Marcus
Little,
School
Starter
From Catfish to Dallas,
Professor Little was a
striet enforcer off charac¬
ter in education.
On# ol Lillie's legacies ««as Ibis three-story brick gem ol architecture'' lhat was to become old Gaston Col¬
lege. one ol the lew schools started by Professor Little to en|oy a second life. Although the old building
was destroyed by tire In 1927, today the modern Gaston College is a thriving community college with ap¬
proximately 2,500 students enrolled yearly.
«!/
ROBERT L. WILLIAMS
"A preacher is a teacher, and a
teacher is a preacher" was one of the fa¬
vorite sayings of Professor Marcus Lay-
fayette Little, one of the legendary
scholars, ministers, civic leaders, and
educators of the second half of the nine¬
teenth century. And the adage was more
than glib testimonial: wherever the man
stayed for more than a casual visit he
had a tendency to leave a legacy of edu¬
cation. character-building, and often a
school or two.
Little was from the Old School—
quite literally. He taught in log cabins
and in one-man educational facilities
much of his short but dynamic educa¬
tional career, and he never wavered
from his idea that a school is for teach¬
ing and learning and for very little else.
He had a distrust for the many frills and
fun-and-games that have invaded and
conquered modern educational institu¬
tions.
As a young man Little commuted—
the hard way— from Hickory to
Conover to study under the Rev. John
Smith, noted Lutheran minister, and af¬
ter he had completed his studies Little
rushed into the world— his world con¬
sisting largely of the counties of
Catawba. Lincoln, and Gaston— to
practice what he preached, and in his
wake he left a series of remarkable
schools and a legacy of education rarely
equalled in the stale’s history.
24
One of his first efforts at school-
starting came near his home, in the
community of Catfish in Catawba
County, where Little established the
Pleasant Grove Seminary.
By 1982 Little accepted a call from
Trinity Lutheran Church in Vale, and
while he was in the area he founded
Ridge Academy in the w-estern end of
Lincoln County.
Little's Masterpiece
Back in Hickory, he collaborated
with George Hahn as the two started the
Hickory Tavern Academy. He left there¬
to accept a position as principal of
Gaston High School in Dallas.
What he found there was a log struc¬
ture lhat was thirty feet long and eigh¬
teen feel wide, a building that had
served the town for years. Little again
began to work his magic in education,
and shortly the town had raised $1500
to build a two-story brick edifice thirty
feet wide and sixty-four feet long.
In the early years the school was ba¬
sically a one-man institution, but by
1884 there were 107 students enrolled in
the high school and 194 in all grades.
There were also six teachers and stu¬
dents from a four-state area.
Earlier Dallas had raised $5000 to¬
ward the cost of a $10,000 structure
which was to become a beautiful "gem
of architecture." a picturesque and
remarkable building that would soon
accommodate 215 students, 115 of
whom were boarders. This was to be¬
come his masterpiece of education, as
it was to evolve into Gaston College.
The new college, which in a sense
was a sister to Concordia, a school in
Conover that Little had been involved
with as well, was to become a model for
the small-town independent colleges
that were to spring up all over the state
decades later.
The school's academic year lasted ten
months, and the cost of attending was
$120 per year, which included tuition,
books, room and board, water, lights,
fuel, washing and ironing, and the stu¬
dent was expected to provide his— or
her— own toilet articles, towels, sheets,
blankets, quilt, bedspread, matches,
and candles. However, those who did
not come equipped with these neces¬
saries could have them provided by the
college— at the cost of one dollar per
month!
Model For Future
Professor Little and associates adver¬
tised the college as being located in a
"high, healthy, and beautiful section of
country, enjoying a highly moral and
hospitable society. Few locations com¬
bine in a more eminent degree the ad¬
vantages of accessibility, healthful ness,
morality, and quietness for the purpose
of study."
The curriculum included four years
of intensive study, the freshman year to
offer grammar, history, literature, geog¬
raphy. math. Bible history, and Moral
Law. The second year added rhetoric
THE STATE. JULY 1987
