Chapter III (7)

Of the scholars of this name, Bristed remarks: "The table nearer the door is filled by students in the ordinary Undergraduate blue gown; but from the better service of their table, and perhaps some little consequential air of their own, it is plain that they have something peculiar to boast of. They are the Foundation Scholars, from whom the future Fellows are to be chosen, in the proportion of about one out of three. Their Scholarships are gained by examination in the second or third year, and entitle them to a pecuniary allowance from the college, and also to their commons gratis (these latter subject to certain attendance at and service in chapel), a first choice of rooms, and some other little privileges, of which they are somewhat proud, and occasionally they look as if conscious that some Don may be saying to a chance visitor at the high table, 'Those over yonder are the scholars, the best men of their year.'"--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 20.

FOX. In the German universities, a student during the first half-year is called a Fox (Fuchs), the same as Freshman. To this the epithet _nasty_ is sometimes added.

On this subject, Howitt remarks: "On entering the University, he becomes a _Kameel_,--a Camel. This happy transition-state of a few weeks gone by, he comes forth finally, on entering a Chore, a _Fox_, and runs joyfully into the new Burschen life. During the first _semester_ or half-year, he is a gold fox, which means, that he has _foxes_, or rich gold in plenty yet; or he is a _Crass-fucks_, or fat fox, meaning that he yet swells or puffs himself up with gold."--_Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed., p. 124.

"Halloo there, Herdman, _fox_!" yelled another lusty tippler, and Herdman, thus appealed to, arose and emptied the contents of his glass.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 116.

At the same moment, a door at the end of the hall was thrown open, and a procession of new-comers, or _Nasty Foxes_, as they are called in the college dialect, entered two by two, looking wild, and green, and foolish.--_Longfellow's Hyperion_, p. 109.

See also in the last-mentioned work the Fox song.

FREEZE. A correspondent from Williams College writes: "But by far the most expressive word in use among us is _Freeze_. The meaning of it might be felt, if, some cold morning, you would place your tender hand upon some frosty door-latch; it would be a striking specimen on the part of the door-latch of what we mean by _Freeze_. Thus we _freeze_ to apples in the orchards, to fellows whom we electioneer for in our secret societies, and alas! some even go so far as to _freeze_ to the ladies."

"Now, boys," said Bob, "_freeze on_," and at it they went.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 111.

FRESH. An abbreviation for Freshman or Freshmen; FRESHES is sometimes used for the plural.

When Sophs met _Fresh_, power met opposing power. _Harv. Reg._, p. 251.

The Sophs did nothing all the first fortnight but torment the _Fresh_, as they call us.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.

Listen to the low murmurings of some annihilated _Fresh_ upon the Delta.--_Oration before H.L. of I.O. of O.F._, 1848.

FRESH. Newly come; likewise, awkward, like a Freshman.--_Grad. ad Cantab._

For their behavior at table, spitting and coughing, and speaking loud, was counted uncivil in any but a gentleman; as we say in the university, that nothing is _fresh_ in a Senior, and to him it was a glory.--_Archæol. Atticæ_, Edit. Oxon., 1675, B. VI.

FRESHMAN, _pl._ FRESHMEN. In England, a student during his first year's residence at the university. In America, one who belongs to the youngest of the four classes in college, called the _Freshman Class_.--_Webster_.

FRESHMAN. Pertaining to a Freshman, or to the class called _Freshman_.

FRESHMAN, BUTLER'S. At Harvard and Yale Colleges, a Freshman, formerly hired by the Butler, to perform certain duties pertaining to his office, was called by this name.

The Butler may be allowed a Freshman, to do the foregoing duties, and to deliver articles to the students from the Buttery, who shall be appointed by the President and Tutors, and he shall be allowed the same provision in the Hall as the Waiters; and he shall not be charged in the Steward's quarter-bills under the heads of Steward and Instruction and Sweepers, Catalogue and Dinner.--_Laws of Harv. Coll._, 1793, p. 61.

With being _butler's freshman_, and ringing the bell the first year, waiter the three last, and keeping school in the vacations, I rubbed through.--_The Algerine Captive_, Walpole, 1797, Vol. I. p. 54.

See BUTLER, BUTTERY.

