immediately after which there shall be a vacation for that the the next succeeding week. The other shall commence on the twentieth day of December, unless it should fall on Sunday, in which case it shall commence on monday, the twenty-first. Immediately after the close of the examination there shall be a vacation until the first Monday in January, following.

Art. XV. At each examination the Board of Trustees or a committee of their body, appointed for that purpose, shall attend to witness the progress of the students.

Art. XVI. After each examination the Board of Trustees may distribute prizes of books to students who greatly improve in learning and deportment.

Art. XVII. The Steward shall board and lodge, as well as wash for all such students as may be placed under his charge.

Art. XVIII. He shall lay a plentiful table three times each day, all the provisions placed on the table shall be well cooked, neatly prepared and laid.

Art. XIX. The beds and bedding of the students shall be kept clean and frequently aired and sunned.

Art. XX. The students shall be furnished with clean clothes to change, thrice each week during the summer session, and twice each week during the winter session.

Art. XXI. It shall be the duty of the teachers in the academy to visit the steward's house once or oftener, each week to see that these provisions for his government are complied with. Said teachers shall listen to all complaints made by the students of defects in the steward's department, and if on examination, they be found to be well founded, or if defects be found by the teachers themselves, they shall point them out to the steward, and if they are not immediately corrected, it shall be the duty of the teachers to report them to the Board of Trustees, who will apply the necessary correction.

Art. XXII. If any student shall be guilty of misconduct in the Steward's house, it shall be the duty of the steward to reprove hime for such misconduct, but should the nature of the offence require severe punishment, then reproof, it shall be the duty of the steward to report the case to the teachers of the academy, who shall determine and apply the punishment to be inflicted for the offence.

Art. XXIII. These By-Laws shall be read to the assembled students on the first Monday in every month before the dismissal of the school at noon, they shall always be open to the inspection of the steward, who is authorized to take a copy of them, should he deem it advisable.

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This article appeared in the June, 1959 issue of The Alumni News, Southeastern Louisiana University.