A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 55

"Cheng et Heng, Siamesi juvenes, invicem _a mans_ et intime attacti, Med. Fac. que honorarii."

"Gulielmus Grimke, et quadraginta sodales qui 'omnes in uno' Conic Sections sine Tabulis aspernati sunt, et contra Facultatem, Col.

Yal. rebellaverunt, posteaque expulsi et 'ob.u.mbrati' sunt et Med.

Fac. honorarii."

"MARTIN VAN BUREN, _Armig._, Civitatis Scriba Reipub. Foed. apud Aul. Brit. Legat. Extraord. sibi const.i.tutus. Reip. Nov. Ebor.

Gub. 'Don Whiskerandos'; 'Little Dutchman'; atque 'Great Rejected.' Nunc (1832), Rerumpub. Foed. Vice-Praeses et 'Kitchen Cabinet' Moderator, M.D. et Med. Fac. honorarius."

"Magnus Serpens Maris, suppositus, aut porpoises aut horse-mackerel, grex; 'very like a whale' (Shak.); M.D. et peculiariter M.U.D. Med. Fac. honorarius."

"Timotheus Tibbets et Gulielmus J. Snelling 'par n.o.bile sed hostile fratrum'; 'victor et victus,' unus buster et rake, alter lupinarum c.o.c.kpitsque purgator, et nuper Edit. Nov. Ang. Galax.

Med. Fac. honorarii."[55]

"Capt. Basil Hall, Tabitha Trollope, atque _Isaacus Fiddler_ Reverendus; semi-pay centurio, famelica transfuga, et semicoctus grammaticaster, qui script.i.tant solum ut prandere possint. Tres in uno Mend. Munch. Prof. M.D., M.U.D. et Med. Fac. Honorarium."

A college poet thus laments the fall of this respected society:--

"Gone, too, for aye, that merry masquerade, Which danced so gayly in the evening shade, And Learning weeps, and Science hangs her head, To mourn--vain toil!--their cherished offspring dead.

What though she sped her honors wide and far, Hailing as son Muscovia's haughty Czar, Who in his palace humbly knelt to greet, And laid his costly presents at her feet?[56]

Relentless fate her sudden fall decreed, Dooming each votary's tender heart to bleed, And yet, as if in mercy to atone, That fate hushed sighs, and silenced many a _groan_."

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

MERIT ROLL. At Union College, "the _Merit Rolls_ of the several cla.s.ses," says a correspondent, "are sheets of paper put up in the College post-office, at the opening of each term, containing a list of all students present in the different cla.s.ses during the previous term, with a statement of the conduct, attendance, and scholars.h.i.+p of each member of the cla.s.s. The names are numbered according to the standing of the student, all the best scholars being cl.u.s.tered at the head, and the poorer following in a melancholy train. To be at the head, or 'to head the roll,' is an object of ambition, while 'to foot the roll' is anything but desirable."

MIDDLE BACHELOR. One who is in his second year after taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

A Senior Sophister has authority to take a Freshman from a Soph.o.m.ore, a _Middle Bachelor_ from a Junior Sophister.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. II. p. 540.

MIGRATE. In the English universities, to remove from one college to another.

One of the unsuccessful candidates _migrated_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 100.

MIGRATION. In the English universities, a removal from one college to another.

"_A migration_," remarks Bristed, "is generally tantamount to a confession of inferiority, and an acknowledgment that the migrator is not likely to become a Fellow in his own College, and therefore takes refuge in another, where a more moderate Degree will insure him a Fellows.h.i.+p. A great deal of this _migration_ goes on from John's to the Small Colleges."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.

2d, p. 100.

MIGRATOR. In the English universities, one who removes from one college to another.

MILD. A student epithet of depreciation, answering nearly to the phrases, "no great shakes," and "small potatoes."--_Bristed_.

Some of us were very heavy men to all appearance, and our first attempts _mild_ enough.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 169.

MINGO. Latin. At Harvard College, this word was formerly used to designate a chamber-pot.

To him that occupies my study, I give for use of making toddy, A bottle full of _white-face Stingo_, Another, handy, called a _mingo_.

_Will of Charles Prentiss_, in _Rural Repository_, 1795.

