Chapter 20

"If any Freshman near the Time of Commencement shall fire the great Guns, or give or promise any Money, Counsel, or Assistance towards their being fired; or shall illuminate College with Candles, either on the Inside or Outside of the Windows, or exhibit any such Kind of Show, or dig or scrape the College Yard otherwise than with the Liberty and according to the Directions of the President in the Manner formerly practised, or run in the College Yard in Company, they shall be deprived the Privilege of sending Freshmen three Months after the End of the Year."--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1774, pp. 13, 25, 26.

To the latter of these laws, a clause was subsequently added, declaring that every Freshman who should "do anything unsuitable for a Freshman" should be deprived of the privilege "of sending Freshmen on errands, or teaching them manners, during the first three months of _his_ Sophomore year."--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1787, in _Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 140.

In the Sketches of Yale College, p. 174, is the following anecdote, relating to this subject:--"A Freshman was once furnished with a dollar, and ordered by one of the upper classes to procure for him pipes and tobacco, from the farthest store on Long Wharf, a good mile distant. Being at that time compelled by College laws to obey the unreasonable demand, he proceeded according to orders, and returned with ninety-nine cents' worth of pipes and one pennyworth of tobacco. It is needless to add that he was not again sent on a similar errand."

The custom of obliging the Freshmen to run on errands for the Seniors was done away with at Dartmouth College, by the class of 1797, at the close of their Freshman year, when, having served their own time out, they presented a petition to the Trustees to have it abolished.

In the old laws of Middlebury College are the two following regulations in regard to Freshmen, which seem to breathe the same spirit as those cited above. "Every Freshman shall be obliged to do any proper errand or message for the Authority of the College." --"It shall be the duty of the Senior Class to inspect the manners of the Freshman Class, and to instruct them in the customs of the College, and in that graceful and decent behavior toward superiors, which politeness and a just and reasonable subordination require."--_Laws_, 1804, pp. 6, 7.

FRESHMANSHIP. The state of a Freshman.

A man who had been my fellow-pupil with him from the beginning of our _Freshmanship_, would meet him there.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 150.

FRESHMAN'S LANDMARK. At Cambridge, Eng., King's College Chapel is thus designated. "This stupendous edifice may be seen for several miles on the London road, and indeed from most parts of the adjacent country."--_Grad. ad Cantab._

FRESHMAN, TUTOR'S. In Harvard College, the _Freshman_ who occupies a room under a _Tutor_. He is required to do the errands of the Tutor which relate to College, and in return has a high choice of rooms in his Sophomore year.

The same remarks, _mutatis mutandis_, apply to the _Proctor's Freshman_.

FRESH-SOPH. An abbreviation of _Freshman-Sophomore_. One who enters college in the _Sophomore_ year, having passed the time of the _Freshman_ year elsewhere.

I was a _Fresh-Sophomore_ then, and a waiter in the commons' hall. --_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 114.

FROG. In Germany, a student while in the gymnasium, and before entering the university, is called a _Frosch_,--a frog.

FUNK. Disgust; weariness; fright. A sensation sometimes experienced by students in view of an examination.

In Cantab phrase I was suffering examination _funk_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 61.

A singular case of _funk_ occurred at this examination. The man who would have been second, took fright when four of the six days were over, and fairly ran away, not only from the examination, but out of Cambridge, and was not discovered by his friends or family till some time after.--_Ibid._, p. 125.

One of our Scholars, who stood a much better chance than myself, gave up from mere _funk_, and resolved to go out in the Poll.--_Ibid._, p. 229.

2. Fear or sensibility to fear. The general application of the term.

So my friend's first fault is timidity, which is only not recognized as such on account of its vast proportions. I grant, then, that the _funk_ is sublime, which is a true and friendly admission.--_A letter to the N.Y. Tribune_, in _Lit. World_, Nov. 30, 1850.

_G_.

GAS. To impose upon another by a consequential address, or by detailing improbable stories or using "great swelling words"; to deceive; to cheat.

Found that Fairspeech only wanted to "_gas_" me, which he did pretty effectually.--_Sketches of Williams College_, p. 72.

GATE BILL. In the English universities, the record of a pupil's failures to be within his college at or before a specified hour of the night.

To avoid gate-bills, he will be out at night as late as he pleases, and will defy any one to discover his absence; for he will climb over the college walls, and fee his Gyp well, when he is out all night--_Grad. ad Cantab._, p. 128.

