Marion Foster Washburne - "Study of Child Life"

Various - "Notes & Queries, No. 38, Saturday, July 20, 1850"

Dr. John Scudder - "Dr. Scudder's Tales for Little Readers, About the Heathen."

Nellie L. McClung - "Three Times and Out"

Book Review: The Case Against Adolescence by Doug French
Moreover Technologies - Premier purveyor of real-time news and RSS feeds from across the Web

Book Review: grown up digital
Ad - Free Shipping on purchases over $59.95 of products online at Tennis Express.

Books: Book review: 'The Mercy Papers' and 'Downtown Owl'
Extract not available.

A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / R / S / T / U / V / W / Y / Z

A Collection of College Words and Customs written by Benjamin Homer Hall

B >> Benjamin Homer Hall >> A Collection of College Words and Customs




Ponies, _Interliners_, Ticks, Screws, and Deads (these are all
college verbalities) were all put under contribution.--_A Tour
through College_, Boston, 1832, p. 25.


INTONITANS BOLUS. Greek, [Greek: bolos], a lump. Latin, _bolus_, a
bit, a morsel. English, _bolus_, a mass of anything made into a
large pill. It may be translated _a thundering pill_. At Harvard
College, the _Intonitans Bolus_ was a great cane or club which was
given nominally to the strongest fellow in the graduating class;
"but really," says a correspondent, "to the greatest bully," and
thus was transmitted, as an entailed estate, to the Samsons of
College. If any one felt that he had been wronged in not receiving
this emblem of valor, he was permitted to take it from its
possessor if he could. In later years the club presented a very
curious appearance; being almost entirely covered with the names
of those who had held it, carved on its surface in letters of all
imaginable shapes and descriptions. At one period, it was in the
possession of Richard Jeffrey Cleveland, a member of the class of
1827, and was by him transmitted to Jonathan Saunderson of the
class of 1828. It has disappeared within the last fifteen or
twenty years, and its hiding-place, even if it is in existence, is
not known.

See BULLY CLUB.


INVALID'S TABLE. At Yale College, in former times, a table at
which those who were not in health could obtain more nutritious
food than was supplied at the common board. A graduate at that
institution has referred to the subject in the annexed extract.
"It was extremely difficult to obtain permission to board out, and
indeed impossible except in extreme cases: the beginning of such
permits would have been like the letting out of water. To take
away all pretext for it, an '_invalid's table_' was provided,
where, if one chose to avail himself of it, having a doctor's
certificate that his health required it, he might have a somewhat
different diet."--_Scenes and Characters in College, New Haven_,
1847, pp. 117, 118.



_J_.


JACK-KNIFE. At Harvard College it has long been the custom for the
ugliest member of the Senior Class to receive from his classmates
a _Jack-knife_, as a reward or consolation for the plainness of
his features. In former times, it was transmitted from class to
class, its possessor in the graduating class presenting it to the
one who was deemed the ugliest in the class next below.

Mr. William Biglow, a member of the class of 1794, the recipient
for that year of the Jack-knife,--in an article under the head of
"Omnium Gatherum," published in the Federal Orrery, April 27,
1795, entitled, "A Will: Being the last words of CHARLES
CHATTERBOX, Esq., late worthy and much lamented member of the
Laughing Club of Harvard University, who departed college life,
June 21, 1794, in the twenty-first year of his age,"--presents
this _transmittendum_ to his successor, with the following
words:--

"_Item_. C---- P----s[41] has my knife,
During his natural college life;
That knife, which ugliness inherits,
And due to his superior merits,
And when from Harvard he shall steer,
I order him to leave it here,
That't may from class to class descend,
Till time and ugliness shall end."

