A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 29

Nearly the same formula is used at Williams College.

ENGINE. At Harvard College, for many years before and succeeding the year 1800, a fire-engine was owned by the government, and was under the management of the students. In a MS. Journal, under date of Oct. 29, 1792, is this note: "This day I turned out to exercise the engine. P.M." The company were accustomed to attend all the fires in the neighboring towns, and were noted for their skill and efficiency. But they often mingled enjoyment with their labor, nor were they always as scrupulous as they might have been in the means used to advance it. In 1810, the engine having been newly repaired, they agreed to try its power on an old house, which was to be fired at a given time. By some mistake, the alarm was given before the house was fairly burning. Many of the town's people endeavored to save it, but the company, dragging the engine into a pond near by, threw the dirty water on them in such quant.i.ties that they were glad to desist from their laudable endeavors.

It was about this time that the Engine Society was organized, before which so many pleasant poems and orations were annually delivered. Of these, that most noted is the "Rebelliad," which was spoken in the year 1819, and was first published in the year 1842.

Of it the editor has well remarked: "It still remains the text-book of the jocose, and is still regarded by all, even the melancholy, as a most happy production of humorous taste." Its author was Dr. Augustus Pierce, who died at Tyngsborough, May 20, 1849.

The favorite beverage at fires was rum and mola.s.ses, commonly called _black-strap_, which is referred to in the following lines, commemorative of the engine company in its palmier days.

"But oh! let _black-strap's_ sable G.o.d deplore Those _engine-heroes_ so renowned of yore!

Gone is that spirit, which, in ancient time, Inspired more deeds than ever shone in rhyme!

Ye, who remember the superb array, The deafening cry, the engine's 'maddening play,'

The broken windows, and the floating floor, Wherewith those masters of hydraulic lore Were wont to make us tremble as we gazed, Can tell how many a false alarm was raised, How many a room by their o'erflowings drenched, And how few fires by their a.s.sistance quenched?"

_Harvard Register_, p. 235.

The habit of attending fires in Boston, as it had a tendency to draw the attention of the students from their college duties, was in part the cause of the dissolution of the company. Their presence was always welcomed in the neighboring city, and although they often left their engine behind them on returning to Cambridge, it was usually sent out to them soon after. The company would often parade through the streets of Cambridge in masquerade dresses, headed by a chaplain, presenting a most ludicrous appearance. In pa.s.sing through the College yard, it was the custom to throw water into any window that chanced to be open. Their fellow-students, knowing when they were to appear, usually kept their windows closed; but the officers were not always so fortunate. About the year 1822, having discharged water into the room of the College regent, thereby damaging a very valuable library of books, the government disbanded the company, and shortly after sold the engine to the then town of Cambridge, on condition that it should never be taken out of the place. A few years ago it was again sold to some young men of West Cambridge, in whose hands it still remains. One of the brakes of the engine, a relic of its former glory, was lately discovered in the cellar of one of the College buildings, and that perchance has by this time been used to kindle the element which it once a.s.sisted to extinguish.

ESQUIRE BEDELL. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., three _Esquire Bedells_ are appointed, whose office is to attend the Vice-Chancellor, whom they precede with their silver maces upon all public occasions.--_Cam. Guide_.

At the University of Oxford, the Esquire Bedells are three in number. They walk before the Vice-Chancellor in processions, and carry golden staves as the insignia of their office.--_Guide to Oxford_.

See BEADLE.

EVANGELICAL. In student phrase, a religious, orthodox man, one who is sound in the doctrines of the Gospel, or one who is reading theology, is called an _Evangelical_.

He was a King's College, London, man, an _Evangelical_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 265.

It has been said by some of the _Evangelicals_, that nothing can be done to improve the state of morality in the Universities so long as the present Church system continues.--_Ibid._, p. 348.

EXAMINATION. An inquiry into the acquisitions of the students, in _colleges_ and _seminaries of learning_, by questioning them in literature and the sciences, and by hearing their recitals.--_Webster_.

In all colleges candidates for entrance are required to be able to pa.s.s an examination in certain branches of study before they can be admitted. The students are generally examined, in most colleges, at the close of each term.

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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s a n.o.ble 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." It then proceeds to enumerate the times and text-books for each cla.s.s, and closes by stating, that, "should any student neglect or refuse to attend such examination, he shall be liable to be fined a sum not exceeding twenty s.h.i.+llings, or to be admonished or suspended." Great discontent was immediately evinced by the students at this regulation, and as it was not with this understanding that they entered college, they considered it as an _ex post facto_ law, and therefore not binding upon them. With these views, in the year 1791, the Senior and Junior Cla.s.ses pet.i.tioned for exemption from the examination, but their application was rejected by the Overseers. When this was declared, some of the students determined to stop the exercises for that year, if possible. For this purpose they obtained six hundred grains of tartar emetic, and early on the morning of April 12th, the day on which the examination was to begin, emptied it into the great cooking boilers in the kitchen. At breakfast, 150 or more students and officers being present, the coffee was brought on, made with the water from the boilers. Its effects were soon visible. One after another left the hall, some in a slow, others in a hurried manner, but all plainly showing that their situation was by no means a pleasant one. Out of the whole number there a.s.sembled, only four or five escaped without being made unwell. Those who put the drug in the coffee had drank the most, in order to escape detection, and were consequently the most severely affected. Unluckily, one of them was seen putting something into the boilers, and the names of the others were soon after discovered. Their punishment is stated in the following memoranda from a ma.n.u.script journal.

"Exhibition, 1791. April 20th. This morning Trapier was rusticated and Sullivan suspended to Groton for nine months, for mingling tartar emetic with our commons on ye morning of April 12th."

