A Collection of College Words and Customs
by
Benjamin Homer Hall
Part 6 out of 12
Cut lectures, go to chapel as little as possible, dine in hall
seldom more than once a week, give _Gaudies_ and spreads.--_Gradus
ad Cantab._, p. 122.
GENTLEMAN-COMMONER. The highest class of Commoners at Oxford
University. Equivalent to a Cambridge _Fellow-Commoner_.
Gentlemen Commoners "are eldest sons, or only sons, or men already
in possession of estates, or else (which is as common a case as
all the rest put together), they are the heirs of newly acquired
wealth,--sons of the _nouveaux riches_"; they enjoy a privilege as
regards the choice of rooms; associate at meals with the Fellows
and other authorities of the College; are the possessors of two
gowns, "an undress for the morning, and a full dress-gown for the
evening," both of which are made of silk, the latter being very
elaborately ornamented; wear a cap, covered with velvet instead of
cloth; pay double caution money, at entrance, viz. fifty guineas,
and are charged twenty guineas a year for tutorage, twice the
amount of the usual fee.--Compiled from _De Quincey's Life and
Manners_, pp. 278-280.
GET UP A SUBJECT. See SUBJECT.
This was the fourth time I had begun Algebra, and essayed with no
weakness of purpose to _get_ it _up_ properly.--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 157.
GILL. The projecting parts of a standing collar are, from their
situation, sometimes denominated _gills_.
But, O, what rage his maddening bosom fills!
Far worse than dust-soiled coat are ruined "_gills_."
_Poem before the Class of 1828, Harv. Coll., by J.C.
Richmond_, p. 6.
GOBBLE. At Yale College, to seize; to lay hold of; to appropriate;
nearly the same as to _collar_, q.v.
Alas! how dearly for the fun they paid,
Whom the Proffs _gobbled_, and the Tutors too.
_The Gallinipper_, Dec. 1849.
I never _gobbled_ one poor flat,
To cheer me with his soft dark eye, &c.
_Yale Tomahawk_, Nov. 1849.
I went and performed, and got through the burning,
But oh! and alas! I was _gobbled_ returning.
_Yale Banger_, Nov. 1850.
Upon that night, in the broad street, was I by one of the
brain-deficient men _gobbled_.--_Yale Battery_, Feb. 1850.
Then shout for the hero who _gobbles_ the prize.
_Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 39.
At Cambridge, Eng., this word is used in the phrase _gobbling
Greek_, i.e. studying or speaking that tongue.
Ambitious to "_gobble_" his Greek in the _haute monde_.--_Alma
Mater_, Vol. I. p. 79.
It was now ten o'clock, and up stairs we therefore flew to
_gobble_ Greek with Professor ----.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 127.
You may have seen him, traversing the grass-plots, "_gobbling
Greek_" to himself.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 210.
GOLGOTHA. _The place of a skull_. At Cambridge, Eng., in the
University Church, "a particular part," says the Westminster
Review, "is appropriated to the _heads_ of the houses, and is
called _Golgotha_ therefrom, a name which the appearance of its
occupants renders peculiarly fitting, independent of the
pun."--Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 236.
GONUS. A stupid fellow.
He was a _gonus_; perhaps, though, you don't know what _gonus_
means. One day I heard a Senior call a fellow a _gonus_. "A what?"
said I. "A great gonus," repeated he. "_Gonus_," echoed I, "what's
that mean?" "O," said he, "you're a Freshman and don't
understand." A stupid fellow, a dolt, a boot-jack, an ignoramus,
is called here a _gonus_. "All Freshmen," continued he gravely,
"are _gonuses_."--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 116.
If the disquisitionist should ever reform his habits, and turn his
really brilliant talents to some good account, then future
_gonuses_ will swear by his name, and quote him in their daily
maledictions of the appointment system.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol.
I. p. 76.
The word _goney_, with the same meaning, is often used.
"How the _goney_ swallowed it all, didn't he?" said Mr. Slick,
with great glee.--_Slick in England_, Chap. XXI.
Some on 'em were fools enough to believe the _goney_; that's a
fact.--_Ibid._
GOOD FELLOW. At the University of Vermont, this term is used with
a signification directly opposite to that which it usually has. It
there designates a soft-brained boy; one who is lacking in
intellect, or, as a correspondent observes, "an _epithetical_
fool."
GOODY. At Harvard College, a woman who has the care of the
students' rooms. The word seems to be an abbreviated form of the
word _goodwife_. It has long been in use, as a low term of
civility or sport, and in some cases with the signification of a
good old dame; but in the sense above given it is believed to be
peculiar to Harvard College. In early times, _sweeper_ was in use
instead of _goody_, and even now at Yale College the word _sweep_
is retained. The words _bed-maker_ at Cambridge, Eng., and _gyp_
at Oxford, express the same idea.
The Rebelliad, an epic poem, opens with an invocation to the
Goody, as follows.
Old _Goody_ Muse! on thee I call,
_Pro more_, (as do poets all,)
To string thy fiddle, wax thy bow,
And scrape a ditty, jig, or so.
Now don't wax wrathy, but excuse
My calling you old _Goody_ Muse;
Because "_Old Goody_" is a name
Applied to every college dame.
Aloft in pendent dignity,
Astride her magic broom,
And wrapt in dazzling majesty,
See! see! the _Goody_ come!--p. 11.
Go on, dear _Goody_! and recite
The direful mishaps of the fight.--_Ibid._, p. 20.
The _Goodies_ hearing, cease to sweep,
And listen; while the cook-maids weep.--_Ibid._, p. 47.
The _Goody_ entered with her broom,
To make his bed and sweep his room.--_Ibid._, p. 73.
On opening the papers left to his care, he found a request that
his effects might be bestowed on his friend, the _Goody_, who had
been so attentive to him during his declining hours.--_Harvard
Register_, 1827-28, p. 86.
I was interrupted by a low knock at my door, followed by the
entrance of our old _Goody_, with a bundle of musty papers in her
hand, tied round with a soiled red ribbon.--_Collegian_, 1830, p.
231.
Were there any _Goodies_ when you were in college, father? Perhaps
you did not call them by that name. They are nice old ladies (not
so _very_ nice, either), who come in every morning, after we have
been to prayers, and sweep the rooms, and make the beds, and do
all that sort of work. However, they don't much like their title,
I find; for I called one, the other day, _Mrs. Goodie_, thinking
it was her real name, and she was as sulky as she could
be.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.
Yet these half-emptied bottles shall I take,
And, having purged them of this wicked stuff,
Make a small present unto _Goody_ Bush.
_Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 257.
Reader! wert ever beset by a dun? ducked by the _Goody_ from thine
own window, when "creeping like snail unwillingly" to morning
prayers?--_Ibid._, Vol. IV. p. 274.
The crowd delighted
Saw them, like _Goodies_, clothed in gowns of satin,
Of silk or cotton.--_Childe Harvard_, p. 26, 1848.
On the wall hangs a Horse-shoe I found in the street;
'T is the shoe that to-day sets in motion my feet;
Though its charms are all vanished this many a year,
And not even my _Goody_ regards it with fear.
_The Horse-Shoe, a Poem, by J.B. Felton_, 1849, p. 4.
A very clever elegy on the death of Goody Morse, who
"For forty years or more
... contrived the while
No little dust to raise"
in the rooms of the students of Harvard College, is to be found in
Harvardiana, Vol. I. p. 233. It was written by Mr. (afterwards
Rev.) Benjamin Davis Winslow. In the poem which he read before his
class in the University Chapel at Cambridge, July 14, 1835, he
referred to her in these lines:
"'New brooms sweep clean': 't was thine, dear _Goody_ Morse,
To prove the musty proverb hath no force,
Since fifty years to vanished centuries crept,
While thy old broom our cloisters duly swept.
All changed but thee! beneath thine aged eye
Whole generations came and flitted by,
Yet saw thee still in office;--e'en reform
Spared thee the pelting of its angry storm.
Rest to thy bones in yonder church-yard laid,
Where thy last bed the village sexton made!"--p. 19.
GORM. From _gormandize_. At Hamilton College, to eat voraciously.
GOT. In Princeton College, when a student or any one else has been
cheated or taken in, it is customary to say, he was _got_.
GOVERNMENT. In American colleges, the general government is
usually vested in a corporation or a board of trustees, whose
powers, rights, and duties are established by the respective
charters of the colleges over which they are placed. The immediate
government of the undergraduates is in the hands of the president,
professors, and tutors, who are styled _the Government_, or _the
College Government_, and more frequently _the Faculty_, or _the
College Faculty_.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, pp. 7, 8.
_Laws of Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 5.
For many years he was the most conspicuous figure among those who
constituted what was formerly called "the
_Government_."--_Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D._, p. vii.
[Greek: Kudiste], mighty President!!!
[Greek: Kalomen nun] the _Government_.--_Rebelliad_, p. 27.
Did I not jaw the _Government_,
For cheating more than ten per cent?--_Ibid._, p. 32.
They shall receive due punishment
From Harvard College _Government_.--_Ibid._, p. 44.
The annexed production, printed from a MS. in the author's
handwriting, and in the possession of the editor of this work, is
now, it is believed, for the first time presented to the public.
The time is 1787; the scene, Harvard College. The poem was
"written by John Q. Adams, son of the President, when an
undergraduate."
"A DESCRIPTION OF A GOVERNMENT MEETING.