GATED. At the English universities, students who, for misdemeanors, are not permitted to be out of their college after ten in the evening, are said to be _gated_.

"_Gated_," i.e. obliged to be within the college walls by ten o'clock at night; by this he is prevented from partaking in suppers, or other nocturnal festivities, in any other college or in lodgings.--Note to _The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.

The lighter college offences, such as staying out at night or missing chapel, are punished by what they term "_gating_"; in one form of which, a man is actually confined to his rooms: in a more mild way, he is simply restricted to the precincts of the college. --_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 241.

GAUDY. In the University of Oxford, a feast or festival. The days on which they occur are called _gaudies_ or _gaudy days_. "Blount, in his Glossographia," says Archdeacon Nares in his Glossary, "speaks of a foolish derivation of the word from a Judge _Gaudy_, said to have been the institutor of such days. But _such_ days were held in all times, and did not want a judge to invent them."

Come, Let's have one other _gaudy_ night: call to me All my sad captains; fill our bowls; once more Let's mock the midnight bell. _Antony and Cleopatra_, Act. III. Sc. 11.

A foolish utensil of state, Which like old plate upon a _gaudy day_, 's brought forth to make a show, and that is all. _Goblins_, Old Play, X. 143.

Edmund Riche, called of Pontigny, Archbishop of Canterbury. After his death he was canonized by Pope Innocent V., and his day in the calendar, 16 Nov., was formerly kept as a "_gaudy_" by the members of the hall.--_Oxford Guide_, Ed. 1847, p. 121.

2. An entertainment; a treat; a spree.

Cut lectures, go to chapel as little as possible, dine in hall seldom more than once a week, give _Gaudies_ and spreads.--_Gradus ad Cantab._, p. 122.

GENTLEMAN-COMMONER. The highest class of Commoners at Oxford University. Equivalent to a Cambridge _Fellow-Commoner_.

Gentlemen Commoners "are eldest sons, or only sons, or men already in possession of estates, or else (which is as common a case as all the rest put together), they are the heirs of newly acquired wealth,--sons of the _nouveaux riches_"; they enjoy a privilege as regards the choice of rooms; associate at meals with the Fellows and other authorities of the College; are the possessors of two gowns, "an undress for the morning, and a full dress-gown for the evening," both of which are made of silk, the latter being very elaborately ornamented; wear a cap, covered with velvet instead of cloth; pay double caution money, at entrance, viz. fifty guineas, and are charged twenty guineas a year for tutorage, twice the amount of the usual fee.--Compiled from _De Quincey's Life and Manners_, pp. 278-280.

GET UP A SUBJECT. See SUBJECT.

This was the fourth time I had begun Algebra, and essayed with no weakness of purpose to _get_ it _up_ properly.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 157.

GILL. The projecting parts of a standing collar are, from their situation, sometimes denominated _gills_.

But, O, what rage his maddening bosom fills! Far worse than dust-soiled coat are ruined "_gills_." _Poem before the Class of 1828, Harv. Coll., by J.C. Richmond_, p. 6.

GOBBLE. At Yale College, to seize; to lay hold of; to appropriate; nearly the same as to _collar_, q.v.

Alas! how dearly for the fun they paid, Whom the Proffs _gobbled_, and the Tutors too. _The Gallinipper_, Dec. 1849.

I never _gobbled_ one poor flat, To cheer me with his soft dark eye, &c. _Yale Tomahawk_, Nov. 1849.

I went and performed, and got through the burning, But oh! and alas! I was _gobbled_ returning. _Yale Banger_, Nov. 1850.

Upon that night, in the broad street, was I by one of the brain-deficient men _gobbled_.--_Yale Battery_, Feb. 1850.

Then shout for the hero who _gobbles_ the prize. _Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 39.

At Cambridge, Eng., this word is used in the phrase _gobbling Greek_, i.e. studying or speaking that tongue.

Ambitious to "_gobble_" his Greek in the _haute monde_.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. I. p. 79.

It was now ten o'clock, and up stairs we therefore flew to _gobble_ Greek with Professor ----.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 127.

You may have seen him, traversing the grass-plots, "_gobbling Greek_" to himself.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 210.

