A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 43

"In Cambridge," says the author of the Collegian's Guide, "the halls stand on the same footing as the colleges, but at Oxford they did not, in my time, hold by any means so high a place in general estimation. Certainly those halls which admit the outcasts of other colleges, and of those alone I am now speaking, used to be precisely what one would expect to find them; indeed, I had rather that a son of mine should forego a university education altogether, than that he should have so sorry a counterfeit of academic advantages as one of these halls affords."--p. 172.

"All the Colleges at Cambridge," says Bristed, "have equal privileges and rights, with the solitary exception of King's, and though some of them are called _Halls_, the difference is merely one of name. But the Halls at Oxford, of which there are five, are not incorporated bodies, and have no vote in University matters, indeed are but a sort of boarding-houses at which students may remain until it is time for them to take a degree. I dined at one of those establishments; it was very like an officers' mess. The men had their own wine, and did not wear their gowns, and the only Don belonging to the Hall was not present at table. There was a tradition of a chapel belonging to the concern, but no one present knew where it was. This Hall seemed to be a small Botany Bay of both Universities, its members made up of all sorts of incapables and incorrigibles."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, pp.

140, 141.

3. At Cambridge and Oxford, the public eating-room.

I went into the public "_hall_" [so is called in Oxford the public eating-room].--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 231.

Dinner is, in all colleges, a public meal, taken in the refectory or "_hall_" of the society.--_Ibid._, p. 273.

4. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., dinner, the name of the place where the meal is taken being given to the meal itself.

_Hall_ lasts about three quarters of an hour.--_Bristed's Five Year in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 20.

After _Hall_ is emphatically lounging-time, it being the wise practice of Englishmen to attempt no hard exercise, physical or mental, immediately after a hearty meal.--_Ibid._, p. 21.

It is not safe to read after _Hall_ (i.e. after dinner).--_Ibid._, p. 331.

HANG-OUT. An entertainment.

I remember the date from the Fourth of July occurring just afterwards, which I celebrated by a "_hang-out_."--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 80.

He had kept me six hours at table, on the occasion of a dinner which he gave ... as an appendix to and a return for some of my "_hangings-out_."--_Ibid._, p. 198.

HANG OUT. To treat, to live, to have or possess. Among English Cantabs, a verb of all-work.--_Bristed_.

There were but few pensioners who "_hung out_" servants of their own.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 90.

I had become ... a man who knew and "_hung out_ to" clever and pleasant people, and introduced agreeable lions to one another.--_Ibid._, p. 158.

I had gained such a reputation for dinner-giving, that men going to "_hang out_" sometimes asked me to compose bills of fare for them.--_Ibid._, p. 195.

HARRY SOPHS, or HENRY SOPHISTERS; in reality Harisophs, a corruption of Erisophs ([Greek: erisophos], _valde eruditus_). At Cambridge, England, students who have kept all the terms required for a law act, and hence are ranked as Bachelors of Law by courtesy.--_Gradus ad Cantab._

See, also, Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, p. 818.

HARVARD WAs.h.i.+NGTON CORPS. From a memorandum on a fly leaf of an old Triennial Catalogue, it would appear that a military company was first established among the students of Harvard College about the year 1769, and that its first captain was Mr. William Wetmore, a graduate of the Cla.s.s of 1770. The motto which it then a.s.sumed, and continued to bear through every period of its existence, was, "Tam Marti quam Mercurio." It was called at that time the Marti Mercurian Band. The prescribed uniform was a blue coat, the skirts turned with white, nankeen breeches, white stockings, top-boots, and a c.o.c.ked hat. This a.s.sociation continued for nearly twenty years from the time of its organization, but the chivalrous spirit which had called it into existence seems at the end of that time to have faded away. The last captain, it is believed, was Mr.

Solomon Vose, a graduate of the cla.s.s of 1787.

Under the auspices of Governor Gerry, in December of the year 1811, it was revived, and through his influence received a new loan of arms from the State, taking at the same time the name of the Harvard Was.h.i.+ngton Corps. In 1812, Mr. George Thacher was appointed its commander. The members of the company wore a blue coat, white vest, white pantaloons, white gaiters, a common black hat, and around the waist a white belt, which was always kept very neat, and to which were attached a bayonet and cartridge-box. The officers wore the same dress, with the exceptions of a sash instead of the belt, and a chapeau in place of the hat. Soon after this reorganization, in the fall of 1812, a banner, with the arms of the College on one side and the arms of the State on the other, was presented by the beautiful Miss Mellen, daughter of Judge Mellen of Cambridge, in the name of the ladies of that place. The presentation took place before the door of her father's house.

Appropriate addresses were made, both by the fair donor and the captain of the company. Mr. Frisbie, a Professor in the College, who was at that time engaged to Miss Mellen, whom he afterwards married, recited on the occasion the following verses impromptu, which were received with great _eclat_.

"The standard's victory's leading star, 'T is danger to forsake it; How altered are the scenes of war, They're vanquished now who take it."

A writer in the Harvardiana, 1836, referring to this banner, says: "The gilded banner now moulders away in inglorious quiet, in the dusty retirement of a Senior Sophister's study. What a desecration for that 'flag by angel hands to valor given'!"[40] Within the last two years it has wholly disappeared from its accustomed resting-place. Though departed, its memory will be ever dear to those who saw it in its better days, and under its shadow enjoyed many of the proudest moments of college life.