"The Government of College met,
And _Willard_[31] rul'd the stern debate.
The witty _Jennison_[32] declar'd
As how, he'd been completely scar'd;
Last night, quoth he, as I came home,
I heard a noise in _Prescott's_[33] room.
I went and listen'd at the door,
As I had often done before;
I found the Juniors in a high rant,
They call'd the President a tyrant;
And said as how I was a fool,
A long ear'd ass, a sottish mule,
Without the smallest grain of spunk;
So I concluded they were drunk.
At length I knock'd, and Prescott came:
I told him 't was a burning shame,
That he should give his classmates wine;
And he should pay a heavy fine.
Meanwhile the rest grew so outragious,
Altho' I boast of being couragious,
I could not help being in a fright,
For one of them put out the light.
I thought 't was best to come away,
And wait for vengeance 'till this day;
And he's a fool at any rate
Who'll fight, when he can RUSTICATE.
When they [had] found that I was gone,
They ran through College up and down;
And I could hear them very plain
Take the Lord's holy name in vain.
To Wier's[34] chamber they then repair'd,
And there the wine they freely shar'd;
They drank and sung till they were tir'd.
And then they peacefully retir'd.
When this Homeric speech was said,
With drolling tongue and hanging head,
The learned Doctor took his seat,
Thinking he'd done a noble feat.
Quoth Joe,[35] the crime is great I own,
Send for the Juniors one by one.
By this almighty wig I swear,
Which with such majesty I wear,
Which in its orbit vast contains
My dignity, my power and brains,
That Wier and Prescott both shall see,
That College boys must not be free.
He spake, and gave the awful nod
Like Homer's Didonean God,
The College from its centre shook,
And every pipe and wine-glass broke.
"_Williams_,[36] with countenance humane,
While scarce from laughter could refrain,
Thought that such youthful scenes of mirth
To punishment could not give birth;
Nor could he easily divine
What was the harm of drinking wine.
"But _Pearson_,[37] with an awful frown,
Full of his article and noun,
Spake thus: by all the parts of speech
Which I so elegantly teach,
By mercy I will never stain
The character which I sustain.
Pray tell me why the laws were made,
If they're not to be obey'd;
Besides, _that Wier_ I can't endure,
For he's a wicked rake, I'm sure.
But whether I am right or not,
I'll not recede a single jot.
"_James_[38] saw 'twould be in vain t' oppose,
And therefore to be silent chose.
"_Burr_,[39] who had little wit or pride,
Preferr'd to take the strongest side.
And Willard soon receiv'd commission
To give a publick admonition.
With pedant strut to prayers he came,
Call'd out the criminals by name;
Obedient to his dire command,
Prescott and Wier before him stand.
The rulers merciful and kind,
With equal grief and wonder find,
That you do drink, and play, and sing,
And make with noise the College ring.
I therefore warn you to beware
Of drinking more than you can bear.
Wine an incentive is to riot,
Disturbance of the publick quiet.
Full well your Tutors know the truth,
For sad experience taught their youth.
Take then this friendly exhortation;
The next offence is RUSTICATION."
GOWN. A long, loose upper garment or robe, worn by professional
men, as divines, lawyers, students, &c., who are called _men of
the gown_, or _gownmen_. It is made of any kind of cloth, worn
over ordinary clothes, and hangs down to the ankles, or nearly so.
--_Encyc._
From a letter written in the year 1766, by Mr. Holyoke, then
President of Harvard College, it would appear that gowns were
first worn by the members of that institution about the year 1760.
The gown, although worn by the students in the English
universities, is now seldom worn in American colleges except on
Commencement, Exhibition, or other days of a similar public
character.
The students are permitted to wear black _gowns_, in which they
may appear on all public occasions.--_Laws Harv. Coll._, 1798, p.
37.
Every candidate for a first degree shall wear a black dress and
the usual black _gown_.--_Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 20.
The performers all wore black _gowns_ with sleeves large enough to
hold me in, and shouted and swung their arms, till they looked
like so many Methodist ministers just ordained.--_Harvardiana_,
Vol. III. p. 111.
Saw them ... clothed in _gowns_ of satin,
Or silk or cotton, black as souls benighted.--
All, save the _gowns_, was startling, splendid, tragic,
But gowns on men have lost their wonted magic.
_Childe Harvard_, p. 26.
The door swings open--and--he comes! behold him
Wrapt in his mantling _gown_, that round him flows
Waving, as Caesar's toga did enfold him.--_Ibid._, p. 36.
On Saturday evenings, Sundays, and Saints' days, the students wear
surplices instead of their _gowns_, and very innocent and
exemplary they look in them.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 21.
2. One who wears a gown.
And here, I think, I may properly introduce a very singular
gallant, a sort of mongrel between town and _gown_,--I mean a
bibliopola, or (as the vulgar have it) a bookseller.--_The
Student_, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. II. p. 226.
GOWNMAN, GOWNSMAN. One whose professional habit is a gown, as a
divine or lawyer, and particularly a member of an English
university.--_Webster_.
The _gownman_ learned.--_Pope_.
Oft has some fair inquirer bid me say,
What tasks, what sports beguile the _gownsman's_ day.
_The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.
For if townsmen by our influence are so enlightened, what must we
_gownsmen_ be ourselves?--_The Student_, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. I. p.
56.
Nor must it be supposed that the _gownsmen_ are thin, study-worn,
consumptive-looking individuals.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 5.
See CAP.
GRACE. In English universities, an act, vote, or decree of the
government of the institution.--_Webster_.
"All _Graces_ (as the legislative measures proposed by the Senate
are termed) have to be submitted first to the Caput, each member
of which has an absolute veto on the grace. If it passes the
Caput, it is then publicly recited in both houses, [the regent and
non-regent,] and at a subsequent meeting voted on, first in the
Non-Regent House, and then in the other. If it passes both, it
becomes valid."--_Literary World_, Vol. XII. p. 283.
See CAPUT SENATUS.
GRADUATE. To honor with a degree or diploma, in a college or
university; to confer a degree on; as, to _graduate_ a master of
arts.--_Wotton_.
_Graduated_ a doctor, and dubb'd a knight.--_Carew_.
Pickering, in his Vocabulary, says of the word _graduate_:
"Johnson has it as a verb active only. But an English friend
observes, that 'the active sense of this word is rare in England.'
I have met with one instance in an English publication where it is
used in a dialogue, in the following manner: 'You, methinks, _are
graduated_.' See a review in the British Critic, Vol. XXXIV. p.
538."
In Mr. Todd's edition of Johnson's Dictionary, this word is given
as a verb intransitive also: "To take an academical degree; to
become a graduate; as he _graduated_ at Oxford."
In America, the use of the phrase _he was graduated_, instead of
_he graduated_, which has been of late so common, "is merely,"
says Mr. Bartlett in his Dictionary of Americanisms, "a return to
former practice, the verb being originally active transitive."
He _was graduated_ with the esteem of the government, and the
regard of his contemporaries--_Works of R.T. Paine_, p. xxix. The
latter, who _was graduated_ thirteen years after.--_Peirce's Hist.
Harv. Univ._, p. 219.
In this perplexity the President had resolved "to yield to the
torrent, and _graduate_ Hartshorn."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._,
Vol. I. p. 398. (The quotation was written in 1737.)
In May, 1749, three gentlemen who had sons about _to be
graduated_.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 92.
Mr. Peirce was born in September, 1778; and, after _being
graduated_ at Harvard College, with the highest honors of his
class.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 390, and Chap. XXXVII. _passim_.
He _was graduated_ in 1789 with distinguished honors, at the age
of nineteen.--_Mr. Young's Discourse on the Life of President
Kirkland_.
His class when _graduated_, in 1785, consisted of thirty-two
persons.--_Dr. Palfrey's Discourse on the Life and Character of
Dr. Ware_.
2. _Intransitively_. To receive a degree from a college or
university.
He _graduated_ at Leyden in 1691.--_London Monthly Mag._, Oct.
1808, p. 224.
Wherever Magnol _graduated_.--_Rees's Cyclopaedia_, Art. MAGNOL.
GRADUATE. One who has received a degree in a college or
university, or from some professional incorporated
society.--_Webster_.
GRADUATE IN A SCHOOL. A degree given, in the University of
Virginia, to those who have been through a course of study less
than is required for the degree of B.A.
GRADUATION. The act of conferring or receiving academical degrees.
--_Charter of Dartmouth College_.
After his _graduation_ at Yale College, in 1744, he continued his
studies at Harvard University, where he took his second degree in
1747.--_Hist. Sketch of Columbia Coll._, p. 122.
Bachelors were called Senior, Middle, or Junior Bachelors
according to the year since _graduation_, and before taking the
degree of Master.--_Woolsey's Hist. Disc._, p. 122.
GRAND COMPOUNDER. At the English Universities, one who pays double
fees for his degree.
"Candidates for all degrees, who possess certain property," says
the Oxford University Calendar, "must go out, as it is termed,
_Grand Compounders_. The property required for this purpose may
arise from two distinct sources; either from some ecclesiastical
benefice or benefices, or else from some other revenue, civil or
ecclesiastical. The ratio of computation in the first case is
expressly limited by statute to the value of the benefice or
benefices, as _rated in the King's books_, without regard to the
actual estimation at the present period; and the amount of that
value must not be _less than forty pounds_. In the second
instance, which includes all other cases, comprising
ecclesiastical as well as civil income, (academical income alone
excepted,) property to the extent of _three hundred pounds_ a year
is required; nor is any difference made between property in land
and property in money, so that a _legal_ revenue to this extent of
any description, not arising from a benefice or benefices, and not
being strictly academical, renders the qualification
complete."--Ed. 1832, p. 92.
