commonly repaired to Porter's Hall, and there partook of a dinner,
not always observing with perfect strictness the rules of
temperance either in eating or drinking. This "cenobitical
symposium" concluded, they again returned to the college yard,
where, scattered in groups under the trees, the rest of the day
was spent in singing, smoking, and drinking, or pretending to
drink, punch; for the negroes who supplied it in pails usually
contrived to take two or more glasses to every one glass that was
drank by those for whom it was provided. The dance around the
Liberty Tree,
"Each hand in comrade's hand,"
closed the regular ceremonies of the day; but generally the
greater part of the succeeding night was spent in feasting and
hilarity.

The punch-drinking in the yard increased to such an extent, that
it was considered by the government of the college as a matter
which demanded their interference; and in the year 1842, on one of
these occasions, an instructor having joined with the students in
their revellings in the yard, the Faculty proposed that, instead
of spending the afternoon in this manner, dancing should be
introduced, which was accordingly done, with the approbation of
both parties.

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