Chapter III (2)

The observances of the day, which in a small way may be considered as a rival of Commencement, are at present as follows. The Orator, Poet, Odist, Chaplain, and Marshals having been previously chosen, on the morning of Class Day the Seniors assemble in the yard, and, preceded by the band, walk in procession to one of the halls of the College, where a prayer is offered by the Class Chaplain. They then proceed to the President's house, and escort him to the Chapel where the following order is observed. A prayer by one of the College officers is succeeded by the Oration, in which the transactions of the class from their entrance into College to the present time are reviewed with witty and appropriate remarks. The Poem is then pronounced, followed by the Ode, which is sung by the whole class to the tune of "Fair Harvard." Music is performed at intervals by the band. The class then withdraw to Harvard Hall, accompanied by their friends and invited guests, where a rich collation is provided.

After an interval of from one to two hours, the dancing commences in the yard. Cotillons and the easier dances are here performed, but the sport closes in the hall with the Polka and other fashionable steps. The Seniors again form, and make the circuit of the yard, cheering the buildings, great and small. They then assemble under the Liberty Tree, around which with hands joined they run and dance, after singing the student's adopted song, "Auld Lang Syne." At parting, each member takes a sprig or a flower from the beautiful "Wreath" which surrounds the "farewell tree," which is sacredly treasured as a last memento of college scenes and enjoyments. Thus close the exercises of the day, after which the class separate until Commencement.

The more marked events in the observance of Class Day have been graphically described by Grace Greenwood, in the accompanying paragraphs.

"The exercises on this occasion were to me most novel and interesting. The graduating class of 1848 are a fine-looking set of young men certainly, and seem to promise that their country shall yet be greater and better for the manly energies, the talent and learning, with which they are just entering upon life.

"The spectators were assembled in the College Chapel, whither the class escorted the Faculty, headed by President Everett, in his Oxford hat and gown.

"The President is a man of most imperial presence; his figure has great dignity, and his head is grand in form and expression. But to me he looks the governor, the foreign minister and the President, more than the orator or the poet.

"After a prayer from the Chaplain, we listened to an eloquent oration from the class orator, Mr. Tiffany, of Baltimore and to a very elegant and witty poem from the class poet Mr. Clarke, of Boston. The 'Fair Harvard' having been sung by the class, all adjourned to the College green, where such as were so disposed danced to the music of a fine band. From the green we repaired to Harvard Hall, where an excellent collation was served, succeeded by dancing. From the hall the students of 1848 marched and cheered successively every College building, then formed a circle round a magnificent elm, whose trunk was beautifully garlanded will flowers, and, with hands joined in a peculiar manner, sung 'Auld Lang Syne.' The scene was in the highest degree touching and impressive, so much of the beauty and glory of life was there, so much of the energy, enthusiasm, and proud unbroken strength of manhood. With throbbing hearts and glowing lips, linked for a few moments with strong, fraternal grasps, they stood, with one deep, common feeling, thrilling like one pulse through all. An involuntary prayer sprang to my lips, that they might ever prove true to _Alma Mater_, to one another, to their country, and to Heaven.

"As the singing ceased, the students began running swiftly around the tree, and at the cry, 'Harvard!' a second circle was formed by the other students, which gave a tumultuous excitement to the scene. It broke up at last with a perfect storm of cheers, and a hasty division among the class of the garland which encircled the elm, each taking a flower in remembrance of the day."--_Greenwood Leaves_, Ed. 3d, 1851, pp. 350, 351.

In the poem which was read before the class of 1851, by William C. Bradley, the comparisons of those about to graduate with the youth who is attaining to his majority, and with the traveller who has stopped a little for rest and refreshment, are so genial and suggestive, that their insertion in this connection will not be deemed out of place.

"'T is a good custom, long maintained,
When the young heir has manhood gained,
To solemnize the welcome date,
Accession to the man's estate,
With open house and rousing game,
And friends to wish him joy and fame:
So Harvard, following thus the ways
Of careful sires of older days,
Directs her children till they grow
The strength of ripened years to know,
And bids their friends and kindred, then,
To come and hail her striplings--men.

"And as, about the table set,
Or on the shady grass-plat met,
They give the youngster leave to speak
Of vacant sport, and boyish freak,
So now would we (such tales have power
At noon-tide to abridge the hour)
Turn to the past, and mourn or praise
The joys and pains of boyhood's days.

"Like travellers with their hearts intent
Upon a distant journey bent,
We rest upon the earliest stage
Of life's laborious pilgrimage;
But like the band of pilgrims gay
(Whom Chaucer sings) at close of day,
That turned with mirth, and cheerful din,
To pass their evening at the inn,
Hot from the ride and dusty, we,
But yet untired and stout and free,
And like the travellers by the door,
Sit down and talk the journey o'er."

As a specimen of the character of the Ode which is always sung on Class Day to the tune "Fair Harvard,"--which is the name by which the melody "Believe me, if all those endearing young charms" has been adopted at Cambridge,--that which was written by Joshua Danforth Robinson for the class of 1851 is here inserted.

"The days of thy tenderly nurture are done,
We call for the lance and the shield;
There's a battle to fight and a crown to be won,
And onward we press to the field!
But yet, Alma Mater, before we depart,
Shall the song of our farewell be sung,
And the grasp of the hand shall express for the heart
Emotions too deep for the tongue.

"This group of thy sons, Alma Mater, no more
May gladden thine ear with their song,
For soon we shall stand upon Time's crowded shore,
And mix in humanity's throng.
O, glad be the voices that ring through thy halls
When the echo of ours shall have flown,
And the footsteps that sound when no longer thy walls
Shall answer the tread of our own!

