An excerpt from Thomas Gilbert Pearson: Untiring Protector of Birds, from The Fourteenth Ward Lecture given at Guilford College on January 17, 1964 by M. Albert Linton.

Using his collection of birds’ eggs and mounted specimens of birds as lure he wrote to various schools and colleges. His mother and brother had both attended Earlham College so that he was naturally attracted in that direction. Finally President Lyndon Hobbs of Guilford College rose to the lure and said that Guilford would accept Gilbert’s collection. In return Gilbert would receive board and tuition for two years if, as he had the time, he also would collect and mount birds for the College Cabinet. Thus in the fall of 1891 at the age of eighteen, Gilbert Pearson entered Guilford.

His first impressions of the students in the school were not of the highest. In the dining hall he thought they were plain, uninteresting people. The girls especially seemed to him to have what he called “an unfair share of homeliness.” The next First-Day at meeting he realized how much he had been in error. As a student he was still mediocre. English grammar was still a bugbear. He attained 30 in a test where 70 was passing. He got involved in pranks which nearly caused him to be expelled.

The heroes at Guilford in those days were the orators and Gilbert wanted to become one himself. There were two literary societies in the college which engaged in debates. His choice was the one known as the Websterian Society. Taking part in his first debate his opening sentence was long and ponderous, having over sixty words – a length that would do a German sentence proud. A loud guffaw from Ed Wilson, a senior, was crushing. Gilbert’s speech was ruined but he kept stammering on for three minutes to avoid being fined. He was compelled to speak every two weeks to avoid being  fined and it took many months to regain self-confidence.

Shortly before commencement that year, orations were in order. Eventually, Gilbert was elected to be one of the orators. A teacher had given him two small circulars issued by an organization named the Audubon Society. These circulars told of the killing of egrets and multitudes of song birds whose feathers were used in the millinery trade. This supplied the theme for his oration. Stepping forward with outstretched arms and lifted eyes he cried, “O fashion, O women of America, how many crimes are committed in your name!” His most valued return from the evening’s effort was Ed Wilson’s comment, “Not so bad for a prep.” With that his cup was full.