FRESHMAN CLUB. At Hamilton College, it is customary for the new Sophomore Class to present to the Freshmen at the commencement of the first term a heavy cudgel, six feet long, of black walnut, brass bound, with a silver plate inscribed "_Freshman Club_." The club is given to the one who can hold it out at arm's length the longest time, and the presentation is accompanied with an address from one of the Sophomores in behalf of his class. He who receives the club is styled the "leader." The "leader" having been declared, after an appropriate speech from a Freshman appointed for that purpose, "the class," writes a correspondent, "form a procession, and march around the College yard, the leader carrying the club before them. A trial is then made by the class of the virtues of the club, on the Chapel door."

FRESHMAN, COLLEGE. In Harvard University, a member of the Freshman Class, whose duties are enumerated below. "On Saturday, after the exercises, any student not specially prohibited may go out of town. If the students thus going out of town fail to return so as to be present at evening prayers, they must enter their names with the _College Freshman_ within the hour next preceding the evening study bell; and all students who shall be absent from evening prayers on Saturday must in like manner enter their names."--_Statutes and Laws of the Univ. in Cam., Mass._, 1825, p. 42.

The _College Freshman_ lived in No. 1, Massachusetts Hall, and was commonly called the _book-keeper_. The duties of this office are now performed by one of the Proctors.

FRESHMANHOOD. The state of a _Freshman_, or the time in which one is a Freshman, which is in duration a year.

But yearneth not thy laboring heart, O Tom,
For those dear hours of simple _Freshmanhood_?
_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 405.

When to the college I came,
in the first dear day of _my freshhood_,
Like to the school we had left
I imagined the new situation.
_Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 98.

FRESHMANIC. Pertaining to a _Freshman_; resembling a _Freshman_, or his condition.

The Junior Class had heard of our miraculous doings, and asserted with that peculiar dignity which should at all times excite terror and awe in the _Freshmanic_ breast, that they would countenance no such proceedings.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 316.

I do not pine for those _Freshmanic_ days.--_Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 405.

FRESHMAN, PARIETAL. In Harvard College, the member of the Freshman Class who gives notice to those whom the chairman of the Parietal Committee wishes to see, is known by the name of the _Parietal Freshman_. For his services he receives about forty dollars per annum, and the rent of his room.

FRESHMAN, PRESIDENT'S. A member of the Freshman Class who performs the official errands of the President, for which he receives the same compensation as the PARIETAL FRESHMAN.

Then Bibo kicked his carpet thrice,
Which brought his _Freshman_ in a trice.
"You little rascal! go and call
The persons mentioned in this scroll."
The fellow, hearing, scarcely feels
The ground, so quickly fly his heels.
_Rebelliad_, p. 27.

FRESHMAN, REGENT'S. In Harvard College, a member of the Freshman Class whose duties are given below.

"When any student shall return to town, after having had leave of absence for one night or more, or after any vacation, he shall apply to the _Regent's Freshman_, at his room, to enter the time of his return; and shall tarry till he see it entered.

"The _Regent's Freshman_ is not charged under the heads of Steward, Instruction, Sweepers, Catalogue, and Dinner."--_Laws of Harv. Coll._, 1816, pp. 46, 47.

This office is now abolished.

FRESHMAN'S BIBLE. Among collegians, the name by which the body of laws, the catalogue, or the calendar of a collegiate institution is often designated. The significancy of the word _Bible_ is seen, when the position in which the laws are intended to be regarded is considered. The _Freshman_ is supposed to have studied and to be more familiar with the laws than any one else, hence the propriety of using his name in this connection. A copy of the laws are usually presented to each student on his entrance into college.

Every year there issues from the warehouse of Messrs. Deighton, the publishers to the University of Cambridge, an octavo volume, bound in white canvas, and of a very periodical and business-like appearance. Among the Undergraduates it is commonly known by the name of the "_Freshman's Bible_,"--the public usually ask for the "University Calendar."--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 230.

See COLLEGE BIBLE.

FRESHMAN SERVITUDE. The custom which formerly prevailed in the older American colleges of allowing the members of all the upper classes to send Freshmen upon errands, and in other ways to treat them as inferiors, appears at the present day strange and almost unaccountable. That our forefathers had reasons which they deemed sufficient, not only for allowing, but sanctioning, this subjection, we cannot doubt; but what these were, we are not able to know from any accounts which have come down to us from the past.

