Chapter 10

The following excellent and interesting account of the exercises and customs of Commencement at Yale College, in former times, is taken from the entertaining address referred to above:--"Commencements were not to be public, according to the wishes of the first Trustees, through fear of the attendant expense; but another practice soon prevailed, and continued with three or four exceptions until the breaking out of the war in 1775. They were then private for five years, on account of the times. The early exercises of the candidates for the first degree were a 'saluting' oration in Latin, succeeded by syllogistic disputations in the same language; and the day was closed by the Masters' exercises,--disputations and a valedictory. According to an ancient academical practice, theses were printed and distributed upon this occasion, indicating what the candidates for a degree had studied, and were prepared to defend; yet, contrary to the usage still prevailing at universities which have adhered to the old method of testing proficiency, it does not appear that these theses were ever defended in public. They related to a variety of subjects in Technology, Logic, Grammar, Rhetoric, Mathematics, Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, and afterwards Theology. The candidates for a Master's degree also published theses at this time, which were called _Quæstiones magistrales_. The syllogistic disputes were held between an affirmant and respondent, who stood in the side galleries of the church opposite to one another, and shot the weapons of their logic over the heads of the audience. The saluting Bachelor and the Master who delivered the valedictory stood in the front gallery, and the audience huddled around below them to catch their Latin eloquence as it fell. It seems also to have been usual for the President to pronounce an oration in some foreign tongue upon the same occasion.[11]

"At the first public Commencement under President Stiles, in 1781, we find from a particular description which has been handed down, that the original plan, as above described, was subjected for the time to considerable modifications. The scheme, in brief, was as follows. The salutatory oration was delivered by a member of the graduating class, who is now our aged and honored townsman, Judge Baldwin. This was succeeded by the syllogistic disputations, and these by a Greek oration, next to which came an English colloquy. Then followed a forensic disputation, in which James Kent was one of the speakers. Then President Stiles delivered an oration in Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic,--it being an extraordinary occasion. After which the morning was closed with an English oration by one of the graduating class. In the afternoon, the candidates for the second degree had the time, as usual, to themselves, after a Latin discourse by President Stiles. The exhibiters appeared in syllogistic disputes, a dissertation, a poem, and an English oration. Among these performers we find the names of Noah Webster, Joel Barlow, and Oliver Wolcott. Besides the Commencements there were exhibitions upon quarter-days, as they were called, in December and March, as well as at the end of the third term, when the younger classes performed; and an exhibition of the Seniors in July, at the time of their examination for degrees, when the valedictory orator was one of their own choice. This oration was transferred to the Commencement about the year 1798, when the Masters' valedictories had fallen into disuse; and being in English, gave a new interest to the exercises of the day.

"Commencements were long occasions of noisy mirth, and even of riot. The older records are full of attempts, on the part of the Corporation, to put a stop to disorder and extravagance at this anniversary. From a document of 1731, it appears that cannons had been fired in honor of the day, and students were now forbidden to have a share in this on pain of degradation. The same prohibition was found necessary again in 1755, at which time the practice had grown up of illuminating the College buildings upon Commencement eve. But the habit of drinking spirituous liquor, and of furnishing it to friends, on this public occasion, grew up into more serious evils. In the year 1737, the Trustees, having found that there was a great expense in spirituous distilled liquors upon Commencement occasions, ordered that for the future no candidate for a degree, or other student, should provide or allow any such liquors to be drunk in his chamber during Commencement week. And again, it was ordered in 1746, with the view of preventing several extravagant and expensive customs, that there should be 'no kind of public treat but on Commencement, quarter-days, and the day on which the valedictory oration was pronounced; and on that day the Seniors may provide and give away a barrel of metheglin, and nothing more.' But the evil continued a long time. In 1760, it appears that it was usual for the graduating class to provide a pipe of wine, in the payment of which each one was forced to join. The Corporation now attempted by very stringent law to break up this practice; but the Senior Class having united in bringing large quantities of rum into College, the Commencement exercises were suspended, and degrees were withheld until after a public confession of the class. In the two next years degrees were given at the July examination, with a view to prevent such disorders, and no public Commencement was celebrated. Similar scenes are not known to have occurred afterwards, although for a long time that anniversary wore as much the aspect of a training-day as of a literary festival.

"The Commencement Day in the modern sense of the term--that is, a gathering of graduated members and of others drawn together by a common interest in the College, and in its young members who are leaving its walls--has no counterpart that I know of in the older institutions of Europe. It arose by degrees out of the former exercises upon this occasion, with the addition of such as had been usual before upon quarter-days, or at the presentation in July. For a time several of the commencing Masters appeared on the stage to pronounce orations, as they had done before. In process of time, when they had nearly ceased to exhibit, this anniversary began to assume a somewhat new feature; the peculiarity of which consists in this, that the graduates have a literary festival more peculiarly their own, in the shape of discourses delivered before their assembled body, or before some literary society."--_Woolsey's Historical Discourse_, pp. 65-68.

