Time went according to a bell mounted on a post at the rear, which
seemed to have been a prolific source of student humor. It was turned
upside down in winter and filled with water, with a corresponding
vacation the following morning; the clapper was stolen; and finally in
Dr. Tappan's day it was even carried away, post and all. The President,
however, was a match for the jokers and simply announced that as the
bell was a convenience which the students did not seem to need, classes
would be held henceforth without the usual call. As the regulations were
very strict as to attendance and four unexcused absences a matter for
the higher powers, it was not long before a student rose in Chapel and
requested permission to reinstate the Campus time-piece,--which was
graciously granted.
There are stories innumerable of donkeys and geese appearing in unusual
places and of the Chapel on one occasion being filled with hay, while
once a whole load of wood, wagon and all, was laboriously set up on the
roof of the college hall. On another occasion a number of students,
waiting for their recitation period, corralled a herd of cows grazing on
the Campus, and so thoroughly frightened one calf that he rushed into
the open door of the building as the safest refuge. Some one shut the
door instantly, and when Professor Winchell's class-room door was
opened, in rushed the badly demoralized animal. The effect may be
imagined. Professor Winchell always thought it a "proposed and
deliberate insult," but, as the historian of the incident in the
"Class-Book" of '61 observes: "Any one will at once perceive that no one
was to blame but the calf, who lost his presence of mind." All this
humor, however, was rather elementary; for the most part life was
sufficiently sedate, and the pranks ordinarily far from atrocious.
In the earliest days the term fees of $7.50 covered the cost of rooms in
the dormitories, while the cost of board ranged from $1.50 to $2.00 a
week. H.B. Nichols, a student in 1850, gave his father the following,--
account of monies, by me expended. In it I put an estimate of the
term tax at $6.00. It is $6.62-1/2 and divided as follows, viz:
Room rent, $1.50. Janitor's fees, $1.50. Wood bill $2.87-1/2 and
Hall tax for damages to the Buildings, viz. Brokens doors and
windows, $.75, making in all the sum of $6.62-1/2. Last term $4.60.
So you see it is all a humbug for the catalogue to say the charges
will range from $5.00 to $7.50 per year, as it will not be less
than $15.00 to each student, or $30.00 to each room and if a
student rooms alone his charges will be $21.00 per year!
As for his boarding place:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account