Enter the Quaker Pedagogue: Benjamin Hallowell

Benjamin Hallowell came to Alexandria in 1824 to open a school for boys. He was then twenty-five, with no fortune, a large debt, a dependent mother, a new and young bride.

For his first school he rented the building on the northeast corner of Oronoco and Washington Streets, next to the house where the widow of General Harry Lee resided!

Alexandria was in a turmoil of hospitality, welcoming the Marquis de la Fayette. Hallowell and his wife of a few hours stood in their front door the morning after their marriage and saw the famous Frenchman paying his devoirs to Mrs. Lee. Hallowell's autobiography pictures the occasion: "When he got opposite," he wrote, "he looked at us, took off his hat, and made a graceful bow, not knowing it was to a lady who had been married the day before." Nor that his liking for a fresh smiling face inspired the schoolmaster to immediately express his emotions in the following verse:

Each lover of Liberty surely must get
Something in honor of LaFayette
There's a LaFayette watch-chain, a LaFayette hat,
A LaFayette this, and a LaFayette that.
But I wanted something as lasting as life
As I took to myself a LaFayette wife.[187]

The school of Benjamin Hallowell filled slowly at first. The ninth boy to enroll was Mrs. Harry Lee's son, Robert Edward. Edmund Lee and Thomas Swann sent their boys, who were "ten dollar" scholars. The time was to come when Hallowell would turn away more than a hundred applicants, but that was after Robert Edward Lee had gone to West Point and distinguished himself.

At the end of his year in Alexandria, Hallowell's child was born. Both he and the mother were very ill, "seemingly with bilious fever." Then, for the first time, Hallowell heard that the "situation on Oronoco Street, on the edge of town as it was, had always been regarded as unhealthy."[188] He could not bear the idea of his wife and family continuing in a place that was so evil, or of inviting his scholars to share such an environment. Then it was that he got in contact with the widow Hooe, made arrangements to give up his first schoolhouse and immediately engaged the more healthy situation on Washington Street.

The house which was so "unhealthy" is a replica in almost every respect of Mrs. Harry Lee's house, but there is no record of Mrs. Lee complaining of the situation nor of the health of her boys.

The new schoolhouse, so commonly spoken of as the Lloyd House [220 North Washington Street.] by Alexandrians, was built by John Hooe in 1793. In 1826, Benjamin Hallowell rented it from the widow Hooe and in the spring vacation with his ill wife in his arms, moved into this building so admirably adapted to his purpose.

"My school room," he tells us, "was on the first floor, north end, all across the house. I having obtained permission of my Landlady, in our arrangements, to remove the partition on condition of replacing it by one with folding doors, when I should leave the property, which was done. My lecture room was the back room over the school room.... The very day the quarter's rent was due the widow Hooe's carriage was at the door, and this continued to be her custom as long as she lived. If I had not the money, which was generally the case, I would frankly tell her so, and add that the first money I could get, and could possibly spare, I would take to her, with which she was always satisfied. She never said a word like urging me, or being disappointed in not getting the rent due, and I did take her the very first I received, never permitting it to be in my possession over night."[189]

The frail Mrs. Hallowell opened a school for girls in the front room over the schoolroom, and Hallowell lectured to her scholars. Money being very scarce with them at this time, they could not afford two stoves, so Hallowell and the servant, Nancy, carried the stove from schoolroom to lecture room as needed.

entrance

Entrance to Benjamin Hallowell's first school. A fine type of Georgian doorway

"On the 17th of Ninth month, 1830," the autobiography continues, "commenced giving private lessons to Angela Lewis, daughter of Major Lawrence Lewis (who was a nephew of General Washington, and it was said a good deal resembled him in appearance). These lessons continued through the year, for which I charged fifty dollars, and the Major promptly sent me his check for the amount. Eleanor Lewis, Angela's Mother, always attended at her daughter's recitations in English Grammar, Parsing, Natural Philosophy, etc., so that her influence, which she afterwards exerted in my favor, and her praise of my method of teaching, was of greater value to me than the amount I received in hand for teaching her daughter."[190]

school

The Lloyd House and Benjamin Hallowell's second school

In the meantime, he struggled along with debt, with illness, with sorrow. Scarlet fever wiped out three of the four little Hallowells in nearly the same number of weeks. He witnessed the cholera in Alexandria and had the unhappy experience of seeing a man drop dead of the plague before his eyes; he heard the market square echo to the feet of soldiers mustering and drilling in preparation for war in Mexico.