Mr. Prentiss, in the autumn of 1795, soon after graduating,
commenced the publication of the Rural Repository, at Leominster,
Mass. In one of the earliest numbers of this paper, following the
example of Mr. Biglow, he published his will, which Mr. Paine, the
editor of the Federal Orrery, immediately transferred to his
columns with this introductory note:--"Having, in the second
number of 'Omnium Gatherum' presented to our readers the last will
and testament of Charles Chatterbox, Esq., of witty memory,
wherein the said Charles, now deceased, did lawfully bequeath to
Ch----s Pr----s the celebrated 'Ugly Knife,' to be by him
transmitted, at his college demise, to the next succeeding
candidate; -------- and whereas the said Ch----s Pr----s, on the
21st of June last, departed his aforesaid college life, thereby
leaving to the inheritance of his successor the valuable legacy
which his illustrious friend had bequeathed, as an entailed
estate, to the poets of the university,--we have thought proper to
insert a full, true, and attested copy of the will of the last
deceased heir, in order that the world may be furnished with a
correct genealogy of this renowned _Jack-knife_, whose pedigree
will become as illustrious in after time as the family of the
'ROLLES,' and which will be celebrated by future wits as the most
formidable _weapon_ of modern genius."

That part of the will only is here inserted which refers
particularly to the Knife. It is as follows:--

"I--I say I, now make this will;
Let those whom I assign fulfil.
I give, grant, render, and convey
My goods and chattels thus away;
That _honor of a college life,
That celebrated_ UGLY KNIFE,
Which predecessor SAWNEY[42] orders,
Descending to time's utmost borders,
To _noblest bard_ of _homeliest phiz_,
To have and hold and use, as his,
I now present C----s P----y S----r,[43]
To keep with his poetic lumber,
To scrape his quid, and make a split,
To point his pen for sharpening wit;
And order that he ne'er abuse
Said ugly knife, in dirtier use,
And let said CHARLES, that best of writers,
In prose satiric skilled to bite us,
And equally in verse delight us,
Take special care to keep it clean
From unpoetic hands,--I ween.
And when those walls, the muses' seat,
Said S----r is obliged to quit,
Let some one of APOLLO'S firing,
To such heroic joys aspiring,
Who long has borne a poet's name,
With said Knife cut his way to fame."
See _Buckingham's Reminiscences_, Vol. II. pp. 281, 270.

Tradition asserts that the original Jack-knife was terminated at
one end of the handle by a large blade, and at the other by a
projecting piece of iron, to which a chain of the same metal was
attached, and that it was customary to carry it in the pocket
fastened by this chain to some part of the person. When this was
lost, and the custom of transmitting the Knife went out of
fashion, the class, guided by no rule but that of their own fancy,
were accustomed to present any thing in the shape of a knife,
whether oyster or case, it made no difference. In one instance a
wooden one was given, and was immediately burned by the person who
received it. At present the Jack-knife is voted to the ugliest
member of the Senior Class, at the meeting for the election of
officers for Class Day, and the sum appropriated for its purchase
varies in different years from fifty cents to twenty dollars. The
custom of presenting the Jack-knife is one of the most amusing of
those which have come down to us from the past, and if any
conclusion may be drawn from the interest which is now manifested
in its observance, it is safe to infer, in the words of the poet,
that it will continue
"Till time and ugliness shall end."

In the Collegiate Institute of Indiana, a Jack-knife is given to
the greatest liar, as a reward of merit.

See WILL.


JAPANNED. A cant term in use at the University of Cambridge, Eng.,
explained in the following passage. "Many ... step ... into the
Church, without any pretence of other change than in the attire of
their outward man,--the being '_japanned_,' as assuming the black
dress and white cravat is called in University slang."--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 344.


JESUIT. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a member of Jesus
College.


JOBATION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a sharp reprimand
from the Dean for some offence, not eminently heinous.

Thus dismissed the august presence, he recounts this _jobation_ to
his friends, and enters into a discourse on masters, deans,
tutors, and proctors.--_Grad. ad Cantab._, p. 124.