"On attending prayers the first evening," says one who graduated at Harvard College near the close of the last century, "no sooner had the President pronounced the concluding 'Amen,' than one of the Sophomores sung out, 'Stop, Freshmen, and hear the customs read.'" An account of these customs is given in President Quincy's History of Harvard University, Vol. II. p. 539. It is entitled,

"THE ANCIENT CUSTOMS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, ESTABLISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF IT."

"1. No Freshman shall wear his hat in the College yard, unless it rains, hails, or snows, provided he be on foot, and have not both hands full.

"2. No Undergraduate shall wear his hat in the College yard when any of the Governors of the College are there; and no Bachelor shall wear his hat when the President is there.

"3. Freshmen are to consider all the other classes as their seniors.

"4. No Freshman shall speak to a Senior[26] with his hat on, or have it on in a Senior's chamber, or in his own, if a Senior be there.

"5. All the Undergraduates shall treat those in the Government of the College with respect and deference; particularly they shall not be seated without leave in their presence; they shall be uncovered when they speak to them or are spoken to by them.

"6. All Freshmen (except those employed by the Immediate Government of the College) shall be obliged to go on any errand (except such as shall be judged improper by some one in the Government of the College) for any of his Seniors, Graduates or Undergraduates, at any time, except in studying hours, or after nine o'clock in the evening.

"7. A Senior Sophister has authority to take a Freshman from a Sophomore, a Middle Bachelor from a Junior Sophister, a Master from a Senior Sophister, and any Governor of the College from a Master.

"8. Every Freshman before he goes for the person who takes him away (unless it be one in the Government of the College) shall return and inform the person from whom he is taken.

"9. No Freshman, when sent on an errand, shall make any unnecessary delay, neglect to make due return, or go away till dismissed by the person who sent him.

"10. No Freshman shall be detained by a Senior, when not actually employed on some suitable errand.

"11. No Freshman shall be obliged to observe any order of a Senior to come to him, or go on any errand for him, unless he be wanted immediately.

"12. No Freshman, when sent on an errand, shall tell who he is going for, unless he be asked; nor be obliged to tell what he is going for, unless asked by a Governor of the College.

"13. When any person knocks at a Freshman's door, except in studying time, he shall immediately open the door, without inquiring who is there.

"14. No scholar shall call up or down, to or from, any chamber in the College.

"15. No scholar shall play football or any other game in the College yard, or throw any thing across the yard.

"16. The Freshmen shall furnish bats, balls, and footballs for the use of the students, to be kept at the Buttery.[27]

"17. Every Freshman shall pay the Butler for putting up his name in the Buttery.

"18. Strict attention shall be paid by all the students to the common rules of cleanliness, decency, and politeness.

"The Sophomores shall publish these customs to the Freshmen in the Chapel, whenever ordered by any in the Government of the College; at which time the Freshmen are enjoined to keep their places in their seats, and attend with decency to the reading."

At the close of a manuscript copy of the laws of Harvard College, transcribed by Richard Waldron, a graduate of the class of 1738, when a Freshman, are recorded the following regulations, which differ from those already cited, not only in arrangement, but in other respects.

COLLEGE CUSTOMS, ANNO 1734-5.

"1. No Freshman shall ware his hat in the College yard except it rains, snows, or hails, or he be on horse back or haith both hands full.

"2. No Freshman shall ware his hat in his Seniors Chamber, or in his own if his Senior be there.

"3. No Freshman shall go by his Senior, without taking his hat of if it be on.

"4. No Freshman shall intrude into his Seniors company.

"5. No Freshman shall laugh in his Seniors face.

"6. No Freshman shall talk saucily to his Senior, or speak to him with his hat on.

"7. No Freshman shall ask his Senior an impertinent question.

"8. Freshmen are to take notice that a Senior Sophister can take a Freshman from a Sophimore,[28] a Middle Batcelour from a Junior Sophister, a Master from a Senior Sophister, and a Fellow[29] from a Master.

"9. Freshmen are to find the rest of the Scholars with bats, balls, and foot balls.

"10. Freshmen must pay three shillings a peice to the Butler to have there names set up in the Buttery.

