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DEN. One of the buildings formerly attached to Harvard College,
which was taken down in the year 1846, was for more than a
half-century known by the name of the _Den_. It was occupied by
students during the greater part of that period, although it was
originally built for private use. In later years, from its
appearance, both externally and internally, it fully merited its
cognomen; but this is supposed to have originated from the
following incident, which occurred within its walls about the year
1770, the time when it was built. The north portion of the house
was occupied by Mr. Wiswal (to whom it belonged) and his family.
His wife, who was then ill, and, as it afterwards proved, fatally,
was attended by a woman who did not bear a very good character, to
whom Mr. Wiswal seemed to be more attentive than was consistent
with the character of a true and loving husband. About six weeks
after Mrs. Wiswal's death, Mr. Wiswal espoused the nurse, which,
circumstance gave great offence to the good people of Cambridge,
and was the cause of much scandal among the gossips. One Sunday,
not long after this second marriage, Mr. Wiswal having gone to
church, his wife, who did not accompany him, began an examination
of her predecessor's wardrobe and possessions, with the intention,
as was supposed, of appropriating to herself whatever had been
left by the former Mrs. Wiswal to her children. On his return from
church, Mr. Wiswal, missing his wife, after searching for some
time, found her at last in the kitchen, convulsively clutching the
dresser, her eyes staring wildly, she herself being unable to
speak. In this state of insensibility she remained until her
decease, which occurred shortly after. Although it was evident
that she had been seized with convulsions, and that these were the
cause of her death, the old women were careful to promulgate, and
their daughters to transmit the story, that the Devil had appeared
to her _in propria persona_, and shaken her in pieces, as a
punishment for her crimes. The building was purchased by Harvard
College in the year 1774.
In the Federal Orrery, March 26, 1795, is an article dated
_Wiswal-Den_, Cambridge, which title it also bore, from the name
of its former occupant.
In his address spoken at the Harvard Alumni Festival, July 22,
1852, Hon. Edward Everett, with reference to this mysterious
building as it appeared in the year 1807, said:--
"A little further to the north, and just at the corner of Church
Street (which was not then opened), stood what was dignified in
the annual College Catalogue--(which was printed on one side of a
sheet of paper, and was a novelty)--as 'the College House.' The
cellar is still visible. By the students, this edifice was
disrespectfully called 'Wiswal's Den,' or, for brevity, 'the Den.'
I lived in it in my Freshman year. Whence the name of 'Wiswal's
Den' I hardly dare say: there was something worse than 'old fogy'
about it. There was a dismal tradition that, at some former
period, it had been the scene of a murder. A brutal husband had
dragged his wife by the hair up and down the stairs, and then
killed her. On the anniversary of the murder,--and what day that
was no one knew,--there were sights and sounds,--flitting garments
daggled in blood, plaintive screams,--_stridor ferri tractęque
catenę_,--enough to appall the stoutest Sophomore. But for
myself, I can truly say, that I got through my Freshman year
without having seen the ghost of Mr. Wiswal or his lamented lady.
I was not, however, sorry when the twelvemonth was up, and I was
transferred to that light, airy, well-ventilated room, No. 20
Hollis; being the inner room, ground floor, north entry of that
ancient and respectable edifice."--_To-Day_, Boston, Saturday,
July 31, 1852, p. 66.
Many years ago there emigrated to this University, from the wilds
of New Hampshire, an odd genius, by the name of Jedediah Croak,
who took up his abode as a student in the old _Den_.--_Harvard
Register_, 1827-28, _A Legend of the Den_, pp. 82-86.
DEPOSITION. During the first half of the seventeenth century, in
the majority of the German universities, Catholic as well as
Protestant, the matriculation of a student was preceded by a
ceremony called the _deposition_. See _Howitt's Student Life in
Germany_, Am. ed., pp. 119-121.
DESCENDAS. Latin; literally, _you may descend_. At the University
of Cambridge, Eng., when a student who has been appointed to
declaim in chapel fails in eloquence, memory, or taste, his
harangue is usually cut short "by a testy _descendas_."--_Grad. ad
Cantab._
DETERMINING. In the University of Oxford, a Bachelor is entitled
to his degree of M.A. twelve terms after the regular time for
taking his first degree, having previously gone through the
ceremony of _determining_, which exercise consists in reading two
dissertations in Latin prose, or one in prose and a copy of Latin
verses. As this takes place in Lent, it is commonly called
_determining in Lent_.--_Oxf. Guide_.
