A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 88

VICE-MASTER. An officer of a college in the English universities who performs the duties of the Master in his absence.

VISITATION. The act of a superior or superintending officer, who visits a corporation, college, church, or other house, to examine into the manner in which it is conducted, and see that its laws and regulations are duly observed and executed.--_Cyc._

In July, 1766, a law was formally enacted, "that twice in the year, viz. at the semiannual _visitation_ of the committee of the Overseers, some of the scholars, at the direction of the President and Tutors, shall publicly exhibit specimens of their proficiency," &c.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. II. p. 132.

VIVA VOCE. Latin; literally, _with the living voice_. In the English universities, that part of an examination which is carried on orally.

The examination involves a little _viva voce_, and it was said, that, if a man did his _viva voce_ well, none of his papers were looked at but the Paley.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 92.

In Combination Room, where once I sat at _viva voce_, wretched, ignorant, the wine goes round, and wit, and pleasant talk.--_Household Words_, Am. ed., Vol. XI. p. 521.

_W_.

WALLING. At the University of Oxford, the punishment of _walling_, as it is popularly denominated, consists in confining a student to the walls of his college for a certain period.

WARDEN. The master or president of a college.--_England_.

WARNING. In many colleges, when it is ascertained that a student is not living in accordance with the laws of the inst.i.tution, he is usually informed of the fact by a _warning_, as it is called, from one of the faculty, which consists merely of friendly caution and advice, thus giving him an opportunity, by correcting his faults, to escape punishment.

Sadly I feel I should have been saved by numerous _warnings_.

_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 98.

No more shall "_warnings_" in their hearing ring, Nor "admonitions" haunt their aching head.

_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 210.

WEDGE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the man whose name is the last on the list of honors in the voluntary cla.s.sical examination, which follows the last examination required by statute, is called the _wedge_. "The last man is called the _wedge_" says Bristed, "corresponding to the Spoon in Mathematics.

This name originated in that of the man who was last on the first Tripos list (in 1824), _Wedgewood_. Some one suggested that the _wooden wedge_ was a good counterpart to the _wooden spoon_, and the appellation stuck."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p.

253.

WET. To christen a new garment by treating one's friends when one first appears in it; e.g.:--A. "Have you _wet_ that new coat yet?"

B. "No." A. "Well, then, I should recommend to you the propriety of so doing." B. "What will you drink?" This word, although much used among students, is by no means confined to them.

WHINNICK. At Hamilton College, to refuse to fulfil a promise or engagement; to retreat from a difficulty; to back out.

WHITE-HOOD HOUSE. See SENATE.

WIGS. The custom of wearing wigs was, perhaps, observed nowhere in America during the last century with so much particularity as at the older colleges. Of this the following incident is ill.u.s.trative. Mr. Joseph Palmer, who graduated at Harvard in the year 1747, entered college at the age of fourteen; but, although so young, was required immediately after admission to cut off his long, flowing hair, and to cover his head with an unsightly bag-wig. At the beginning of the present century, wigs were not wholly discarded, although the fashion of wearing the hair in a queue was more in vogue. From a record of curious facts, it appears that the last wig which appeared at Commencement in Harvard College was worn by Mr. John Marsh, in the year 1819.

See DRESS.

WILL. At Harvard College, it was at one time the mode for the student to whom had been given the JACK-KNIFE in consequence of his ugliness, to transmit the inheritance, when he left, to some one of equal pretensions in the cla.s.s next below him. At one period, this transmission was effected by a _will_, in which not only the knife, but other articles, were bequeathed. As the 21st of June was, till of late years, the day on which the members of the Senior Cla.s.s closed their collegiate studies, and retired to make preparations for the ensuing Commencement, Wills were usually dated at that time. The first will of this nature of which mention is made is that of Mr. William Biglow, a member of the cla.s.s of 1794, and the recipient for that year of the knife. It appeared in the department ent.i.tled "Omnium Gatherum" of the Federal Orrery, published at Boston, April 27, 1795, in these words:--

"A WILL:

BEING THE LAST WORDS OF CHARLES CHATTERBOX, ESQ., LATE WORTHY AND MUCH LAMENTED MEMBER OF THE LAUGHING CLUB OF HARVARD UNIVERSITT, WHO DEPARTED COLLEGE LIFE, JUNE 21, 1794, IN THE TWENTY-FIRST YEAR OF HIS AGE.

"I, CHARLEY CHATTER, sound of mind, To making fun am much inclined; So, having cause to apprehend My college life is near its end, All future quarrels to prevent, I seal this will and testament.

"My soul and body, while together, I send the storms of life to weather; To steer as safely as they can, To honor G.o.d, and profit man.

"_Imprimis_, then, my bed and bedding, My only chattels worth the sledding, Consisting of a maple stead, A counterpane, and coverlet, Two cases with the pillows in, A blanket, cord, a winch and pin, Two sheets, a feather bed and hay-tick, I order sledded up to _Natick_, And that with care the sledder save them For those kind parents, first who gave them.

