A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 84

TEAR. At Princeton College, a _perfect tear_ is a very extra recitation, superior to a _rowl_.

TEMPLE. At Bowdoin College, a privy is thus designated.

TEN-STRIKE. At Hamilton College, a perfect recitation, ten being the mark given for a perfect recitation.

TEN-YEAR MEN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., these are allowed to take the degree of Bachelor in Divinity without having been B.A. or M.A., by the statute of 9th Queen Elizabeth, which permits persons, who are admitted at any college when twenty-four years of age and upwards, to take the degree of B.D. after their names have remained on the _boards_ ten years or more. After the first eight years, they must reside in the University the greater part of three several terms, and perform the exercises which are required by the statutes.--_Cam. Cal._

TERM. In universities and colleges, the time during which instruction is regularly given to students, who are obliged by the statutes and laws of the inst.i.tution to attend to the recitations, lectures, and other exercises.--_Webster_.

In the University of Cambridge, Eng., there are three terms during each year, which are fixed by invariable rules. October or Michaelmas term begins on the 10th of October, and ends on the 16th of December. Lent or January term begins on the 13th of January, and ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. Easter or Midsummer term, begins on the eleventh day (the Wednesday sennight) after Easter-day, and ends on the Friday after Commencement day. Commencement is always on the first Tuesday in July.

At Oxford University, there are four terms in the year. Michaelmas term begins on the 10th of October, and ends on the 17th of December. Hilary term begins on the 14th of January, and ends the day before Palm Sunday. But if the Sat.u.r.day before Palm Sunday should be a festival, the term does not end till the Monday following. Easter term begins on the tenth day after Easter Sunday, and ends on the day before Whitsunday. Trinity term begins on the Wednesday after Whitsunday, and ends the Sat.u.r.day after the Act, which is always on the first Tuesday in July.

At the Dublin University, the terms in each year are four in number. Hilary term begins on the Monday after Epiphany, and ends the day before Palm Sunday. Easter term begins on the eighth day after Easter Sunday, and ends on Whitsun-eve. Trinity term begins on Trinity Monday, and ends on the 8th of July. Michaelmas term begins on the 1st of October (or on the 2d, if the 1st should be Sunday), and ends on December 16th.

TERRae FILIUS. Latin; _son of earth_.

Formerly, one appointed to write a satirical Latin poem at the public Acts in the University of Oxford; not unlike the prevaricator at Cambridge, Eng.--_Webster_.

Full accounts of the compositions written on these occasions may be found in a work in two volumes, ent.i.tled "Terrae-Filius; or the Secret History of the University of Oxford," printed in the year 1726.

See TRIPOS PAPER.

TESTAMUR. Latin; literally, _we testify_. In the English universities, a certificate of proficiency, without which a person is not able to take his degree. So called from the first word in the formula.

There is not one out of twenty of my pupils who can look forward with unmixed pleasure to a _testamur_.--_Collegian's Guide_, p.

254.

Every _testamur_ must be signed by three out of the four examiners, at least.--_Ibid._, p. 282.

THEATRE. At Oxford, a building in which are held the annual commemoration of benefactors, the recitation of prize compositions, and the occasional ceremony of conferring degrees on distinguished personages.--_Oxford Guide_.

THEME. In college phrase, a short dissertation composed by a student.

It is the practice at Cambridge [Ma.s.s.] for the Professor of Rhetoric and the English Language, commencing in the first or second quarter of the student's Soph.o.m.ore year, to give the cla.s.s a text; generally some brief moral quotation from some of the ancient or modern poets, from which the students write a short essay, usually denominated a _theme_.--_Works of R.T. Paine_, p.

xxi.

Far be it from me to enter into compet.i.tion with students who have been practising the sublime art of _theme_ and forensic writing for two years.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 316.

But on the sleepy day of _themes_, May doze away a dozen reams.

_Ibid._, p. 283.

Nimrod holds his "first _theme_" in one hand, and is leaning his head on the other.--_Ibid._, p. 253.

