HARVARD ®l)e JFirst American Hnit)er0ttg. EARLY HOME OF JOHN HARVARD'S MOTHER, STRATFORD. HARVARD THE iTirst American Itntucreitg BY GEORGE GARY BUSH i!°-k ^ BOSTON CUPPLES, UPHAM AND COMPANY Wt)t @lo Comer iSaakstare Copyright, 18S6, by Cupples, Upham & Co. All Rights Reserved. Electrotyfed By C. J. Peters & Son, Boston. f THE AUTHOR AND PUBLISHERS UNITE IN DEDICATING THIS BOOK TO Cfjarles TO. £lfot, PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, AS AN EXPRESSION OF THEIR HIGH REGARD FOR HIS EMINENT ABILITY IN THE CONDUCT OF THE UNIVERSITY. *ii CONTENTS Introduction Page 9 Regulations established by the First President 19 College Life 31 Examinations and Degrees . . 51 Commencement Day 55 Character and Number of the Students, 62 Formation and Powers of the Over- seers and Corporation : the Char- ters 67 The Board of Instruction : Fellows . 81 Character of its Theology ... 92 The College Disturbed by Religious Controversies .... 95 vi Contents. Establishment of a Divinity Professor- ship 102 The Finances : the College sustained by the Liberality of Friends at Home and Abroad . . . 105 The First Presidents . . . .123 Notes 133 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Home at Stratford of John Harvard's Mother* frontispiece Statue of John Harvard, Cambridge, Mass title-page Signature of John Harvard, Cambridge, England f 9 A Prospect of the Colledges in Cam- bridge in New England (1726) . . 9 Old President's Chair 66 View of the Colleges at Cambridge, Massachusetts (1790) 67 South View of the Several Halls of Harvard College (1823) .... 105 Cambridge Common in 1784 .... 132 Monument to Rev. John Harvard . . 160 * By permission of Henry F. Waters, Esq., Salem, Mass., whose indefatigable labors and genealogical in- sight succeeded in discovering all that is known to-day of John Harvard. t For the M. A. degree in the Registry of the Uni- versity, 1635. HARVARD. THE FIRST AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. "The fountain of living waters opened in the rock of the desert."— J. Q. Adams. 4*f/»« "THE first settlers in New Eng- land, recogniz- ing the import- m tr riA ^^^\^ anceofahigher *™fc3&»&J education than could be given in the common schools, began at once the founding of a uni- versity. The avowed object of this university was the training 9 of io Harvard University. of young men for the ministry. Nothing could show clearer the spirit of these early colonists. Though less than four thousand in number, and scattered along the shores of Massachusetts Bay in sixteen hamlets, they were, nevertheless, able to engage in such an enterprise before ade- quate provision had been made for food, raiment, shelter, a civil government, or divine worship; at a time when soil and climate had disappointed them, and their affairs were in a most critical condition; for, not only were they called to face famine, dis- ease, and death, but the mother country and the surrounding sav- age tribes were threatening them with war. The importance, not only of mental cultivation, but also of Christian learning, they had always valued in England, and, as they built their homes across Harvard University. 1 1 across the sea, it was with the determination " that, if they suc- ceeded at all, it should be as well instructed Christian men, and not as mere conquerors of savages, or speculators in gold, or silver, or lands."* It was near the close of 1636, a little more than six years after the landing of the Puritans, when this first step was taken by the General Court of the Massachu- setts Colony. At this assembly, presided over by Sir Henry Vane, governor of the colony, the General Court agreed to give £400 (a munificent sum for the time) towards the founding of a school or college, but left the question of its location and build- ing to be determined by the Court that was to sit in Septem- ber of the following year. This, it is said, was the first assembly " in which the people by their * See Notes. repre- 12 Harvard University. representatives ever gave their own money to found a place of education." * At the next Court it was decided to locate the col- lege at Newtown, or " the New Towne," and twelve of the prin- cipal magistrates and ministers were chosen to carry out this design. A few months later, they changed the name of the town to Cambridge, not only to tell their posterity whence they came, but also, as Quincy aptly says, to indicate " the high des- tiny to which they intended the institution should aspire."* Another year, however, passed before the College was organ- ized. The impulse given to it then was due to aid which came from so unexpected a quarter that it must have seemed to the devout men of New England as a clear indication of the divine favor. The Rev. John Harvard, a Non- * See Notes. COn- Harvard University. 