State

Wolfe At The Di Society One day the portrait of another Buneombe County man uould adorn the walls. . . . By K1C HARO M AI SI H In 1916. on a Saturday evening in September, freshman I'homas Wolfe, still fifteen years «'Id. walked up to the third floor of New West building at the University of North ( arolina in Chapel Hill, entered the hall **f the august Dialectic Literary Society, and pre¬ sented himself f«*r membership. He had been on campus thirteen days. The Di Society, formed in 1795. tra¬ ditionally drew its membership from the western pan of the state. Its quar¬ ters were impressive; there were com¬ fortable seats f«»r the members, a hand¬ some r«*strum for the officers, and the walls were covered «»n all sides with portraits of former l)i men who had become famous in the affairs «>f North ( arolina and the nation (see Margue¬ rite Schumann. "History Hangs «»n the Di-Phi Walls." Tut Siam . August 1976), I he primary purpose of the Di was t«> give students experience in oratory, formal debate, and extemporaneous speaking. At the North State Fitting School in Asheville, young Wolfe had received some practice in these fields, and he was now ready to continue his training. On that Saturday evening, during a mock initiation, the new men wore in¬ structed t«> deliver speeches to display their elocutionary skills. Most of the neophytes understood the semicomic nature of the occasion and spouted some sentences in counterfeit serious¬ ness. But Wolfe look on the assign¬ ment in dead earnest. Instead of the expected two minutes, he spoke for twenty, proclaiming his pleasure in joining such a prestigious body. At the conclusion, he looked about the stately hall and pointed to the paintings, fi¬ nally coming to Zeb Vance, and said that someday another Buncombe County man would have his p«irtrait adorning the walls. Of course, self- confident I'homas Wolfe meant him¬ self. The students didn't know whether to laugh t»r groan and as Morganton senior Sam J. lirvin. Jr., sat there and listened to the presumptuous young squirt, he had the feeling that tall, thin Tom Wolfe was about the last person in the room whose portrait would ever look down upon it. Eventually. Wolfe overcame his awkward initiation, and during his four undergraduate years at Chapel Hill, he was an active loyal member of the Di. The Debater Critics, commenting on the prose of Wolfe's mature novels, have often re¬ marked «*n his rhetoric, his unusual vocabulary'- the polished declaration. the emotional pressing home of a point. and have wondered where he % лгц**- ABATERS 7^v. ORATORS POR THE DIALECTIC SOCIETY \q\& ZX>//r o« ik... . pope ol The Yockety Yoch~ (UNC yeo»booh) ol 1919 o« leesi i-o ot the othe. oroto.» moy be о» i lo То» Heel reoden oi Thomo» Wolte Luther Hodge» -ho beeomr Go.emo». end Willem Bobbitt, -ho become Chiel Jurtite ol the N C Suptemc Court, ore ee».ty recognued. John Wetley Forte», о p»e-lo- tiudent Iron* Mochsville, »toyed on in Chopcl Hill ond «on the сотри» booh rto»c THE STATE. MARCH 1977 12