A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 44

I am a man, Have human feelings, though mistaken Fresh Affirmed I was a savage or a brute, When I did dash cold water in their necks, Discharged green squashes through their window-panes, And stript their beds of soft, luxurious sheets, Placing instead harsh briers and rough sticks, So that their sluggish bodies might not sleep, Unroused by morning bell; or when perforce, From leaden syringe, engine of fierce might, I drave black ink upon their ruffle shirts, Or drenched with showers of melancholy hue, The new-fledged d.i.c.key peering o'er the stock, Fit emblem of a young ambitious mind!

_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 254.

A Freshman writes thus on the subject:--

The Sophs did nothing all the first fortnight but torment the Fresh, as they call us. They would come to our rooms with masks on, and frighten us dreadfully; and sometimes squirt water through our keyholes, or throw a whole pailful on to one of us from the upper windows.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.

HEAD OF THE HOUSE. The generic name for the highest officer of a college in the English Universities.

The Master of the College, or "_Head of the House_," is a D.D. who has been a Fellow.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.

2d, p. 16.

The _heads of houses_ [are] styled, according to the usage of the college, President, Master, Princ.i.p.al, Provost, Warden, or Rector.

--_Oxford Guide_, 1847, p. xiii.

Written often simply _Head_.

The "_Head_," as he is called generically, of an Oxford college, is a greater man than the uninitiated suppose.--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 244.

The new _Head_ was a gentleman of most commanding personal appearance.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.

87.

HEADSHIP. The office and place of head or president of a college.

Most of the college _Headships_ are not at the disposal of the Crown.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, note, p.

89, and _errata_.

The _Headships_ of the colleges are, with the exception of Worcester, filled by one chosen by the Fellows from among themselves, or one who has been a Fellow.--_Oxford Guide_, Ed.

1847, p. xiv.

HEADS OUT. At Princeton College, the cry when anything occurs in the _Campus_. Used, also, to give the alarm when a professor or tutor is about to interrupt a spree.

See CAMPUS.

HEBDOMADAL BOARD. At Oxford, the local governing authority of the University, composed of the Heads of colleges and the two Proctors, and expressing itself through the Vice-Chancellor. An inst.i.tution of Charles I.'s time, it has possessed, since the year 1631, "the sole initiative power in the legislation of the University, and the chief share in its administration." Its meetings are held weekly, whence the name.--_Oxford Guide.

Literary World_, Vol. XII., p. 223.

HIGH-GO. A merry frolic, usually with drinking.

Songs of Scholars in revelling roundelays, Belched out with hickups at baccha.n.a.l Go, Bellowed, till heaven's high concave rebound the lays, Are all for college carousals too low.

Of dullness quite tired, with merriment fired, And fully inspired with amity's glow, With hate-drowning wine, boys, and punch all divine, boys, The Juniors combine, boys, in friendly HIGH-GO.

_Glossology, by William Biglow_, inserted in _Buckingham's Reminiscences_, Vol. II. pp. 281-284.

He it was who broached the idea of a _high-go_, as being requisite to give us a rank among the cla.s.ses in college. _D.A. White's Address before Soc. of the Alumni of Harv. Univ._, Aug. 27, 1844, p. 35.

This word is now seldom used; the words _High_ and _Go_ are, however, often used separately, with the same meaning; as the compound. The phrase _to get high_, i.e. to become intoxicated, is allied with the above expression.

Or men "_get high_" by drinking abstract toddies?

_Childe Harvard_, p. 71.

HIGH STEWARD. In the English universities, an officer who has special power to hear and determine capital causes, according to the laws of the land and the privileges of the university, whenever a scholar is the party offending. He also holds the university _court-leet_, according to the established charter and custom.--_Oxf. and Cam. Cals._

At Cambridge, in addition to his other duties, the High Steward is the officer who represents the University in the House of Lords.

HIGH TABLE. At Oxford, the table at which the Fellows and some other privileged persons are ent.i.tled to dine.

Wine is not generally allowed in the public hall, except to the "_high table_."--_De Quincey's Life and Manners_, p. 278.

I dine at the "_high table_" with the reverend deans, and hobn.o.b with professors.--_Household Words_, Am. ed., Vol. XI. p 521.

HIGH-TI. At Williams College, a term by which is designated a showy recitation. Equivalent to the word _squirt_ at Harvard College.

HILLS. At Cambridge, Eng., Gogmagog Hills are commonly called _the Hills_.

Or to the _Hills_ on horseback strays, (Unasked his tutor,) or his chaise To famed Newmarket guides.

_Gradus ad Cantab._, p. 35.

HISS. To condemn by hissing.

This is a favorite method, especially among students, of expressing their disapprobation of any person or measure.

I'll tell you what; your crime is this, That, Touchy, you did sc.r.a.pe, and _hiss_.

_Rebelliad_, p. 45.

Who will bully, sc.r.a.pe, and _hiss_!

Who, I say, will do all this!

Let him follow me,--_Ibid._, p. 53.

HOAXING. At Princeton College, inducing new-comers to join the secret societies is called _hoaxing_.

HOBBY. A translation. Hobbies are used by some students in translating Latin, Greek, and other languages, who from this reason are said to ride, in contradistinction to others who learn their lessons by study, who are said to _dig_ or _grub_.

See PONY.

HOBSON'S CHOICE. Thomas Hobson, during the first third of the seventeenth century, was the University carrier between Cambridge and London. He died January 1st, 1631. "He rendered himself famous by furnishing the students with horses; and, making it an unalterable rule that every horse should have an equal portion of rest as well as labor, he would never let one out of its turn; hence the celebrated saying, 'Hobson's Choice: _this_, or none.'"

Milton has perpetuated his fame in two whimsical epitaphs, which may be found among his miscellaneous poems.