13 conformist minister, was gradu- ated, in 1635, from the Puritan college of Emmanuel, at Cam- bridge, England, and came, two years later, to America, and set- tled in Charlestown, where he immediately took a prominent part in town affairs. His con- temporaries gave him the title of reverend, and he is said to have officiated occasionally in Charles- town as " minister of God's word." One has recently said of him that he was " beloved and honored, a well-trained and accomplished scholar of the type then es- teemed,"* and that in the brief period of his life in America — scarcely more than a year — he cemented more closely friend- ships that had been begun in earlier years. The project of a college was then engrossing the thought of these early friends and doubtless he also became greatly * See Notes. inter- 14 Harvard University, interested in it. Thus it hap- pened that, when his health failed, through his own love of learning and through sympathy with the project of his daily as- sociates, he determined to be- queath one-half of his estate, probably about £800, besides his excellent library of three hundred and twenty volumes, towards the endowment of the college. This bequest rendered possible the immediate organi- zation of the college, which went into operation " on the footing of the ancient institutions of Eu- rope," and, out of gratitude to Harvard, the General Court voted that the new institution should bear his name. Many tributes have been rendered by the sons of Harvard College to the memory of its founder, but neither the words of Everett nor of John Quincy Adams seem so v fitting Harvard University. 15 fitting as those of President Quincy when he says that the " noblest and the purest tribute to religion and science this west- ern world has yet witnessed was made by John Harvard in 1638." Quincy, in his History of Har- vard University, has divided the life of the institution into four periods. Our design is to at- tempt but a summary of the first and second of these periods, — the first ending in 1692 with the granting of the new colonial charter, when it had religion as its basis and chief object, and was designedly conducted as a theological institute; and the second ending with its first cen- tury and the accession of Hol- yoke to the presidency, when the history of the college was marked by bitter religious con- troversies. Some time in 1637 tne begin- ning 1 6 Harvard University. ning was made of this "school of the prophets " before which so important a history was to open. Its first master, Nathaniel Eaton, under whose oversight the col- lege building was erected, soon showed himself unfitted for the execution of the task he had un- dertaken, and the work passed from his hands into the grasp of one who was to be not only the first but one of the best of Amer- ican educators. This was the Rev. Henry Dunster, who was chosen to the office in August, 1640, and was the first to receive the title of President of Harvard College. He had been educated at Magdalen College, in Cam- bridge, England, where many Puritan scholars were then gath- ered, and where he must have learned to sympathize with the aims of the New England set- tlers. All accounts describe him as Harvard University. ij as a man of remarkably pure character and profound scholar- ship. Quincy says of him and his successor, the Rev. Charles Chauncy, that for learning, tal- ent, and fidelity they have been "surpassed by no one of their successors"; and Dr. Chaplin, his biographer, calls him K one of the greatest masters of the oriental languages that hath been known in these ends of the earth." He was still young and unmar- ried when the magistrates and ministers of the six towns intrus- ted to him the affairs of the embryo college.* But the choice was most fortunate and for the pros- perity beginning with these early years and continuing throughout its entire history, the college is more indebted to the wise ad- ministration of President Dunster than probably to that of any of * See Notes. his j8 Harvard University. his successors. So excellent was the course of instruction framed by him that, from the first, the college was acknowledged to furnish " an education adequate to every department of the civil or sacred service of the country, and not inferior to that of the dis- tinguished schools in Europe."* Such during his administration was the fame of the college that young men were sent over from England to receive their educa- tion. Yet the whole property of the college consisted then of but a single building, and somewhat less than three acres of land,* and so few were they in numbers that if teachers and pupils had been increased tenfold they would scarcely have equalled the num- ber of professors and instructors in Harvard College to-day. The building, which was situated in the midst of a narrow strip of * See Notes. land Harvard University. ig land " bordering a pleasant river," was " thought by some to be too gorgeous for a wilderness and yet too mean in others' apprehen- sions for a college." * REGULATIONS ESTABLISHED BY THE FIRST PRESIDENT. When Dunster assumed the presidency there was as yet no constitution, no "laws, orders, and liberties " as afterwards de- vised by him, and no legal gov- erning board to whom the finan- cial and other interests of the col- lege could be intrusted. First of all it was necessary to provide these. Accordingly, in 1642, a constitution was framed, commit- ting the management of the col- lege to a board of trustees. This was followed, in 1650, by a char- ter, granted by the legislature, creating an additional corporate * See Notes. body 20 Harvard University, body with extended powers, who should have immediate supervis- ion of the affairs of the college. The work intrusted to the young president was to lay the founda- tion for education and discipline. This he did by judicious require- ments for admission, by thorough courses of study, and by con- structing a system of government that should enter into all the mi- nutiae of college life. We should expe6l these regulations to con- form largely to those then in force in the English universities, but in point of facl; the resem- blances are few; this college in the American wilderness was mostly a new creation. The conditions for admission established by President Dunster for the examinations of 1642 and following years were as follows: — " Whoever shall be able to read Cicero or any other such like Harvard University. 