Enter the Quaker Pedagogue: Benjamin Hallowell
Benjamin Hallowell came to Alexandria in 1824 to open a school for boys.
He was then twenty-five, with no fortune, a large debt, a dependent
mother, a new and young bride.
For his first school he rented the building on the northeast corner of
Oronoco and Washington Streets, next to the house where the widow of
General Harry Lee resided!
Alexandria was in a turmoil of hospitality, welcoming the Marquis de la
Fayette. Hallowell and his wife of a few hours stood in their front door
the morning after their marriage and saw the famous Frenchman paying his
_devoirs_ to Mrs. Lee. Hallowell's autobiography pictures the occasion:
"When he got opposite," he wrote, "he looked at us, took off his hat,
and made a graceful bow, not knowing it was to a lady who had been
married the day before." Nor that his liking for a fresh smiling face
inspired the schoolmaster to immediately express his emotions in the
following verse:
Each lover of Liberty surely must get
Something in honor of LaFayette
There's a LaFayette watch-chain, a LaFayette hat,
A LaFayette this, and a LaFayette that.
But I wanted something as lasting as life
As I took to myself a LaFayette wife.[187]
The school of Benjamin Hallowell filled slowly at first. The ninth boy
to enroll was Mrs. Harry Lee's son, Robert Edward. Edmund Lee and Thomas
Swann sent their boys, who were "ten dollar" scholars. The time was to
come when Hallowell would turn away more than a hundred applicants, but
that was after Robert Edward Lee had gone to West Point and
distinguished himself.
At the end of his year in Alexandria, Hallowell's child was born. Both
he and the mother were very ill, "seemingly with bilious fever." Then,
for the first time, Hallowell heard that the "situation on Oronoco
Street, on the edge of town as it was, had always been regarded as
unhealthy."[188] He could not bear the idea of his wife and family
continuing in a place that was so evil, or of inviting his scholars to
share such an environment. Then it was that he got in contact with the
widow Hooe, made arrangements to give up his first schoolhouse and
immediately engaged the more healthy situation on Washington Street.
The house which was so "unhealthy" is a replica in almost every respect
of Mrs. Harry Lee's house, but there is no record of Mrs. Lee
complaining of the situation nor of the health of her boys.
The new schoolhouse, so commonly spoken of as the Lloyd House [220 North
Washington Street.] by Alexandrians, was built by John Hooe in 1793. In
1826, Benjamin Hallowell rented it from the widow Hooe and in the spring
vacation with his ill wife in his arms, moved into this building so
admirably adapted to his purpose.
"My school room," he tells us, "was on the first floor, north end, all
across the house. I having obtained permission of my Landlady, in our
arrangements, to remove the partition on condition of replacing it by
one with folding doors, when I should leave the property, which was
done. My lecture room was the back room over the school room.... The
very day the quarter's rent was due the widow Hooe's carriage was at the
door, and this continued to be her custom as long as she lived. If I had
not the money, which was generally the case, I would frankly tell her
so, and add that the first money I could get, and could possibly spare,
I would take to her, with which she was always satisfied. She never said
a word like urging me, or being disappointed in not getting the rent
due, and I did take her the very first I received, never permitting it
to be in my possession over night."[189]
The frail Mrs. Hallowell opened a school for girls in the front room
over the schoolroom, and Hallowell lectured to her scholars. Money
being very scarce with them at this time, they could not afford two
stoves, so Hallowell and the servant, Nancy, carried the stove from
schoolroom to lecture room as needed.
[Illustration: Entrance to Benjamin Hallowell's first school. A fine
type of Georgian doorway]
"On the 17th of Ninth month, 1830," the autobiography continues,
"commenced giving private lessons to Angela Lewis, daughter of Major
Lawrence Lewis (who was a nephew of General Washington, and it was said
a good deal resembled him in appearance). These lessons continued
through the year, for which I charged fifty dollars, and the Major
promptly sent me his check for the amount. Eleanor Lewis, Angela's
Mother, always attended at her daughter's recitations in English
Grammar, Parsing, Natural Philosophy, etc., so that her influence, which
she afterwards exerted in my favor, and her praise of my method of
teaching, was of greater value to me than the amount I received in hand
for teaching her daughter."[190]
[Illustration: The Lloyd House and Benjamin Hallowell's second school]
In the meantime, he struggled along with debt, with illness, with
sorrow. Scarlet fever wiped out three of the four little Hallowells in
nearly the same number of weeks. He witnessed the cholera in Alexandria
and had the unhappy experience of seeing a man drop dead of the plague
before his eyes; he heard the market square echo to the feet of soldiers
mustering and drilling in preparation for war in Mexico.
