A Collection of College Words and CustomsHall, Benjamin Homer
History
A Collection of College Words and Customs
Hall, Benjamin Homer
College students -- United States -- Language; English language -- United States -- Slang; Slang
HOUSE. A college. The word was formerly used with this
signification in Harvard and Yale Colleges.
If any scholar shall transgress any of the laws of God, or the
_House_, he shall be liable, &c.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._,
Vol. I. p. 517.
If detriment come by any out of the society, then those officers
[the butler and cook] themselves shall be responsible to the
_House_.--_Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 583.
A member of the college was also called a _Member of the House_.
The steward is to see that one third part be reserved of all the
payments to him by the _members of the House_ quarterly
made.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 582.
A college officer was called an _Officer of the House_.
The steward shall be bound to give an account of the necessary
disbursements which have been issued out to the steward himself,
butler, cook, or any other _officer of the House_.--_Quincy's
Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 582.
Neither shall the butler or cook suffer any scholar or scholars
whatever, except the Fellows, Masters of Art, Fellow-Commoners or
_officers of the House_, to come into the butteries, &c.--_Ibid._,
Vol. I. p. 584.
Before the year 1708, the term _Fellows of the House_ was applied,
at Harvard College, both to the members of the Corporation, and to
the instructors who did not belong to the Corporation. The
equivocal meaning of this title was noticed by President Leverett,
for, in his duplicate record of the proceedings of the Corporation
and the Overseers, he designated certain persons to whom he refers
as "Fellows of the House, i.e. of the Corporation." Soon after
this, an attempt was made to distinguish between these two classes
of Fellows, and in 1711 the distinction was settled, when one
Whiting, "who had been for several years known as Tutor and
'Fellow of the House,' but had never in consequence been deemed or
pretended to be a member of the Corporation, was admitted to a
seat in that board."--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. pp.
278, 279. See SCHOLAR OF THE HOUSE.
2. An assembly for transacting business.
See CONGREGATION, CONVOCATION.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. At Union College, the members of the
Junior Class compose what is called the _House of
Representatives_, a body organized after the manner of the
national House, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the
forms and manner of legislation. The following account has been
furnished by a member of that College.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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