GOLGOTHA. _The place of a skull_. At Cambridge, Eng., in the University Church, "a particular part," says the Westminster Review, "is appropriated to the _heads_ of the houses, and is called _Golgotha_ therefrom, a name which the appearance of its occupants renders peculiarly fitting, independent of the pun."--Am. ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 236.

GONUS. A stupid fellow.

He was a _gonus_; perhaps, though, you don't know what _gonus_ means. One day I heard a Senior call a fellow a _gonus_. "A what?" said I. "A great gonus," repeated he. "_Gonus_," echoed I, "what's that mean?" "O," said he, "you're a Freshman and don't understand." A stupid fellow, a dolt, a boot-jack, an ignoramus, is called here a _gonus_. "All Freshmen," continued he gravely, "are _gonuses_."--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 116.

If the disquisitionist should ever reform his habits, and turn his really brilliant talents to some good account, then future _gonuses_ will swear by his name, and quote him in their daily maledictions of the appointment system.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. I. p. 76.

The word _goney_, with the same meaning, is often used.

"How the _goney_ swallowed it all, didn't he?" said Mr. Slick, with great glee.--_Slick in England_, Chap. XXI.

Some on 'em were fools enough to believe the _goney_; that's a fact.--_Ibid._

GOOD FELLOW. At the University of Vermont, this term is used with a signification directly opposite to that which it usually has. It there designates a soft-brained boy; one who is lacking in intellect, or, as a correspondent observes, "an _epithetical_ fool."

GOODY. At Harvard College, a woman who has the care of the students' rooms. The word seems to be an abbreviated form of the word _goodwife_. It has long been in use, as a low term of civility or sport, and in some cases with the signification of a good old dame; but in the sense above given it is believed to be peculiar to Harvard College. In early times, _sweeper_ was in use instead of _goody_, and even now at Yale College the word _sweep_ is retained. The words _bed-maker_ at Cambridge, Eng., and _gyp_ at Oxford, express the same idea.

The Rebelliad, an epic poem, opens with an invocation to the Goody, as follows.

Old _Goody_ Muse! on thee I call, _Pro more_, (as do poets all,) To string thy fiddle, wax thy bow, And scrape a ditty, jig, or so. Now don't wax wrathy, but excuse My calling you old _Goody_ Muse; Because "_Old Goody_" is a name Applied to every college dame. Aloft in pendent dignity, Astride her magic broom, And wrapt in dazzling majesty, See! see! the _Goody_ come!--p. 11.

Go on, dear _Goody_! and recite The direful mishaps of the fight.--_Ibid._, p. 20.

The _Goodies_ hearing, cease to sweep, And listen; while the cook-maids weep.--_Ibid._, p. 47.

The _Goody_ entered with her broom, To make his bed and sweep his room.--_Ibid._, p. 73.

On opening the papers left to his care, he found a request that his effects might be bestowed on his friend, the _Goody_, who had been so attentive to him during his declining hours.--_Harvard Register_, 1827-28, p. 86.

I was interrupted by a low knock at my door, followed by the entrance of our old _Goody_, with a bundle of musty papers in her hand, tied round with a soiled red ribbon.--_Collegian_, 1830, p. 231.

Were there any _Goodies_ when you were in college, father? Perhaps you did not call them by that name. They are nice old ladies (not so _very_ nice, either), who come in every morning, after we have been to prayers, and sweep the rooms, and make the beds, and do all that sort of work. However, they don't much like their title, I find; for I called one, the other day, _Mrs. Goodie_, thinking it was her real name, and she was as sulky as she could be.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.

Yet these half-emptied bottles shall I take, And, having purged them of this wicked stuff, Make a small present unto _Goody_ Bush. _Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 257.

Reader! wert ever beset by a dun? ducked by the _Goody_ from thine own window, when "creeping like snail unwillingly" to morning prayers?--_Ibid._, Vol. IV. p. 274.

The crowd delighted Saw them, like _Goodies_, clothed in gowns of satin, Of silk or cotton.--_Childe Harvard_, p. 26, 1848.

On the wall hangs a Horse-shoe I found in the street; 'T is the shoe that to-day sets in motion my feet; Though its charms are all vanished this many a year, And not even my _Goody_ regards it with fear. _The Horse-Shoe, a Poem, by J.B. Felton_, 1849, p. 4.