At Oxford "a '_grand compounder_' is one who has income to the
amount of $1,500, and is made to pay $150 for his degree, while
the ordinary fee is $42." _Lit. World_, Vol. XII. p. 247.
GRAND TRIBUNAL. The Grand Tribunal is an institution peculiar to
Trinity College, Hartford. A correspondent describes it as
follows. "The Grand Tribunal is a mock court composed of the
Senior and Junior Classes, and has for its special object the
regulation and discipline of Sophomores. The first officer of the
Tribunal is the 'Grand High Chancellor,' who presides at all
business meetings. The Tribunal has its judges, advocates,
sheriff, and his aids. According to the laws of the Tribunal, no
Sophomore can be tried who has three votes in his favor. This
regulation makes a trial a difficult matter; there is rarely more
than one trial a year, and sometimes two years elapse without
there being a session of the court. When a selection of an
offending and unlucky Soph has been made, he is arrested some time
during the day of the evening on which his trial takes place. The
court provides him with one advocate, while he has the privilege
of choosing another. These trials are often the scenes of
considerable wit and eloquence. One of the most famous of them was
held in 1853. When the Tribunal is in session, it is customary for
the Faculty of the College to act as its police, by preserving
order amongst the Sophs, who generally assemble at the door, to
disturb, if possible, the proceedings of the Court."
GRANTA. The name by which the University of Cambridge, Eng., was
formerly known. At present it is sometimes designated by this
title in poetry, and in addresses written in other tongues than
the vernacular.
Warm with fond hope, and Learning's sacred flame,
To _Granta's_ bowers the youthful Poet came.
_Lines in Memory of H.K. White, by Prof. William Smyth_, in
_Cam. Guide_.
GRATULATORY. Expressing gratulation; congratulatory.
At Harvard College, while Wadsworth was President, in the early
part of the last century, it was customary to close the exercises
of Commencement day with a _gratulatory oration_, pronounced by
one of the candidates for a degree. This has now given place to
what is generally called the _valedictory oration_.
GRAVEL DAY. The following account of this day is given in a work
entitled Sketches of Williams College. "On the second Monday of
the first term in the year, if the weather be at all favorable, it
has been customary from time immemorial to hold a college meeting,
and petition the President for '_Gravel day_.' We did so this
morning. The day was granted, and, recitations being dispensed
with, the students turned out _en masse_ to re-gravel the college
walks. The gravel which we obtain here is of such a nature that it
packs down very closely, and renders the walks as hard and smooth
as a pavement. The Faculty grant this day for the purpose of
fostering in the students the habit of physical labor and
exercise, so essential to vigorous mental exertion."--1847, pp.
78, 79.
The improved method of observing this day is noted in the annexed
extract. "Nearly every college has its own peculiar customs, which
have been transmitted from far antiquity; but Williams has perhaps
less than any other. Among ours are '_gravel day_,' 'chip day,'
and 'mountain day,' occurring one in each of the three terms. The
first usually comes in the early part of the Fall term. In old
times, when the students were few, and rather fonder of _work_
than at the present, they turned out with spades, hoes, and other
implements, and spread gravel over the walks, to the College
grounds; but in later days, they have preferred to tax themselves
to a small amount and delegate the work to others, while they
spend the day in visiting the Cascade, the Natural Bridge, or
others of the numerous places of interest near us."--_Boston Daily
Evening Traveller_, July 12, 1854.
GREAT GO. In the English universities the final and most important
examination is called the _great go_, in contradistinction to the
_little go_, an examination about the middle of the course.
In my way back I stepped into the _Great Go_ schools.--_The
Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 287.
Read through the whole five volumes folio, Latin, previous to
going up for his _Great Go_.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 381.
GREEN. Inexperienced, unsophisticated, verdant. Among collegians
this term is the favorite appellation for Freshmen.
When a man is called _verdant_ or _green_, it means that he is
unsophisticated and raw. For instance, when a man rushes to chapel
in the morning at the ringing of the first bell, it is called
_green_. At least, we were, for it. This greenness, we would
remark, is not, like the verdure in the vision of the poet,
necessarily perennial.--_Williams Monthly Miscellany_, 1845, Vol.
I. p. 463.
GRIND. An exaction; an oppressive action. Students speak of a very
long lesson which they are required to learn, or of any thing
which it is very unpleasant or difficult to perform, as a _grind_.
This meaning is derived from the verb _to grind_, in the sense of
to harass, to afflict; as, to _grind_ the faces of the poor
(Isaiah iii. 15).
I must say 't is a _grind_, though
--(perchance I spoke too loud).
_Poem before Iadma_, 1850, p. 12.
GRINDING. Hard study; diligent application.
The successful candidate enjoys especial and excessive _grinding_
during the four years of his college course. _Burlesque Catalogue,
Yale Coll._, 1852-53, p. 28.
GROATS. At the English universities, "nine _groats_" says Grose,
in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, "are deposited in the
hands of an academic officer by every person standing for a
degree, which, if the depositor obtains with honor, are returned
to him."
_To save his groats_; to come off handsomely.--_Gradus ad Cantab._
GROUP. A crowd or throng; a number collected without any regular
form or arrangement. At Harvard College, students are not allowed
to assemble in _groups_, as is seen by the following extract from
the laws. Three persons together are considered as a _group_.
Collecting in _groups_ round the doors of the College buildings,
or in the yard, shall be considered a violation of decorum.--_Laws
Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, Suppl., p. 4.
GROUPING. Collecting together.
It will surely be incomprehensible to most students how so large a
number as six could be suffered with impunity to horde themselves
together within the limits of the college yard. In those days the
very learned laws about _grouping_ were not in existence. A
collection of two was not then considered a sure prognostic of
rebellion, and spied out vigilantly by tutoric eyes. A _group_ of
three was not reckoned a gross outrage of the college peace, and
punished severely by the subtraction of some dozens from the
numerical rank of the unfortunate youth engaged in so high a
misdemeanor. A congregation of four was not esteemed an open,
avowed contempt of the laws of decency and propriety, prophesying
utter combustion, desolation, and destruction to all buildings and
trees in the neighborhood; and lastly, a multitude of five, though
watched with a little jealousy, was not called an intolerable,
unparalleled violation of everything approaching the name of
order, absolute, downright shamelessness, worthy capital
mark-punishment, alias the loss of 87-3/4 digits!--_Harvardiana_,
Vol. III. p. 314.
The above passage and the following are both evidently of a
satirical nature.
And often _grouping_ on the chains, he hums his own sweet verse,
Till Tutor ----, coming up, commands him to disperse!
_Poem before Y.H._, 1849, p. 14.
GRUB. A hard student. Used at Williams College, and synonymous
with DIG at other colleges. A correspondent says, writing from
Williams: "Our real delvers, midnight students, are familiarly
called _Grubs_. This is a very expressive name."
A man must not be ashamed to be called a _grub_ in college, if he
would shine in the world.--_Sketches of Williams College_, p. 76.
Some there are who, though never known to read or study, are ever
ready to debate,--not "_grubs_" or "reading men," only "wordy
men."--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p. 246.
GRUB. To study hard; to be what is denominated a _grub_, or hard
student. "The primary sense," says Dr. Webster, "is probably to
rub, to rake, scrape, or scratch, as wild animals dig by
scratching."
I can _grub out_ a lesson in Latin or mathematics as well as the
best of them.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 223.
GUARDING. "The custom of _guarding_ Freshmen," says a
correspondent from Dartmouth College, "is comparatively a late
one. Persons masked would go into another's room at night, and
oblige him to do anything they commanded him, as to get under his
bed, sit with his feet in a pail of water," &c.
GULF. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., one who obtains the
degree of B.A., but has not his name inserted in the Calendar, is
said to be in the _gulf_.
He now begins to ... be anxious about ... that classical
acquaintance who is in danger of the _gulf_.--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 95.
Some ten or fifteen men just on the line, not bad enough to be
plucked or good enough to be placed, are put into the "_gulf_," as
it is popularly called (the Examiners' phrase is "Degrees
allowed"), and have their degrees given them, but are not printed
in the Calendar.--_Ibid._, p. 205.
GULFING. In the University of Cambridge, England, "those
candidates for B.A. who, but for sickness or some other sufficient
cause, might have obtained an honor, have their degree given them
without examination, and thus avoid having their names inserted in
the lists. This is called _Gulfing_." A degree taken in this
manner is called "an AEgrotat Degree."--_Alma Mater_, Vol. II. pp.
60, 105.
I discovered that my name was nowhere to be found,--that I was
_Gulfed_.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 97.
GUM. A trick; a deception. In use at Dartmouth College.
_Gum_ is another word they have here. It means something like
chaw. To say, "It's all a _gum_," or "a regular chaw," is the same
thing.--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 117.
GUM. At the University of Vermont, to cheat in recitation by using
_ponies_, _interliners_, &c.; e.g. "he _gummed_ in geometry."
2. To cheat; to deceive. Not confined to college.
He was speaking of the "moon hoax" which "_gummed_" so many
learned philosophers.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XIV. p. 189.