At its second organization, the company was one of the finest and best drilled in the State. The members were from the Senior and Junior Cla.s.ses. The armory was in the fifth story of Hollis Hall.

The regular time for exercise was after the evening commons. The drum would often beat before the meal was finished, and the students could then be seen rus.h.i.+ng forth with the half-eaten biscuit, and at the same time buckling on their armor for the accustomed drill. They usually paraded on exhibition-days, when the large concourse of people afforded an excellent opportunity for showing off their skill in military tactics and manoeuvring.

On the arrival of the news of the peace of 1815, it appears, from an interleaved almanac, that "the H.W. Corps paraded and fired a salute; Mr. Porter treated the company." Again, on the 12th of May, same year, "H.W. Corps paraded in Charlestown, saluted Com.

Bainbridge, and returned by the way of Boston." The captain for that year, Mr. W.H. Moulton, dying, on the 6th of July, at five o'clock, P.M., "the cla.s.s," says the same authority, "attended the funeral of Br. Moulton in Boston. The H.W. Corps attended in uniform, without arms, the ceremony of entombing their late Captain."

In the year 1825, it received a third loan of arms, and was again reorganized, admitting the members of all the cla.s.ses to its ranks. From this period until the year 1834, very great interest was manifested in it; but a rebellion having broken out at that time among the students, and the guns of the company having been considerably damaged by being thrown from the windows of the armory, which was then in University Hall, the company was disbanded, and the arms were returned to the State.

The feelings with which it was regarded by the students generally cannot be better shown than by quoting from some of the publications in which reference is made to it. "Many are the grave discussions and entry caucuses," says a writer in the Harvard Register, published in 1828, "to determine what favored few are to be graced with the sash and epaulets, and march as leaders in the martial band. Whilst these important canva.s.sings are going on, it behooves even the humblest and meekest to beware how he b.u.t.tons his coat, or stiffens himself to a perpendicular, lest he be more than suspected of aspiring to some military capacity. But the _Harvard Was.h.i.+ngton Corps_ must not be pa.s.sed over without further notice. Who can tell what eagerness fills its ranks on an exhibition-day? with what spirit and bounding step the glorious phalanx wheels into the College yard? with what exultation they mark their banner, as it comes floating on the breeze from Holworthy? And ah! who cannot tell how this spirit expires, this exultation goes out, when the clerk calls again and again for the a.s.sessments."--p. 378.

A college poet has thus immortalized this distinguished band:--

"But see where yonder light-armed ranks advance!-- Their colors gleaming in the noonday glance, Their steps symphonious with the drum's deep notes, While high the buoyant, breeze-borne banner floats!

O, let not allied hosts yon band deride!

'T is _Harvard Corps_, our bulwark and our pride!

Mark, how like one great whole, instinct with life, They seem to woo the dangers of the strife!

Who would not brave the heat, the dust, the rain, To march the leader of that valiant train?"

_Harvard Register_, p. 235.

Another has sung its requiem in the following strain:--

"That martial band, 'neath waving stripes and stars Inscribed alike to Mercury and Mars, Those gallant warriors in their dread array, Who shook these halls,--O where, alas! are they?

Gone! gone! and never to our ears shall come The sounds of fife and spirit-stirring drum; That war-worn banner slumbers in the dust, Those bristling arms are dim with gathering rust; That crested helm, that glittering sword, that plume, Are laid to rest in reckless faction's tomb."

_Winslow's Cla.s.s Poem_, 1835.

HAT FELLOW-COMMONER. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the popular name given to a baronet, the eldest son of a baronet, or the younger son of a n.o.bleman. A _Hat Fellow-Commoner_ wears the gown of a Fellow-Commoner, with a hat instead of the velvet cap with metallic ta.s.sel which a Fellow-Commoner wears, and is admitted to the degree of M.A. after two years' residence.

HAULED UP. In many colleges, one brought up before the Faculty is said to be _hauled up_.

HAZE. To trouble; to hara.s.s; to disturb. This word is used at Harvard College, to express the treatment which Freshmen sometimes receive from the higher cla.s.ses, and especially from the Soph.o.m.ores. It is used among sailors with the meanings _to urge_, _to drive_, _to hara.s.s_, especially with labor. In his Dictionary of Americanisms, Mr. Bartlett says, "To haze round, is to go rioting about."

Be ready, in fine, to cut, to drink, to smoke, to swear, to _haze_, to dead, to spree,--in one word, to be a Soph.o.m.ore.--_Oration before H.L. of I.O. of O.F._, 1848, p. 11.

To him no orchard is unknown,--no grape-vine unappraised,-- No farmer's hen-roost yet unrobbed,--no Freshman yet _unhazed_!

_Poem before Y.H._, 1849, p. 9.

'T is the Soph.o.m.ores rus.h.i.+ng the Freshmen to _haze_.

_Poem before Iadma_, 1850, p. 22.

Never again Leave unbolted your door when to rest you retire, And, _unhazed_ and unmartyred, you proudly may scorn Those foes to all Freshmen who 'gainst thee conspire.

_Ibid._, p. 23.

Freshmen have got quietly settled down to work, Sophs have given up their _hazing_.--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p. 285.

We are glad to be able to record, that the absurd and barbarous custom of _hazing_, which has long prevailed in College, is, to a great degree, discontinued.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I. p. 413.

The various means which are made use of in _hazing_ the Freshmen are enumerated in part below. In the first pa.s.sage, a Soph.o.m.ore speaks in soliloquy.