21 like classical author at sight and make and speak true Latin * in verse and prose, suo ut aiunt Marte> and decline perfectly the paradigms of nouns and verbs in the Greek tongue: Let him then and not before be capable of ad- mission into the college." * It was certainly a higher stan- dard in the ancient classics than we have to-day, as there are few teachers, even, who are able to speak and write the Latin lan- guage easily and correctly, and comparatively few who can read Cicero and other familiar classi- cal authors at sight. After the examinations had been successfully passed, the can- didates were received into the college by the President and Fel- lows, who in testimony thereof signed a copy of the college laws which the students had previous- ly copied and brought with them. ♦See Notes. These 22 Harvard University. These were held as certificates of matriculation. The college laws and certain other forms that must be subscribed to by the stu- dents, as also by the fellows, when admitted to the college, were in Latin. Certain "Rules and Pre- cepts " * were also drawn up by President Dunster for the gov- ernment of the students. Ac- cording to these, they must " lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowl- edge and learning"; must read the Scriptures twice daily, and " be ready to give an account of their proficiency therein " when- ever the tutor shall require it; eschew " all profanation of God's name, attributes, word, ordinan- ces and times of worship," and strive to retain God and the love of his truth in their minds ; " stu- diously redeem the time," observ- ing the general hours appointed * See Notes. for Harvard University. 23 for all the students and also the special hours for their own classis, and diligently attend the lectures " without disturbance by word or gesture," and, in case they should need help, they are to inquire of their fellows or " modestly of their tutors"; promise to avoid the society of such as lead unfit or dissolute lives, and never go abroad to other towns without the permission of tutors, parents, or guardians ; be at their tutor's chamber at seven in the morning and at five in the evening with the stroke of the bell, that they may attend to the reading of Scripture and prayer, and "give an account of their own private reading," — none to offend this rule above once a week; and in the seventh and last it was de- clared that if any scholar shall be found to transgress any of the laws of God or the school, after being 24 Harvard University. being twice admonished, he shall, if a minor, be chastised, but if an adult, his name shall be given up to the overseers of the college "that he may be admonished at the public monthly act." Besides these, we find in the " Laws, Liberties, and Orders," * confirmed by the overseers and president of the college in the years 1642-6, some excellent rules, of which the following will afford an illustration : — They [the students] shall hon- or as their parents, the magis- trates, elders, tutors, and others older than themselves, " as reason requires," by being silent in their presence except when called up- on to speak; "not contradicting, but showing all those marks of honor and reverence which are in praiseworthy use, such as sa- luting with a bow, standing un- covered, and the like."* Stu- * See Notes. dents Harvard University. 25 dents were forbidden to buy or sell anything without the per- mission of parents, guardians, or tutors; to speak in any language but the Latin, unless required to do so in their public exercises, or absent themselves from pray- ers or lectures. They could not, until invested with their first de- gree, be addressed by their sur- name unless fellow commoners or members of the nobility. As great respect was then paid to rank, the students throughout their course were " placed " at recitation, at commons, and in the chapel according to their social position. Minute orders were given respecting their conduct while in the dining hall, and their deportment towards the steward and " the cook and butler, or brewer and baker," who were the " officers of the House or Col- lege." * * See Notes. Very 26 Harvard University. Very strange indeed were the regulations governing the con- duel: of the freshmen towards the other members of the college community. They were such as the following : " No freshman shall wear his hat in the college yard, unless it rains, hails, or snows, provided he be on foot and have not both hands full"; " No freshman shall speak to a senior (that is, to any member of the upper classes) with his hat on; or have it on in a senior's chamber, or in his own, if a sen- ior be there"; " All freshmen shall be obliged to go on errands for seniors, graduates or under- graduates"; but only out of stud} r hours. These " Laws, Liberties, and Orders " are said to have re- mained in force during the seven- teenth century. The course of study devised and adopted by President Dun- ster Harvard University. 