DETUR. Latin; literally, _let it be given_.
In 1657, the Hon. Edward Hopkins, dying, left, among other
donations to Harvard College, one "to be applied to the purchase
of books for presents to meritorious undergraduates." The
distribution of these books is made, at the commencement of each
academic year, to students of the Sophomore Class who have made
meritorious progress in their studies during their Freshman year;
also, as far as the state of the funds admits, to those members of
the Junior Class who entered as Sophomores, and have made
meritorious progress in their studies during the Sophomore year,
and to such Juniors as, having failed to receive a _detur_ at the
commencement of the Sophomore year, have, during that year, made
decided improvement in scholarship.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam.,
Mass._, 1848, p. 18.
"From the first word in the short Latin label," Peirce says,
"which is signed by the President, and attached to the inside of
the cover, a book presented from this fund is familiarly called a
_Detur_."--_Hist. Harv. Univ._, p. 103.
Now for my books; first Bunyan's Pilgrim,
(As he with thankful pleasure will grin,)
Tho' dogleaved, torn, in bad type set in,
'T will do quite well for classmate B----,
And thus with complaisance to treat her,
'T will answer for another _Detur_.
_The Will of Charles Prentiss_.
Be not, then, painfully anxious about the Greek particles, and sit
not up all night lest you should miss prayers, only that you may
have a "_Detur_," and be chosen into the Phi Beta Kappa among the
first eight. Get a "_Detur_" by all means, and the square medal
with its cabalistic signs, the sooner the better; but do not
"stoop and lie in wait" for them.--_A Letter to a Young Man who
has just entered College_, 1849, p. 36.
Or yet,--though 't were incredible,
--say hast obtained a _detur_!
_Poem before Iadma_, 1850.
DIG. To study hard; to spend much time in studying.
Another, in his study chair,
_Digs_ up Greek roots with learned care,--
Unpalatable eating.--_Harv. Reg._, 1827-28, p. 247.
Here the sunken eye and sallow countenance bespoke the man who
_dug_ sixteen hours "per diem."--_Ibid._, p. 303.
Some have gone to lounge away an hour in the libraries,--some to
ditto in the grove,--some to _dig_ upon the afternoon
lesson.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 77.
DIG. A diligent student; one who learns his lessons by hard and
long-continued exertion.
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.
He is just the character to enjoy the treadmill, which perhaps
might be a useful appendage to a college, not as a punishment, but
as a recreation for "_digs_."--_Ibid._, p. 14.
Resolves that he will be, in spite of toil or of fatigue,
That humbug of all humbugs, the staid, inveterate "_dig_."
_Poem before Iadma of Harv. Coll._, 1850.
There goes the _dig_, just look!
How like a parson he eyes his book!
_The Jobsiad_, in _Lit. World_, Oct. 11, 1851.
The fact that I am thus getting the character of a man of no
talent, and a mere "_dig_," does, I confess, weigh down my
spirits.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 224.
By this 't is that we get ahead of the _Dig_,
'T is not we that prevail, but the wine that we swig.
_Ibid._, Vol. II. p. 252.
DIGGING. The act of studying hard; diligent application.
I find my eyes in doleful case,
By _digging_ until midnight.--_Harv. Reg._, p. 312.
I've had an easy time in College, and enjoyed well the "otium cum
dignitate,"--the learned leisure of a scholar's life,--always
despised _digging_, you know.--_Ibid._, p. 194.
How often after his day of _digging_, when he comes to lay his
weary head to rest, he finds the cruel sheets giving him no
admittance.--_Ibid._, p. 377.
Hopes to hit the mark
By _digging_ nightly into matters dark.
_Class Poem, Harv. Coll._, 1835.
He "makes up" for past "_digging_."
_Iadma Poem, Harv. Coll._, 1850.
DIGNITY. At Bowdoin College, "_Dignity_," says a correspondent,
"is the name applied to the regular holidays, varying from one
half-day per week, during the Freshman year, up to four in the
Senior."
DIKED. At the University of Virginia, one who is dressed with more
than ordinary elegance is said to be _diked out_. Probably
corrupted from the word _decked_, or the nearly obsolete
_dighted_.
