Benjamin Homer Hall

“ Sometimes a singularly slow person would be invited, on purpose to puzzle and tease him with questions that he could make nothing of; and he would stand in helpless imbecility, without being able to cover his retreat with even the faintest suspicion of a joke. He would then be gravely admonished of the necessity of diligent study, reminded of the anxiety of his parents on his account, and his duty to them, and at length a month or two would be allowed him to prepare himself for another examination, or he would be set aside altogether. ”

“ In a free country, everything ought to bear the stamp of patriotism. This patriotism appears every year in a solemn feast celebrated at Cambridge in honor of the sciences. This feast, which takes place once a year in all the colleges of America, is called Commencement. It resembles the exercises and distribution of prizes in our colleges. It is a day of joy for Boston; almost all its inhabitants assemble in Cambridge. The most distinguished of the students display their talents in the presence of the public ”

“ PLACET. Latin; literally, it is pleasing. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the term in which an affirmative vote is given in the Senate-House.
PLUCK. In the English universities, a refusal of testimonials for a degree.
The origin of this word is thus stated in the Collegian's Guide: "At the time of conferring a degree, just as the name of each man to be presented to the Vice-Chancellor is read out, a proctor walks once up and down, to give any person who can object to the degree an opportunity of signifying his dissent, which is done by plucking or pulling the proctor's gown. ”

“ A clever soul is one, I say,
Who wears a laughing face all day,
Who never misses declamation,
Nor cuts a stupid recitation,
And yet is no elaborate dig,
Nor for rank systems cares a fig.
Harvardiana, Vol. III. p. 283.
I could see, in the long vista of the past, the many honest digs who had in this room consumed the midnight oil.—Collegian, p. 231.
And, truly, the picture of a college "dig" taking a walk—no, I say not so, for he never "takes a walk," but "walking for exercise"—justifies the contemptuous estimate.—A Letter to a Young Man who has just entered College, 1849, p. 14. ”

“ In the revised laws of Harvard College, printed in the year 1790, was one for the purpose of introducing examinations, the first part of which is as follows: "To animate the students in the pursuit of literary merit and fame, and to excite in their breasts a noble spirit of emulation, there shall be annually a public examination, in the presence of a joint committee of the Corporation and Overseers, and such other gentlemen as may be inclined to attend it." ”

“ He is the wit of the College,—the one who above all others is celebrated for the loudest laugh, the deepest bumper, the best joke, and the poorest song. How well he sustains his reputation may be known by listening to his annual reading, or by reference to the reports of 'Trotwood,' 'Gubbins,' or 'Deppity Sawbones,' who at different times have immortalized themselves by their contributions to science. ”

“ The noun sell has of late been revived in this country, and is used to a certain extent in New York and Boston, and especially among the students at Cambridge.
I sought some hope to borrow, by thinking it a "sell"
By fancying it a fiction, my anguish to dispel.
Poem before the Iadma of Harv. Coll., 1850, p. 8.
SELL. To give an unexpected answer; to deceive; to cheat.
For the love you bear me, never tell how badly I was sold.—Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XX. p. 94.
The use of this verb is much more common in the United States than that of the noun of the same spelling, which is derived from it ”

“ Instances had occurred of the triumph of the Freshman Class, and one of them recent, when a challenge in due form was sent to the Juniors, who, thinking the contest too doubtful, wisely resolved to let the victors rejoice in their laurels already won; and, declining to meet them in the gymnasium, invited them to a sumptuous feast instead.
"Wrestling was, at an after period, I cannot say in what year, superseded by football; a grovelling and inglorious game in comparison. Wrestling is an art; success in the exercise depends not on mere bodily strength. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As the sun sinks behind the Adirondacs over the lake, the parade ends; the many lookers-on having nothing to see but the bright visions of the next year's training, retire to their homes; while the now weary students, gathered in knots in the windows of the upper stories, lazily and comfortably puff their black pipes, and watch the lessening forms of the retreating countrymen. ”

“ CHANCELLOR. The chancellor of a university is an officer who seals the diplomas, or letters of degree, &c. The Chancellor of Oxford is usually one of the prime nobility, elected by the students in convocation; and he holds the office for life. He is the chief magistrate in the government of the University. The Chancellor of Cambridge is also elected from among the prime nobility. The office is biennial, or tenable for such a length of time beyond two years as the tacit consent of the University may choose to allow.—Webster. ”

“ Bullyism had its origin, like everything else that is venerated, far back in antiquity; no one pretends to know the era of its commencement, nor to say with certainty what was the cause of its establishment, or the original design of the institution. We can only learn from dim and doubtful tradition, that many years ago, no one knows how many, there was a feud between students and townsmen: a sort of general ill-feeling, which manifested itself in the lower classes of society in rudeness and insult. ”

“ BLUE. In several American colleges, a student who is very strict in observing the laws, and conscientious in performing his duties, is styled a blue. "Our real delvers, midnight students," says a correspondent from Williams College, "are called blue."
I wouldn't carry a novel into chapel to read, not out of any respect for some people's old-womanish twaddle about the sacredness of the place,—but because some of the blues might see you.—Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. ”

“ As the body passes through the different streets, the martial men receive sundry testimonials of regard and approval in the shape of boquets and wreaths from the fair 'Peruvians,' who of course bestow them on those who, in their opinion, have best succeeded in the object of the day,—uncouth appearance. After the ceremonies, the students quietly congregate in some room in college to count these favors and to ascertain who is to be considered the hero of the day, as having rendered himself pre-eminently ridiculous. This honor generally falls to the lot of the surgeon. ”