"11. No Freshman shall loiter by the [way] when he is sent of an errand, but shall make hast and give a direct answer when he is asked who he is going [for]. No Freshman shall use lying or equivocation to escape going of an errand.

"12. No Freshman shall tell who [he] is going [for] except he be asked, nor for what except he be asked by a Fellow.

"13. No Freshman shall go away when he haith been sent of an errand before he be dismissed, which may be understood by saying, it is well, I thank you, you may go, or the like.

"14. When a Freshman knocks at his Seniors door he shall tell [his] name if asked who.

"15. When anybody knocks at a Freshmans door, he shall not aske who is there, but shall immediately open the door.

"16. No Freshman shall lean at prayrs but shall stand upright.

"17. No Freshman shall call his classmate by the name of Freshmen.

"18. No Freshman shall call up or down to or from his Seniors chamber or his own.

"19. No Freshman shall call or throw anything across the College yard.

"20. No Freshman shall mingo against the College wall, nor go into the Fellows cus john.[30]

"21. Freshmen may ware there hats at dinner and supper, except when they go to receive there Commons of bread and bear.

"22. Freshmen are so to carry themselves to there Seniors in all respects so as to be in no wise saucy to them, and who soever of the Freshmen shall brake any of these customs shall be severely punished."

Another manuscript copy of these singular regulations bears date September, 1741, and is entitled,

"THE CUSTOMS OF HARVARD COLLEGE, WHICH IF THE FRESHMEN DON'T OBSERVE AND OBEY, THEY SHALL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED IF THEY HAVE HEARD THEM READ."

"1. No Freshman shall wear his hat in the College yard, except it rains, hails, or snows, he be on horseback, or hath both hands full.

"2. No Freshman shall pass by his Senior, without pulling his hat off.

"3. No Freshman shall be saucy to his Senior, or speak to him with his hat on.

"4. No Freshman shall laugh in his Senior's face.

"5. No Freshman shall ask his Senior any impertinent question.

"6. No Freshman shall intrude into his Senior's company.

"7. Freshmen are to take notice that a Senior Sophister can take a Freshman from a Sophimore, a Master from a Senior Sophister, and a Fellow from a Master.

"8. When a Freshman is sent of an errand, he shall not loiter by the way, but shall make haste, and give a direct answer if asked who he is going for.

"9. No Freshman shall tell who he is a going for (unless asked), or what he is a going for, unless asked by a Fellow.

"10. No Freshman, when he is going of errands, shall go away, except he be dismissed, which is known by saying, 'It is well,' 'You may go,' 'I thank you,' or the like.

"11. Freshman are to find the rest of the scholars with bats, balls, and footballs.

"12. Freshmen shall pay three shillings to the Butler to have their names set up in the Buttery.

"13. No Freshman shall wear his hat in his Senior's chambers, nor in his own if his Senior be there.

"14. When anybody knocks at a Freshman's door, he shall not ask who is there, but immediately open the door.

"15. When a Freshman knocks at his Senior's door, he shall tell his name immediately.

"16. No Freshman shall call his classmate by the name of Freshman.

"17. No Freshman shall call up or down, to or from his Senior's chamber or his own.

"18. No Freshman shall call or throw anything across the College yard, nor go into the Fellows' Cuz-John.

"19. No Freshman shall mingo against the College walls.

"20. Freshmen are to carry themselves, in all respects, as to be in no wise saucy to their Seniors.

"21. Whatsoever Freshman shall break any of these customs, he shall be severely punished."

A written copy of these regulations in Latin, of a very early date, is still extant. They appear first in English, in the fourth volume of the Immediate Government Books, 1781, p. 257. The two following laws--one of which was passed soon after the establishment of the College, the other in the year 1734--seem to have been the foundation of these rules. "Nulli ex scholaribus senioribus, solis tutoribus et collegii sociis exceptis, recentem sive juniorem, ad itinerandum, aut ad aliud quodvis faciendum, minis, verberibus, vel aliis modis impellere licebit. Et siquis non gradatus in hanc legem peccaverit, castigatione corporali, expulsione, vel aliter, prout præsidi cum sociis visum fuerit punietur."--_Mather's Magnalia_, B. IV. p. 133.