2j ster was most liberal and compre- hensive, and embraced arithme- tic, geometry, rhetoric, logic, eth- ics, physics, metaphysics, poli- tics, and divinity; and Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Latin, Greek, and English. The Old and New Testaments were principally used for the study of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages. These were used in the daily reading and translating of the Scriptures at the morning and evening prayers. In addition to the studies of the course, there were lectures in summer on the nature of plants, and in winter on history, and set themes were an- nounced for discussion, some- what after the manner of the dis- putations in the early German Universities, and written theses were required of all.* The plan of the recitations, in which Greek as well as Latin ♦See Notes. Was 28 Harvard University. was to be specially honored, was as follows: FRESHMEN. Mondays 8 A. M. Lectures upon Logic. and 8.45 " " " Physics. Tuesdays. 2 P. M. Disputations. 8 A. M. Etymology and Syntax. 2 P. M. Precepts of Grammar, "in such authors as have variety of words." Greek. Wednes- days. Thurs- days. 8 A. M. Hebrew Grammar. 2 P. M. " Practice in the Bible. Fridays. 8 A. M. Rhetoric. Declamations.* 8 A. M. Divinity Catechetical. 9 " " Common Places." 1 P.M. History in Winter and the Nature of Plants in Summer. Satur- days. * These were so ordered that every scholar should de- claim once a month. For the remainder of this day it was said, " vacat rJtetoricis studiis." Harvard University. 2 9 JUNIOR SOPHISTERS. Mondays and Tuesdays. 9 A. M. Lectures upon Ethics and Politics " at conveni- ent distances of time." 3 P. M. Disputations. Wednes- days. 9 A. M. Prosody and Dialectics. 3 P. M. Practice in Poesy. Greek. Thurs- days. 9 A. M. Chaldee. 3 P. M. " Ezra and Daniel. Hebrew. Fridays. 8 A. M. 9 " Rhetoric. Declamations. Satur- days. The same as the Freshman. SENIOR SOPHISTERS. io A. M. Arithmetic and Geom- etry. 10.45 " Astronomy. 4 P. M. Disputations. Mondays and Tuesdays. A.M. Perfected their "theory." P. M. Exercises in Style, Com- position, Imitation, and Epitome, both in prose and verse. Greek. Wednes- days. Thurs- days. 10 A. M. Svriac. 4 P. M. Tristius (or Trostius) New Testament. Hebrew. Fridays. 8 A. M. 9 " Rhetoric. Declamations.* Satur- days. The same as the Freshman. * See note on opposite page. jo Harvard University. An examination of the " sum of every lecture" must be made before the next le6ture was read. The curriculum, as given in the preceding table, extended only through three years, but Palfrey says * that " in or before the year 1655, the course of study for a bachelor's degree was lengthened from three years to four, and that in consequence of the change some students left the college." * ♦See Notes. Harvard University. 31 COLLEGE LIFE. There could have been no more interesting event in early colonial life than the opening of this college, and the successful inauguration of so complete a system of instruction. Had Pres- ident Dunster's mind been en- riched by all the stores of mod- ern learning, it would scarcely have aided him in framing a sys- tem of study and discipline bet- ter adapted to the circumstances of the time, or more in harmony with the training which was then demanded for young men. Un- fortunately for us, few records were made of that period, and we must, therefore, rely mostly upon the imagination to lift the veil which shrouds that first morning in 1640 when the light-haired Dunster called around him the score 32 Harvard University. score of lads who had presented themselves for matriculation, and plied them with such questions as would indicate to him the ex- tent of their progress in Latin and Greek, and in biblical stud- ies. It is difficult, also, to find any record * of the routine of col- lege life which then began, — of the amusements and recreations which relieved the tedium of study in those hard-working- years, when, as it would appear, life was more solemn and serious to the undergraduate than it be- came soon after the opening of the eighteenth century. If — to cite but a^sktgle regulation — the rule adopted by the president, that only Latin should be spoken on the college grounds, was en- forced, it is not possible to sup- pose any marked display of exu- berance of spirits, unless we are to credit the undergraduates * See Notes. with Harvard University. 