GUMMATION. A trick; raillery.
Our reception to college ground was by no means the most
hospitable, considering our unacquaintance with the manners of the
place, for, as poor "Fresh," we soon found ourselves subject to
all manner of sly tricks and "_gummations_" from our predecessors,
the Sophs.--_A Tour through College_, Boston, 1832, p. 13.
GYP. A cant term for a servant at Cambridge, England, at _scout_
is used at Oxford. Said to be a sportive application of [Greek:
gyps], a vulture.--_Smart_.
The word _Gyp_ very properly characterizes them.--_Gradus ad
Cantab._, p. 56.
And many a yawning _gyp_ comes slipshod in,
To wake his master ere the bells begin.
_The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.
The Freshman, when once safe through his examination, is first
inducted into his rooms by a _gyp_, usually recommended to him by
his tutor. The gyp (from [Greek: gyps], vulture, evidently a
nickname at first, but now the only name applied to this class of
persons) is a college servant, who attends upon a number of
students, sometimes as many as twenty, calls them in the morning,
brushes their clothes, carries for them parcels and the queerly
twisted notes they are continually writing to one another, waits
at their parties, and so on. Cleaning their boots is not in his
branch of the profession; there is a regular brigade of college
shoeblacks.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
14.
It is sometimes spelled _Jip_, though probably by mistake.
My _Jip_ brought one in this morning; faith! and told me I was
focussed.--_Gent. Mag._, 1794, p. 1085.
_H_.
HALF-LESSON. In some American colleges on certain occasions the
students are required to learn only one half of the amount of an
ordinary lesson.
They promote it [the value of distinctions conferred by the
students on one another] by formally acknowledging the existence
of the larger debating societies in such acts as giving
"_half-lessons_" for the morning after the Wednesday night
debates.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 386.
HALF-YEAR. In the German universities, a collegiate term is called
a _half-year_.
The annual courses of instruction are divided into summer and
winter _half-years_.--_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. Ed.,
pp. 34, 35.
HALL. A college or large edifice belonging to a collegiate
institution.--_Webster_.
2. A collegiate body in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
In the former institution a hall differs from a college, in that
halls are not incorporated; consequently, whatever estate or other
property they possess is held in trust by the University. In the
latter, colleges and halls are synonymous.--_Cam. and Oxf.
Calendars_.
"In Cambridge," says the author of the Collegian's Guide, "the
halls stand on the same footing as the colleges, but at Oxford
they did not, in my time, hold by any means so high a place in
general estimation. Certainly those halls which admit the outcasts
of other colleges, and of those alone I am now speaking, used to
be precisely what one would expect to find them; indeed, I had
rather that a son of mine should forego a university education
altogether, than that he should have so sorry a counterfeit of
academic advantages as one of these halls affords."--p. 172.
"All the Colleges at Cambridge," says Bristed, "have equal
privileges and rights, with the solitary exception of King's, and
though some of them are called _Halls_, the difference is merely
one of name. But the Halls at Oxford, of which there are five, are
not incorporated bodies, and have no vote in University matters,
indeed are but a sort of boarding-houses at which students may
remain until it is time for them to take a degree. I dined at one
of those establishments; it was very like an officers' mess. The
men had their own wine, and did not wear their gowns, and the only
Don belonging to the Hall was not present at table. There was a
tradition of a chapel belonging to the concern, but no one present
knew where it was. This Hall seemed to be a small Botany Bay of
both Universities, its members made up of all sorts of incapables
and incorrigibles."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, pp.
140, 141.
3. At Cambridge and Oxford, the public eating-room.
I went into the public "_hall_" [so is called in Oxford the public
eating-room].--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 231.
Dinner is, in all colleges, a public meal, taken in the refectory
or "_hall_" of the society.--_Ibid._, p. 273.
4. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., dinner, the name of the
place where the meal is taken being given to the meal itself.
_Hall_ lasts about three quarters of an hour.--_Bristed's Five
Year in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 20.
After _Hall_ is emphatically lounging-time, it being the wise
practice of Englishmen to attempt no hard exercise, physical or
mental, immediately after a hearty meal.--_Ibid._, p. 21.
It is not safe to read after _Hall_ (i.e. after dinner).--_Ibid._,
p. 331.
HANG-OUT. An entertainment.
I remember the date from the Fourth of July occurring just
afterwards, which I celebrated by a "_hang-out_."--_Bristed's Five
Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 80.
He had kept me six hours at table, on the occasion of a dinner
which he gave ... as an appendix to and a return for some of my
"_hangings-out_."--_Ibid._, p. 198.
HANG OUT. To treat, to live, to have or possess. Among English
Cantabs, a verb of all-work.--_Bristed_.
There were but few pensioners who "_hung out_" servants of their
own.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 90.
I had become ... a man who knew and "_hung out_ to" clever and
pleasant people, and introduced agreeable lions to one
another.--_Ibid._, p. 158.
I had gained such a reputation for dinner-giving, that men going
to "_hang out_" sometimes asked me to compose bills of fare for
them.--_Ibid._, p. 195.
HARRY SOPHS, or HENRY SOPHISTERS; in reality Harisophs, a
corruption of Erisophs ([Greek: erisophos], _valde eruditus_). At
Cambridge, England, students who have kept all the terms required
for a law act, and hence are ranked as Bachelors of Law by
courtesy.--_Gradus ad Cantab._
See, also, Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, p. 818.
HARVARD WASHINGTON CORPS. From a memorandum on a fly leaf of an
old Triennial Catalogue, it would appear that a military company
was first established among the students of Harvard College about
the year 1769, and that its first captain was Mr. William Wetmore,
a graduate of the Class of 1770. The motto which it then assumed,
and continued to bear through every period of its existence, was,
"Tam Marti quam Mercurio." It was called at that time the Marti
Mercurian Band. The prescribed uniform was a blue coat, the skirts
turned with white, nankeen breeches, white stockings, top-boots,
and a cocked hat. This association continued for nearly twenty
years from the time of its organization, but the chivalrous spirit
which had called it into existence seems at the end of that time
to have faded away. The last captain, it is believed, was Mr.
Solomon Vose, a graduate of the class of 1787.
Under the auspices of Governor Gerry, in December of the year
1811, it was revived, and through his influence received a new
loan of arms from the State, taking at the same time the name of
the Harvard Washington Corps. In 1812, Mr. George Thacher was
appointed its commander. The members of the company wore a blue
coat, white vest, white pantaloons, white gaiters, a common black
hat, and around the waist a white belt, which was always kept very
neat, and to which were attached a bayonet and cartridge-box. The
officers wore the same dress, with the exceptions of a sash
instead of the belt, and a chapeau in place of the hat. Soon after
this reorganization, in the fall of 1812, a banner, with the arms
of the College on one side and the arms of the State on the other,
was presented by the beautiful Miss Mellen, daughter of Judge
Mellen of Cambridge, in the name of the ladies of that place. The
presentation took place before the door of her father's house.
Appropriate addresses were made, both by the fair donor and the
captain of the company. Mr. Frisbie, a Professor in the College,
who was at that time engaged to Miss Mellen, whom he afterwards
married, recited on the occasion the following verses impromptu,
which were received with great _eclat_.
"The standard's victory's leading star,
'T is danger to forsake it;
How altered are the scenes of war,
They're vanquished now who take it."
A writer in the Harvardiana, 1836, referring to this banner, says:
"The gilded banner now moulders away in inglorious quiet, in the
dusty retirement of a Senior Sophister's study. What a desecration
for that 'flag by angel hands to valor given'!"[40] Within the
last two years it has wholly disappeared from its accustomed
resting-place. Though departed, its memory will be ever dear to
those who saw it in its better days, and under its shadow enjoyed
many of the proudest moments of college life.
At its second organization, the company was one of the finest and
best drilled in the State. The members were from the Senior and
Junior Classes. The armory was in the fifth story of Hollis Hall.
The regular time for exercise was after the evening commons. The
drum would often beat before the meal was finished, and the
students could then be seen rushing forth with the half-eaten
biscuit, and at the same time buckling on their armor for the
accustomed drill. They usually paraded on exhibition-days, when
the large concourse of people afforded an excellent opportunity
for showing off their skill in military tactics and manoeuvring.
On the arrival of the news of the peace of 1815, it appears, from
an interleaved almanac, that "the H.W. Corps paraded and fired a
salute; Mr. Porter treated the company." Again, on the 12th of
May, same year, "H.W. Corps paraded in Charlestown, saluted Com.
Bainbridge, and returned by the way of Boston." The captain for
that year, Mr. W.H. Moulton, dying, on the 6th of July, at five
o'clock, P.M., "the class," says the same authority, "attended the
funeral of Br. Moulton in Boston. The H.W. Corps attended in
uniform, without arms, the ceremony of entombing their late
Captain."
In the year 1825, it received a third loan of arms, and was again
reorganized, admitting the members of all the classes to its
ranks. From this period until the year 1834, very great interest
was manifested in it; but a rebellion having broken out at that
time among the students, and the guns of the company having been
considerably damaged by being thrown from the windows of the
armory, which was then in University Hall, the company was
disbanded, and the arms were returned to the State.