"None belonging to the College, except the President, Fellows, Professors, and Tutors, shall by threats or blows compel a Freshman or any Undergraduate to any duty or obedience; and if any Undergraduate shall offend against this law, he shall be liable to have the privilege of sending Freshmen taken from him by the President and Tutors, or be degraded or expelled, according to the aggravation of the offence. Neither shall any Senior scholars, Graduates or Undergraduates, send any Freshman on errands in studying hours, without leave from one of the Tutors, his own Tutor if in College."--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 141.

That this privilege of sending Freshmen on errands was abused in some cases, we see from an account of "a meeting of the Corporation in Cambridge, March 27th, 1682," at which time notice was given that "great complaints have been made and proved against ----, for his abusive carriage, in requiring some of the Freshmen to go upon his private errands, and in striking the said Freshmen."

In the year 1772, "the Overseers having repeatedly recommended abolishing the custom of allowing the upper classes to send Freshmen on errands, and the making of a law exempting them from such services, the Corporation voted, that, 'after deliberate consideration and weighing all circumstances, they are not able to project any plan in the room of this long and ancient custom, that will not, in their opinion, be attended with equal, if not greater, inconveniences.'" It seems, however, to have fallen into disuse, for a time at least, after this period; for in June, 1786, "the retaining men or boys to perform the services for which Freshmen had been heretofore employed," was declared to be a growing evil, and was prohibited by the Corporation.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 515; Vol. II. pp. 274, 277.

The upper classes being thus forbidden to employ persons not connected with the College to wait upon them, the services of Freshmen were again brought into requisition, and they were not wholly exempted from menial labor until after the year 1800.

Another service which the Freshmen were called on to perform, was once every year to shake the carpets of the library and Philosophy Chamber in the Chapel.

Those who refused to comply with these regulations were not allowed to remain in College, as appears from the following circumstance, which happened about the year 1790. A young man from the West Indies, of wealthy and highly respectable parents, entered Freshman, and soon after, being ordered by a member of one of the upper classes to go upon an errand for him, refused, at the same time saying, that if he had known it was the custom to require the lower class to wait on the other classes, he would have brought a slave with him to perform his share of these duties. In the common phrase of the day, he was _hoisted_, i.e. complained of to a tutor, and on being told that he could not remain at College if he did not comply with its regulations, he took up his connections and returned home.

With reference to some of the observances which were in vogue at Harvard College in the year 1794, the recollections of Professor Sidney Willard are these:--

"It was the practice, at the time of my entrance at College, for the Sophomore Class, by a member selected for the purpose, to communicate to the Freshmen, in the Chapel, 'the Customs,' so called; the Freshmen being required to 'keep their places in their seats, and attend with decency to the reading.' These customs had been handed down from remote times, with some modifications not essentially changing them. Not many days after our seats were assigned to us in the Chapel, we were directed to remain after evening prayers and attend to the reading of the customs; which direction was accordingly complied with, and they were read and listened to with decorum and gravity. Whether the ancient customs of outward respect, which forbade a Freshman 'to wear his hat in the College yard, unless it rains, hails, or snows, provided he be on foot, and have not both hands full,' as if the ground on which he trod and the atmosphere around him were consecrated, and the article which extends the same prohibition to all undergraduates, when any of the governors of the College are in the yard, were read, I cannot say; but I think they were not; for it would have disturbed that gravity which I am confident was preserved during the whole reading. These prescripts, after a long period of obsolescence, had become entirely obsolete.

"The most degrading item in the list of customs was that which made Freshmen subservient to all the other classes; which obliged those who were not employed by the Immediate Government of the College to go on any errand, not judged improper by an officer of the government, or in study hours, for any of the other classes, the Senior having the prior right to the service.... The privilege of claiming such service, and the obligation, on the other hand, to perform it, doubtless gave rise to much abuse, and sometimes to unpleasant conflict. A Senior having a claim to the service of a Freshman prior to that of the classes below them, it had become a practice not uncommon, for a Freshman to obtain a Senior, to whom, as a patron and friend, he acknowledged and avowed a permanent service due, and whom he called _his_ Senior by way of eminence, thus escaping the demands that might otherwise be made upon him for trivial or unpleasant errands. The ancient custom was never abolished by authority, but died with the change of feeling; so that what might be demanded as a right came to be asked as a favor, and the right was resorted to only as a sort of defensive weapon, as a rebuke of a supposed impertinence, or resentment of a real injury."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. I. pp. 258, 259.