A very clever elegy on the death of Goody Morse, who "For forty years or more ... contrived the while No little dust to raise" in the rooms of the students of Harvard College, is to be found in Harvardiana, Vol. I. p. 233. It was written by Mr. (afterwards Rev.) Benjamin Davis Winslow. In the poem which he read before his class in the University Chapel at Cambridge, July 14, 1835, he referred to her in these lines:

"'New brooms sweep clean': 't was thine, dear _Goody_ Morse, To prove the musty proverb hath no force, Since fifty years to vanished centuries crept, While thy old broom our cloisters duly swept. All changed but thee! beneath thine aged eye Whole generations came and flitted by, Yet saw thee still in office;--e'en reform Spared thee the pelting of its angry storm. Rest to thy bones in yonder church-yard laid, Where thy last bed the village sexton made!"--p. 19.

GORM. From _gormandize_. At Hamilton College, to eat voraciously.

GOT. In Princeton College, when a student or any one else has been cheated or taken in, it is customary to say, he was _got_.

GOVERNMENT. In American colleges, the general government is usually vested in a corporation or a board of trustees, whose powers, rights, and duties are established by the respective charters of the colleges over which they are placed. The immediate government of the undergraduates is in the hands of the president, professors, and tutors, who are styled _the Government_, or _the College Government_, and more frequently _the Faculty_, or _the College Faculty_.--_Laws of Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, pp. 7, 8. _Laws of Yale Coll._, 1837, p. 5.

For many years he was the most conspicuous figure among those who constituted what was formerly called "the _Government_."--_Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D._, p. vii.

[Greek: Kudiste], mighty President!!! [Greek: Kalomen nun] the _Government_.--_Rebelliad_, p. 27.

Did I not jaw the _Government_, For cheating more than ten per cent?--_Ibid._, p. 32.

They shall receive due punishment From Harvard College _Government_.--_Ibid._, p. 44.

The annexed production, printed from a MS. in the author's handwriting, and in the possession of the editor of this work, is now, it is believed, for the first time presented to the public. The time is 1787; the scene, Harvard College. The poem was "written by John Q. Adams, son of the President, when an undergraduate."

"A DESCRIPTION OF A GOVERNMENT MEETING.

"The Government of College met, And _Willard_[31] rul'd the stern debate. The witty _Jennison_[32] declar'd As how, he'd been completely scar'd; Last night, quoth he, as I came home, I heard a noise in _Prescott's_[33] room. I went and listen'd at the door, As I had often done before; I found the Juniors in a high rant, They call'd the President a tyrant; And said as how I was a fool, A long ear'd ass, a sottish mule, Without the smallest grain of spunk; So I concluded they were drunk. At length I knock'd, and Prescott came: I told him 't was a burning shame, That he should give his classmates wine; And he should pay a heavy fine. Meanwhile the rest grew so outragious, Altho' I boast of being couragious, I could not help being in a fright, For one of them put out the light. I thought 't was best to come away, And wait for vengeance 'till this day; And he's a fool at any rate Who'll fight, when he can RUSTICATE. When they [had] found that I was gone, They ran through College up and down; And I could hear them very plain Take the Lord's holy name in vain. To Wier's[34] chamber they then repair'd, And there the wine they freely shar'd; They drank and sung till they were tir'd. And then they peacefully retir'd. When this Homeric speech was said, With drolling tongue and hanging head, The learned Doctor took his seat, Thinking he'd done a noble feat. Quoth Joe,[35] the crime is great I own, Send for the Juniors one by one. By this almighty wig I swear, Which with such majesty I wear, Which in its orbit vast contains My dignity, my power and brains, That Wier and Prescott both shall see, That College boys must not be free. He spake, and gave the awful nod Like Homer's Didonean God, The College from its centre shook, And every pipe and wine-glass broke.

"_Williams_,[36] with countenance humane, While scarce from laughter could refrain, Thought that such youthful scenes of mirth To punishment could not give birth; Nor could he easily divine What was the harm of drinking wine.

"But _Pearson_,[37] with an awful frown, Full of his article and noun, Spake thus: by all the parts of speech Which I so elegantly teach, By mercy I will never stain The character which I sustain. Pray tell me why the laws were made, If they're not to be obey'd; Besides, _that Wier_ I can't endure, For he's a wicked rake, I'm sure. But whether I am right or not, I'll not recede a single jot.