"Alas! our dear Mother, we see on thy face
A shadow of sorrow to-day;
For while we are clasped in thy farewell embrace,
And pass from thy bosom away,
To part with the living, we know, must recall
The lost whom thy love still embalms,
That one sigh must escape and one tear-drop must fall
For the children that died in thy arms.

"But the flowers of affection, bedewed by the tears
In the twilight of Memory distilled,
And sunned by the love of our earlier years,
When the soul with their beauty was thrilled,
Untouched by the frost of life's winter, shall blow,
And breathe the same odor they gave
When the vision of youth was entranced by their glow,
Till, fadeless, they bloom o'er the grave."

A most genial account of the exercises of the Class Day of the graduates of the year 1854 may be found in Harper's Magazine, Vol. IX. pp. 554, 555.

CLASSIC. One learned in classical literature; a student of the ancient Greek and Roman authors of the first rank.

These men, averaging about twenty-three years of age, the best _Classics_ and Mathematicians of their years, were reading for Fellowships.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 35.

A quiet Scotchman irreproachable as a _classic_ and a whist-player.--_Ibid._, p. 57.

The mathematical examination was very difficult, and made great havoc among the _classics_.--_Ibid._, p. 62.

CLASSIC SHADES. A poetical appellation given to colleges and universities.

He prepares for his departure,--but he must, ere he repair
To the "_classic shades_," et cetera,--visit his "ladye fayre."
_Poem before Iadma_, Harv. Coll., 1850.

I exchanged the farm-house of my father for the "_classic shades_" of Union.--_The Parthenon_, Union Coll., 1851, p. 18.

CLASSIS. Same meaning as Class. The Latin for the English.

[They shall] observe the generall hours appointed for all the students, and the speciall houres for their own _classis_.--_New England's First Fruits_, in _Mass. Hist. Coll._, Vol. I. p. 243.

CLASS LIST. In the University of Oxford, a list in which are entered the names of those who are examined for their degrees, according to their rate of merit.

At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the names of those who are examined at stated periods are placed alphabetically in the class lists, but the first eight or ten individual places are generally known.

There are some men who read for honors in that covetous and contracted spirit, and so bent upon securing the name of scholarship, even at the sacrifice of the reality, that, for the pleasure of reading their names at the top of the _class list_, they would make the examiners a present of all their Latin and Greek the moment they left the schools.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 327.

CLASSMAN. See CLASS.

CLASS MARSHAL. In many colleges in the United States, a _class marshal_ is chosen by the Senior Class from their own number, for the purpose of regulating the procession on the day of Commencement, and, as at Harvard College, on Class Day also.

"At Union College," writes a correspondent, "the class marshal is elected by the Senior Class during the third term. He attends to the order of the procession on Commencement Day, and walks into the church by the side of the President. He chooses several assistants, who attend to the accommodation of the audience. He is chosen from among the best-looking and most popular men of the class, and the honor of his office is considered next to that of the Vice-President of the Senate for the third term."

CLASSMATE. A member of the same class with another.

The day is wound up with a scene of careless laughter and merriment, among a dozen of joke-loving _classmates_.--_Harv. Reg._, p. 202.

CLASS MEETING. A meeting where all the class are assembled for the purpose of carrying out some measure, appointing class officers, or transacting business of interest to the whole class.

In Harvard College, no class, or general, or other meeting of students can be called without an application in writing of three students, and no more, expressing the purpose of such meeting, nor otherwise than by a printed notice, signed by the President, expressing the time, the object, and place of such meeting, and the three students applying for such meeting are held responsible for any proceedings at it contrary to the laws of the College.--_Laws Univ. Cam., Mass._, 1848, Appendix.

Similar regulations are in force at all other American colleges. At Union College the statute on this subject was formerly in these words: "No class meetings shall be held without special license from the President; and for such purposes only as shall be expressed in the license; nor shall any class meeting be continued by adjournment or otherwise, without permission; and all class meetings held without license shall be considered as unlawful combinations, and punished accordingly."--_Laws Union Coll._, 1807, pp. 37, 38.

While one, on fame alone intent,
Seek to be chosen President
Of clubs, or a _class meeting_.
_Harv. Reg._, p. 247.

CLASSOLOGY. That science which treats of the members of the classes of a college. This word is used in the title of a pleasant _jeu d'esprit_ by Mr. William Biglow, on the class which graduated at Harvard College in 1792. It is called, "_Classology_: an Anacreontic Ode, in Imitation of 'Heathen Mythology.'"

See under HIGH GO.

CLASS SECRETARY. For an account of this officer, see under CLASS BOOK.

CLASS SUPPER. In American colleges, a supper attended only by the members of a collegiate class. Class suppers are given in some colleges at the close of each year; in others, only at the close of the Sophomore and Senior years, or at one of these periods.

CLASS TREES. At Bowdoin College, "immediately after the annual examination of each class," says a correspondent, "the members that compose it are accustomed to form a ring round a tree, and then, not dance, but run around it. So quickly do they revolve, that every individual runner has a tendency 'to go off in a tangent,' which it is difficult to resist for any length of time. The three lower classes have a tree by themselves in front of Massachusetts Hall. The Seniors have one of their own in front of King Chapel."

For an account of a similar and much older custom, prevalent at Harvard College, see under CLASS DAY and LIBERTY TREE.

CLIMBING. In reference to this word, a correspondent from Dartmouth College writes: "At the commencement of this century, the Greek, Latin, and Philosophical Orations were assigned by the Faculty to the best scholars, while the Valedictorian was chosen from the remainder by his classmates. It was customary for each one of these four to treat his classmates, which was called '_Climbing_,' from the effect which the liquor would have in elevating the class to an equality with the first scholars."