Further remarks concerning the observance of Commencement at Yale College may be found in Ebenezer Baldwin's "Annals" of that institution, pp. 189-197.

An article "On the Date of the First Public Commencement at Yale College, in New Haven," will be read with pleasure by those who are interested in the deductions of antiquarian research. It is contained in the "Yale Literary Magazine," Vol. XX. pp. 199, 200.

The following account of Commencement at Dartmouth College, on Wednesday, August 24th, 1774, written by Dr. Belknap, may not prove uninteresting.

"About eleven o'clock, the Commencement began in a large tent erected on the east side of the College, and covered with boards; scaffolds and seats being prepared.

"The President began with a prayer in the usual _strain_. Then an English oration was spoken by one of the Bachelors, complimenting the Trustees, &c. A syllogistic disputation on this question: _Amicitia vera non est absque amore divina_. Then a cliosophic oration. Then an anthem, 'The voice of my beloved sounds,' &c. Then a forensic dispute, _Whether Christ died for all men_? which was well supported on both sides. Then an anthem, 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates,' &c.

"The company were invited to dine at the President's and the hall. The Connecticut lads and lasses, I observed, walked about hand in hand in procession, as 't is said they go to a wedding.

"Afternoon. The exercises began with a Latin oration on the state of society by Mr. Kipley. Then an English _Oration on the Imitative Arts_, by Mr. J. Wheelock. The degrees were then conferred, and, in addition to the usual ceremony of the book, diplomas were delivered to the candidates, with this form of words: 'Admitto vos ad primum (vel secundum) gradum in artibus pro more Academiarum in Anglia, vobisque trado hunc librum, una cum potestate publice prelegendi ubicumque ad hoc munus avocati fueritis (to the masters was added, fuistis vel fueritis), cujus rei hæc diploma membrana scripta est testimonium.' Mr. Woodward stood by the President, and held the book and parchments, delivering and exchanging them as need required. Rev. Mr. Benjamin Pomeroy, of Hebron, was admitted to the degree of Doctor in Divinity.

"After this, McGregore and Sweetland, two Bachelors, spoke a dialogue of Lord Lyttleton's between Apicius and Darteneuf, upon good eating and drinking. The Mercury (who comes in at the close of the piece) performed his part but clumsily; but the two epicures did well, and the President laughed as heartily as the rest of the audience; though considering the circumstances, it might admit of some doubt, whether the dialogue were really a burlesque, or a compliment to the College.

"An anthem and prayer concluded the public exercises. Much decency and regularity were observable through the day, in the numerous attending concourse of people."--_Life of Jeremy Belknap, D.D._, pp. 69-71.

At Shelby College, Ky., it is customary at Commencement to perform plays, with appropriate costumes, at stated intervals during the exercises.

An account of the manner in which Commencement has been observed at other colleges would only be a repetition of what has been stated above, in reference to Harvard and Yale. These being, the former the first, and the latter the third institution founded in our country, the colleges which were established at a later period grounded, not only their laws, but to a great extent their customs, on the laws and customs which prevailed at Cambridge and New Haven.

COMMENCEMENT CARD. At Union College, there is issued annually at Commencement a card containing a programme of the exercises of the day, signed with the names of twelve of the Senior Class, who are members of the four principal college societies. These cards are worded in the form of invitations, and are to be sent to the friends of the students. To be "_on the Commencement card_" is esteemed an honor, and is eagerly sought for. At other colleges, invitations are often issued at this period, usually signed by the President.

COMMENCER. In American colleges, a member of the Senior Class, after the examination for degrees; generally, one who _commences_.

These exercises were, besides an oration usually made by the President, orations both salutatory and valedictory, made by some or other of the _commencers_.--_Mather's Magnalia_, B. IV. p. 128.

The Corporation with the Tutors shall visit the chambers of the _commencers_ to see that this law be well observed.--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, App., p. 137.

Thirty _commencers_, besides Mr. Rogers, &c.--_Ibid._, App., p. 150.

COMMERS. In the German universities, a party of students assembled for the purpose of making an excursion to some place in the country for a day's jollification. On such an occasion, the students usually go "in a long train of carriages with outriders"; generally, a festive gathering of the students.--_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed., p. 56; see also Chap. XVI.

COMMISSARY. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., an officer under the Chancellor, and appointed by him, who holds a court of record for all privileged persons and scholars under the degree of M.A. In this court, all causes are tried and determined by the civil and statute law, and by the custom of the University.--_Cam. Cal._

COMMON. To board together; to eat at a table in common.