DIPLOMA. Greek, [Greek: diploma], from [Greek: diploo], to
_double_ or fold. Anciently, a letter or other composition written
on paper or parchment, and folded; afterward, any letter, literary
monument, or public document. A letter or writing conferring some
power, authority, privilege, or honor. Diplomas are given to
graduates of colleges on their receiving the usual degrees; to
clergymen who are licensed to exercise the ministerial functions;
to physicians who are licensed to practise their profession; and
to agents who are authorized to transact business for their
principals. A diploma, then, is a writing or instrument, usually
under seal, and signed by the proper person or officer, conferring
merely honor, as in the case of graduates, or authority, as in the
case of physicians, agents, &c.--_Webster_.
DISCIPLINE. The punishments which are at present generally adopted
in American colleges are warning, admonition, the letter home,
suspension, rustication, and expulsion. Formerly they were more
numerous, and their execution was attended with great solemnity.
"The discipline of the College," says President Quincy, in his
History of Harvard University, "was enforced and sanctioned by
daily visits of the tutors to the chambers of the students, fines,
admonitions, confession in the hall, publicly asking pardon,
degradation to the bottom of the class, striking the name from the
College list, and expulsion, according to the nature and
aggravation of the offence."--Vol. I. p. 442.
Of Yale College, President Woolsey in his Historical Discourse
says: "The old system of discipline may be described in general as
consisting of a series of minor punishments for various petty
offences, while the more extreme measure of separating a student
from College seems not to have been usually adopted until long
forbearance had been found fruitless, even in cases which would
now be visited in all American colleges with speedy dismission.
The chief of these punishments named in the laws are imposition of
school exercises,--of which we find little notice after the first
foundation of the College, but which we believe yet exists in the
colleges of England;[20] deprivation of the privilege of sending
Freshmen upon errands, or extension of the period during which
this servitude should be required beyond the end of the Freshman
year; fines either specified, of which there are a very great
number in the earlier laws, or arbitrarily imposed by the
officers; admonition and degradation. For the offence of
mischievously ringing the bell, which was very common whilst the
bell was in an exposed situation over an entry of a college
building, students were sometimes required to act as the butler's
waiters in ringing the bell for a certain time."--pp. 46, 47.
See under titles ADMONITION, CONFESSION, CORPORAL PUNISHMENT,
DEGRADATION, FINES, LETTER HOME, SUSPENSION, &c.
DISCOMMUNE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., to prohibit an
undergraduate from dealing with any tradesman or inhabitant of the
town who has violated the University privileges or regulations.
The right to exercise this power is vested in the Vice-Chancellor.
Any tradesman who allows a student to run in debt with him to an
amount exceeding $25, without informing his college tutor, or to
incur any debt for wine or spirituous liquors without giving
notice of it to the same functionary during the current quarter,
or who shall take any promissory note from a student without his
tutor's knowledge, is liable to be _discommuned_.--_Lit. World_,
Vol. XII. p. 283.
In the following extracts, this word appears under a different
orthography.
There is always a great demand for the rooms in college. Those at
lodging-houses are not so good, while the rules are equally
strict, the owners being solemnly bound to report all their
lodgers who stay out at night, under pain of being
"_discommonsed_," a species of college
excommunication.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 81.
Any tradesman bringing a suit against an Undergraduate shall be
"_discommonsed_"; i.e. all the Undergraduates are forbidden to
deal with him.--_Ibid._, p. 83.
This word is allied to the law term "discommon," to deprive of the
privileges of a place.
DISMISS. To separate from college, for an indefinite or limited
time.
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.
DISPENSATION. In universities and colleges, the granting of a
license, or the license itself, to do what is forbidden by law, or
to omit something which is commanded. Also, an exemption from
attending a college exercise.
The business of the first of these houses, or the oligarchal
portion of the constitution [the House of Congregation], is
chiefly to grant degrees, and pass graces and
_dispensations_.--_Oxford Guide_, Ed. 1847, p. xi.
All the students who are under twenty-one years of age may be
excused from attending the private Hebrew lectures of the
Professor, upon their producing to the President a certificate
from their parents or guardians, desiring a _dispensation_.--_Laws
Harv. Coll._, 1798, p. 12.