CLIOSOPHIC. A word compounded from _Clio_, the Muse who presided over history, and [Greek: sophos], intelligent. At Yale College, this word was formerly used to designate an oration on the arts and sciences, which was delivered annually at the examination in July.

Having finished his academic course, by the appointment of the President he delivered the _cliosophic_ oration in the College Hall.--_Holmes's Life of Ezra Stiles_, p. 13.

COACH. In the English universities, this term is variously applied, as will be seen by a reference to the annexed examples. It is generally used to designate a private tutor.

Everything is (or used to be) called a "_coach_" at Oxford: a lecture-class, or a club of men meeting to take wine, luncheon, or breakfast alternately, were severally called a "wine, luncheon, or breakfast _coach_"; so a private tutor was called a "private _coach_"; and one, like Hilton of Worcester, very famed for getting his men safe through, was termed "a Patent Safety."--_The Collegian's Guide_, p. 103.

It is to his private tutors, or "_coaches_," that he looks for instruction.--_Household Words_, Vol. II. p. 160.

He applies to Mr. Crammer. Mr. Crammer is a celebrated "_coach_" for lazy and stupid men, and has a system of his own which has met with decided success.--_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 162.

COACH. To prepare a student to pass an examination; to make use of the aid of a private tutor.

He is putting on all steam, and "_coaching_" violently for the Classical Tripos.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d. p. 10.

It is not every man who can get a Travis to _coach_ him.--_Ibid._, p. 69.

COACHING. A cant term, in the British universities, for preparing a student, by the assistance of a private tutor, to pass an examination.

Whether a man shall throw away every opportunity which a university is so eminently calculated to afford, and come away with a mere testamur gained rather by the trickery of private _coaching_ (tutoring) than by mental improvement, depends, &c.--_The Collegian's Guide_, p. 15.

COAX. This word was formerly used at Yale College in the same sense as the word _fish_ at Harvard, viz. to seek or gain the favor of a teacher by flattery. One of the Proverbs of Solomon was often changed by the students to read as follows: "Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the _coaxing_ of tutors bringeth forth parts."--_Prov._ xxx. 33.

COCHLEAUREATUS, _pl._ COCHLEAUREATI. Latin, _cochlear_, a spoon, and _laureatus_, laurelled. A free translation would be, _one honored with a spoon_.

At Yale College, the wooden spoon is given to the one whose name comes last on the list of appointees for the Junior Exhibition. The recipient of this honor is designated _cochleaureatus_.

Now give in honor of the spoon
Three cheers, long, loud, and hearty,
And three for every honored June
In _coch-le-au-re-a-ti_.
_Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 37.

See WOODEN SPOON.

COFFIN. At the University of Vermont, a boot, especially a large one. A companion to the word HUMMEL, q.v.

COLLAR. At Yale College, "to come up with; to seize; to lay hold on; to appropriate."--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XIV. p. 144.

By that means the oration marks will be effectually _collared_, with scarce an effort.--_Yale Banger_, Oct. 1848.

COLLECTION. In the University of Oxford, a college examination, which takes place at the end of every term before the Warden and Tutor.

Read some Herodotus for _Collections_.--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 348.

The College examinations, called _collections_, are strictly private.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 139.

COLLECTOR. A Bachelor of Arts in the University of Oxford, who is appointed to superintend some scholastic proceedings in Lent.--_Todd_.

The Collectors, who are two in number, Bachelors of Arts, are appointed to collect the names of _determining_ bachelors, during Lent. Their office begins and ends with that season.--_Guide to Oxford_.

COLLECTORSHIP. The office of a _collector_ in the University of Oxford.--_Todd_.

This Lent the _collectors_ ceased from entertaining the Bachelors by advice and command of the proctors; so that now they got by their _collectorships_, whereas before they spent about 100_l._, besides their gains, on clothes or needless entertainments.--_Life of A. Wood_, p. 286.

COLLEGE. Latin, _collegium_; _con_ and _lego_, to gather. In its primary sense, a collection or assembly; hence, in a general sense, a collection, assemblage, or society of men, invested with certain powers and rights, performing certain duties, or engaged in some common employment or pursuit.

1. An establishment or edifice appropriated to the use of students who are acquiring the languages and sciences.

2. The society of persons engaged in the pursuits of literature, including the officers and students. Societies of this kind are incorporated, and endowed with revenues.

"A college, in the modern sense of that word, was an institution which arose within a university, probably within that of Paris or of Oxford first, being intended either as a kind of boarding-school, or for the support of scholars destitute of means, who were here to live under particular supervision. By degrees it became more and more the custom that teachers should be attached to these establishments. And as they grew in favor, they were resorted to by persons of means, who paid for their board; and this to such a degree, that at one time the colleges included nearly all the members of the University of Paris. In the English universities the colleges may have been first established by a master who gathered pupils around him, for whose board and instruction he provided. He exercised them perhaps in logic and the other liberal arts, and repeated the university lectures, as well as superintended their morals. As his scholars grew in number, he associated with himself other teachers, who thus acquired the name of _fellows_. Thus it naturally happened that the government of colleges, even of those which were founded by the benevolence of pious persons, was in the hands of a principal called by various names, such as rector, president, provost, or master, and of fellows, all of whom were resident within the walls of the same edifices where the students lived. Where charitable munificence went so far as to provide for the support of a greater number of fellows than were needed, some of them were intrusted, as tutors, with the instruction of the undergraduates, while others performed various services within their college, or passed a life of learned leisure."--_Pres. Woolsey's Hist. Disc._, New Haven, Aug. 14, 1850, p. 8.

3. In _foreign universities_, a public lecture.--_Webster_.

COLLEGE BIBLE. The laws of a college are sometimes significantly called _the College Bible_.