33 with a most intimate knowledge of colloquial Latin. The author of " New England's First Fruits " gives us a bare glimpse of this early college life, wherein he tells of " a spacious hall " in the college building, where the students " daily meet at Com- mons, lectures and exercises"; of a large library " with some books to it," and of chambers and stud- ies, and " other rooms of office," etc. Also, that beside the col- lege was the " faire grammar schoole," where the famous Mas- ter Corlett so long wielded the rod. President Dunster seems to have understood fully the impor- tance of work to the good gov- ernment of young men. Not only every hour had, as it appears, some duty assigned to it, but even mingled with their public devotions, at morning and even- ing. 34 Harvard University. ing, there was manifest the same purpose to secure mental train- ing and discipline; yet, in spite of this, there were evidently some unruly spirits who sorely tried the temper and patience of the kind-hearted president. Cer- tainly, as shown by the records of 1656, only two years after he re- tired from the presidency, it was already the custom to turn " un- ruly college boys " over to the civil authorities, and the latter, we are told, strangely took the ground that college criminals should fare no " better or other- wise than similar offenders out- side Parnassus." A law was passed by the General Court of the Massachusetts Colony, in 1656, authorizing fines and cor- poral punishment, according to which the President and Fel- lows, or a majority of them, were empowered to punish all misde- meanors Harvard University. 35 meanors of the students, either by fine or public whipping in the hall, as the nature of the offence might demand, only that the pen- alty should not exceed ten shil- lings, or ten stripes, for each of- fence. This law was to continue in force until the General Court or the overseers of the college should provide some other way to punish such offences. In June, 1659, the corporation of the col- lege authorized the Cambridge town watch to exercise their powers within the college " houses and lands," and enforce order. This was done " to seek redress " for abusive words and acts of the students; but the offi- cers were in no case to lay vio- lent hands on any of them. Their duty was simply to secure the students until the President or some of the Fellows could be in- formed. Neither could any of the j6 Harvard University. the watch break into the stu- dents' chambers without receiv- ing special orders from some officer of the college. By another a6l, passed by the corporation in the same year, any student out after nine in the evening was to be held responsible for all dis- orders that occurred, unless he could prove himself innocent. In 1682, the civil authority was called upon to aid the corpora- tion in expelling a student and prevent his remaining within the college walls after the expiration of twenty-four hours. His of- fence was "his abusive carriage in requiring some of the fresh- men to go upon his private er- rands, and in striking the said freshmen. ?># The system of flogging which was early recognized in the col- lege, and sanctioned by the Gen- eral Court in 1654, was also au- * See Notes. thorized Harvard University. $y thorized by the revised body of laws published in 1734. In the latter, however, it was limited to " boxing of the undergraduates," and but a few years later we read that " corporal punishment was going out of use." In the begin- ning the president personally at- tended to the flogging, but the tutors availed themselves freely of their privilege of "boxing" — an exercise which may possibly account for their unusual vigor and long terms of service ; for one of them, " Tutor Flynt," served the college fifty-five years, and others for periods but little short of this. When flogging was re- sorted to, the occasion was ob- served with great solemnity. Chief Justice Sewall tells of one that occurred in 1674. On that occasion the overseers of the college, the president and fel- lows, the students, and others who 38 Harvard University. who chose to attend, having been called together in the library, the sentence was read in their pres- ence and the offender required to kneel. The president then of- fered prayer, after which the " prison-keeper at Cambridge," at a given signal from him, " at- tended ... to the performance of his part of the work." The president then closed the " sol- emn exercise " with prayer. The student thus chastised was " suspended from taking his bachelor's degree " and required to sit alone uncovered at meals as long as the president and fel- lows should order, and be obe- dient to all regulations, or else suffer expulsion from the college. The college laws of 1650 for- bade the students to use tobacco " unless permitted by the pres- ident with the consent of parents or guardians, and on good reason first Harvard University, 39 first given by a physician, and then in a sober and private man- ner." They also prohibited, without special permission, the attending of public civil meet- ings, elections, courts of justice, fairs, military parades in college hours, or the joining of any mili- tary band " unless of known gravity, and of approved, sober, and virtuous conversation." Very early in its history the students seem to have given the authorities of the college much trouble at commencement time. A peculiarity of the festivities, from which apparently originated the " spreads" of Class-day, was the fondness of the young men for plum-cake. This was disap- proved by the corporation, and that body, after having repeated- ly forbidden its use, passed an acl:, June, 1693, putting " an end to that custom," and ordering, as a 40 Harvard University. a penalty for its violation, a fine of twenty shillings and the confis- cation of the cakes. The anni- versary of commencement had already become " a sort of satur- nalia for the whole neighbor- hood," and the wild revels of the students were so prolonged that it was necessary to put policemen on guard for several days and nights together. The various repressive measures introduced to stop the evil of plum-cake, and some other more serious evils, seem to have failed of their pur- pose, for in June, 1722, the cor- poration and overseers united in prohibiting the students from the use of liquors in their rooms, and from "preparing or providing either plum-cake or roasted, boiled, or baked meats, or pies of any kind." In 1727, such was the weakness of the college gov- ernment that both boards voted that Harvard University. 