DISPERSE. A favorite word with tutors and proctors; used when
speaking to a number of students unlawfully collected. This
technical use of the word is burlesqued in the following passages.
Minerva conveys the Freshman to his room, where his cries make
such a disturbance, that a proctor enters and commands the
blue-eyed goddess "_to disperse_." This order she reluctantly
obeys.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. IV. p. 23.
And often grouping on the chains, he hums his own sweet verse,
Till Tutor ----, coming up, commands him to _disperse_.
_Poem before Y.H. Harv. Coll._, 1849.
DISPUTATION. An exercise in colleges, in which parties reason in
opposition to each other, on some question proposed.--_Webster_.
Disputations were formerly, in American colleges, a part of the
exercises on Commencement and Exhibition days.
DISPUTE. To contend in argument; to reason or argue in opposition.
--_Webster_.
The two Senior classes shall _dispute_ once or twice a week before
the President, a Professor, or the Tutor.--_Laws Yale Coll._,
1837, p. 15.
DIVINITY. A member of a theological school is often familiarly
called a _Divinity_, abbreviated for a Divinity student.
One of the young _Divinities_ passed
Straight through the College yard.
_Childe Harvard_, p. 40.
DIVISION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., each of the three
terms is divided into two parts. _Division_ is the time when this
partition is made.
After "_division_" in the Michaelmas and Lent terms, a student,
who can assign a good plea for absence to the college authorities,
may go down and take holiday for the rest of the time.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 63.
DOCTOR. One who has passed all the degrees of a faculty, and is
empowered to practise and teach it; as, a _doctor_ in divinity, in
physic, in law; or, according to modern usage, a person who has
received the highest degree in a faculty. The degree of _doctor_
is conferred by universities and colleges, as an honorary mark of
literary distinction. It is also conferred on physicians as a
professional degree.--_Webster_.
DOCTORATE. The degree of a doctor.--_Webster_.
The first diploma for a doctorate in divinity given in America was
presented under the seal of Harvard College to Mr. Increase
Mather, the President of that institution, in the year
1692.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 68.
DODGE. A trick; an artifice or stratagem for the purpose of
deception. Used often with _come_; as, "_to come a dodge_ over
him."
No artful _dodge_ to leave my school could I just then prepare.
_Poem before Iadma, Harv. Coll._, 1850.
Agreed; but I have another _dodge_ as good as yours.--_Collegian's
Guide_, p. 240.
We may well admire the cleverness displayed by this would-be
Chatterton, in his attempt to sell the unwary with an Ossian
_dodge_.--_Lit. World_, Vol. XII. p. 191.
DOMINUS. A title bestowed on Bachelors of Arts, in England.
_Dominus_ Nokes; _Dominus_ Stiles.--_Gradus ad Cantab._
DON. In the English universities, a short generic term for a
Fellow or any college authority.
He had already told a lie to the _Dons_, by protesting against the
justice of his sentence.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 169.
Never to order in any wine from an Oxford merchant, at least not
till I am a _Don_.--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 288.
Nor hint how _Dons_, their untasked hours to pass,
Like Cato, warm their virtues with the glass.[21]
_The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.
DONKEY. At Washington College, Penn., students of a religious
character are vulgarly called _donkeys_.
See LAP-EAR.
DORMIAT. Latin; literally, _let him sleep_. To take out a
_dormiat_, i.e. a license to sleep. The licensed person is excused
from attending early prayers in the Chapel, from a plea of being
indisposed. Used in the English universities.--_Gradus ad Cantab._
DOUBLE FIRST. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a student who
attains high honors in both the classical and the mathematical
tripos.
The Calendar does not show an average of two "_Double Firsts_"
annually for the last ten years out of one hundred and
thirty-eight graduates in Honors.--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 91.
The reported saying of a distinguished judge,... "that the
standard of a _Double First_ was getting to be something beyond
human ability," seems hardly an exaggeration.--_Ibid._, p. 224.
DOUBLE MAN. In the English universities, a student who is a
proficient in both classics and mathematics.
"_Double men_," as proficients in both classics and mathematics
are termed, are very rare.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 91.
It not unfrequently happens that he now drops the intention of
being a "_double man_," and concentrates himself upon mathematics.
--_Ibid._, p. 104.
