1829.
AN enfeebled constitution, renders it impossible for me to take an extensive circuit in the practice of my profession as a Lawyer; and I therefore propose, assisted by my brother, to open a School at my house in Lincoln County, on the Catawba River, nine miles from States- ville, and twenty-four miles from Lincolnton, on the first Monday in March next; by which time my buildings will be completed. My house is large and roomy; and I have begun to erect small but comfortable cabins, similar to those at the Winnsborough and Platt Spring Academies of South Carolina. The situation is a handsome one—is known to be perfectly healthy, and has the advantage of being entirely removed from all places of dissipation. No scholar will be taken who cannot board with me as a member of my family.
I will teach the Latin and Greek Languages, the Mathematics, and the Elements of the other Sciences; and also, if required by parents or guardians, I will teach with great care the elementary branches of an English education. Tuition and boarding, including candles, washing, &c. &c. will be furnished for one hundred dollars per annum, twenty-five of which must be paid in advance. No scholar will be taken for a less term than one quarter; but entrances may be had for one or more quarters at any time after the opening of the school.
I now have one Law Student, and am anxious to get a few more; to whose examination and instruction I would devote a sufficient portion of time to enable them to proceed with much greater ease than they generally do in lawyers' offices, in acquiring a knowledge of their profession; for it is a notorious fact, that practicing lawyers have neither time nor inclination to direct the studies of their students, and that they do not examine them as often as once a month. Under such circumstances a young man must pursue his studies to great disadvantage; and often license to practice without a competent fund of practical information. I do not propose to deliver law lectures; but I will point out the authors, or the parts of them, which ought to be read; examine the young men daily upon them, converse with them upon the changes which have been made in the English law by the Constitution and laws of the United States, the Constitution and laws of this State, and by the decisions of the Supreme Court. I have a very good library of elementary law books; for the use of which, for instruction, and for boarding, including candles and washing, I will charge each student one hundred dollars per annum, twenty-five of which must be paid in advance.
All applications must be made to me in person, or by letter, directed to Thomas' Ferry, Iredell County, or to Statesville.
For particulars as to my qualifications, I refer to Judge Badger of Raleigh, or to Mayor Henderson of Lincolnton.
Dec. 11, 1829. Richard T. Brumry.
—Raleigh Register, December 14, 1829.
(Source: North Carolina Schools and Academies 1790-1840, by Charles L. Coon, published 1915)