COMMONER. A student of the second rank in the University of Oxford, Eng., who is not dependent on the foundation for support, but pays for his board or _commons_, together with all other charges. Corresponds to a PENSIONER at Cambridge. See GENTLEMAN COMMONER.

2. One who boards in commons.

In all cases where those who do damage to the table furniture, or in the steward's kitchen, cannot be detected, the amount shall be charged to the _commoners_.--_Laws Union Coll._, 1807, p. 34.

The steward shall keep an accurate list of the _commoners_.--_Ibid._, 1807, p. 34.

COMMON ROOM. The room to which all the members of the college have access. There is sometimes one _common room_ for graduates, and another for undergraduates.--_Crabb's Tech. Dict._

Oh, could the days once more but come, When calm I smoak'd in _common room_. _The Student_, Oxf. and Cam., 1750, Vol. I. p. 237.

COMMONS. Food provided at a common table, as in colleges, where many persons eat at the same table, or in the same hall.--_Webster_.

Commons were introduced into Harvard College at its first establishment, in the year 1636, in imitation of the English universities, and from that time until the year 1849, when they were abolished, seem to have been a never-failing source of uneasiness and disturbance. While the infant College with the title only of "school," was under the superintendence of Mr. Nathaniel Eaton, its first "master," the badness of commons was one of the principal causes of complaint. "At no subsequent period of the College history," says Mr. Quincy, "has discontent with commons been more just and well founded, than under the huswifery of Mrs. Eaton." "It is perhaps owing," Mr. Winthrop observes in his History of New England, "to the gallantry of our fathers, that she was not enjoined in the perpetual malediction they bestowed on her husband." A few years after, we read, in the "Information given by the Corporation and Overseers to the General Court," a proposition either to make "the scholars' charges less, or their commons better." For a long period after this we have no account of the state of commons, "but it is not probable," says Mr. Peirce, "they were materially different from what they have been since."

During the administration of President Holyoke, from 1737 to 1769, commons were the constant cause of disorders among the students. There appears to have been a very general permission to board in private families before the year 1737: an attempt was then made to compel the undergraduates to board in commons. After many resolutions, a law was finally passed, in 1760, prohibiting them "from dining or supping in any house in town, except on an invitation to dine or sup _gratis_." "The law," says Quincy, "was probably not very strictly enforced. It was limited to one year, and was not renewed."

An idea of the quality of commons may be formed from the following accounts furnished by Dr. Holyoke and Judge Wingate. According to the former of these gentlemen, who graduated in 1746, the "breakfast was two sizings of bread and a cue of beer"; and "evening commons were a pye." The latter, who graduated thirteen years after, says: "As to the commons, there were in the morning none while I was in College. At dinner, we had, of rather ordinary quality, a sufficiency of meat of some kind, either baked or boiled; and at supper, we had either a pint of milk and half a biscuit, or a meat pye of some other kind. Such were the commons in the hall in my day. They were rather ordinary; but I was young and hearty, and could live comfortably upon them. I had some classmates who paid for their commons and never entered the hall while they belonged to the College. We were allowed at dinner a cue of beer, which was a half-pint, and a sizing of bread, which I cannot describe to you. It was quite sufficient for one dinner." By a vote of the Corporation in 1750, a law was passed, declaring "that the quantity of commons be as hath been usual, viz. two sizes of bread in the morning; one pound of meat at dinner, with sufficient sauce" (vegetables), "and a half a pint of beer; and at night that a part pie be of the same quantity as usual, and also half a pint of beer; and that the supper messes be but of four parts, though the dinner messes be of six." This agrees in substance with the accounts given above. The consequence of such diet was, "that the sons of the rich," says Mr. Quincy, "accustomed to better fare, paid for commons, which they would not eat, and never entered the hall; while the students whose resources did not admit of such an evasion were perpetually dissatisfied."

About ten years after, another law was made, "to restrain scholars from breakfasting in the houses of town's people," and provision was made "for their being accommodated with breakfast in the hall, either milk, chocolate, tea, or coffee, as they should respectively choose." They were allowed, however, to provide themselves with breakfasts in their own chambers, but not to breakfast in one another's chambers. From this period breakfast was as regularly provided in commons as dinner, but it was not until about the year 1807 that an evening meal was also regularly provided.