“ 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. ”

“ DISMISSION. In college government, dismission is the separation of a student from a college, for an indefinite or for a limited time, at the discretion of the Faculty. It is required of the dismissed student, on applying for readmittance to his own or any other class, to furnish satisfactory testimonials of good conduct during his separation, and to appear, on examination, to be well qualified for such readmission.—College Laws.
In England, a student, although precluded from returning to the university whence he has been dismissed, is not hindered from taking a degree at some other university. ”

“ It is an undoubted matter of history, that the Medical Faculty is the most ancient of all societies in the whole world. In fact, its archives contain documents and annals of the Society, written on birch-bark, which are so ancient that they cannot be read at all; and, moreover, other writings belong to the Society, legible it is true, but, by ill-luck, in the words of an unknown and long-buried language, and therefore unintelligible. Nearly all the documents of the Society have been reduced to ashes at some time amid the rolling years since the creation of man. ”

“ Which came off the worse, I neither know nor care, believing defeat to be far less discreditable to either party, and especially to the students, than the fact of their engaging in such a brawl. Where the matter itself is essentially disgraceful, success or failure is indifferent, as it regards the honor of the actors. Among the Dragoners, a great bully of a fellow, who appeared to be their leader, wielded a huge club, formed from an oak limb, with a gnarled excrescence on the end, heavy enough to battle with an elephant. ”

“ A worse diet for sedentary men than that we had during the last days of the old hall, now the laboratory, cannot be imagined. I will not go into particulars, for I hate to talk about food. It was absolutely destructive of health. I know it to have ruined, permanently, the health of some, and I have not the least doubt of its having occasioned, in certain instances which I could specify, incurable debility and premature death."—Scenes and Characters in College, New Haven, 1847, pp. ”

“ NOBLEMAN. In the English universities, among the Undergraduates, the nobleman enjoys privileges and exemptions not accorded to others. At Oxford he wears a black-silk gown with full sleeves "couped" at the elbows, and a velvet cap with gold tassel, except on full-dress occasions, when his habit is of violet-figured damask silk, richly bedight with gold lace. At Cambridge he wears the plain black-silk gown and the hat of an M.A., except on feast days and state occasions, when he appears in a gown still more gorgeous than that of a Fellow-Commoner.—Oxford Guide. Bristed. ”

“ MOONLIGHT RANGERS. At Jefferson College, in Pennsylvania, a title applied to a band composed of the most noisy and turbulent students, commanded by a captain and sub-officer, who, in the most fantastic disguises, or in any dress to which the moonlight will give most effect, appear on certain nights designated, prepared to obey any command in the way of engaging in any sport of a pleasant nature. They are all required to have instruments which will make the loudest noise and create the greatest excitement. ”

“ Thus the Oxford laws require that juniors shall show all due and befitting reverence to seniors, that is, Undergraduates to Bachelors, they to Masters, Masters to Doctors, as well in private as in public, by giving them the better place when they are together, by withdrawing out of their way when they meet, by uncovering the head at the proper distance, and by reverently saluting and addressing them. ”

“ He fires the youthful ambition with glowing descriptions of the honors that await the successful, and opens to his eager view the dazzling prospect of college fame. Nor does he fail to please the youthful aspirant with assurances of the kindly notice of the Faculty; he informs him of the satisfactory examination he has passed, and the gratification of the President at his uncommon proficiency ”

“ MIGRATION. In the English universities, a removal from one college to another.
"A migration," remarks Bristed, "is generally tantamount to a confession of inferiority, and an acknowledgment that the migrator is not likely to become a Fellow in his own College, and therefore takes refuge in another, where a more moderate Degree will insure him a Fellowship. A great deal of this migration goes on from John's to the Small Colleges."—Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 100.
MIGRATOR. In the English universities, one who removes from one college to another. ”

“ CLASS. A number of students in a college or school, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies. In colleges, the students entering or becoming members the same year, and pursuing the same studies.—Webster.
In the University of Oxford, class is the division of the candidates who are examined for their degrees according to their rate of merit. Those who are entitled to this distinction are denominated Classmen, answering to the optimes and wranglers in the University of Cambridge.—Crabb's Tech. ”

“ For coming in late at night repeatedly, or for any offence nearly deserving rustication, I have known a whole book of Thucydides given to translate, or the Ethics of Aristotle to analyze, when the offender has been a good scholar, while others, who could only do mechanical work, have had a book of Euclid to write out.
Long impositions are very rarely barberized. When college tutors intend to be severe, which is very seldom, they are not to be trifled with. ”

“ RUSTICATION. In universities and colleges, the punishment of a student for some offence, by compelling him to leave the institution, and reside for a time in the country, where he is obliged to pursue with a private instructor the studies with which his class are engaged during his term of separation, and in which he is obliged to pass a satisfactory examination before he can be reinstated in his class. ”

“ The time lost in settling down and making one's self comfortable and ready for work in a new place is not inconsiderable, and is all clear loss. Moreover, the very idea of a reading-party involves a combination of two things incompatible, —amusement and relaxation beyond the proper and necessary quantity of daily exercise, and hard work at books. ”

“ POPULARITY. In the college use, favor of one's classmates, or of the members of all the classes, generally. Nowhere is this term employed so often, and with so much significance, as among collegians. The first wish of the Freshman is to be popular, and the desire does not leave him during all his college life. ”