This man had the most singular relationships in his business dealings. When he bought the lot and buildings of his school from the bank, it was two years before any papers were signed, interest paid, or deed given, although he had made extensive improvements during that time. He never failed to meet an obligation although at the beginning it took him ten years to pay back the two hundred dollars plus five per cent interest, that he had from his Uncle Comly in Philadelphia. Everyone trusted him, the merchants in Philadelphia from whom he had his school supplies and chemical apparatus; his grocer in Alexandria, John P. Cowman, not only never dunned him, but invited him to come to his store and get what was necessary, and never sent bills unless requested.

cottage

When the blast of winter chilled the great rooms at Woodlawn the Lawrence Lewises came into warmer quarters in Alexandria and occupied this cottage. 'Twas here that Benjamin Hallowell came to improve the mind of Nelly Custis' daughter

Hallowell was city surveyor, but accepted no fee because it afforded a fine opportunity to instruct his pupils in "Field Practice with the Odolite and Level." He was something of an architect, improving every place he occupied, and building two fine structures in the town.

In 1831 the widow Hooe died and in the spring of 1832 the house which he had acquired for a school in 1826, was put up at auction. Hallowell hoped to possess this property, having put both his time and money into the remodeling. He had already enlarged and improved a sugar house adjacent to the building. His school was growing in reputation and size, he becoming more prosperous. Gathering together all the cash he could put his hands on, he attended the auction where he had the misfortune to be outbid. The property was purchased by John Lloyd, and remained in the Lloyd family for nearly one hundred years.

mantel

Early nineteenth century mantel in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ford Swetnam at 815 Franklin Street. The original use of reeded work to form a beautiful design, the shell-like ornamentation and diagonal bands make this an attractive piece of wood carving. (Nelly Custis Town House)

Ancient mahogany filled the rooms, portraits of ancestors lined the walls. General Lee was a frequent visitor in this house. The Lloyds intermarried with the Lees, and Mrs. Lloyd was General Lee's first cousin. His daughter, Miss Mary Custis Lee, always stayed here when visiting in Alexandria. The last Lloyds to live in this house were two very old ladies. What follows will serve to reveal why their neighbors considered them "quaint."

Following the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort, a fashion grew up in Virginia affecting widows. At the death of the husband a real Victorian Virginia lady simply went to bed and awaited death. It did not always follow that a broken heart put her in her grave as readily as was anticipated, and many of these brokenhearted widows lived to a ripe old age. Such was the case with one of these piously saddened ladies. When she heard the doorbell, she at once put herself between the sheets of her high poster and covered herself to the chin. Under the cover went such things as high button shoes, a "reticule" and any other regalia that was in service at the moment. If the caller was familiar, or after the formalities had been observed, proper sympathy for the heart palpitating between the sheets, the head languishing upon the pillow noticed and condoned, the sufferer would arise, hop out of bed fully clothed and partake of cookies and wine passed by the black dwarf, Selena. This small creature, after fulfilling her part in the social amenities, seated herself upon a small stool, joined in the conversation, and when amused (which was often) broke into a high falsetto laugh. In the last years of these two ladies she gained a most unholy influence over her charges and took cruel advantage of their helplessness.

Another peculiarity of this household was the fashion of being admitted to the mansion. After repeated ringing of the bell, a second-story front window would open—those not in the know often left—and in a leisurely fashion a grape basket was lowered by a long string. Inside the basket, those who were familiar with the proceeding would find the front-door key, a large, heavy iron affair, somewhat like that to the Bastille, now on display at Mount Vernon, and with this they let themselves in.

The Lloyd house, a large rectangular brick building, divided by a central hall with rooms on each side, is two and a half stories high. Three dormer windows pierce the roof, front and back, and four great chimneys rise from the gable ends. Flush with the street, on a corner, with a handsome garden behind a pale and paneled fence adjoining to the left, the house is a model federal town mansion. Pedimented doorway, window caps, keystones, cornice and dormer trim follow the best mid-Georgian tradition. This house is one of Alexandria's finest homes. It was for many years the residence of Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Smoot.

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