The following account of this system, as it formerly obtained at Yale College, is from President Woolsey's Historical Discourse before the Graduates of that Institution, Aug. 14, 1850:--

"Another remarkable particular in the old system here was the servitude of Freshmen,--for such it really deserved to be called. The new-comers--as if it had been to try their patience and endurance in a novitiate before being received into some monastic order--were put into the hands of Seniors, to be reproved and instructed in manners, and were obliged to run upon errands for the members of all the upper classes. And all this was very gravely meant, and continued long in use. The Seniors considered it as a part of the system to initiate the ignorant striplings into the college system, and performed it with the decorum of dancing-masters. And, if the Freshmen felt the burden, the upper classes who had outlived it, and were now reaping the advantages of it, were not willing that the custom should die in their time.

"The following paper, printed I cannot tell when, but as early as the year 1764, gives information to the Freshmen in regard to their duty of respect towards the officers, and towards the older students. It is entitled 'FRESHMAN LAWS,' and is perhaps part of a book of customs which was annually read for the instruction of new-comers.

"'It being the duty of the Seniors to teach Freshmen the laws, usages, and customs of the College, to this end they are empowered to order the whole Freshman Class, or any particular member of it, to appear, in order to be instructed or reproved, at such time and place as they shall appoint; when and where every Freshman shall attend, answer all proper questions, and behave decently. The Seniors, however, are not to detain a Freshman more than five minutes after study bell, without special order from the President, Professor, or Tutor.

"'The Freshmen, as well as all other Undergraduates, are to be uncovered, and are forbidden to wear their hats (unless in stormy weather) in the front door-yard of the President's or Professor's house, or within ten rods of the person of the President, eight rods of the Professor, and five rods of a Tutor.

"'The Freshmen are forbidden to wear their hats in College yard (except in stormy weather, or when they are obliged to carry something in their hands) until May vacation; nor shall they afterwards wear them in College or Chapel.

"'No Freshman shall wear a gown, or walk with a cane, or appear out of his room without being completely dressed, and with his hat; and whenever a Freshman either speaks to a superior or is spoken to by one, he shall keep his hat off until he is bidden to put it on. A Freshman shall not play with any members of an upper class, without being asked; nor is he permitted to use any acts of familiarity with them, even in study time.

"'In case of personal insult, a Junior may call up a Freshman and reprehend him. A Sophomore, in like case, must obtain leave from a Senior, and then he may discipline a Freshman, not detaining him more than five minutes, after which the Freshman may retire, even without being dismissed, but must retire in a respectful manner.

"'Freshmen are obliged to perform all reasonable errands for any superior, always returning an account of the same to the person who sent them. When called, they shall attend and give a respectful answer; and when attending on their superior, they are not to depart until regularly dismissed. They are responsible for all damage done to anything put into their hands by way of errand. They are not obliged to go for the Undergraduates in study time, without permission obtained from the authority; nor are they obliged to go for a graduate out of the yard in study time. A Senior may take a Freshman from a Sophimore, a Bachelor from a Junior, and a Master from a Senior. None may order a Freshman in one play time, to do an errand in another.

"'When a Freshman is near a gate or door belonging to College or College yard, he shall look around and observe whether any of his superiors are coming to the same; and if any are coming within three rods, he shall not enter without a signal to proceed. In passing up or down stairs, or through an entry or any other narrow passage, if a Freshman meets a superior, he shall stop and give way, leaving the most convenient side,--if on the stairs, the banister side. Freshmen shall not run in College yard, or up or down stairs, or call to any one through a College window. When going into the chamber of a superior, they shall knock at the door, and shall leave it as they find it, whether open or shut. Upon entering the chamber of a superior, they shall not speak until spoken to; they shall reply modestly to all questions, and perform their messages decently and respectfully. They shall not tarry in a superior's room, after they are dismissed, unless asked to sit. They shall always rise whenever a superior enters or leaves the room where they are, and not sit in his presence until permitted.