This man had the most singular relationships in his business dealings.
When he bought the lot and buildings of his school from the bank, it was
two years before any papers were signed, interest paid, or deed given,
although he had made extensive improvements during that time. He never
failed to meet an obligation although at the beginning it took him ten
years to pay back the two hundred dollars plus five per cent interest,
that he had from his Uncle Comly in Philadelphia. Everyone trusted him,
the merchants in Philadelphia from whom he had his school supplies and
chemical apparatus; his grocer in Alexandria, John P. Cowman, not only
never dunned him, but invited him to come to his store and get what was
necessary, and never sent bills unless requested.
[Illustration: When the blast of winter chilled the great rooms at
Woodlawn the Lawrence Lewises came into warmer quarters in Alexandria
and occupied this cottage. 'Twas here that Benjamin Hallowell came to
improve the mind of Nelly Custis' daughter]
Hallowell was city surveyor, but accepted no fee because it afforded a
fine opportunity to instruct his pupils in "Field Practice with the
Odolite and Level." He was something of an architect, improving every
place he occupied, and building two fine structures in the town.
In 1831 the widow Hooe died and in the spring of 1832 the house which he
had acquired for a school in 1826, was put up at auction. Hallowell
hoped to possess this property, having put both his time and money into
the remodeling. He had already enlarged and improved a sugar house
adjacent to the building. His school was growing in reputation and size,
he becoming more prosperous. Gathering together all the cash he could
put his hands on, he attended the auction where he had the misfortune to
be outbid. The property was purchased by John Lloyd, and remained in the
Lloyd family for nearly one hundred years.
[Illustration: Early nineteenth century mantel in the home of Mr. and
Mrs. Ford Swetnam at 815 Franklin Street. The original use of reeded
work to form a beautiful design, the shell-like ornamentation and
diagonal bands make this an attractive piece of wood carving. (Nelly
Custis Town House)]
Ancient mahogany filled the rooms, portraits of ancestors lined the
walls. General Lee was a frequent visitor in this house. The Lloyds
intermarried with the Lees, and Mrs. Lloyd was General Lee's first
cousin. His daughter, Miss Mary Custis Lee, always stayed here when
visiting in Alexandria. The last Lloyds to live in this house were two
very old ladies. What follows will serve to reveal why their neighbors
considered them "quaint."
Following the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort, a
fashion grew up in Virginia affecting widows. At the death of the
husband a real Victorian Virginia lady simply went to bed and awaited
death. It did not always follow that a broken heart put her in her grave
as readily as was anticipated, and many of these brokenhearted widows
lived to a ripe old age. Such was the case with one of these piously
saddened ladies. When she heard the doorbell, she at once put herself
between the sheets of her high poster and covered herself to the chin.
Under the cover went such things as high button shoes, a "reticule" and
any other regalia that was in service at the moment. If the caller was
familiar, or after the formalities had been observed, proper sympathy
for the heart palpitating between the sheets, the head languishing upon
the pillow noticed and condoned, the sufferer would arise, hop out of
bed fully clothed and partake of cookies and wine passed by the black
dwarf, Selena. This small creature, after fulfilling her part in the
social amenities, seated herself upon a small stool, joined in the
conversation, and when amused (which was often) broke into a high
falsetto laugh. In the last years of these two ladies she gained a most
unholy influence over her charges and took cruel advantage of their
helplessness.
Another peculiarity of this household was the fashion of being admitted
to the mansion. After repeated ringing of the bell, a second-story front
window would open--those not in the know often left--and in a leisurely
fashion a grape basket was lowered by a long string. Inside the basket,
those who were familiar with the proceeding would find the front-door
key, a large, heavy iron affair, somewhat like that to the Bastille, now
on display at Mount Vernon, and with this they let themselves in.
The Lloyd house, a large rectangular brick building, divided by a
central hall with rooms on each side, is two and a half stories high.
Three dormer windows pierce the roof, front and back, and four great
chimneys rise from the gable ends. Flush with the street, on a corner,
with a handsome garden behind a pale and paneled fence adjoining to the
left, the house is a model federal town mansion. Pedimented doorway,
window caps, keystones, cornice and dormer trim follow the best
mid-Georgian tradition. This house is one of Alexandria's finest homes.
It was for many years the residence of Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Smoot.
[Illustration]