A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 25

DEGREE EXAMINATION. At the English universities, the final university examination, which must be pa.s.sed before the B.A.

degree is conferred.

The Cla.s.sical Tripos is generally spoken of as _the_ Tripos, the Mathematical one as _the Degree Examination_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 170.

DELTA. A piece of land in Cambridge, which belongs to Harvard College, where the students kick football, and play at cricket, and other games. The shape of the land is that of the Greek Delta, whence its name.

What was unmeetest of all, timid strangers as we were, it was expected on the first Monday eventide after our arrival, that we should a.s.semble on a neighboring green, the _Delta_, since devoted to the purposes of a gymnasium, there to engage in a furious contest with those enemies, the Sophs, at kicking football and s.h.i.+ns.--_A Tour through College_, 1823-1827, p. 13.

Where are the royal cricket-matches of old, the great games of football, when the obtaining of victory was a point of honor, and crowds a.s.sembled on the _Delta_ to witness the all-absorbing contest?--_Harvardiana_, Vol. I. p. 107.

I must have another pair of pantaloons soon, for I have burst the knees of two, in kicking football on the _Delta_.--_Ibid._, Vol.

III. p. 77.

The _Delta_ can tell of the deeds we've done, The fierce-fought fields we've lost and won, The s.h.i.+ns we've cracked, And noses we've whacked, The eyes we've blacked, and all in fun.

_Cla.s.s Poem, 1849, Harv. Coll._

A plat at Bowdoin College, of this shape, and used for similar purposes, is known by the same name.

DEMI, DEMY. The name of a scholar at Magdalene College, Oxford, where there are thirty _demies_ or half-fellows, as it were, who, like scholars in other colleges, succeed to fellows.h.i.+ps.--_Johnson_.

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, circ.u.mstance 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 t.i.tle 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 tractaeque catenae_,--enough to appall the stoutest Soph.o.m.ore. 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, Sat.u.r.day, July 31, 1852, p. 66.

Many years ago there emigrated to this University, from the wilds of New Hamps.h.i.+re, 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 ent.i.tled 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 Soph.o.m.ore Cla.s.s 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 Cla.s.s who entered as Soph.o.m.ores, and have made meritorious progress in their studies during the Soph.o.m.ore year, and to such Juniors as, having failed to receive a _detur_ at the commencement of the Soph.o.m.ore year, have, during that year, made decided improvement in scholars.h.i.+p.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam., Ma.s.s._, 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 cla.s.smate 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.