The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, July 1921 - April, 1922 Page: 295
306 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Bryan-Hayes Correspondence
blood and people, and that they and the negroe are not from
the same stock. I do not mean to change you, but simply to
call to your mind these subjects. You once came to the relief
of the Nu Pi Kappa. Come now to the relief of the Southern
people, as a man carrying out the feelings and acts of the youth.27
I know not your ambition or your views, but the South is worth
cultivating by the American Statesman.
I thank you for your letter of introduction to Genl Sheridan
I do not know that I shall ever use it. It may be of service.
I thank you whether I present it or not. I am living about ten
miles from this city on the Bay shall remain there until cold
weather and perhaps longer.
Present my regards to Mrs. Hayes.
Guy M Bryan
'The reference of this appeal is explained by following incident. The
account of this incident was not written down till nine years later, in
response to a request from William B. Bodine addressed to Guy M. Bryan
for some reminiscence of Kenyon College. Mr. Bodine published it for
the first time in Scribner's Monthly, March, 1878, p. 704.
"There were in those days two rival literary societies in the college-
the Philomathesian and the Nu Pi Kappa; the last known as the
Southern Society, and the first as the Northern, because the students of
the slave states belonged to the one, and those from the free states to
the other. The college for years had been largely patronized from the
Southern States, but this patronage gradually waned until, in the winter
of 1841, there were so few Southern students in the college that the
members of the Nu Pi Kappa were apprehensive that the society would
cease to exist for want of new members. This was a serious question
with the members of the society. I determined to open the subject to
my intimate friend Hayes to see if we could not devise some mode to
prevent the extinction of the society, which was chartered by the state
and had valuable property. We talked over the subject with all the
feeling and interest with which we would now discuss the best means
of bringing about an era of good feeling between the two sections of the
country. At last Hayes said, 'Well, I will get "Old Trow," Comstock
and some others to join with me, and we will send over a delegation
from our society to yours, and then we can make new arrangements so
that both societies can live in the old college.' He and I then went to
work to consummate our plan. Ten members of the Philomathesian
joined the Nu Pi Kappa. A joint committee was then appointed from
the two societies, that reported a plan by which students could enter
either society without reference to North or South. Thus Hayes, by his
magnanimity, perpetuated the existence of the Nu Pi Kappa society, and
should he be elected president, I earnestly hope that he may be equally
successful in his best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will wipe
out forever the distinction between North and South in the government
of our common country."295
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, July 1921 - April, 1922, periodical, 1922; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101082/m1/301/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.