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"Multa renascentur quæ jam cecidere, cadentque Quæ nunc sunt in
honore, vocabula."
"Notandi sunt tibi mores."
HOR. Ars Poet.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District ofMassachusetts.
The first edition of this publication was mostly compiled duringthe leisure hours of the last half-year of a Senior's collegiatelife, and was presented anonymously to the public with thefollowing
"The Editor has an indistinct recollection of a sheet of foolscappaper, on one side of which was written, perhaps a year and a halfago, a list of twenty or thirty college phrases, followed by theeuphonious titles of 'Yale Coll.,' 'Harvard Coll.' Next he callsto mind two blue-covered books, turned from their original use, asreceptacles of Latin and Greek exercises, containing explanationsof these and many other phrases. His friends heard that he washunting up odd words and queer customs, and dubbed him'Antiquarian,' but in a kindly manner, spared his feelings, anddid not put the vinegar 'old' before it.
"Two and one half quires of paper were in time covered with astrange medley, an olla-podrida of student peculiarities. Thus didhe amuse himself in his leisure hours, something like one who, asDryden says, 'is for raking in Chaucer for antiquated words.' Byand by he heard a wish here and a wish there, whether real orotherwise he does not know, which said something about 'type,''press,' and used other cabalistic words, such as 'copy,' 'devil,'etc. Then there was a gathering of papers, a transcribing ofpassages from letters, an arranging in alphabetical order, acorrecting of proofs, and the work was done,—poorly it may be,but with good intent.
"Some things will be found in the following pages which areneither words nor customs peculiar to colleges, and yet they havebeen inserted, because it was thought they would serve to explainthe character of student life, and afford a little amusement tothe student himself. Society histories have been omitted, with theexception of an account of the oldest affiliated literary societyin the United States.
"To those who have aided in the compilation of this work, theEditor returns his warmest thanks. He has received the assistanceof many, whose names he would here and in all places esteem it anhonor openly to acknowlege, were he not forbidden so to do by thefact that he is himself anonymous. Aware that there is informationstill to be collected, in reference to the subjects here treated,he would deem it a favor if he could receive through the medium ofhis publisher such morsels as are yet ungathered.
"Should one pleasant thought arise within the breast of anyAlumnus, as a long-forgotten but once familiar word stares him inthe face, like an old and early friend; or should one who is stillguarded by his Alma Mater be led to a more summer-likeacquaintance with those who have in years past roved, as he nowroves, through classic shades and honored halls, the labors oftheir friend, the Editor, will have been crowned