The feelings with which it was regarded by the students generally
cannot be better shown than by quoting from some of the
publications in which reference is made to it. "Many are the grave
discussions and entry caucuses," says a writer in the Harvard
Register, published in 1828, "to determine what favored few are to
be graced with the sash and epaulets, and march as leaders in the
martial band. Whilst these important canvassings are going on, it
behooves even the humblest and meekest to beware how he buttons
his coat, or stiffens himself to a perpendicular, lest he be more
than suspected of aspiring to some military capacity. But the
_Harvard Washington Corps_ must not be passed over without further
notice. Who can tell what eagerness fills its ranks on an
exhibition-day? with what spirit and bounding step the glorious
phalanx wheels into the College yard? with what exultation they
mark their banner, as it comes floating on the breeze from
Holworthy? And ah! who cannot tell how this spirit expires, this
exultation goes out, when the clerk calls again and again for the
assessments."--p. 378.
A college poet has thus immortalized this distinguished band:--
"But see where yonder light-armed ranks advance!--
Their colors gleaming in the noonday glance,
Their steps symphonious with the drum's deep notes,
While high the buoyant, breeze-borne banner floats!
O, let not allied hosts yon band deride!
'T is _Harvard Corps_, our bulwark and our pride!
Mark, how like one great whole, instinct with life,
They seem to woo the dangers of the strife!
Who would not brave the heat, the dust, the rain,
To march the leader of that valiant train?"
_Harvard Register_, p. 235.
Another has sung its requiem in the following strain:--
"That martial band, 'neath waving stripes and stars
Inscribed alike to Mercury and Mars,
Those gallant warriors in their dread array,
Who shook these halls,--O where, alas! are they?
Gone! gone! and never to our ears shall come
The sounds of fife and spirit-stirring drum;
That war-worn banner slumbers in the dust,
Those bristling arms are dim with gathering rust;
That crested helm, that glittering sword, that plume,
Are laid to rest in reckless faction's tomb."
_Winslow's Class Poem_, 1835.
HAT FELLOW-COMMONER. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the
popular name given to a baronet, the eldest son of a baronet, or
the younger son of a nobleman. A _Hat Fellow-Commoner_ wears the
gown of a Fellow-Commoner, with a hat instead of the velvet cap
with metallic tassel which a Fellow-Commoner wears, and is
admitted to the degree of M.A. after two years' residence.
HAULED UP. In many colleges, one brought up before the Faculty is
said to be _hauled up_.
HAZE. To trouble; to harass; to disturb. This word is used at
Harvard College, to express the treatment which Freshmen sometimes
receive from the higher classes, and especially from the
Sophomores. It is used among sailors with the meanings _to urge_,
_to drive_, _to harass_, especially with labor. In his Dictionary
of Americanisms, Mr. Bartlett says, "To haze round, is to go
rioting about."
Be ready, in fine, to cut, to drink, to smoke, to swear, to
_haze_, to dead, to spree,--in one word, to be a
Sophomore.--_Oration before H.L. of I.O. of O.F._, 1848, p. 11.
To him no orchard is unknown,--no grape-vine unappraised,--
No farmer's hen-roost yet unrobbed,--no Freshman yet _unhazed_!
_Poem before Y.H._, 1849, p. 9.
'T is the Sophomores rushing the Freshmen to _haze_.
_Poem before Iadma_, 1850, p. 22.
Never again
Leave unbolted your door when to rest you retire,
And, _unhazed_ and unmartyred, you proudly may scorn
Those foes to all Freshmen who 'gainst thee conspire.
_Ibid._, p. 23.
Freshmen have got quietly settled down to work, Sophs have given
up their _hazing_.--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p. 285.
We are glad to be able to record, that the absurd and barbarous
custom of _hazing_, which has long prevailed in College, is, to a
great degree, discontinued.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I. p. 413.
The various means which are made use of in _hazing_ the Freshmen
are enumerated in part below. In the first passage, a Sophomore
speaks in soliloquy.
I am a man,
Have human feelings, though mistaken Fresh
Affirmed I was a savage or a brute,
When I did dash cold water in their necks,
Discharged green squashes through their window-panes,
And stript their beds of soft, luxurious sheets,
Placing instead harsh briers and rough sticks,
So that their sluggish bodies might not sleep,
Unroused by morning bell; or when perforce,
From leaden syringe, engine of fierce might,
I drave black ink upon their ruffle shirts,
Or drenched with showers of melancholy hue,
The new-fledged dickey peering o'er the stock,
Fit emblem of a young ambitious mind!
_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 254.
A Freshman writes thus on the subject:--
The Sophs did nothing all the first fortnight but torment the
Fresh, as they call us. They would come to our rooms with masks
on, and frighten us dreadfully; and sometimes squirt water through
our keyholes, or throw a whole pailful on to one of us from the
upper windows.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.
HEAD OF THE HOUSE. The generic name for the highest officer of a
college in the English Universities.
The Master of the College, or "_Head of the House_," is a D.D. who
has been a Fellow.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.
2d, p. 16.
The _heads of houses_ [are] styled, according to the usage of the
college, President, Master, Principal, Provost, Warden, or Rector.
--_Oxford Guide_, 1847, p. xiii.
Written often simply _Head_.
The "_Head_," as he is called generically, of an Oxford college,
is a greater man than the uninitiated suppose.--_De Quincey's Life
and Manners_, p. 244.
The new _Head_ was a gentleman of most commanding personal
appearance.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.
87.
HEADSHIP. The office and place of head or president of a college.
Most of the college _Headships_ are not at the disposal of the
Crown.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, note, p.
89, and _errata_.
The _Headships_ of the colleges are, with the exception of
Worcester, filled by one chosen by the Fellows from among
themselves, or one who has been a Fellow.--_Oxford Guide_, Ed.
1847, p. xiv.
HEADS OUT. At Princeton College, the cry when anything occurs in
the _Campus_. Used, also, to give the alarm when a professor or
tutor is about to interrupt a spree.
See CAMPUS.
HEBDOMADAL BOARD. At Oxford, the local governing authority of the
University, composed of the Heads of colleges and the two
Proctors, and expressing itself through the Vice-Chancellor. An
institution of Charles I.'s time, it has possessed, since the year
1631, "the sole initiative power in the legislation of the
University, and the chief share in its administration." Its
meetings are held weekly, whence the name.--_Oxford Guide.
Literary World_, Vol. XII., p. 223.
HIGH-GO. A merry frolic, usually with drinking.
Songs of Scholars in revelling roundelays,
Belched out with hickups at bacchanal Go,
Bellowed, till heaven's high concave rebound the lays,
Are all for college carousals too low.
Of dullness quite tired, with merriment fired,
And fully inspired with amity's glow,
With hate-drowning wine, boys, and punch all divine, boys,
The Juniors combine, boys, in friendly HIGH-GO.
_Glossology, by William Biglow_, inserted in _Buckingham's
Reminiscences_, Vol. II. pp. 281-284.
He it was who broached the idea of a _high-go_, as being requisite
to give us a rank among the classes in college. _D.A. White's
Address before Soc. of the Alumni of Harv. Univ._, Aug. 27, 1844,
p. 35.
This word is now seldom used; the words _High_ and _Go_ are,
however, often used separately, with the same meaning; as the
compound. The phrase _to get high_, i.e. to become intoxicated,
is allied with the above expression.
Or men "_get high_" by drinking abstract toddies?
_Childe Harvard_, p. 71.
HIGH STEWARD. In the English universities, an officer who has
special power to hear and determine capital causes, according to
the laws of the land and the privileges of the university,
whenever a scholar is the party offending. He also holds the
university _court-leet_, according to the established charter and
custom.--_Oxf. and Cam. Cals._
At Cambridge, in addition to his other duties, the High Steward is
the officer who represents the University in the House of Lords.
HIGH TABLE. At Oxford, the table at which the Fellows and some
other privileged persons are entitled to dine.
Wine is not generally allowed in the public hall, except to the
"_high table_."--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 278.
I dine at the "_high table_" with the reverend deans, and hobnob
with professors.--_Household Words_, Am. ed., Vol. XI. p 521.
HIGH-TI. At Williams College, a term by which is designated a
showy recitation. Equivalent to the word _squirt_ at Harvard
College.
HILLS. At Cambridge, Eng., Gogmagog Hills are commonly called _the
Hills_.
Or to the _Hills_ on horseback strays,
(Unasked his tutor,) or his chaise
To famed Newmarket guides.
_Gradus ad Cantab._, p. 35.
HISS. To condemn by hissing.
This is a favorite method, especially among students, of
expressing their disapprobation of any person or measure.
I'll tell you what; your crime is this,
That, Touchy, you did scrape, and _hiss_.
_Rebelliad_, p. 45.
Who will bully, scrape, and _hiss_!
Who, I say, will do all this!
Let him follow me,--_Ibid._, p. 53.
HOAXING. At Princeton College, inducing new-comers to join the
secret societies is called _hoaxing_.
HOBBY. A translation. Hobbies are used by some students in
translating Latin, Greek, and other languages, who from this
reason are said to ride, in contradistinction to others who learn
their lessons by study, who are said to _dig_ or _grub_.
See PONY.
HOBSON'S CHOICE. Thomas Hobson, during the first third of the
seventeenth century, was the University carrier between Cambridge
and London. He died January 1st, 1631. "He rendered himself famous
by furnishing the students with horses; and, making it an
unalterable rule that every horse should have an equal portion of
rest as well as labor, he would never let one out of its turn;
hence the celebrated saying, 'Hobson's Choice: _this_, or none.'"
