Josephine Little Rawl, Class of 1913
Memories shared by Josephine Little Rawl as printed in Pieces of Eight, September 15, 1982.
It cost $32 a year to attend the East Carolina Teachers Training School (ECTTS) as a day student -- nine dollars a quarter for tuition and five dollars for fees. The state furnished the books. Now wasn't that a bargain?There were two new buildings -- the main building and a dormitory -- facing Fifth Street, which wasn't paved, and some distance away the little "Red Barn" near the lake. It had all been farmland and tobacco fields stretched back to the (Green Mill) run. On Fifth Street there were board walks and it was a fine place for couples to stroll on Sunday afternoons.
We had classes in English, Math, History, Pedagogy and Home Economics which included cooking and gardening. Latin was offered, but wasn't encouraged.
One of our Home Ec assignments by Elizabeth Pugh Carr was for two girls to prepare and serve a luncheon for six people for a dollar and a half. It was easy. We bought a hen for 35 cents at Starkey's Grocery and had baked chicken, two vegetables, a dessert and a drink. Our guests included Mrs. Carr and Mr. and Mrs. H. Frederick Jones.
Taught Gardening
Mr. H.E. Austin also taught gardening. We had a garden plot and two girls would have two rows to plant and tend. Sallie Joyner Davis taught history -- she would always call on me to report on current events because I went home for lunch each day and read The News and Observer. Dr. Leon Meadows, later president, was our class advisor.
In 1913, our class present East Carolina's first Shakespearean play, with the girls taking all of the roles. Lillie Freeman played Kate in The Taming of the Shrew.
There were 28 girls in our class from all over eastern North Carolina -- from Scotland Neck, Roanoke Rapids, Beulaville, Snow Hill and Washington, as well as Pitt County. We took a spelling test for an entrance exam and agreed to teach school for two years after graduation so the state would furnish our books. After graduation, I taught seven grades in a one-room, one teacher school in Greene County.
Groundwork Laid
I was graduated from a nine-grade school in Greenville and entered East Carolina in 1911. My father, James Benjamin Little, had served in the state legislature in 1903 and 1905 and worked with Mr. Jim Fleming, a cousin and our next-door neighbor, to establish the new school in Greenville. When we moved to Winterville, my father had to give up his seat in the legislature from the north side of Pitt County but the political groundwork for the school already was laid.
We will always appreciate the literary and cultural influence of the East Carolina faculty upon our community. As an early example, Mrs. R.H. Wright and Mrs. H.E. Austin were charter members of the Ladies of the Round Table, a literary society now called the Round Table Book Club. It was founded in 1910 and Mrs. Kate Beckwith was first president. There were two earlier clubs but this was the first founded with the help of the faculty wives.