"_Item_. The Laughing Club, so blest, Who think this life what 't is,--a jest,-- Collect its flowers from every spray, And laugh its goading thorns away; From whom to-morrow I dissever, Take one sweet grin, and leave for ever; My chest, and all that in it is, I give and I bequeath them, viz.: Westminster grammar, old and poor, Another one, compiled by Moor; A bunch of pamphlets pro and con The doctrine of salva-ti-on; The college laws, I'm freed from minding, A Hebrew psalter, stripped from binding.

A Hebrew Bible, too, lies nigh it, Unsold--because no one would buy it.

"My ma.n.u.scripts, in prose and verse, They take for better and for worse; Their minds enlighten with the best, And pipes and candles with the rest; Provided that from them they cull My college exercises dull, On threadbare theme, with mind unwilling, Strained out through fear of fine one shilling, To teachers paid t' avert an evil, Like Indian worship to the Devil.

The above-named ma.n.u.scripts, I say.

To club aforesaid I convey, Provided that said themes, so given, Full proofs that _genius won't be driven_, To our physicians be presented, As the best opiates yet invented.

"_Item_. The government of college, Those liberal _h.e.l.luos_ of knowledge, Who, e'en in these degenerate days, Deserve the world's unceasing praise; Who, friends of science and of men, Stand forth Gomorrah's righteous ten; On them I naught but thanks bestow, For, like my cash, my credit's low; So I can give nor clothes nor wines, But bid them welcome to my fines.

"_Item_. My study desk of pine, That work-bench, sacred to the nine, Which oft hath groaned beneath my metre, I give to pay my debts to PETER.

"_Item_. Two penknives with white handles, A bunch of quills, and pound of candles, A lexicon compiled by COLE, A pewter spoon, and earthen bowl, A hammer, and two homespun towels, For which I yearn with tender bowels, Since I no longer can control them, I leave to those sly lads who stole them.

"_Item_. A gown much greased in Commons, A hat between a man's and woman's, A tattered coat of college blue, A fustian waistcoat torn in two, With all my rust, through college carried, I give to cla.s.smate O----,[67] who's _married_.

"_Item_. C------ P------s[68] 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 cla.s.s to cla.s.s descend, Till time and ugliness shall end.

"The said C------ P------s, humor's son, Who long shall stay when I am gone, The Muses' most successful suitor, I const.i.tute my executor; And for his trouble to requite him, Member of Laughing Club I write him.

"Myself on life's broad sea I throw, Sail with its joy, or stem its woe, No other friend to take my part, Than careless head and honest heart.

My purse is drained, my debts are paid, My gla.s.s is run, my will is made, To beauteous Cam. I bid adieu, And with the world begin anew."

Following the example of his friend Biglow, Mr. Prentiss, on leaving college, prepared a will, which afterwards appeared in one of the earliest numbers of the Rural Repository, a literary paper, the publication of which he commenced at Leominster, Ma.s.s., in the autumn of 1795. Thomas Paine, afterwards Robert Treat Paine, Jr., immediately transferred it to the columns of the Federal Orrery, which paper he edited, with these introductory remarks: "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 collegiate 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 ill.u.s.trious 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."

"A WILL;

BEING THE LAST WORDS OP CH----S PR----S, LATE WORTHY AND MUCH LAMENTED MEMBER OF THE LAUGHING CLUB OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, WHO DEPARTED COLLEGE LIFE ON THE 21ST OF JUNE, 1795.

"I, Pr-----s Ch----s, of judgment sound, In soul, in limb and wind, now found; I, since my head is full of wit, And must be emptied, or must split, In name of _president_ APOLLO, And other gentle folks, that follow: Such as URANIA and CLIO, To whom my fame poetic I owe; With the whole drove of rhyming sisters, For whom my heart with rapture blisters; Who swim in HELICON uncertain Whether a petticoat or shirt on, From vulgar ken their charms do cover, From every eye but _Muses' lover_; In name of every ugly G.o.d; Whose beauty scarce outshines a toad; In name of PROSERPINE and PLUTO, Who board in h.e.l.l's sublimest grotto; In name of CERBERUS and FURIES, Those d.a.m.ned _aristocrats_ and tories; In presence of two witnesses, Who are as homely as you please, Who are in truth, I'd not belie 'em, Ten times as ugly, faith, as I am; But being, as most people tell us, A pair of jolly clever fellows, And cla.s.smates likewise, at this time, They sha'n't be honored in my rhyme.

I--I say I, now make this will; Let those whom I a.s.sign 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[69] orders, Descending to time's utmost borders, To _n.o.blest bard of homeliest phiz_, To have and hold and use as his; I now present C----s P----y S----r,[70]

To keep with his poetic lumber, To sc.r.a.pe 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.