Milton has perpetuated his fame in two whimsical epitaphs, which
may be found among his miscellaneous poems.
HOE IN. At Hamilton College, to strive vigorously; a metaphorical
meaning, taken from labor with the hoe.
HOIST. It was formerly customary at Harvard College, when the
Freshmen were used as servants, to report them to their Tutor if
they refused to go when sent on an errand; this complaint was
called a _hoisting_, and the delinquent was said to be _hoisted_.
The refusal to perform a reasonable service required by a member
of the class above him, subjected the Freshmen to a complaint to
be brought before his Tutor, technically called _hoisting_ him to
his Tutor. The threat was commonly sufficient to exact the
service.--_Willard's Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. I.
p. 259.
HOLD INS. At Bowdoin College, "near the commencement of each
year," says a correspondent, "the Sophs are wont, on some
particular evening, to attempt to '_hold in_' the Freshmen when
coming out of prayers, generally producing quite a skirmish."
HOLLIS. Mr. Thomas Hollis of Lincoln's Inn, to whom, with many
others of the same name, Harvard College is so much indebted,
among other presents to its library, gave "sixty-four volumes of
valuable books, curiously bound." To these reference is made in
the following extract from the Gentleman's Magazine for September,
1781. "Mr. Hollis employed Mr. Fingo to cut a number of
emblematical devices, such as the caduceus of Mercury, the wand of
AEsculapius, the owl, the cap of liberty, &c.; and these devices
were to adorn the backs and sometimes the sides of books. When
patriotism animated a work, instead of unmeaning ornaments on the
binding, he adorned it with caps of liberty. When wisdom filled
the page, the owl's majestic gravity bespoke its contents. The
caduceus pointed out the works of eloquence, and the wand of
AEsculapius was a signal of good medicine. The different emblems
were used on the same book, when possessed of different merits,
and to express his disapprobation of the whole or parts of any
work, the figure or figures were reversed. Thus each cover
exhibited a critique on the book, and was a proof that they were
not kept for show, as he must read before he could judge. Read
this, ye admirers of gilded books, and imitate."
HONORARIUM, HONORARY. A term applied, in Europe, to the recompense
offered to professors in universities, and to medical or other
professional gentlemen for their services. It is nearly equivalent
to _fee_, with the additional idea of being given _honoris causa_,
as a token of respect.--_Brande. Webster_.
There are regular receivers, quaestors, appointed for the reception
of the _honorarium_, or charge for the attendance of
lectures.--_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed., p. 30.
HONORIS CAUSA. Latin; _as an honor_. Any honorary degree given by
a college.
Degrees in the faculties of Divinity and Law are conferred, at
present, either in course, _honoris causa_, or on admission _ad
eundem_.--_Calendar Trin. Coll._, 1850, p. 10.
HONORS. In American colleges, the principal honors are
appointments as speakers at Exhibitions and Commencements. These
are given for excellence in scholarship. The appointments for
Exhibitions are different in different colleges. Those of
Commencement do not vary so much. The following is a list of the
appointments at Harvard College, in the order in which they are
usually assigned: Valedictory Oration, called also _the_ English
Oration, Salutatory in Latin, English Orations, Dissertations,
Disquisitions, and Essays. The salutatorian is not always the
second scholar in the class, but must be the best, or, in case
this distinction is enjoyed by the valedictorian, the second-best
Latin scholar. Latin or Greek poems or orations or English poems
sometimes form a part of the exercises, and may be assigned, as
are the other appointments, to persons in the first part of the
class. At Yale College the order is as follows: Valedictory
Oration, Salutatory in Latin, Philosophical Orations, Orations,
Dissertations, Disputations, and Colloquies. A person who receives
the appointment of a Colloquy can either write or speak in a
colloquy, or write a poem. Any other appointee can also write a
poem. Other colleges usually adopt one or the other of these
arrangements, or combine the two.
At the University of Cambridge, Eng., those who at the final
examination in the Senate-House are classed as Wranglers, Senior
Optimes, or Junior Optimes, are said to go out in _honors_.
I very early in the Sophomore year gave up all thoughts of
obtaining high _honors_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 6.
HOOD. An ornamented fold that hangs down the back of a graduate,
to mark his degree.--_Johnson_.
My head with ample square-cap crown,
And deck with _hood_ my shoulders.
_The Student_, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. I. p. 349.
HORN-BLOWING. At Princeton College, the students often provide
themselves at night with horns, bugles, &c., climb the trees in
the Campus, and set up a blowing which is continued as long as
prudence and safety allow.
HORSE-SHEDDING. At the University of Vermont, among secret and
literary societies, this term is used to express the idea conveyed
by the word _electioneering_.
HOUSE. A college. The word was formerly used with this
signification in Harvard and Yale Colleges.
If any scholar shall transgress any of the laws of God, or the
_House_, he shall be liable, &c.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._,
Vol. I. p. 517.
If detriment come by any out of the society, then those officers
[the butler and cook] themselves shall be responsible to the
_House_.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 583.
A member of the college was also called a _Member of the House_.
The steward is to see that one third part be reserved of all the
payments to him by the _members of the House_ quarterly
made.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 582.
A college officer was called an _Officer of the House_.
The steward shall be bound to give an account of the necessary
disbursements which have been issued out to the steward himself,
butler, cook, or any other _officer of the House_.--_Quincy's
Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 582.
Neither shall the butler or cook suffer any scholar or scholars
whatever, except the Fellows, Masters of Art, Fellow-Commoners or
_officers of the House_, to come into the butteries, &c.--_Ibid._,
Vol. I. p. 584.
Before the year 1708, the term _Fellows of the House_ was applied,
at Harvard College, both to the members of the Corporation, and to
the instructors who did not belong to the Corporation. The
equivocal meaning of this title was noticed by President Leverett,
for, in his duplicate record of the proceedings of the Corporation
and the Overseers, he designated certain persons to whom he refers
as "Fellows of the House, i.e. of the Corporation." Soon after
this, an attempt was made to distinguish between these two classes
of Fellows, and in 1711 the distinction was settled, when one
Whiting, "who had been for several years known as Tutor and
'Fellow of the House,' but had never in consequence been deemed or
pretended to be a member of the Corporation, was admitted to a
seat in that board."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. pp.
278, 279. See SCHOLAR OF THE HOUSE.
2. An assembly for transacting business.
See CONGREGATION, CONVOCATION.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. At Union College, the members of the
Junior Class compose what is called the _House of
Representatives_, a body organized after the manner of the
national House, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the
forms and manner of legislation. The following account has been
furnished by a member of that College.
"At the end of the third term, Sophomore year, when the members of
that class are looking forward to the honors awaiting them, comes
off the initiation to the House. The Friday of the tenth week is
the day usually selected for the occasion. On the afternoon of
that day the Sophomores assemble in the Junior recitation-room,
and, after organizing themselves by the appointment of a chairman,
are waited upon by a committee of the House of Representatives of
the Junior Class, who announce that they are ready to proceed with
the initiation, and occasionally dilate upon the importance and
responsibility of the future position of the Sophomores.
"The invitation thus given is accepted, and the class, headed by
the committee, proceeds to the Representatives' Hall. On their
arrival, the members of the House retire, and the incoming
members, under the direction of the committee, arrange themselves
around the platform of the Speaker, all in the room at the same
time rising in their seats. The Speaker of the House now addresses
the Sophomores, announcing to them their election to the high
position of Representatives, and exhorting them to discharge well
all their duties to their constituents and their common country.
He closes, by stating it to be their first business to elect the
officers of the House.
"The election of Speaker, Vice-Speaker, Clerk, and Treasurer by
ballot then follows, two tellers being appointed by the Chair. The
Speaker is elected for one year, and must be one of the Faculty;
the other officers hold only during the ensuing term. The Speaker,
however, is never expected to be present at the meetings of the
House, with the exception of that at the beginning of each term
session, so that the whole duty of presiding falls on the
Vice-Speaker. This is the only meeting of the _new_ House during
that term.
"On the second Friday afternoon of the fall term, the Speaker
usually delivers an inaugural address, and soon after leaves the
chair to the Vice-Speaker, who then announces the representation
from the different States, and also the list of committees. The
members are apportioned by him according to population, each State
having at least one, and some two or three, as the number of the
Junior Class may allow. The committees are constituted in the
manner common to the National House, the number of each, however,
being less. Business then follows, as described in Jefferson's
Manual; petitions, remonstrances, resolutions, reports, debates,
and all the 'toggery' of legislation, come on in regular, or
rather irregular succession. The exercises, as may be well
conceived, furnish an excellent opportunity for improvement in
parliamentary tactics and political oratory."
The House of Representatives was founded by Professor John Austin
Tates. It is not constituted by every Junior Class, and may be
regarded as intermittent in its character.
See SENATE.
HUMANIST. One who pursues the study of the _humanities (literae
humaniores)_, or polite literature; a term used in various
European universities, especially the Scotch.--_Brandt_.
HUMANITY, _pl._ HUMANITIES. In the plural signifying grammar,
rhetoric, the Latin and Greek languages, and poetry; for teaching
which there are professors in the English and Scotch universities.
--_Encyc._
HUMMEL. At the University of Vermont, a foot, especially a large
one.
HYPHENUTE. At Princeton College, the aristocratic or would-be
aristocratic in dress, manners, &c., are called _Hyphenutes_. Used
both as a noun and adjective. Same as [Greek: Oi Aristoi] q.v.