In the year 1765, after the erection of Hollis Hall, the accommodations for students within the walls were greatly enlarged; and the inconvenience being thus removed which those had experienced who, living out of the College buildings, were compelled to eat in commons, a system of laws was passed, by which all who occupied rooms within the College walls were compelled to board constantly in common, "the officers to be exempted only by the Corporation, with the consent of the Overseers; the students by the President only when they were about to be absent for at least one week." Scarcely a year had passed under this new _régime_ "before," says Quincy, "an open revolt of the students took place on account of the provisions, which it took more than a month to quell." "Although," he continues, "their proceedings were violent, illegal, and insulting, yet the records of the immediate government show unquestionably, that the disturbances, in their origin, were not wholly without cause, and that they were aggravated by want of early attention to very natural and reasonable complaints."

During the war of the American Revolution, the difficulty of providing satisfactory commons was extreme, as may be seen from the following vote of the Corporation, passed Aug. 11th, 1777.

"Whereas by law 9th of Chap. VI. it is provided, 'that there shall always be chocolate, tea, coffee, and milk for breakfast, with bread and biscuit and butter,' and whereas the foreign articles above mentioned are now not to be procured without great difficulty, and at a very exorbitant price; therefore, that the charge of commons may be kept as low as possible,--

"_Voted_, That the Steward shall provide at the common charge only bread or biscuit and milk for breakfast; and, if any of the scholars choose tea, coffee, or chocolate for breakfast, they shall procure those articles for themselves, and likewise the sugar and butter to be used with them; and if any scholars choose to have their milk boiled, or thickened with flour, if it may be had, or with meal, the Steward, having reasonable notice, shall provide it; and further, as salt fish alone is appointed by the aforesaid law for the dinner on Saturdays, and this article is now risen to a very high price, and through the scarcity of salt will probably be higher, the Steward shall not be obliged to provide salt fish, but shall procure fresh fish as often as he can."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. II. p. 541.

Many of the facts in the following account of commons prior to, and immediately succeeding, the year 1800, have been furnished by Mr. Royal Morse of Cambridge.

The hall where the students took their meals was usually provided with ten tables; at each table were placed two messes, and each mess consisted of eight persons. The tables where the Tutors and Seniors sat were raised eighteen or twenty inches, so as to overlook the rest. It was the duty of one of the Tutors or of the Librarian to "ask a blessing and return thanks," and in their absence, the duty devolved on "the senior graduate or undergraduate." The waiters were students, chosen from the different classes, and receiving for their services suitable compensation. Each table was waited on by members of the class which occupied it, with the exception of the Tutor's table, at which members of the Senior Class served. Unlike the _sizars_ and _servitors_ at the English universities, the waiters were usually much respected, and were in many cases the best scholars in their respective classes.

The breakfast consisted of a specified quantity of coffee, a _size_ of baker's biscuit, which was one biscuit, and a _size_ of butter, which was about an ounce. If any one wished for more than was provided, he was obliged to _size_ it, i.e. order from the kitchen or buttery, and this was charged as extra commons or _sizings_ in the quarter-bill.

At dinner, every mess was served with eight pounds of meat, allowing a pound to each person. On Monday and Thursday the meat was boiled; these days were on this account commonly called "boiling days." On the other days the meat was roasted; these were accordingly named "roasting days." Two potatoes were allowed to each person, which he was obliged to pare for himself. On _boiling days_, pudding and cabbage were added to the bill of fare, and in their season, greens, either dandelion or the wild pea. Of bread, a _size_ was the usual quantity apiece, at dinner. Cider was the common beverage, of which there was no stated allowance, but each could drink as much as he chose. It was brought, on in pewter quart cans, two to a mess, out of which they drank, passing them from mouth to mouth like the English wassail-bowl. The waiters replenished them as soon as they were emptied.

No regular supper was provided, but a bowl of milk, and a size of bread procured at the kitchen, supplied the place of the evening meal.

Respecting the arrangement of the students at table, before referred to, Professor Sidney Willard remarks: "The intercourse among students at meals was not casual or promiscuous. Generally, the students of the same class formed themselves into messes, as they were called, consisting each of eight members; and the length of one table was sufficient to seat two messes. A mess was a voluntary association of those who liked each other's company; and each member had his own place. This arrangement was favorable for good order; and, where the members conducted themselves with propriety, their cheerful conversation, and even exuberant spirits and hilarity, if not too boisterous, were not unpleasant to that portion of the government who presided at the head table. But the arrangement afforded opportunities also for combining in factious plans and organizations, tending to disorders, which became infectious, and terminated unhappily for all concerned."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. II. pp. 192, 193.

A writer in the New England Magazine, referring to the same period, says: "In commons, we fared as well as one half of us had been accustomed to at home. Our breakfast consisted of a good-sized biscuit of wheaten flour, with butter and coffee, chocolate, or milk, at our option. Our dinner was served up on dishes of pewter, and our drink, which was cider, in cans of the same material. For our suppers, we went with our bowls to the kitchen, and received our rations of milk, or chocolate, and bread, and returned with them to our rooms."--Vol. III. p. 239.