To one danger mathematicians are more exposed than either
classical or _double men_,--disgust and satiety arising from
exclusive devotion to their unattractive studies.--_Ibid._, p.
225.
DOUBLE MARKS. It was formerly the custom in Harvard College with
the Professors in Rhetoric, when they had examined and corrected
the _themes_ of the students, to draw a straight line on the back
of each one of them, under the name of the writer. Under the names
of those whose themes were of more than ordinary correctness or
elegance, _two_ lines were drawn, which were called _double
marks_.
They would take particular pains for securing the _double mark_ of
the English Professor to their poetical compositions.--_Monthly
Anthology_, Boston, 1804, Vol. I. p. 104.
Many, if not the greater part of Paine's themes, were written in
verse; and his vanity was gratified, and his emulation roused, by
the honor of constant _double marks_.--_Works of R.T. Paine,
Biography_, p. xxii., Ed. 1812.
See THEME.
DOUBLE SECOND. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., one who
obtains a high place in the second rank, in both mathematical and
classical honors.
A good _double second_ will make, by his college scholarship, two
fifths or three fifths of his expenses during two thirds of the
time he passes at the University.--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 427.
DOUGH-BALL. At the Anderson Collegiate Institute, Indiana, a name
given by the town's people to a student.
DRESS. A uniformity in dress has never been so prevalent in
American colleges as in the English and other universities. About
the middle of the last century, however, the habit among the
students of Harvard College of wearing gold lace attracted the
attention of the Overseers, and a law was passed "requiring that
on no occasion any of the scholars wear any gold or silver lace,
or any gold or silver brocades, in the College or town of
Cambridge," and "that no one wear any silk night-gowns." "In
1786," says Quincy, "in order to lessen the expense of dress, a
uniform was prescribed, the color and form of which were minutely
set forth, with a distinction of the classes by means of frogs on
the cuffs and button-holes; silk was prohibited, and home
manufactures were recommended." This system of uniform is fully
described in the laws of 1790, and is as follows:--
"All the Undergraduates shall be clothed in coats of blue-gray,
and with waistcoats and breeches of the same color, or of a black,
a nankeen, or an olive color. The coats of the Freshmen shall have
plain button-holes. The cuffs shall be without buttons. The coats
of the Sophomores shall have plain button-holes like those of the
Freshmen, but the cuffs shall have buttons. The coats of the
Juniors shall have cheap frogs to the button-holes, except the
button-holes of the cuffs. The coats of the Seniors shall have
frogs to the button-holes of the cuffs. The buttons upon the coats
of all the classes shall be as near the color of the coats as they
can be procured, or of a black color. And no student shall appear
within the limits of the College, or town of Cambridge, in any
other dress than in the uniform belonging to his respective class,
unless he shall have on a night-gown or such an outside garment as
may be necessary over a coat, except only that the Seniors and
Juniors are permitted to wear black gowns, and it is recommended
that they appear in them on all public occasions. Nor shall any
part of their garments be of silk; nor shall they wear gold or
silver lace, cord, or edging upon their hats, waistcoats, or any
other parts of their clothing. And whosoever shall violate these
regulations shall be fined a sum not exceeding ten shillings for
each offence."--_Laws of Harv. Coll._, 1790, pp. 36, 37.
It is to this dress that the poet alludes in these lines:--
"In blue-gray coat, with buttons on the cuffs,
First Modern Pride your ear with fustian stuffs;
'Welcome, blest age, by holy seers foretold,
By ancient bards proclaimed the age of gold,'" &c.[22]
But it was by the would-be reformers of that day alone that such
sentiments were held, and it was only by the severity of the
punishment attending non-conformity with these regulations that
they were ever enforced. In 1796, "the sumptuary law relative to
dress had fallen into neglect," and in the next year "it was found
so obnoxious and difficult to enforce," says Quincy, "that a law
was passed abrogating the whole system of distinction by 'frogs on
the cuffs and button-holes,' and the law respecting dress was
limited to prescribing a blue-gray or dark-blue coat, with
permission to wear a black gown, and a prohibition of wearing gold
or silver lace, cord, or edging."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._,
Vol. II. p. 277.