_I_.
ILLUMINATE. To interline with a translation. Students _illuminate_
a book when they write between the printed lines a translation of
the text. _Illuminated_ books are preferred by good judges to
ponies or hobbies, as the text and translation in them are brought
nearer to one another. The idea of calling books thus prepared
_illuminated_, is taken partly from the meaning of the word
_illuminate_, to adorn with ornamental letters, substituting,
however, in this case, useful for ornamental, and partly from one
of its other meanings, to throw light on, as on obscure subjects.
ILLUSTRATION. That which elucidates a subject. A word used with a
peculiar application by undergraduates in the University of
Cambridge, Eng.
I went back,... and did a few more bits of _illustration_, such as
noting down the relative resources of Athens and Sparta when the
Peloponnesian war broke out, and the sources of the Athenian
revenue.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 51.
IMPOSITION. In the English universities, a supernumerary exercise
enjoined on students as a punishment.
Minor offences are punished by rustication, and those of a more
trivial nature by fines, or by literary tasks, here termed
_Impositions_.--_Oxford Guide_, p. 149.
Literary tasks called _impositions_, or frequent compulsive
attendances on tedious and unimproving exercises in a college
hall.--_T. Warton, Minor Poems of Milton_, p. 432.
_Impositions_ are of various lengths. For missing chapel, about
one hundred lines to copy; for missing a lecture, the lecture to
translate. This is the measure for an occasional offence.... For
coming in late at night repeatedly, or for any offence nearly
deserving rustication, I have known a whole book of Thucydides
given to translate, or the Ethics of Aristotle to analyze, when
the offender has been a good scholar, while others, who could only
do mechanical work, have had a book of Euclid to write out.
Long _impositions_ are very rarely _barberized_. When college
tutors intend to be severe, which is very seldom, they are not to
be trifled with.
At Cambridge, _impositions_ are not always in writing, but
sometimes two or three hundred lines to repeat by heart. This is
ruin to the barber.--_Collegian's Guide_, pp. 159, 160.
In an abbreviated form, _impos._
He is obliged to stomach the _impos._, and retire.--_Grad. ad
Cantab._, p. 125.
He satisfies the Proctor and the Dean by saying a part of each
_impos._--_Ibid._, p. 128.
See BARBER.
INCEPT. To take the degree of Master of Arts.
They may nevertheless take the degree of M.A. at the usual period,
by putting their names on the _College boards_ a few days previous
to _incepting_.--_Cambridge Calendar_.
The M.A. _incepts_ in about three years and two months from the
time of taking his first degree.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 285.
INCEPTOR. One who has proceeded to the degree of M.A., but who,
not enjoying all the privileges of an M.A. until the Commencement,
is in the mean time termed an Inceptor.
Used in the English universities, and formerly at Harvard College.
And, in case any of the Sophisters, Questionists, or _Inceptors_
fail in the premises required at their hands ... they shall be
deferred to the following year.--_Laws of 1650, in Quincy's Hist.
Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 518.
The Admissio _Inceptorum_ was as follows: "Admitto te ad secundum
gradum in artibus pro more Academiarum in Anglia: tibique trado
hunc librum una cum potestate publice profitendi, ubicunque ad hoc
munus publice evocatus fueris."--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 580.
INDIAN SOCIETY. At the Collegiate Institute of Indiana, a society
of smokers was established, in the year 1837, by an Indian named
Zachary Colbert, and called the Indian Society. The members and
those who have been invited to join the society, to the number of
sixty or eighty, are accustomed to meet in a small room, ten feet
by eighteen; all are obliged to smoke, and he who first desists is
required to pay for the cigars smoked at that meeting.
INDIGO. At Dartmouth College, a member of the party called the
Blues. The same as a BLUE, which see.
The Howes, years ago, used to room in Dartmouth Hall, though none
room there now, and so they made up some verses. Here is one:--
"Hurrah for Dartmouth Hall!
Success to every student
That rooms in Dartmouth Hall,
Unless he be an _Indigo_,
Then, no success at all."
_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 117.
INITIATION. Secret societies exist in almost all the colleges in
the United States, which require those who are admitted to pass
through certain ceremonies called the initiation. This fact is
often made use of to deceive Freshmen, upon their entrance into
college, who are sometimes initiated into societies which have no
existence, and again into societies where initiation is not
necessary for membership.
A correspondent from Dartmouth College writes as follows: "I
believe several of the colleges have various exercises of
_initiating_ Freshmen. Ours is done by the 'United Fraternity,'
one of our library societies (they are neither of them secret),
which gives out word that the _initiation_ is a fearful ceremony.
It is simply every kind of operation that can be contrived to
terrify, and annoy, and make fun of Freshmen, who do not find out
for some time that it is not the necessary and serious ceremony of
making them members of the society."
In the University of Virginia, students on entering are sometimes
initiated into the ways of college life by very novel and unique
ceremonies, an account of which has been furnished by a graduate
of that institution. "The first thing, by way of admitting the
novitiate to all the mysteries of college life, is to require of
him in an official communication, under apparent signature of one
of the professors, a written list, tested under oath, of the
entire number of his shirts and other necessary articles in his
wardrobe. The list he is requested to commit to memory, and be
prepared for an examination on it, before the Faculty, at some
specified hour. This the new-comer usually passes with due
satisfaction, and no little trepidation, in the presence of an
august assemblage of his student professors. He is now remanded to
his room to take his bed, and to rise about midnight bell for
breakfast. The 'Callithumpians' (in this Institution a regularly
organized company), 'Squallinaders,' or 'Masquers,' perform their
part during the livelong night with instruments 'harsh thunder
grating,' to insure to the poor youth a sleepless night, and give
him full time to con over and curse in his heart the miseries of a
college existence. Our fellow-comrade is now up, dressed, and
washed, perhaps two hours in advance of the first light of dawn,
and, under the guidance of a _posse comitatus_ of older students,
is kindly conducted to his morning meal. A long alley, technically
'Green Alley,' terminating with a brick wall, informing all, 'Thus
far shalt thou go, and no farther,' is pointed out to him, with
directions 'to follow his nose and keep straight ahead.' Of course
the unsophisticated finds himself completely nonplused, and gropes
his way back, amidst the loud vociferations of 'Go it, green un!'
With due apologies for the treatment he has received, and violent
denunciations against the former _posse_ for their unheard-of
insolence towards the gentleman, he is now placed under different
guides, who volunteer their services 'to see him through.' Suffice
it to be said, that he is again egregiously 'taken in,' being
deposited in the Rotunda or Lecture-room, and told to ring for
whatever he wants, either coffee or hot biscuit, but particularly
enjoined not to leave without special permission from one of the
Faculty. The length of his sojourn in this place, where he is
finally left, is of course in proportion to his state of
verdancy."
INSPECTOR OF THE COLLEGE. At Yale College, a person appointed to
ascertain, inspect, and estimate all damages done to the College
buildings and appurtenances, whenever required by the President.
All repairs, additions, and alterations are made under his
inspection, and he is also authorized to determine whether the
College chambers are fit for the reception of the students.
Formerly the inspectorship in Harvard College was held by one of
the members of the College government. His duty was to examine the
state of the College public buildings, and also at stated times to
examine the exterior and interior of the buildings occupied by the
students, and to cause such repairs to be made as were in his
opinion proper. The same duties are now performed by the
_Superintendent of Public Buildings_.--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1837,
p. 22. _Laws Harv. Coll._, 1814, p. 58, and 1848, p 29.
The duties of the _Inspector of the College Buildings_, at
Middlebury, are similar to those required of the inspector at
Yale.--_Laws Md. Coll._, 1839, pp. 15, 16.
IN STATU PUPILLARI. Latin; literally, _in a state of pupilage_. In
the English universities, one who is subject to collegiate laws,
discipline, and officers is said to be _in statu pupillari_.
And the short space that here we tarry,
At least "_in statu pupillari_,"
Forbids our growing hopes to germ,
Alas! beyond the appointed term.
_Grad. ad Cantab._, p. 109.
INTERLINEAR. A printed book, with a written translation between
the lines. The same as an _illuminated_ book; for an account of
which, see under ILLUMINATE.
Then devotes himself to study, with a steady, earnest zeal,
And scorns an _Interlinear_, or a Pony's meek appeal.
_Poem before Iadma_, 1850, p. 20.
INTERLINER. Same as INTERLINEAR.
In the "Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D.," a Professor at Harvard
College, Professor Felton observes: "He was a mortal enemy to
translations, '_interliners_,' and all such subsidiary helps in
learning lessons; he classed them all under the opprobrious name
of 'facilities,' and never scrupled to seize them as contraband
goods. When he withdrew from College, he had a large and valuable
collection of this species of literature. In one of the notes to
his Three Lectures he says: 'I have on hand a goodly number of
these confiscated wares, full of manuscript innotations, which I
seized in the way of duty, and would now restore to the owners on
demand, without their proving property or paying charges.'"--p.
lxxvii.
Ponies, _Interliners_, Ticks, Screws, and Deads (these are all
college verbalities) were all put under contribution.--_A Tour
through College_, Boston, 1832, p. 25.