JOBE. To reprove; to reprimand. "In the University of Cambridge,
[Eng.,] the young scholars are wont to call chiding,
_jobing_."--_Grad. ad Cantab._

I heard a lively young man assert, that, in consequence of an
intimation from the tutor relative to his irregularities, his
father came from the country to _jobe_ him.--_Gent. Mag._, Dec.
1794.


JOE. A name given at several American colleges to a privy. It is
said that when Joseph Penney was President of Hamilton College, a
request from the students that the privies might be cleansed was
met by him with a denial. In consequence of this refusal, the
offices were purified by fire on the night of November 5th. The
derivation of the word, allowing the truth of this story, is
apparent.

The following account of _Joe-Burning_ is by a correspondent from
Hamilton College:--"On the night of the 5th of November, every
year, the Sophomore Class burn 'Joe.' A large pile is made of
rails, logs, and light wood, in the form of a triangle. The space
within is filled level to the top, with all manner of
combustibles. A 'Joe' is then sought for by the class, carried
from its foundations on a rude bier, and placed on this pile. The
interior is filled with wood and straw, surrounding a barrel of
tar placed in the middle, over all of which gallons of turpentine
are thrown, and then set fire to. From the top of the lofty hill
on which the College buildings are situated, this fire can be seen
for twenty miles around. The Sophomores are all disguised in the
most odd and grotesque dresses. A ring is formed around the
burning 'Joe,' and a chant is sung. Horses of the neighbors are
obtained and ridden indiscriminately, without saddle or bridle.
The burning continues usually until daylight."

Ponamus Convivium
_Josephi_ in locum
Et id uremus.
_Convivii Exsequiae, Hamilton Coll._, 1850.


JOHNIAN. A member of St. John's College in the University of
Cambridge, Eng.

The _Johnians_ are always known by the name of pigs; they put up a
new organ the other day, which was immediately christened "Baconi
Novum Organum."--_Westminster Rev._, Am. ed., Vol. XXXV., p 236.


JUN. Abbreviated for Junior.

The target for all the venomed darts of rowdy Sophs, magnificent
_Juns_, and lazy Senes.--_The Yale Banger_, Nov. 10, 1846.


JUNE. An abbreviation of Junior.

I once to Yale a Fresh did come,
But now a jolly _June_,
Returning to my distant home,
I bear the wooden spoon.
_Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 36.

But now, when no longer a Fresh or a Soph,
Each blade is a gentleman _June_.
_Ibid._, p. 39.


JUNE TRAINING. The following interesting and entertaining account
of one of the distinguishing customs of the University of Vermont,
is from the pen of one of her graduates, to whom the editor of
this work is under many obligations for the valuable assistance he
has rendered in effecting the completeness of this Collection.

