Mattie Moye King Gaylord, Class of 1912

This article describes the memories of ECU's second oldest living graduate in 1990. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.

Citation for this article is: Blount, Mary. "Class of 1912 Graduate Reminisces Fondly," Marauder, October 8, 1990.

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Class of 1912 Graduate Reminisces Fondly

Mattie Moye King Gaylord, 2nd oldest living graduate,
recalls days of East Carolina Teachers Training School

She doesn't ask where,
She's already there;
She doesn't ask why,
She commences too high.
She doesn't ask which,
For she picks up each stitch;
Making each one count
As a step toward the mount.
She doesn't ask when,
Pushing patience too thin.
Her faith reflects solid worth,
Known to few human beings on earth.

"She" is Mrs. Mattie Moye King Gaylord and this poem was written by her friend Ivy Snyder. Gaylord, 98, is ECU's second oldest living graduate.

She graduated in 1912, a member of the university's second class. At that time, East Carolina was known as East Carolina Teacher's Training School. There were twenty in Gaylord's class and half were day students. East Carolina was a public school and tuition was free as long as the students promised to teach for two years after they graduated.

Gaylord was born in Greenville, and is the oldest of seven children.Her father, Richard Warren King, was the sherrif of Pitt County for 18 years. Her mother, Mattie Elizabeth Moye, was from Kinston. Mrs. Gaylord graduated from Peace College in 1910, and after graduating from East Carlolina in 1912, she moved to Plymouth to teach.there she met her husband, Louis Woodson Gaylord and they had six children.

Gaylord, then Miss King, and called "Mattie Moye" by her friends, was a day student at the College. She did not live in the dorms where it was forbidden to leave without a hat and gloves. Nonetheless, Gaylord insists that the dress code for women was very strict. For example, she remembers, "I was in the Lanier Society, (a literary organization) and we wanted to put on a play. We decided on 'She Stoops to Conquer' by Oliver Goldsmith. Of course, just about everyone in the play was male, so there as some discussion as to whether the women could dress as men or not. After some debate, it was decided by the board that for women to dress in slacks would be an indignity to the girls and disgrace the school to the point of ruining its reputation. So we wore a shirt, vest, coat, and a long black skirt in the play."

Other Facts about Dress

Gaylord reports that it was considered most attractive in women to have a light complexion, a tiny waist and small feet. Since it was scandalous for a woman to show her ankle, dresses were long and women wore black cotton stockings. Her mother would give her salts and castor oil to cure her dark complexion.She made sure they always carried a parasol. She says. "We didn't have shoe size, but we had a number. My shoe size was 6, but my number was 4.I guess that's why my feet hurt me so much."

Petticoats. They always wore lots of petticoats. Flannel ones in the winter were usally embroidered. They wore many petticoats. To a party, they would wear three or more. In fact, Gaylord was going to a party once when she was visiting friends and one of the women wouldn't go to the party because she had only one petticoat.

Hats. The fashion for Spring hats was plumnes and birds. Summer hats sported flowers and ribbons while fall and winter hats were made of fur.

Amusements

Chaperones. Mr. Hugh Shepherd, a family friend, was Mrs. Gaylord's chaperone. She would never leave the house without a chaperone and he would even go with her sisters and her on Sunday when they would pick blubells and take photographs.

Courting. Says Gaylord: "We had to make our own amusement. When someone came courting, we would go into the parlour and eat pie. We never went out -- there was nowhere to go."

Social Life.The residents of Greenville would also go out to meet the trains at 5 p.m. everyday. The women would get all dressed up and go meet the drummers, or salesmen.

Visiting. Very often Gaylord would make house visits which consisted of packing a trunk (presumably to carry all those petticoats) and go to visit your friends for a week or so in the summer. Seven or eight people would visit a family at a time. Houses were large and slept many. Gaylord would visit places like Lumberton and Morehead City wherever she had friends and they would go to parties. She can remember when Atlantic Beach housed not one single building. She and her friends would take a boat from Morehead and visit Atlantic Beach where they would jump the waves, since no one in her party could swim.

Christmas. One Christmas little Mattie Moye recieved a special Christmas present. She recalls, "Santa Claus back then would bring the tree. You never saw the tree until Christmas morning and it was always decorated with popcorn and candles. Santa Claus brought me a playhouse when I was ten years old and it was tall enough for a grownperson to stand up in. It had little curtains, a little cabinet, mantle, and rugs on the floors. They brought it on a great big truck and it took 12 men to lift it. We had a fence around the house, and Christmas morning the whole town -- Greenville was small then, I guess about seven or eight thousand people -- and everybody was there looking at the playhouse.

Longevity. Mrs. Gaylord attributes her longevity to the fact that she never smoked, nor drank although she does enjoy a little "Sillybub," a sherry Christmas cake. Mrs. Gaylord's daughter Mrs. Julia Painter, says, "Mother never thinks of herself -- she takes an interest in others more than herself." Conceeds Gaylord, "I remember and love the past, but I don't live in the past. I don't stay still. I am interested in things and people and I enjoy each day. I enjoy everything and particularly the simple things."