"'These rules are to be observed, not only about College, but everywhere else within the limits of the city of New Haven.'

"This is certainly a very remarkable document, one which it requires some faith to look on as originating in this land of universal suffrage, in the same century with the Declaration of Independence. He who had been moulded and reduced into shape by such a system might soon become expert in the punctilios of the court of Louis the Fourteenth.

"This system, however, had more tenacity of life than might be supposed. In 1800 we still find it laid down as the Senior's duty to inspect the manners and customs of the lower classes, and especially of the Freshmen; and as the duty of the latter to do any proper errand, not only for the authorities of the College, but also, within the limits of one mile, for Resident Graduates and for the two upper classes. By degrees the old usage sank down so far, that what the laws permitted was frequently abused for the purpose of playing tricks upon the inexperienced Freshmen; and then all evidence of its ever having been current disappeared from the College code. The Freshmen were formally exempted from the duty of running upon errands in 1804."--pp. 54-56.

Among the "Laws of Yale College," published in 1774, appears the following regulation: "Every Freshman is obliged to do any proper Errand or Message, required of him by any one in an upper class, which if he shall refuse to do, he shall be punished. Provided that in Study Time no Graduate may send a Freshman out of College Yard, or an Undergraduate send him anywhere at all without Liberty first obtained of the President or Tutor."--pp. 14, 15.

In a copy of the "Laws" of the above date, which formerly belonged to Amasa Paine, who entered the Freshman Class at Yale in 1781, is to be found a note in pencil appended to the above regulation, in these words: "This Law was annulled when Dr. [Matthew] Marvin, Dr. M.J. Lyman, John D. Dickinson, William Bradley, and Amasa Paine were classmates, and [they] claimed the Honor of abolishing it." The first three were graduated at Yale in the class of 1785; Bradley was graduated at the same college in 1784 and Paine, after spending three years at Yale, was graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1785.

As a part of college discipline, the upper classes were sometimes deprived of the privilege of employing the services of Freshmen. The laws on this subject were these:--

"If any Scholar shall write or publish any scandalous Libel about the President, a Fellow, Professor, or Tutor, or shall treat any one of them with any reproachful or reviling Language, or behave obstinately, refractorily, or contemptuously towards either of them, or be guilty of any Kind of Contempt, he may be punished by Fine, Admonition, be deprived the Liberty of sending Freshmen for a Time; by Suspension from all the Privileges of College; or Expulsion, according as the Nature and Aggravation of the Crime may require."

"If any Freshman near the Time of Commencement shall fire the great Guns, or give or promise any Money, Counsel, or Assistance towards their being fired; or shall illuminate College with Candles, either on the Inside or Outside of the Windows, or exhibit any such Kind of Show, or dig or scrape the College Yard otherwise than with the Liberty and according to the Directions of the President in the Manner formerly practised, or run in the College Yard in Company, they shall be deprived the Privilege of sending Freshmen three Months after the End of the Year."--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1774, pp. 13, 25, 26.

To the latter of these laws, a clause was subsequently added, declaring that every Freshman who should "do anything unsuitable for a Freshman" should be deprived of the privilege "of sending Freshmen on errands, or teaching them manners, during the first three months of _his_ Sophomore year."--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1787, in _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 140.

In the Sketches of Yale College, p. 174, is the following anecdote, relating to this subject:--"A Freshman was once furnished with a dollar, and ordered by one of the upper classes to procure for him pipes and tobacco, from the farthest store on Long Wharf, a good mile distant. Being at that time compelled by College laws to obey the unreasonable demand, he proceeded according to orders, and returned with ninety-nine cents' worth of pipes and one pennyworth of tobacco. It is needless to add that he was not again sent on a similar errand."

The custom of obliging the Freshmen to run on errands for the Seniors was done away with at Dartmouth College, by the class of 1797, at the close of their Freshman year, when, having served their own time out, they presented a petition to the Trustees to have it abolished.

In the old laws of Middlebury College are the two following regulations in regard to Freshmen, which seem to breathe the same spirit as those cited above. "Every Freshman shall be obliged to do any proper errand or message for the Authority of the College." --"It shall be the duty of the Senior Class to inspect the manners of the Freshman Class, and to instruct them in the customs of the College, and in that graceful and decent behavior toward superiors, which politeness and a just and reasonable subordination require."--_Laws_, 1804, pp. 6, 7.