A writer in the New England Magazine, in an article relating to
the customs of Harvard College at the close of the last century,
gives the following description of the uniform ordered by the
Corporation to be worn by the students:--
"Each head supported a three-cornered cocket hat. Yes, gentle
reader, no man or boy was considered in full dress, in those days,
unless his pericranium was thus surmounted, with the forward peak
directly over the right eye. Had a clergyman, especially, appeared
with a hat of any other form, it would have been deemed as great a
heresy as Unitarianism is at the present day. Whether or not the
three-cornered hat was considered as an emblem of Trinitarianism,
I am not able to determine. Our hair was worn in a _queue_, bound
with black ribbon, and reached to the small of the back, in the
shape of the tail of that motherly animal which furnishes
ungrateful bipeds of the human race with milk, butter, and cheese.
Where nature had not bestowed a sufficiency of this ornamental
appendage, the living and the dead contributed of their
superfluity to supply the deficiency. Our ear-locks,--_horresco
referens_!--my ears tingle and my countenance is distorted at the
recollection of the tortures inflicted on them by the heated
curling-tongs and crimping-irons.
"The bosoms of our shirts were ruffled with lawn or cambric, and
'Our fingers' ends were seen to peep
From ruffles, full five inches deep.'
Our coats were double-breasted, and of a black or priest-gray
color. The directions were not so particular respecting our
waistcoats, breeches,--I beg pardon,--small clothes, and
stockings. Our shoes ran to a point at the distance of two or
three inches from the extremity of the foot, and turned upward,
like the curve of a skate. Our dress was ornamented with shining
stock, knee, and shoe buckles, the last embracing at least one
half of the foot of ordinary dimensions. If any wore boots, they
were made to set as closely to the leg as its skin; for a handsome
calf and ankle were esteemed as great beauties as any portion of
the frame, or point in the physiognomy."--Vol. III. pp. 238, 239.
In his late work, entitled, "Memories of Youth and Manhood,"
Professor Sidney Willard has given an entertaining description of
the style of dress which was in vogue at Harvard College near the
close of the last century, in the following words:--
"Except on special occasions, which required more than ordinary
attention to dress, the students, when I was an undergraduate,
were generally very careless in this particular. They were obliged
by the College laws to wear coats of blue-gray; but as a
substitute in warm weather, they were allowed to wear gowns,
except on public occasions; and on these occasions they were
permitted to wear black gowns. Seldom, however, did any one avail
himself of this permission. In summer long gowns of calico or
gingham were the covering that distinguished the collegian, not
only about the College grounds, but in all parts of the village.
Still worse, when the season no longer tolerated this thin outer
garment, many adopted one much in the same shape, made of
colorless woollen stuff called lambskin. These were worn by many
without any under-coat in temperate weather, and in some cases for
a length of time in which they had become sadly soiled. In other
respects there was nothing peculiar in the common dress of the
young men and boys of College to distinguish it from that of
others of the same age. Breeches were generally worn, buttoned at
the knees, and tied or buckled a little below; not so convenient a
garment for a person dressing in haste as trousers or pantaloons.
Often did I see a fellow-student hurrying to the Chapel to escape
tardiness at morning prayers, with this garment unbuttoned at the
knees, the ribbons dangling over his legs, the hose refusing to
keep their elevation, and the calico or woollen gown wrapped about
him, ill concealing his dishabille.
"Not all at once did pantaloons gain the supremacy as the nether
garment. About the beginning of the present century they grew
rapidly in favor with the young; but men past middle age were more
slow to adopt the change. Then, last, the aged very gradually were
converted to the fashion by the plea of convenience and comfort;
so that about the close of the first quarter of the present
century it became almost universal. In another particular, more
than half a century ago, the sons adopted a custom of their wiser
fathers. The young men had for several years worn shoes and boots
shaped in the toe part to a point, called peaked toes, while the
aged adhered to the shape similar to the present fashion; so that
the shoemaker, in a doubtful case, would ask his customer whether
he would have square-toed or peaked-toed. The distinction between
young and old in this fashion was so general, that sometimes a
graceless youth, who had been crossed by his father or guardian in
some of his unreasonable humors, would speak of him with the title
of _Old Square-toes_.
"Boots with yellow tops inverted, and coming up to the knee-band,
were commonly worn by men somewhat advanced in years; but the
younger portion more generally wore half-boots, as they were
called, made of elastic leather, cordovan. These, when worn, left
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