He cons _the College Bible_ with eager, longing eyes,
And wonders how poor students at six o'clock can rise.
_Poem before Iadma of Harv. Coll._, 1850.

COLLEGER. A member of a college.

We stood like veteran _Collegers_ the next day's screw.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 9. [_Little used_.]

2. The name by which a member of a certain class of the pupils of Eton is known. "The _Collegers_ are educated gratuitously, and such of them as have nearly but not quite reached the age of nineteen, when a vacancy in King's College, Cambridge, occurs, are elected scholars there forthwith and provided for during life--or until marriage."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, pp. 262, 263.

They have nothing in lieu of our seventy _Collegers_.--_Ibid._, p. 270.

The whole number of scholars or "_Collegers_" at Eton is seventy. --_Literary World_, Vol. XII. p. 285.

COLLEGE YARD. The enclosure on or within which the buildings of a college are situated. Although college enclosures are usually open for others to pass through than those connected with the college, yet by law the grounds are as private as those connected with private dwellings, and are kept so, by refusing entrance, for a certain period, to all who are not members of the college, at least once in twenty years, although the time differs in different States.

But when they got to _College yard_,
With one accord they all huzza'd.--_Rebelliad_, p. 33.

Not ye, whom science never taught to roam
Far as a _College yard_ or student's home.
_Harv. Reg._, p. 232.

COLLEGIAN. A member of a college, particularly of a literary institution so called; an inhabitant of a college.--_Johnson_.

COLLEGIATE. Pertaining to a college; as, _collegiate_ studies.

2. Containing a college; instituted after the manner of a college; as, a _collegiate_ society.--_Johnson_.

COLLEGIATE. A member of a college.

COMBINATION. An agreement, for effecting some object by joint operation; in _an ill sense_, when the purpose is illegal or iniquitous. An agreement entered into by students to resist or disobey the Faculty of the College, or to do any unlawful act, is a _combination_. When the number concerned is so great as to render it inexpedient to punish all, those most culpable are usually selected, or as many as are deemed necessary to satisfy the demands of justice.--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 27. _Laws Univ. Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 23.

COMBINATION ROOM. In the University of Cambridge Eng., a room into which the fellows, and others in authority withdraw after dinner, for wine, dessert, and conversation.--_Webster_.

In popular phrase, the word _room_ is omitted.

"There will be some quiet Bachelors there, I suppose," thought I, "and a Junior Fellow or two, some of those I have met in _combination_."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 52.

COMITAT. In the German universities, a procession formed to accompany a departing fellow-student with public honor out of the city.--_Howitt_.

COMMEMORATION DAY. At the University of Oxford, Eng., this day is an annual solemnity in honor of the benefactors of the University, when orations are delivered, and prize compositions are read in the theatre. It is the great day of festivity for the year.--_Huber_.

At the University of Cambridge, Eng., there is always a sermon on this day. The lesson which is read in the course of the service is from Ecclus. xliv.: "Let us now praise famous men," &c. It is "a day," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, "devoted to prayers, and good living." It was formerly called _Anniversary Day_.

COMMENCE. To take a degree, or the first degree, in a university or college.--_Bailey_.

Nine Bachelors _commenced_ at Cambridge; they were young men of good hope, and performed their acts so as to give good proof of their proficiency in the tongues and arts.--_Winthrop's Journal, by Mr. Savage_, Vol. II. p. 87.

Four Senior Sophisters came from Saybrook, and received the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, and several others _commenced_ Masters.--_Clap's Hist. Yale Coll._, p. 20.

A scholar see him now _commence_,
Without the aid of books or sense.
_Trumbull's Progress of Dullness_, 1794, p. 12.

Charles Chauncy ... was afterwards, when qualified, sent to the University of Cambridge, where he _commenced_ Bachelor of Divinity.--_Hist. Sketch of First Ch. in Boston_, 1812, p. 211.

COMMENCEMENT. The time when students in colleges _commence_ Bachelors; a day in which degrees are publicly conferred in the English and American universities.--_Webster_.

At Harvard College, in its earliest days, Commencements were attended, as at present, by the highest officers in the State. At the first Commencement, on the second Tuesday of August, 1642, we are told that "the Governour, Magistrates, and the Ministers, from all parts, with all sorts of schollars, and others in great numbers, were present."--_New England's First Fruits_, in _Mass. Hist. Coll._, Vol. I. p. 246.

In the MS. Diary of Judge Sewall, under date of July 1, 1685, Commencement Day, is this remark: "Gov'r there, whom I accompanied to Charlestown"; and again, under date of July 2, 1690, is the following entry respecting the Commencement of that year: "Go to Cambridge by water in ye Barge wherein the Gov'r, Maj. Gen'l, Capt. Blackwell, and others." In the Private Journal of Cotton Mather, under the dates of 1708 and 1717, there are notices of the Boston troops waiting on the Governor to Cambridge on Commencement Day. During the presidency of Wadsworth, which continued from 1725 to 1737, "it was the custom," says Quincy, "on Commencement Day, for the Governor of the Province to come from Boston through Roxbury, often by the way of Watertown, attended by his body guards, and to arrive at the College about ten or eleven o'clock in the morning. A procession was then formed of the Corporation, Overseers, magistrates, ministers, and invited gentlemen, and immediately moved from Harvard Hall to the Congregational church." After the exercises of the day were over, the students escorted the Governor, Corporation, and Overseers, in procession, to the President's house. This description would answer very well for the present day, by adding the graduating class to the procession, and substituting the Boston Lancers as an escort, instead of the "body guards."

