A Collection of College Words and Customs. Benjamin Homer Hall
is selected. It appears in the order of exercises for the "Burial of Euclid by the Class of '57," which took place at Yale College, November 8, 1854.
Tune—"Auld Lang Syne."
I.
Come, gather all ye tearful Sophs,
And stand around the ring;
Old Euclid's dead, and to his shade
A requiem we'll sing:
Then join the saddening chorus, all
Ye friends of Euclid true;
Defunct, he can no longer bore,
"[Greek: Pheu pheu, oi moi, pheu pheu.]"[03]
II.
Though we to Pluto _dead_icate,
No god to take him deigns,
So, one short year from now will Fate
Bring back his sad re-manes: For at Biennial his ghost Will prompt the tutor blue, And every fizzling Soph will cry, "[Greek: Pheu pheu, oi moi, pheu pheu.]"
III.
Though here we now his corpus burn, And flames about him roar, The future Fresh shall say, that he's "Not dead, but gone before": We close around the dusky bier, And pall of sable hue, And silently we drop the tear; "[Greek: Pheu pheu, oi moi, pheu pheu.]"
BURLESQUE BILL. At Princeton College, it is customary for the members of the Sophomore Class to hold annually a Sophomore Commencement, caricaturing that of the Senior Class. The Sophomore Commencement is in turn travestied by the Junior Class, who prepare and publish Burlesque Bills, as they are called, in which, in a long and formal programme, such subjects and speeches are attributed to the members of the Sophomore Class as are calculated to expose their weak points.
See SOPHOMORE COMMENCEMENT.
BURLINGTON. At Middlebury College, a water-closet, privy. So called on account of the good-natured rivalry between that institution and the University of Vermont at Burlington.
BURNING OF CONIC SECTIONS. "This is a ceremony," writes a correspondent, "observed by the Sophomore Class of Trinity College, on the Monday evening of Commencement week. The incremation of this text-book is made by the entire class, who appear in fantastic rig and in torch-light procession. The ceremonies are held in the College grove, and are graced with an oration and poem. The exercises are usually closed by a class supper."
BURNING OF CONVIVIUM. Convivium is a Greek book which is studied at Hamilton College during the last term of the Freshman year, and is considered somewhat difficult. Upon entering Sophomore it is customary to burn it, with exercises appropriate to the occasion. The time being appointed, the class hold a meeting and elect the marshals of the night. A large pyre is built during the evening, of rails and pine wood, on the middle of which is placed a barrel of tar, surrounded by straw saturated with turpentine. Notice is then given to the upper classes that Convivium will be burnt that night at twelve o'clock. Their company is requested at the exercises, which consist of two poems, a tragedy, and a funeral oration. A coffin is laid out with the "remains" of the book, and the literary exercises are performed. These concluded, the class form a procession, preceded by a brass band playing a dirge, and march to the pyre, around which, with uncovered heads, they solemnly form. The four bearers with their torches then advance silently, and place the coffin upon the funeral pile. The class, each member bearing a torch, form a circle around the pyre. At a given signal they all bend forward together, and touch their torches to the heap of combustibles. In an instant "a lurid flame arises, licks around the coffin, and shakes its tongue to heaven." To these ceremonies succeed festivities, which are usually continued until daylight.
BURNING OF ZUMPT'S LATIN GRAMMAR. The funeral rites over the body of this book are performed by the students in the University of New York. The place of turning and burial is usually at Hoboken. Scenes of this nature often occur in American colleges, having their origin, it is supposed, in the custom at Yale of burying Euclid.
BURNT FOX. A student during his second half-year, in the German universities, is called a burnt fox.
BURSAR, pl. BURSARII. A treasurer or cash-keeper; as, the bursar of a college or of a monastery. The said College in Cambridge shall be a corporation consisting of seven persons, to wit, a President, five Fellows, and a Treasurer or Bursar.—Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., App., p. 11.
Every student is required on his arrival, at the commencement of each session, to deliver to the Bursar the moneys and drafts for money which he has brought with him. It is the duty of the Bursar to attend to the settlement of the demands for board, &c.; to pay into the hands of the student such sums as are required for other necessary expenses, and to render a statement of the same to the parent or guardian at the close of the session. —Catalogue of Univ. of North Carolina, 1848–49, p. 27.
2. A student to whom a stipend is paid out of a burse or fund appropriated for that purpose, as the exhibitioners sent to the universities in Scotland, by each presbytery.—Webster.
See a full account in Brande's Dict. Science, Lit., and Art.
BURSARY. The treasury of a college or monastery.—Webster.
2. In Scotland, an exhibition.—Encyc.
BURSCH (bursh), pl. BURSCHEN. German. A youth; especially a student in a German university.
"By bursché," says Howitt, "we understand one who has already spent a certain time at the university—and who, to a certain degree, has taken part in the social practices of the students."—Student Life of Germany, Am. Ed., p. 27.
Und hat der Bursch kein Geld im Beutel, So pumpt er die Philister an, Und denkt: es ist doch Alles eitel Vom Burschen bis zum Bettleman. Crambambuli Song.
Student life! Burschen life! What a magic sound have these words for him who has learnt for himself their real meaning.—Howitt's Student Life of Germany.
BURSCHENSCHAFT. A league or secret association of students, formed in 1815, for the purpose, as was asserted, of the political regeneration of Germany, and suppressed, at least in name, by the exertions of the government.—Brandt.
"The Burschenschaft," says the Yale Literary Magazine, "was a society formed in opposition to the vices and follies of the Landsmannschaft, with the motto, 'God, Honor, Freedom, Fatherland.' Its object was 'to develop and perfect every mental and bodily power for the service of the Fatherland.' It exerted a mighty and salutary influence, was almost supreme in its power, but was finally suppressed by the government, on account of its alleged dangerous political tendencies."—Vol. XV. p. 3.
BURSE. In France, a fund or foundation for the maintenance of poor scholars in their studies. In the Middle Ages, it signified a little college, or a hall in a university.—Webster.
BURST. To fail in reciting; to make a bad recitation. This word is used in some of the Southern colleges.
BURT. At Union College, a privy is called the Burt, from a person of that name, who many years ago was employed as the architect and builder of the latrinæ of that institution.
BUSY. An answer often given by a student, when he does not wish to see visitors.
Poor Croak was almost annihilated by this summons, and, clinging to the bed-clothes in all the agony of despair, forgot to busy his midnight visitor.—Harv. Reg., p. 84.
Whenever, during that sacred season, a knock salutes my door, I respond with a busy.—Collegian, p. 25.
"Busy" is a hard word to utter, often, though heart and conscience and the college clock require it.—Scenes and Characters in College, p. 58.
BUTLER. Anciently written BOTILER. A servant or officer