"May 21st. Ely was suspended to Amherst for five months, for a.s.sisting Sullivan and Trapier in mingling tartar emetic with our commons."

Another student, who threw a stone into the examination-room, which struck the chair in which Governor Hanc.o.c.k sat, was more severely punished. The circ.u.mstance is mentioned in the ma.n.u.script referred to above as follows:--

"April 14th, 1791. Henry W. Jones of H---- was expelled from College upon evidence of a little boy that he sent a stone into ye Philosopher's room while a committee of ye Corporation and Overseers, and all ye Immediate Government, were engaged in examination of ye Freshman Cla.s.s."

Although the examination was delayed for a day or two on account of these occurrences, it was again renewed and carried on during that year, although many attempts were made to stop it. For several years after, whenever these periods occurred, disturbances came with them, and it was not until the year 1797 that the differences between the officers and the students were satisfactorily adjusted, and examinations established on a sure basis.

EXAMINE. To inquire into the improvements or qualifications of students, by interrogatories, proposing problems, or by hearing their recitals; as, to _examine_ the cla.s.ses in college; to _examine_ the candidates for a degree, or for a license to preach or to practise in a profession.--_Webster_.

EXAMINEE. One who is examined; one who undergoes at examination.

What loads of cold beef and lobster vanish before the _examinees_.

--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 72.

EXAMINER. One who examines. In colleges and seminaries of learning, the person who interrogates the students, proposes questions for them to answer, and problems to solve.

Coming forward with a.s.sumed carelessness, he threw towards us the formal reply of his _examiners_.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 9.

EXEAT. Latin; literally, _let him depart_. Leave of absence given to a student in the English universities.--_Webster_.

The students who wish to go home apply for an "_Exeat_," which is a paper signed by the Tutor, Master, and Dean.--_Alma Mater_, Vol.

I. p. 162.

[At King's College], _exeats_, or permission to go down during term, were never granted but in cases of life and death.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 140.

EXERCISE. A task or lesson; that which is appointed for one to perform. In colleges, all the literary duties are called _exercises_.

It may be inquired, whether a great part of the _exercises_ be not at best but serious follies.--_Cotton Mather's Suggestions_, in _Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 558.

In the English universities, certain exercises, as acts, opponencies, &c., are required to be performed for particular degrees.

EXHIBIT. To take part in an exhibition; to speak in public at an exhibition or commencement.

No student who shall receive any appointment to _exhibit_ before the cla.s.s, the College, or the public, shall give any treat or entertainment to his cla.s.s, or any part thereof, for or on account of those appointments.--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 29.

If any student shall fail to perform the exercise a.s.signed him, or shall _exhibit_ anything not allowed by the Faculty, he may be sent home.--_Ibid._, 1837, p. 16.

2. To provide for poor students by an exhibition. (See EXHIBITION, second meaning.) An instance of this use is given in the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, where one Antony Wood says of Bishop Longland, "He was a special friend to the University, in maintaining its privileges and in _exhibiting_ to the wants of certain scholars."

In Mr. Peirce's History of Harvard University occurs this pa.s.sage, in an account of the will of the Hon. William Stoughton: "He bequeathed a pasture in Dorchester, containing twenty-three acres and four acres of marsh, 'the income of both to be _exhibited_, in the first place, to a scholar of the town of Dorchester, and if there be none such, to one of the town of Milton, and in want of such, then to any other well deserving that shall be most needy.'"

--p. 77.

EXHIBITION. In colleges, a public literary and oratorical display.

The exercises at _exhibitions_ are original compositions, prose translations from the English into Greek and Latin, and from other languages into the English, metrical versions, dialogues, &c.

At Harvard College, in the year 1760, it was voted, "that twice in a year, in the spring and fall, each cla.s.s should recite to their Tutors, in the presence of the President, Professors, and Tutors, in the several books in which they are reciting to their respective Tutors, and that publicly in the College Hall or Chapel." The next year, the Overseers being informed "that the students are not required to translate English into Latin nor Latin into English," their committee "thought it would be convenient that specimens of such translations and other performances in cla.s.sical and polite literature should be from time to time laid before" their board. A vote pa.s.sed the Board of Overseers recommending to the Corporation a conformity to these suggestions; but it was not until the year 1766 that a law was formally enacted in both boards, "that twice in the year, viz. at the semiannual visitation of the committee of the Overseers, some of the scholars, at the direction of the President and Tutors, shall publicly exhibit specimens of their proficiency, by p.r.o.nouncing orations and delivering dialogues, either in English or in one of the learned languages, or hearing a forensic disputation, or such other exercises as the President and Tutors shall direct."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. II. pp.

128-132.

A few years after this, two more exhibitions were added, and were so arranged as to fall one in each quarter of the College year.

The last year in which there were four exhibitions was 1789. After this time there were three exhibitions during the year until 1849, when one was omitted, since which time the original plan has been adopted.

In the journal of a member of the cla.s.s which graduated at Harvard College in the year 1793, under the date of December 23d, 1789, Exhibition, is the following memorandum: "Music was intermingled with elocution, which (we read) has charms to soothe even a savage breast." Again, on a similar occasion, April 13th, 1790, an account of the exercises of the day closes with this note: "Tender music being interspersed to enliven the audience." Vocal music was sometimes introduced. In the same Journal, date October 1st, 1790, Exhibition, the writer says: "The performances were enlivened with an excellent piece of music, sung by Harvard Singing Club, accompanied with a band of music." From this time to the present day, music, either vocal or instrumental, has formed a very entertaining part of the Exhibition performances.[24]