The exercises of the first Commencement are stated in New England's First Fruits, above referred to, as follows:--"Latine and Greeke Orations, and Declamations, and Hebrew Analysis, Grammaticall, Logicall, and Rhetoricall of the Psalms: And their answers and disputations in Logicall, Ethicall, Physicall, and Metaphysicall questions." At Commencement in 1685, the exercises were, besides Disputes, four Orations, one Latin, two Greek, and one Hebrew In the presidency of Wadsworth, above referred to, "the exercises of the day," says Quincy, "began with a short prayer by the President; a salutatory oration in Latin, by one of the graduating class, succeeded; then disputations on theses or questions in Logic, Ethics, and Natural Philosophy commenced. When the disputation terminated, one of the candidates pronounced a Latin 'gratulatory oration.' The graduating class were then called, and, after asking leave of the Governor and Overseers, the President conferred the Bachelor's degree, by delivering a book to the candidates (who came forward successively in parties of four), and pronouncing a form of words in Latin. An adjournment then took place to dinner, in Harvard Hall; thence the procession returned to the church, and, after the Masters' disputations, usually three in number, were finished, their degrees were conferred, with the same general forms as those of the Bachelors. An occasional address was then made by the President. A Latin valedictory oration by one of the Masters succeeded, and the exercises concluded with a prayer by the President."

Similar to this is the account given by the Hon. Paine Wingate, a graduate of the class of 1759, of the exercises of Commencement as conducted while he was in College. "I do not recollect now," he says, "any part of the public exercises on Commencement Day to be in English, excepting the President's prayers at opening and closing the services. Next after the prayer followed the Salutatory Oration in Latin, by one of the candidates for the first degree. This office was assigned by the President, and was supposed to be given to him who was the best orator in the class. Then followed a Syllogistic Disputation in Latin, in which four or five or more of those who were distinguished as good scholars in the class were appointed by the President as Respondents, to whom were assigned certain questions, which the Respondents maintained, and the rest of the class severally opposed, and endeavored to invalidate. This was conducted wholly in Latin, and in the form of Syllogisms and Theses. At the close of the Disputation, the President usually added some remarks in Latin. After these exercises the President conferred the degrees. This, I think, may be considered as the summary of the public performances on a Commencement Day. I do not recollect any Forensic Disputation, or a Poem or Oration spoken in English, whilst I was in College."--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, pp. 307, 308.

As far back as the year 1685, it was customary for the President to deliver an address near the close of the exercises. Under this date, in the MS. Diary of Judge Sewall, are these words: "Mr. President after giving ye Degrees made an Oration in Praise of Academical Studies and Degrees, Hebrew tongue." In 1688, at the Commencement, according to the same gentleman, Mr. William Hubbard, then acting as President under the appointment of Sir Edmund Andros, "made an oration."

The disputations were always in Latin, and continued to be a part of the exercises of Commencement until the year 1820. The orations were in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and sometimes French; in 1818 a Spanish oration was delivered at the Commencement for that year by Mr. George Osborne. The first English oration was made by Mr. Jedidiah Huntington, in the year 1763, and the first English poem by Mr. John Davis, in 1781. The last Latin syllogisms were in 1792, on the subjects, "Materia cogitare non potest," and "Nil nisi ignis naturâ est fluidum." The first year in which the performers spoke without a prompter was 1837. There were no Master's exercises for the first time in 1844. To prevent improprieties, in the year 1760, "the duty of inspecting the performances on the day," says Quincy, "and expunging all exceptionable parts, was assigned to the President; on whom it was particularly enjoined 'to put an end to the practice of addressing the female sex.'" At a later period, in 1792, by referring to the "Order of the Exercises of Commencement," we find that in the concluding oration "honorable notice is taken, from year to year, of those who have been the principal Benefactors of the University." The practice is now discontinued.

At the first Commencement, all the magistrates, elders, and invited guests who were present "dined," says Winthrop in his Journal, Vol. II. pp. 87, 88, "at the College with the scholars' ordinary commons, which was done on purpose for the students' encouragement, &c., and it gave good content to all." After dinner, a Psalm was usually sung. In 1685, at Commencement, Sewall says: "After dinner ye 3d part of ye 103d Ps. was sung in ye Hall." The seventy-eighth Psalm was the one usually sung, an account of which will be found under that title. The Senior Class usually waited on the table on Commencement Day. After dinner, they were allowed to take what provisions were left, and eat them at their rooms, or in the hall. This custom was not discontinued until the year 1812.

In 1754, owing to the expensive habits worn on Commencement Day, a law was passed, ordering that on that day "every candidate for his degree appear in black, or dark blue, or gray clothes; and that no one wear any silk night-gowns; and that any candidate, who shall appear dressed contrary to such regulations, may not expect his degree." At present, on Commencement Day, every candidate for a first degree wears, according to the law, "a black dress and the usual black gown."