INTONITANS BOLUS. Greek, [Greek: bolos], a lump. Latin, _bolus_, a
bit, a morsel. English, _bolus_, a mass of anything made into a
large pill. It may be translated _a thundering pill_. At Harvard
College, the _Intonitans Bolus_ was a great cane or club which was
given nominally to the strongest fellow in the graduating class;
"but really," says a correspondent, "to the greatest bully," and
thus was transmitted, as an entailed estate, to the Samsons of
College. If any one felt that he had been wronged in not receiving
this emblem of valor, he was permitted to take it from its
possessor if he could. In later years the club presented a very
curious appearance; being almost entirely covered with the names
of those who had held it, carved on its surface in letters of all
imaginable shapes and descriptions. At one period, it was in the
possession of Richard Jeffrey Cleveland, a member of the class of
1827, and was by him transmitted to Jonathan Saunderson of the
class of 1828. It has disappeared within the last fifteen or
twenty years, and its hiding-place, even if it is in existence, is
not known.
See BULLY CLUB.
INVALID'S TABLE. At Yale College, in former times, a table at
which those who were not in health could obtain more nutritious
food than was supplied at the common board. A graduate at that
institution has referred to the subject in the annexed extract.
"It was extremely difficult to obtain permission to board out, and
indeed impossible except in extreme cases: the beginning of such
permits would have been like the letting out of water. To take
away all pretext for it, an '_invalid's table_' was provided,
where, if one chose to avail himself of it, having a doctor's
certificate that his health required it, he might have a somewhat
different diet."--_Scenes and Characters in College, New Haven_,
1847, pp. 117, 118.
_J_.
JACK-KNIFE. At Harvard College it has long been the custom for the
ugliest member of the Senior Class to receive from his classmates
a _Jack-knife_, as a reward or consolation for the plainness of
his features. In former times, it was transmitted from class to
class, its possessor in the graduating class presenting it to the
one who was deemed the ugliest in the class next below.
Mr. William Biglow, a member of the class of 1794, the recipient
for that year of the Jack-knife,--in an article under the head of
"Omnium Gatherum," published in the Federal Orrery, April 27,
1795, entitled, "A Will: Being the last words of CHARLES
CHATTERBOX, Esq., late worthy and much lamented member of the
Laughing Club of Harvard University, who departed college life,
June 21, 1794, in the twenty-first year of his age,"--presents
this _transmittendum_ to his successor, with the following
words:--
"_Item_. C---- P----s[41] has my knife,
During his natural college life;
That knife, which ugliness inherits,
And due to his superior merits,
And when from Harvard he shall steer,
I order him to leave it here,
That't may from class to class descend,
Till time and ugliness shall end."
Mr. Prentiss, in the autumn of 1795, soon after graduating,
commenced the publication of the Rural Repository, at Leominster,
Mass. In one of the earliest numbers of this paper, following the
example of Mr. Biglow, he published his will, which Mr. Paine, the
editor of the Federal Orrery, immediately transferred to his
columns with this introductory note:--"Having, in the second
number of 'Omnium Gatherum' presented to our readers the last will
and testament of Charles Chatterbox, Esq., of witty memory,
wherein the said Charles, now deceased, did lawfully bequeath to
Ch----s Pr----s the celebrated 'Ugly Knife,' to be by him
transmitted, at his college demise, to the next succeeding
candidate; -------- and whereas the said Ch----s Pr----s, on the
21st of June last, departed his aforesaid college life, thereby
leaving to the inheritance of his successor the valuable legacy
which his illustrious friend had bequeathed, as an entailed
estate, to the poets of the university,--we have thought proper to
insert a full, true, and attested copy of the will of the last
deceased heir, in order that the world may be furnished with a
correct genealogy of this renowned _Jack-knife_, whose pedigree
will become as illustrious in after time as the family of the
'ROLLES,' and which will be celebrated by future wits as the most
formidable _weapon_ of modern genius."
That part of the will only is here inserted which refers
particularly to the Knife. It is as follows:--
"I--I say I, now make this will;
Let those whom I assign fulfil.
I give, grant, render, and convey
My goods and chattels thus away;
That _honor of a college life,
That celebrated_ UGLY KNIFE,
Which predecessor SAWNEY[42] orders,
Descending to time's utmost borders,
To _noblest bard_ of _homeliest phiz_,
To have and hold and use, as his,
I now present C----s P----y S----r,[43]
To keep with his poetic lumber,
To scrape his quid, and make a split,
To point his pen for sharpening wit;
And order that he ne'er abuse
Said ugly knife, in dirtier use,
And let said CHARLES, that best of writers,
In prose satiric skilled to bite us,
And equally in verse delight us,
Take special care to keep it clean
From unpoetic hands,--I ween.
And when those walls, the muses' seat,
Said S----r is obliged to quit,
Let some one of APOLLO'S firing,
To such heroic joys aspiring,
Who long has borne a poet's name,
With said Knife cut his way to fame."
See _Buckingham's Reminiscences_, Vol. II. pp. 281, 270.
Tradition asserts that the original Jack-knife was terminated at
one end of the handle by a large blade, and at the other by a
projecting piece of iron, to which a chain of the same metal was
attached, and that it was customary to carry it in the pocket
fastened by this chain to some part of the person. When this was
lost, and the custom of transmitting the Knife went out of
fashion, the class, guided by no rule but that of their own fancy,
were accustomed to present any thing in the shape of a knife,
whether oyster or case, it made no difference. In one instance a
wooden one was given, and was immediately burned by the person who
received it. At present the Jack-knife is voted to the ugliest
member of the Senior Class, at the meeting for the election of
officers for Class Day, and the sum appropriated for its purchase
varies in different years from fifty cents to twenty dollars. The
custom of presenting the Jack-knife is one of the most amusing of
those which have come down to us from the past, and if any
conclusion may be drawn from the interest which is now manifested
in its observance, it is safe to infer, in the words of the poet,
that it will continue
"Till time and ugliness shall end."
In the Collegiate Institute of Indiana, a Jack-knife is given to
the greatest liar, as a reward of merit.
See WILL.
JAPANNED. A cant term in use at the University of Cambridge, Eng.,
explained in the following passage. "Many ... step ... into the
Church, without any pretence of other change than in the attire of
their outward man,--the being '_japanned_,' as assuming the black
dress and white cravat is called in University slang."--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 344.
JESUIT. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a member of Jesus
College.
JOBATION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a sharp reprimand
from the Dean for some offence, not eminently heinous.
Thus dismissed the august presence, he recounts this _jobation_ to
his friends, and enters into a discourse on masters, deans,
tutors, and proctors.--_Grad. ad Cantab._, p. 124.
JOBE. To reprove; to reprimand. "In the University of Cambridge,
[Eng.,] the young scholars are wont to call chiding,
_jobing_."--_Grad. ad Cantab._
I heard a lively young man assert, that, in consequence of an
intimation from the tutor relative to his irregularities, his
father came from the country to _jobe_ him.--_Gent. Mag._, Dec.
1794.
JOE. A name given at several American colleges to a privy. It is
said that when Joseph Penney was President of Hamilton College, a
request from the students that the privies might be cleansed was
met by him with a denial. In consequence of this refusal, the
offices were purified by fire on the night of November 5th. The
derivation of the word, allowing the truth of this story, is
apparent.
The following account of _Joe-Burning_ is by a correspondent from
Hamilton College:--"On the night of the 5th of November, every
year, the Sophomore Class burn 'Joe.' A large pile is made of
rails, logs, and light wood, in the form of a triangle. The space
within is filled level to the top, with all manner of
combustibles. A 'Joe' is then sought for by the class, carried
from its foundations on a rude bier, and placed on this pile. The
interior is filled with wood and straw, surrounding a barrel of
tar placed in the middle, over all of which gallons of turpentine
are thrown, and then set fire to. From the top of the lofty hill
on which the College buildings are situated, this fire can be seen
for twenty miles around. The Sophomores are all disguised in the
most odd and grotesque dresses. A ring is formed around the
burning 'Joe,' and a chant is sung. Horses of the neighbors are
obtained and ridden indiscriminately, without saddle or bridle.
The burning continues usually until daylight."
Ponamus Convivium
_Josephi_ in locum
Et id uremus.
_Convivii Exsequiae, Hamilton Coll._, 1850.
JOHNIAN. A member of St. John's College in the University of
Cambridge, Eng.
The _Johnians_ are always known by the name of pigs; they put up a
new organ the other day, which was immediately christened "Baconi
Novum Organum."--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV., p 236.
JUN. Abbreviated for Junior.
The target for all the venomed darts of rowdy Sophs, magnificent
_Juns_, and lazy Senes.--_The Yale Banger_, Nov. 10, 1846.
JUNE. An abbreviation of Junior.
I once to Yale a Fresh did come,
But now a jolly _June_,
Returning to my distant home,
I bear the wooden spoon.
_Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 36.
But now, when no longer a Fresh or a Soph,
Each blade is a gentleman _June_.
_Ibid._, p. 39.
JUNE TRAINING. The following interesting and entertaining account
of one of the distinguishing customs of the University of Vermont,
is from the pen of one of her graduates, to whom the editor of
this work is under many obligations for the valuable assistance he
has rendered in effecting the completeness of this Collection.
"In the old time when militia trainings were in fashion, the
authorities of Burlington decided that, whereas the students of
the University of Vermont claimed and were allowed the right of
suffrage, they were to be considered citizens, and consequently
subject to military duty. The students having refused to appear on
parade, were threatened with prosecution; and at last they
determined to make their appearance. This they did on a certain
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