"In the old time when militia trainings were in fashion, the
authorities of Burlington decided that, whereas the students of
the University of Vermont claimed and were allowed the right of
suffrage, they were to be considered citizens, and consequently
subject to military duty. The students having refused to appear on
parade, were threatened with prosecution; and at last they
determined to make their appearance. This they did on a certain
'training day,' (the year I do not recollect,) to the full
satisfaction of the authorities, who did not expect _such_ a
parade, and had no desire to see it repeated. But the students
being unwilling to expose themselves to 'the rigor of the law,'
paraded annually; and when at last the statute was repealed and
militia musters abolished, they continued the practice for the
sake of old association. Thus it passed into a custom, and the
first Wednesday of June is as eagerly anticipated by the citizens
of Burlington and the youth of the surrounding country for its
'training,' as is the first Wednesday of August for its annual
Commencement. The Faculty always smile propitiously, and in the
afternoon the performance commences. The army, or more
euphoniously the 'UNIVERSITY INVINCIBLES,' take up 'their line of
march' from the College campus, and proceed through all the
principal streets to the great square, where, in the presence of
an immense audience, a speech is delivered by the
Commander-in-chief, and a sermon by the Chaplain, the roll is
called, and the annual health report is read by the surgeon. These
productions are noted for their patriotism and fervid eloquence
rather than high literary merit. Formerly the music to which they
marched consisted solely of the good old-fashioned drum and fife;
but of late years the Invincibles have added to these a brass
band, composed of as many obsolete instruments as can be procured,
in the hands of inexperienced performers. None who have ever
handled a musical instrument before are allowed to become members
of the band, lest the music should be too sweet and regular to
comport with the general order of the parade. The uniform (or
rather the _multiform_) of the company varies from year to year,
owing to the regulation that each soldier shall consult his own
taste,--provided that no two are to have the same taste in their
equipments. The artillery consists of divers joints of rusty
stove-pipe, in each of which is inserted a toy cannon of about one
quarter of an inch calibre, mounted on an old dray, and drawn by
as many horse-apologies as can be conveniently attached to it.
When these guns are discharged, the effect--as might be
expected--is terrific. The banners, built of cotton sheeting and
mounted on a rake-handle, although they do not always exhibit
great artistic genius, often display vast originality of design.
For instance, one contained on the face a diagram (done in ink
with the wrong end of a quill) of the _pons asinorum_, with the
rather belligerent inscription, 'REMEMBER NAPOLEON AT LODI.' On
the reverse was the head of an extremely doubtful-looking
individual viewing 'his natural face in a glass.'
Inscription,--'O wad some pow'r the giftie gie us To see oursel's
as others see us.'

"The surgeon's equipment is an ox-cart containing jars of drugs
(most of them marked 'N.E.R.' and 'O.B.J.'), boxes of homoeopathic
pills (about the size of a child's head), immense saws and knives,
skeletons of animals, &c.; over which preside the surgeon and his
assistant in appropriate dresses, with tin spectacles. This
surgeon is generally the chief feature of the parade, and his
reports are astonishing additions to the surgical lore of our
country. He is the wit of the College,--the one who above all
others is celebrated for the loudest laugh, the deepest bumper,
the best joke, and the poorest song. How well he sustains his
reputation may be known by listening to his annual reading, or by
reference to the reports of 'Trotwood,' 'Gubbins,' or 'Deppity
Sawbones,' who at different times have immortalized themselves by
their contributions to science. The cavalcade is preceded by the
'pioneers,' who clear the way for the advancing troops; which is
generally effected by the panic among the boys, occasioned by the
savage aspect of the pioneers,--their faces being hideously
painted, and their dress consisting of gleanings from every
costume, Christian, Pagan, and Turkish, known among men. As the
body passes through the different streets, the martial men receive
sundry testimonials of regard and approval in the shape of boquets
and wreaths from the fair 'Peruvians,' who of course bestow them
on those who, in their opinion, have best succeeded in the object
of the day,--uncouth appearance. After the ceremonies, the
students quietly congregate in some room in college to _count_
these favors and to ascertain who is to be considered the hero of
the day, as having rendered himself pre-eminently ridiculous. This
honor generally falls to the lot of the surgeon. As the sun sinks
behind the Adirondacs over the lake, the parade ends; the many
lookers-on having nothing to see but the bright visions of the
next year's training, retire to their homes; while the now weary
students, gathered in knots in the windows of the upper stories,
lazily and comfortably puff their black pipes, and watch the
lessening forms of the retreating countrymen."

Further to elucidate the peculiarities of the June Training, the
annexed account of the custom, as it was observed on the first
Wednesday in June of the current year, is here inserted, taken
from the "Daily Free Press," published at Burlington, June 8th,
1855.

"The annual parade of the principal military body in Vermont is an
event of importance. The first Wednesday in June, the day assigned
to it, is becoming the great day of the year in Burlington.
Already it rivals, if it does not exceed, Commencement day in
glory and honor. The people crowd in from the adjoining towns, the
steamboats bring numbers from across the lake, and the inhabitants
of the town turn out in full force. The yearly recurrence of such
scenes shows the fondness of the people for a hearty laugh, and
the general acceptableness of the entertainment provided.