It was formerly customary, on this day, for the students to provide entertainment in their rooms. But great care was taken, as far as statutory enactments were concerned, that all excess should be avoided. During the presidency of Increase Mather was developed among the students a singular phase of gastronomy, which was noticed by the Corporation in their records, under the date of June 22, 1693, in these words: "The Corporation, having been informed that the custom taken up in the College, not used in any other Universities, for the commencers [graduating class] to have plumb-cake, is dishonorable to the College, not grateful to wise men, and chargeable to the parents of the commencers, do therefore put an end to that custom, and do hereby order that no commencer, or other scholar, shall have any such cakes in their studies or chambers; and that, if any scholar shall offend therein, the cakes shall be taken from him, and he shall moreover pay to the College twenty shillings for each such offence." This stringent regulation was, no doubt, all-sufficient for many years; but in the lapse of time the taste for the forbidden delicacy, which was probably concocted with a skill unknown to the moderns, was again revived, accompanied with confessions to a fondness for several kinds of expensive preparations, the recipes for which preparations, it is to be feared, are inevitably lost. In 1722, in the latter part of President Leverett's administration, an act was passed "for reforming the Extravagancys of Commencements," and providing "that henceforth no preparation nor provision of either Plumb Cake, or Roasted, Boyled, or Baked Meates or Pyes of any kind shal be made by any Commencer," and that no "such have any distilled Lyquours in his Chamber or any composition therewith," under penalty of being "punished twenty shillings, to be paid to the use of the College," and of forfeiture of the provisions and liquors, "_to be seized by the tutors_." The President and Corporation were accustomed to visit the rooms of the Commencers, "to see if the laws prohibiting certain meats and drinks were not violated." These restrictions not being sufficient, a vote passed the Corporation in 1727, declaring, that "if any, who now doe, or hereafter shall, stand for their degrees, presume to doe any thing contrary to the act of 11th June, 1722, or _go about to evade it by plain cake_, they shall not be admitted to their degree, and if any, after they have received their degree, shall presume to make any forbidden provisions, their names shall be left or rased out of the Catalogue of the Graduates."

In 1749, the Corporation strongly recommended to the parents and guardians of such as were to take degrees that year, "considering the awful judgments of God upon the land," to "retrench Commencement expenses, so as may best correspond with the frowns of Divine Providence, and that they take effectual care to have their sons' chambers cleared of company, and their entertainments finished, on the evening of said Commencement Day, or, at furthest, by next morning." In 1755, attempts were made to prevent those "who proceeded Bachelors of Arts from having entertainments of any kind, either in the College or any house in Cambridge, after the Commencement Day." This and several other propositions of the Overseers failing to meet with the approbation of the Corporation, a vote finally passed both boards in 1757, by which it was ordered, that, on account of the "distressing drought upon the land," and "in consideration of the dark state of Providence with respect to the war we are engaged in, which Providences call for humiliation and fasting rather than festival entertainments," the "first and second degrees be given to the several candidates without their personal attendance"; a general diploma was accordingly given, and Commencement was omitted for that year. Three years after, "all unnecessary expenses were forbidden," and also "dancing in any part of Commencement week, in the Hall, or in any College building; nor was any undergraduate allowed to give any entertainment, after dinner, on Thursday of that week, under severe penalties." But the laws were not always so strict, for we find that, on account of a proposition made by the Overseers to the Corporation in 1759, recommending a "repeal of the law prohibiting the drinking of _punch_," the latter board voted, that "it shall be no offence if any scholar shall, at Commencement, make and entertain guests at his chamber with _punch_," which they afterwards declare, "as it is now usually made, is no intoxicating liquor."

To prevent the disturbances incident to the day, an attempt was made in 1727 to have the "Commencements for time to come more private than has been usual," and for several years after, the time of Commencement was concealed; "only a short notice," says Quincy, "being given to the public of the day on which it was to be held." Friday was the day agreed on, for the reason, says President Wadsworth in his Diary, "that there might be a less remaining time of the week spent in frolicking." This was very ill received by the people of Boston and the vicinity, to whom Commencement was a season of hilarity and festivity; the ministers were also dissatisfied, not knowing the day in some cases, and in others being subjected to great inconvenience on account of their living at a distance from Cambridge. The practice was accordingly abandoned in 1736, and Commencement, as formerly, was held on Wednesday, to general satisfaction. In 1749, "three gentlemen," says Quincy, "who had sons about to be graduated, offered to give the College a thousand pounds old tenor, provided 'a trial was made of Commencements this year, in a more private manner.'" The proposition, after much debate, was rejected, and "public Commencements were continued without interruption, except during the period of the Revolutionary war, and occasionally, from temporary causes, during the remainder of the century, notwithstanding their evils, anomalies, and inconsistencies."[05]

The following poetical account of Commencement at Harvard College is supposed to have been written by Dr. Mather Byles, in the year 1742 or thereabouts. Of its merits, this is no place to speak. As a picture of the times it is valuable, and for this reason, and to show the high rank which Commencement Day formerly held among other days, it is here presented.

"COMMENCEMENT.

"I sing the day, bright with peculiar charms,
Whose rising radiance ev'ry bosom warms;
The day when _Cambridge_ empties all the towns,
And youths commencing, take their laurel crowns:
When smiling joys, and gay delights appear,
And shine distinguish'd, in the rolling year.

"While the glad theme I labour to rehearse,
In flowing numbers, and melodious verse,
Descend, immortal nine, my soul inspire,
Amid my bosom lavish all your fire,
While smiling _Phoebus_, owns the heavenly layes
And shades the poet with surrounding bayes.
But chief ye blooming nymphs of heavenly frame,
Who make the day with double glory flame,
In whose fair persons, art and nature vie,
On the young muse cast an auspicious eye:
Secure of fame, then shall the goddess sing,
And rise triumphant with a tow'ring wing,
Her tuneful notes wide-spreading all around,
The hills shall echo, and the vales resound.