"_James_[38] saw 'twould be in vain t' oppose, And therefore to be silent chose.

"_Burr_,[39] who had little wit or pride, Preferr'd to take the strongest side. And Willard soon receiv'd commission To give a publick admonition. With pedant strut to prayers he came, Call'd out the criminals by name; Obedient to his dire command, Prescott and Wier before him stand. The rulers merciful and kind, With equal grief and wonder find, That you do drink, and play, and sing, And make with noise the College ring. I therefore warn you to beware Of drinking more than you can bear. Wine an incentive is to riot, Disturbance of the publick quiet. Full well your Tutors know the truth, For sad experience taught their youth. Take then this friendly exhortation; The next offence is RUSTICATION."

GOWN. A long, loose upper garment or robe, worn by professional men, as divines, lawyers, students, &c., who are called _men of the gown_, or _gownmen_. It is made of any kind of cloth, worn over ordinary clothes, and hangs down to the ankles, or nearly so. --_Encyc._

From a letter written in the year 1766, by Mr. Holyoke, then President of Harvard College, it would appear that gowns were first worn by the members of that institution about the year 1760. The gown, although worn by the students in the English universities, is now seldom worn in American colleges except on Commencement, Exhibition, or other days of a similar public character.

The students are permitted to wear black _gowns_, in which they may appear on all public occasions.--_Laws Harv. Coll._, 1798, p. 37.

Every candidate for a first degree shall wear a black dress and the usual black _gown_.--_Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass._, 1848, p. 20.

The performers all wore black _gowns_ with sleeves large enough to hold me in, and shouted and swung their arms, till they looked like so many Methodist ministers just ordained.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 111.

Saw them ... clothed in _gowns_ of satin, Or silk or cotton, black as souls benighted.-- All, save the _gowns_, was startling, splendid, tragic, But gowns on men have lost their wonted magic. _Childe Harvard_, p. 26.

The door swings open--and--he comes! behold him Wrapt in his mantling _gown_, that round him flows Waving, as Cæsar's toga did enfold him.--_Ibid._, p. 36.

On Saturday evenings, Sundays, and Saints' days, the students wear surplices instead of their _gowns_, and very innocent and exemplary they look in them.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 21.

2. One who wears a gown.

And here, I think, I may properly introduce a very singular gallant, a sort of mongrel between town and _gown_,--I mean a bibliopola, or (as the vulgar have it) a bookseller.--_The Student_, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. II. p. 226.

GOWNMAN, GOWNSMAN. One whose professional habit is a gown, as a divine or lawyer, and particularly a member of an English university.--_Webster_.

The _gownman_ learned.--_Pope_.

Oft has some fair inquirer bid me say, What tasks, what sports beguile the _gownsman's_ day. _The College_, in _Blackwood's Mag._, May, 1849.

For if townsmen by our influence are so enlightened, what must we _gownsmen_ be ourselves?--_The Student_, Oxf. and Cam., Vol. I. p. 56.

Nor must it be supposed that the _gownsmen_ are thin, study-worn, consumptive-looking individuals.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 5.

See CAP.

GRACE. In English universities, an act, vote, or decree of the government of the institution.--_Webster_.

"All _Graces_ (as the legislative measures proposed by the Senate are termed) have to be submitted first to the Caput, each member of which has an absolute veto on the grace. If it passes the Caput, it is then publicly recited in both houses, [the regent and non-regent,] and at a subsequent meeting voted on, first in the Non-Regent House, and then in the other. If it passes both, it becomes valid."--_Literary World_, Vol. XII. p. 283.

See CAPUT SENATUS.

GRADUATE. To honor with a degree or diploma, in a college or university; to confer a degree on; as, to _graduate_ a master of arts.--_Wotton_.

_Graduated_ a doctor, and dubb'd a knight.--_Carew_.

Pickering, in his Vocabulary, says of the word _graduate_: "Johnson has it as a verb active only. But an English friend observes, that 'the active sense of this word is rare in England.' I have met with one instance in an English publication where it is used in a dialogue, in the following manner: 'You, methinks, _are graduated_.' See a review in the British Critic, Vol. XXXIV. p. 538."

In Mr. Todd's edition of Johnson's Dictionary, this word is given as a verb intransitive also: "To take an academical degree; to become a graduate; as he _graduated_ at Oxford."