Many years ago, some of the students of Harvard College wis.h.i.+ng to make a present to their Tutor, Mr. Flynt, called on him, informed him of their intention, and requested him to select a gift which would be acceptable to him. He replied that he was a single man, that he already had a well-filled library, and in reality wanted nothing. The students, not all satisfied with this answer, determined to present him with a silver chamber-pot. One was accordingly made, of the appropriate dimensions, and inscribed with these words: "Mingere c.u.m bombis Res est saluberrima lumbis."

On the morning of Commencement Day, this was borne in procession, in a morocco case, and presented to the Tutor. Tradition does not say with what feelings he received it, but it remained for many years at a room in Quincy, where he was accustomed to spend his Sat.u.r.days and Sundays, and finally disappeared, about the beginning of the Revolutionary War. It is supposed to have been carried to England.

MINOR. A privy. From the Latin _minor_, smaller; the word _house_ being understood. Other derivations are given, but this seems to be the most cla.s.sical. This word is peculiar to Harvard College.

MISS. An omission of a recitation, or any college exercise. An instructor is said _to give a miss_, when he omits a recitation.

A quaint Professor of Harvard College, being once asked by his cla.s.s to omit the recitation for that day, is said to have replied in the words of Scripture: "Ye ask and receive not, for ye ask a-_miss_."

In the "Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D.," Professor Felton has referred to this story, and has appended to it the contradiction of the worthy Doctor. "Amusing anecdotes, some true and many apocryphal, were handed down in College from cla.s.s to cla.s.s, and, so far from being yet forgotten, they are rather on the increase.

One of these mythical stories was, that on a certain occasion one of the cla.s.ses applied to the Doctor for what used to be called, in College jargon, a _miss_, i.e. an omission of recitation. The Doctor replied, as the legend run, 'Ye ask, and ye receive not, because ye ask a-_miss_.' Many years later, this was told to him.

'It is not true,' he exclaimed, energetically. 'In the first place, I have not wit enough; in the next place, I have too much wit, for I mortally hate a pun. Besides, _I never allude irreverently to the Scriptures_.'"--p. lxxvii.

Or are there some who sc.r.a.pe and hiss Because you never give a _miss_.--_Rebelliad_, p. 62.

---- is good to all his subjects, _Misses_ gives he every hour.--_MS. Poem_.

MISS. To be absent from a recitation or any college exercise. Said of a student. See CUT.

Who will recitations _miss_!--_Rebelliad_, p. 53.

At every corner let us hiss 'em; And as for recitations,--_miss_ 'em.--_Ibid._, p. 58.

Who never _misses_ declamation, Nor cuts a stupid recitation.

_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 283.

_Missing_ chambers will be visited with consequences more to be dreaded than the penalties of _missing_ lecture.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 304.

MITTEN. At the Collegiate Inst.i.tute of Indiana, a student who is expelled is said _to get the mitten_.

MOCK-PART. At Harvard College, it is customary, when the parts for the first exhibition in the Junior year have been read, as described under PART, for the part-reader to announce what are called the _mock-parts_. These mock-parts which are burlesques on the regular appointments, are also satires on the habits, character, or manners of those to whom they are a.s.signed. They are never given to any but members of the Junior Cla.s.s. It was formerly customary for the Soph.o.m.ore Cla.s.s to read them in the last term of that year when the parts were given out for the Soph.o.m.ore exhibition but as there is now no exhibition for that cla.s.s, they are read only in the Junior year. The following may do as specimens of the subjects usually a.s.signed:--The difference between alluvial and original soils; a discussion between two persons not noted for personal cleanliness. The last term of a decreasing series; a subject for an insignificant but conceited fellow. An essay on the Humbug, by a dabbler in natural history. A conference on the three dimensions, length, breadth, and thickness, between three persons, one very tall, another very broad, and the third very fat.

MODERATE. In colleges and universities, to superintend the exercises and disputations in philosophy, and the Commencements when degrees are conferred.

They had their weekly declamations on Friday, in the Colledge Hall, besides publick disputations, which either the Praesident or the Fellows _moderated_.--_Mather's Magnalia_, B. IV. p. 127.