"Soon as the morn in crimson robes array'd
With chearful beams dispels the flying shade,
While fragrant odours waft the air along,
And birds melodious chant their heavenly song,
And all the waste of heav'n with glory spread,
Wakes up the world, in sleep's embraces dead.
Then those whose dreams were on th' approaching day,
Prepare in splendid garbs to make their way
To that admired solemnity, whose date,
Tho' late begun, will last as long as fate.
And now the sprightly Fair approach the glass
To heighten every feature of the face.
They view the roses flush their glowing cheeks,
The snowy lillies towering round their necks,
Their rustling manteaus huddled on in haste,
They clasp with shining girdles round their waist.
Nor less the speed and care of every beau,
To shine in dress and swell the solemn show.
Thus clad, in careless order mixed by chance,
In haste they both along the streets advance:
'Till near the brink of _Charles's_ beauteous stream,
They stop, and think the lingering boat to blame.
Soon as the empty skiff salutes the shore,
In with impetuous haste they clustering pour,
The men the head, the stern the ladies grace,
And neighing horses fill the middle space.
Sunk deep, the boat floats slow the waves along,
And scarce contains the thickly crowded throng;
A gen'ral horror seizes on the fair,
While white-look'd cowards only not despair.
'Till rowed with care they reach th' opposing side,
Leap on the shore, and leave the threat'ning tide.
While to receive the pay the boatman stands,
And chinking pennys jingle in his hands.
Eager the sparks assault the waiting cars,
Fops meet with fops, and clash in civil wars.
Off fly the wigs, as mount their kicking heels,
The rudely bouncing head with anguish swells,
A crimson torrent gushes from the nose,
Adown the cheeks, and wanders o'er the cloaths.
Taunting, the victor's strait the chariots leap,
While the poor batter'd beau's for madness weep.

"Now in calashes shine the blooming maids,
Bright'ning the day which blazes o'er their heads;
The seats with nimble steps they swift ascend,
And moving on the crowd, their waste of beauties spend.
So bearing thro' the boundless breadth of heav'n,
The twinkling lamps of light are graceful driv'n;
While on the world they shed their glorious rays,
And set the face of nature in a blaze.

"Now smoak the burning wheels along the ground,
While rapid hoofs of flying steeds resound,
The drivers by no vulgar flame inspir'd,
But with the sparks of love and glory fir'd,
With furious swiftness sweep along the way,
And from the foremost chariot snatch the day.
So at Olympick games when heros strove,
In rapid cars to gain the goal of love.
If on her fav'rite youth the goddess shone
He left his rival and the winds out-run.

"And now thy town, _O Cambridge_! strikes the sight
Of the beholders with confus'd delight;
Thy green campaigns wide open to the view,
And buildings where bright youth their fame pursue.
Blest village! on whose plains united glows,
A vast, confus'd magnificence of shows.
Where num'rous crowds of different colours blend,
Thick as the trees which from the hills ascend:
Or as the grass which shoots in verdant spires,
Or stars which dart thro' natures realms their fires.

"How am I fir'd with a profuse delight,
When round the yard I roll my ravish'd sight!
From the high casements how the ladies show!
And scatter glory on the crowds below.
From sash to sash the lovely lightening plays
And blends their beauties in a radiant blaze.
So when the noon of night the earth invades
And o'er the landskip spreads her silent shades.
In heavens high vault the twinkling stars appear,
And with gay glory's light the gleemy sphere.
From their bright orbs a flame of splendors shows,
And all around th' enlighten'd ether glows.

"Soon as huge heaps have delug'd all the plains,
Of tawny damsels, mixt with simple swains,
Gay city beau's, grave matrons and coquats,
Bully's and cully's, clergymen and wits.
The thing which first the num'rous crowd employs,
Is by a breakfast to begin their joys.
While wine, which blushes in a crystal glass,
Streams down in floods, and paints their glowing face.
And now the time approaches when the bell,
With dull continuance tolls a solemn knell.
Numbers of blooming youth in black array
Adorn the yard, and gladden all the day.
In two strait lines they instantly divide,
While each beholds his partner on th' opposing side,
Then slow, majestick, walks the learned _head_,
The _senate_ follow with a solemn tread,
Next _Levi's_ tribe in reverend order move,
Whilst the uniting youth the show improve.
They glow in long procession till they come,
Near to the portals of the sacred dome;
Then on a sudden open fly the doors,
The leader enters, then the croud thick pours.
The temple in a moment feels its freight,
And cracks beneath its vast unwieldy weight,
So when the threatning Ocean roars around
A place encompass'd with a lofty mound,
If some weak part admits the raging waves,
It flows resistless, and the city laves;
Till underneath the waters ly the tow'rs,
Which menac'd with their height the heav'nly pow'rs.

"The work begun with pray'r, with modest pace,
A youth advancing mounts the desk with grace,
To all the audience sweeps a circling bow,
Then from his lips ten thousand graces flow.
The next that comes, a learned thesis reads,
The question states, and then a war succeeds.
Loud major, minor, and the consequence,
Amuse the crowd, wide-gaping at their fence.
Who speaks the loudest is with them the best,
And impudence for learning is confest.

"The battle o'er, the sable youth descend,
And to the awful chief, their footsteps bend.
With a small book, the laurel wreath he gives
Join'd with a pow'r to use it all their lives.
Obsequious, they return what they receive,
With decent rev'rence, they his presence leave.
Dismiss'd, they strait repeat their back ward way
And with white napkins grace the sumptuous day.[06]

"Now plates unnumber'd on the tables shine,
And dishes fill'd invite the guests to dine.
The grace perform'd, each as it suits him best,
Divides the sav'ry honours of the feast,
The glasses with bright sparkling wines abound
And flowing bowls repeat the jolly round.
Thanks said, the multitude unite their voice,
In sweetly mingled and melodious noise.
The warbling musick floats along the air,
And softly winds the mazes of the ear;
Ravish'd the crowd promiscuously retires,
And each pursues the pleasure he admires.

"Behold my muse far distant on the plains,
Amidst a wrestling ring two jolly swains;
Eager for fame, they tug and haul for blood,
One nam'd _Jack Luby_, t' other _Robin Clod_,
Panting they strain, and labouring hard they sweat,
Mix legs, kick shins, tear cloaths, and ply their feet.
Now nimbly trip, now stiffly stand their ground,
And now they twirl, around, around, around;
Till overcome by greater art or strength,
_Jack Luby_ lays along his lubber length.
A fall! a fall! the loud spectators cry,
A fall! a fall! the echoing hills reply.