"The day of the parade this year was a very favorable
one,--without dust, and neither too hot nor too cold for comfort
The performances properly--or rather _im_properly--commenced in
the small hours of the night previous by the discharge of a cannon
in front of the college buildings, which, as the cannon was
stupidly or wantonly pointed _towards_ the college buildings, blew
in several hundred panes of glass. We have not heard that anybody
laughed at this piece of heavy wit.

"At four o'clock in the afternoon, the Invincibles took up their
line of march, with scream of fife and roll of drum, down Pearl
Street to the Square, where the flying artillery discharged a
grand national salute of one gun; thence to the Exchange, where a
halt was made and a refreshment of water partaken of by the
company, and then to the Square in front of the American, where
they were duly paraded, reviewed, exhorted, and reported upon, in
presence of two or three thousand people.

"The scene presented was worth seeing. The windows of the American
and Wheeler's Block had all been taken out, and were filled with
bright female faces; the roofs of the same buildings were lined
with spectators, and the top of the portico of the American was a
condensed mass of loveliness and bright colors. The Town Hall
windows, steps, doors, &c. were also filled. Every good look-out
anywhere near the spot was occupied, and a dense mass of
by-standers and lookers-on in carriages crowded the southern part
of the Square.

"Of the cortege itself, the pencil of a Hogarth only could give an
adequate idea. The valorous Colonel Brick was of course the centre
of all eyes. He was fitly supported by his two aids. The three
were in elegant uniforms, were handsomely mounted, rode well and
with gallant bearing, and presented a particularly attractive
appearance.

"Behind them appeared a scarlet robe, surmounted by a white wig of
Brobdinagian dimensions and spectacles to match, which it is
supposed contained in the interior the physical system of the
Reverendissimus Boanerges Diogenes Lanternarius, Chaplain, the
whole mounted upon the vertebrae of a solemn-looking donkey.

"The representative of the Church Militant was properly backed up
by the Flying Artillery. Their banner announced that they were
'for the reduction of Sebastopol,' and it is safe to say that they
will certainly take that fortress, if they get a chance. If the
Russians hold out against those four ghostly steeds, tandem, with
their bandy-legged and kettle-stomached riders,--that gun, so
strikingly like a joint of old stove-pipe in its exterior, but
which upon occasion could vomit forth your real smoke and sound
and smell of unmistakable brimstone,--and those slashed and
blood-stained artillerymen,--they will do more than anybody did on
Wednesday.

"The T.L.N. Horn-et Band, with Sackbut, Psaltery, Dulcimer, and
Shawm, Tanglang, Locofodeon, and Hugag, marched next. They
reserved their efforts for special occasions, when they woke the
echoes with strains of altogether unearthly music, composed for
them expressly by Saufylur, the eminent self-taught New Zealand
composer.

"Barnum's Baby-Show, on four wheels, in charge of the great
showman himself, aided by that experienced nurse, Mrs. Gamp, in
somewhat dilapidated attire, followed. The babies, from a span
long to an indefinite length, of all shapes and sizes, black,
white, and snuff-colored, twins, triplets, quartettes, and
quincunxes, in calico and sackcloth, and in a state of nature,
filled the vehicle, and were hung about it by the leg or neck or
middle. A half-starved quadruped of osseous and slightly equine
appearance drew the concern, and the shrieking axles drowned the
cries of the innocents.

"Mr. Joseph Hiss and Mrs. Patterson of Massachusetts were not
absent. Joseph's rubicund complexion, brassy and distinctly
Know-Nothing look, and nasal organ well developed by his
experience on the olfactory committee, were just what might have
been expected. The 'make up' of Mrs. P., a bright brunette, was
capital, and she looked the woman, if not the lady, to perfection.
The two appeared in a handsome livery buggy, paid for, we suppose,
by the State of Massachusetts.