FRESHMANSHIP. The state of a Freshman.

A man who had been my fellow-pupil with him from the beginning of our _Freshmanship_, would meet him there.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 150.

FRESHMAN'S LANDMARK. At Cambridge, Eng., King's College Chapel is thus designated. "This stupendous edifice may be seen for several miles on the London road, and indeed from most parts of the adjacent country."--_Grad. ad Cantab._

FRESHMAN, TUTOR'S. In Harvard College, the _Freshman_ who occupies a room under a _Tutor_. He is required to do the errands of the Tutor which relate to College, and in return has a high choice of rooms in his Sophomore year.

The same remarks, _mutatis mutandis_, apply to the _Proctor's Freshman_.

FRESH-SOPH. An abbreviation of _Freshman-Sophomore_. One who enters college in the _Sophomore_ year, having passed the time of the _Freshman_ year elsewhere.

I was a _Fresh-Sophomore_ then, and a waiter in the commons' hall. --_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 114.

FROG. In Germany, a student while in the gymnasium, and before entering the university, is called a _Frosch_,--a frog.

FUNK. Disgust; weariness; fright. A sensation sometimes experienced by students in view of an examination.

In Cantab phrase I was suffering examination _funk_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 61.

A singular case of _funk_ occurred at this examination. The man who would have been second, took fright when four of the six days were over, and fairly ran away, not only from the examination, but out of Cambridge, and was not discovered by his friends or family till some time after.--_Ibid._, p. 125.

One of our Scholars, who stood a much better chance than myself, gave up from mere _funk_, and resolved to go out in the Poll.--_Ibid._, p. 229.

2. Fear or sensibility to fear. The general application of the term.

So my friend's first fault is timidity, which is only not recognized as such on account of its vast proportions. I grant, then, that the _funk_ is sublime, which is a true and friendly admission.--_A letter to the N.Y. Tribune_, in _Lit. World_, Nov. 30, 1850.

_G_.

GAS. To impose upon another by a consequential address, or by detailing improbable stories or using "great swelling words"; to deceive; to cheat.

Found that Fairspeech only wanted to "_gas_" me, which he did pretty effectually.--_Sketches of Williams College_, p. 72.

GATE BILL. In the English universities, the record of a pupil's failures to be within his college at or before a specified hour of the night.

To avoid gate-bills, he will be out at night as late as he pleases, and will defy any one to discover his absence; for he will climb over the college walls, and fee his Gyp well, when he is out all night--_Grad. ad Cantab._, p. 128.

GATED. At the English universities, students who, for misdemeanors, are not permitted to be out of their college after ten in the evening, are said to be _gated_.

"_Gated_," i.e. obliged to be within the college walls by ten o'clock at night; by this he is prevented from partaking in suppers, or other nocturnal festivities, in any other college or in lodgings.--Note to _The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.

The lighter college offences, such as staying out at night or missing chapel, are punished by what they term "_gating_"; in one form of which, a man is actually confined to his rooms: in a more mild way, he is simply restricted to the precincts of the college. --_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 241.

GAUDY. In the University of Oxford, a feast or festival. The days on which they occur are called _gaudies_ or _gaudy days_. "Blount, in his Glossographia," says Archdeacon Nares in his Glossary, "speaks of a foolish derivation of the word from a Judge _Gaudy_, said to have been the institutor of such days. But _such_ days were held in all times, and did not want a judge to invent them."

Come,
Let's have one other _gaudy_ night: call to me
All my sad captains; fill our bowls; once more
Let's mock the midnight bell.
_Antony and Cleopatra_, Act. III. Sc. 11.

A foolish utensil of state,
Which like old plate upon a _gaudy day_,
's brought forth to make a show, and that is all.
_Goblins_, Old Play, X. 143.

Edmund Riche, called of Pontigny, Archbishop of Canterbury. After his death he was canonized by Pope Innocent V., and his day in the calendar, 16 Nov., was formerly kept as a "_gaudy_" by the members of the hall.--_Oxford Guide_, Ed. 1847, p. 121.

2. An entertainment; a treat; a spree.

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.