"O'er yonder field in wild confusion runs,
A clam'rous troop of _Affric's_ sable sons,
Behind the victors shout, with barbarous roar,
The vanquish'd fly with hideous yells before,
The gloomy squadron thro' the valley speeds
Whilst clatt'ring cudgels rattle o'er their heads.

"Again to church the learned tribe repair,
Where syllogisms battle in the air,
And then the elder youth their second laurels wear.
Hail! Happy laurels! who our hopes inspire,
And set our ardent wishes all on fire.
By you the pulpit and the bar will shine
In future annals; while the ravish'd nine
Will in your bosom breathe cælestial flames,
And stamp _Eternity_ upon your names.
Accept my infant muse, whose feeble wings
Can scarce sustain her flight, while you she sings.
With candour view my rude unfinish'd praise
And see my _Ivy_ twist around your _bayes_.
So _Phidias_ by immortal _Jove_ inspir'd,
His statue carv'd, by all mankind admir'd.
Nor thus content, by his approving nod,
He cut himself upon the shining god.
That shaded by the umbrage of his name,
Eternal honours might attend his fame."

In his almanacs, Nathaniel Ames was wont to insert, opposite the days of Commencement week, remarks which he deemed appropriate to that period. His notes for the year 1764 were these:--

"Much talk and nothing said."

"The loquacious more talkative than ever, and fine Harangues preparing."

"Much Money sunk,
Much Liquor drunk."

His only note for the year 1765 was this:--

"Many Crapulæ to Day
Give the Head-ach to the Gay."

Commencement Day was generally considered a holiday throughout the Province, and in the metropolis the shops were usually closed, and little or no business was done. About ten days before this period, a body of Indians from Natick--men, women, and pappooses--commonly made their appearance at Cambridge, and took up their station around the Episcopal Church, in the cellar of which they were accustomed to sleep, if the weather was unpleasant. The women sold baskets and moccasons; the boys gained money by shooting at it, while the men wandered about and spent the little that was earned by their squaws in rum and tobacco. Then there would come along a body of itinerant negro fiddlers, whose scraping never intermitted during the time of their abode.

The Common, on Commencement week, was covered with booths, erected in lines, like streets, intended to accommodate the populace from Boston and the vicinity with the amusements of a fair. In these were carried on all sorts of dissipation. Here was a knot of gamblers, gathered around a wheel of fortune, or watching the whirl of the ball on a roulette-table. Further along, the jolly hucksters displayed their tempting wares in the shape of cooling beverages and palate-tickling confections. There was dancing on this side, auction-selling on the other; here a pantomimic show, there a blind man, led by a dog, soliciting alms; organ-grinders and hurdy-gurdy grinders, bears and monkeys, jugglers and sword-swallowers, all mingled in inextricable confusion.

In a neighboring field, a countryman had, perchance, let loose a fox, which the dogs were worrying to death, while the surrounding crowd testified their pleasure at the scene by shouts of approbation. Nor was there any want of the spirituous; pails of punch, guarded by stout negroes, bore witness to their own subtle contents, now by the man who lay curled up under the adjoining hedge, "forgetting and forgot," and again by the drunkard, reeling, cursing, and fighting among his comrades.

The following observations from the pen of Professor Sidney Willard, afford an accurate description of the outward manifestations of Commencement Day at Harvard College, during the latter part of the last century. "Commencement Day at that time was a widely noted day, not only among men and women of all characters and conditions, but also among boys. It was the great literary and mob anniversary of Massachusetts, surpassed only in its celebrities by the great civil and mob anniversary, namely, the Fourth of July, and the last Wednesday of May, Election day, so called, the anniversary of the organization of the government of the State for the civil year. But Commencement, perhaps most of all, exhibited an incongruous mixture of men and things. Besides the academic exercises within the sanctuary of learning and religion, followed by the festivities in the College dining-hall, and under temporary tents and awnings erected for the entertainments given to the numerous guests of wealthy parents of young men who had come out successful competitors for prizes in the academic race, the large common was decked with tents filled with various refreshments for the hungry and thirsty multitudes, and the intermediate spaces crowded with men, women, and boys, white and black, many of them gambling, drinking, swearing, dancing, and fighting from morning to midnight. Here and there the scene was varied by some show of curiosities, or of monkeys or less common wild animals, and the gambols of mountebanks, who by their ridiculous tricks drew a greater crowd than the abandoned group at the gaming-tables, or than the fooleries, distortions, and mad pranks of the inebriates. If my revered uncle[07] took a glimpse at these scenes, he did not see there any of our red brethren, as Mr. Jefferson kindly called them, who formed a considerable part of the gathering at the time of his graduation, forty-two years before; but he must have seen exhibitions of depravity which would disgust the most untutored savage. Near the close of the last century these outrages began to disappear, and lessened from year to year, until by public opinion, enforced by an efficient police, they were many years ago wholly suppressed, and the vicinity of the College halls has become, as it should be, a classic ground."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. I. pp. 251, 252.

It is to such scenes as these that Mr. William Biglow refers, in his poem recited before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, in their dining-hall, August 29th, 1811.

"All hail, Commencement! when all classes free
Throng learning's fount, from interest, taste, or glee;
When sutlers plain in tents, like Jacob, dwell,
Their goods distribute, and their purses swell;
When tipplers cease on wretchedness to think,
Those born to sell, as well as these to drink;
When every day each merry Andrew clears
More cash than useful men in many years;
When men to business come, or come to rake,
And modest women spurn at Pope's mistake.[08]