"A wagon-load of two or three tattered and desperate looking
individuals, labelled 'Recruits for the Crimea,' with a generous
supply of old iron and brick-bats as material of war, was dragged
along by the frame and most of the skin of what was once a horse.

"Towards the rear, but by no means least in consequence or in the
amount of attention attracted, was the army hospital, drawn by two
staid and well-fed oxen. In front appeared the snowy locks and
'fair round belly, with good _cotton_ lined' of the worthy Dr.
Esculapius Liverwort Tarand Cantchuget-urlegawa Opodeldoc, while
by his side his assistant sawbones brayed in a huge iron mortar,
with a weighty pestle, much noise, and indefatigable zeal, the
drugs and dye-stuffs. Thigh-bones, shoulder-blades, vertebrae, and
even skulls, hanging round the establishment, testified to the
numerous and successful amputations performed by the skilful
surgeon.

"Noticeable among the cavalry were Don Quixote de la U.V.M.,
Knight of the patent-leather gaiters, terrible in his bright
rectangular cuirass of tin (once a tea-chest), and his glittering
harpoon; his doughty squire, Sancho Panza; and a dashing young
lady, whose tasteful riding-dress of black cambric, wealth of
embroidered skirts and undersleeves, and bold riding, took not a
little attention.

"Of the rank and file on foot it is useless to attempt a
description. Beards of awful size, moustaches of every shade and
length under a foot, phizzes of all colors and contortions,
four-story hats with sky-scraping feathers, costumes
ring-streaked, speckled, monstrous, and incredible, made up the
motley crew. There was a Northern emigrant just returned from
Kansas, with garments torn and water-soaked, and but half cleaned
of the adhesive tar and feathers, watched closely by a burly
Missourian, with any quantity of hair and fire-arms and
bowie-knives. There were Rev. Antoinette Brown, and Neal Dow;
there was a darky whose banner proclaimed his faith in Stowe and
Seward and Parker, an aboriginal from the prairies, an ancient
minstrel with a modern fiddle, and a modern minstrel with an
ancient hurdy- gurdy. All these and more. Each man was a study in
himself, and to all, Falstaff's description of his recruits would
apply:--

"'My whole charge consists of corporals, lieutenants, gentlemen of
companies, slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth, where
the glutton's dogs licked his sores; the cankers of a calm world
and a long peace; ten times more dishonorable ragged than an
old-faced ancient: and such have I, that you would think I had a
hundred and fifty tattered prodigals lately come from
swine-keeping, from eating draff and husks. A mad fellow met me on
the way and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets and pressed the
dead bodies. No eye hath seen such scarecrows.'

"The proceedings on the review were exciting. After the calling of
the roll, the idol of his regiment, Col. Martin Van Buren Brick,
discharged an eloquent and touching speech.

"From the report of Dr. Opodeldoc, which was thirty-six feet in
length, we can of course give but a few extracts. He commenced by
informing the Invincibles that his cures the year past had been
more astounding than ever, and that his fame would continue to
grow brighter and brighter, until eclipsed by the advent of some
younger Dr. Esculapius Liverwort Tar Cant-ye-get-your-leg-away
Opodeldoc, who in after years would shoot up like a meteor and
reproduce his father's greatness; and went on as follows:--

"'The first academic that appeared after the last report was the
_desideratum graduatere_, or graduating fever. Twenty-seven were
taken down. Symptoms, morality in the head,--dignity in the walk,
--hints about graduating,--remarkable tendency to
swell,--literary movement of the superior and inferior maxillary
bones, &c., &c. Strictures on bleeding were first applied; then
treating homoeopathically _similis similibus_, applied roots
extracted, roots Latin and Greek, infinitesimal extracts of
calculus, mathematical formulas, psychological inductions, &c.,
&c. No avail. Finally applied huge sheep-skin plasters under the
axilla, with a composition of printers' ink, paste, paper,
ribbons, and writing-ink besmeared thereon, and all were
despatched in one short day.