THEME-BEARER. At Harvard College, until within a few years, a student was chosen once in a term by his cla.s.smates to perform the duties of _theme-bearer_. He received the subjects for themes and forensics from the Professors of Rhetoric and of Moral Philosophy, and posted them up in convenient places, usually in the entries of the buildings and on, the bulletin-boards. He also distributed the corrected themes, at first giving them to the students after evening prayers, and, when this had been forbidden by the President, carrying them to their rooms. For these services he received seventy-five cents per term from each member of the cla.s.s.

THEME-PAPER. In American colleges, a kind of paper on which students write their themes or composition. It is of the size of an ordinary letter-sheet, contains eighteen or nineteen lines placed at wide intervals, and is ruled in red ink with a margin a little less than an inch in width.

Shoe-strings, lucifers, omnibus-tickets, _theme-paper_, postage-stamps, and the nutriment of pipes.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I.

p. 266.

THEOLOGUE. A cant name among collegians for a student in theology.

The hardened hearts of Freshmen and _Theologues_ burned with righteous indignation.--_Yale Tomahawk_, May, 1852.

The _Theologs_ are not so wicked as the Medics.--_Burlesque Catalogue, Yale Coll._, 1852-53, p. 30.

THESES-COLLECTOR. One who collects or prepares _theses_. The following extract from the laws of Harvard College will explain further what is meant by this term. "The President, Professors, and Tutors, annually, some time in the third term, shall select from the Junior Cla.s.s a number of _Theses-Collectors_, to prepare theses for the next year; from which selection they shall appoint so many divisions as shall be equal to the number of branches they may a.s.sign. And each one shall, in the particular branch a.s.signed him, collect so many theses as the government may judge expedient; and all the theses, thus collected, shall be delivered to the President, by the Sat.u.r.day immediately succeeding the end of the Spring vacation in the Senior year, at furthest, from which the President, Professors, and Tutors shall select such as they shall judge proper to be published. But if the theses delivered to the President, in any particular branch, should not afford a sufficient number suitable for publication, a further number shall be required. The name of the student who collected any set or number of theses shall be annexed to the theses collected by him, in every publication. Should any one neglect to collect the theses required of him, he shall be liable to lose his degree."--1814, p.

35.

The Theses-Collectors were formerly chosen by the cla.s.s, as the following extract from a MS. Journal will show.

"March 27th, 1792. My Cla.s.s a.s.sembled in the chapel to choose theses-collectors, a valedictory orator, and poet. Jackson was chosen to deliver the Latin oration, and Cutler to deliver the poem. Ellis was almost unanimously chosen a collector of the grammatical theses. Prince was chosen metaphysical theses-collector, with considerable opposition. Lowell was chosen mathematical theses-collector, though not unanimously. Chamberlain was chosen physical theses-collector."

THESIS. A position or proposition which a person advances and offers to maintain, or which is actually maintained by argument; a theme; a subject; particularly, a subject or proposition for a school or university exercise, or the exercise itself.--_Webster_.

In the older American colleges, the _theses_ held a prominent place in the exercises of Commencement. At Harvard College the earliest theses extant bear the date of the year 1687. They were Theses Technological, Logical, Grammatical, Rhetorical, Mathematical, and Physical. The last theses were presented in the year 1820. The earliest theses extant belonging to Yale College are of 1714, and the last were printed in 1797.

THIRDING. In England, "a custom practised at the universities, where two _thirds_ of the original price is allowed by upholsterers to the students for household goods returned them within the year."--_Grose's Dict._

On this subject De Quincey says: "The Oxford rule is, that, if you take the rooms (which is at your own option), in that case you _third_ the furniture and the embellishments; i.e. you succeed to the total cost diminished by one third. You pay, therefore, two guineas out of each three to your _immediate_ predecessor."--_Life and Manners_, p. 250.

THIRD-YEAR MEN. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the t.i.tle of Third-Year Men, or Senior Sophs or Sophisters, is given to students during the third year of their residence at the University.

THUNDERING BOLUS. See INTONITANS BOLUS.

TICK. A recitation made by one who does not know of what he is talking.

_Ticks_, screws, and deads were all put under contribution.--_A Tour through College_, Boston, 1832, p. 25.