41 that the time for commencement should not only be changed and the occasion be " more private than has been usual," but that the day set apart for this anniver- sary should be concealed until al- most the time for its observance. In addition to the concealment, the board to whom the matter was referred changed the day from Wednesday to Friday, " that there might be less remaining time of the week spent in frolicking." At this a6tion the citizens of Cambridge and of the neighbor- ing towns, as well as the clergy of the province, who were accus- tomed to observe commence- ment as a holiday, were greatly incensed, and, as a result of their remonstrance, this concealment and the practice of holding com- mencement on Friday was, in 1736, discontinued, and Wed- nesday was thereafter observed. By 42 Harvard University, By another acl; of 1727, the de- gree was refused to any who should " presume to do anything contrary to the acl: of 1722, or go about to evade it by plain- cake." Besides, if they were found guilty of the violation of any of these acts after receiving the degree, their names should " be left or rased out of the cat- alogue of graduates." About this time the lieutenant-governor of the province was asked by the president to interfere and "pro- hibit the setting up of booths and tents on those public days." But all efforts to secure order during the evening and night following commencement seem to have been unsuccessful, though it be- came customary to station a con- stable and six men as a patrol "in and about the entry" of the college hall. The practice of "unsuitable and unseasonable dancing Harvard University. 43 dancing" also crept into the col- lege to the great detriment of good discipline and the sorrow of the "honorable governors." In the last decade of the first cen- tury of the college, during the ad- ministration of President Wads- worth, the laxity of discipline had extended so far that some of the tutors purposely absented themselves from commence- ment — "a thing never known before." Immoralities were very rapidly increasing among the students, and to remedy these various evils it was thought ne- cessary to adopt vigorous meas- ures. Accordingly, a committee was appointed by the overseers to inquire into the state of the college. This committee report- ed that the college was "in a weak and declining state," and recommended the framing of a new body of laws, better adapted to 44 Harvard University. to the changed conditions of so- ciety, and the making of some improvements in the method of instruction. This was done, and the new laws (which were so minute that from the moment the student matriculated until he left college there was no act pos- sible on his part that was not regulated by some law or fol- lowed by some penalty) were agreed to by the overseers and corporation in 1734. For ab- sence from prayers, public wor- ship, divinity lectures, or any college exercises, fines, — usually of so many pence or shillings — were imposed for the first of- fence, and for repeated offences this penalty was followed by ad- monitions, degradations, and ex- pulsion*; disorders on Sabbath evening received the same pun- ishment as if made at any time during the Sabbath ; tutors were * See Notes. required Harvard University. 45 required, in order "to quicken diligence," to visit the students' rooms in study hours and after nine o'clock at night; students and graduates were forbidden to use punch, flip, and like intoxi- cating drinks; all immoralities, such as swearing, cursing, un- cleanliness, lying, stealing, break- ing open chambers, picking locks, and playing or sleeping at public worship or prayers, were visited with severe penalties; and graduates, bachelors, and masters of arts were subject to reproof and to have their rooms visited by the president.* It is highly probable that the occasion of many of the petty disorders among the students was the quality of food furnished at " the scholars' commons." Complaints of this kind began at an early period, but it was not until long afterwards that any * See Notes. earnest 46 Harvard University. earnest efforts were made to im- prove the commons. Then a committee was appointed, clothed " with full powers " to rectify the disorders and provide " the necessary officers, as steward, butler, and cook." Among other things, this committee decreed " that commons be of better qual- ity, have more variety, clean table-cloths of convenient length and breadth twice a week, and that plates be allowed." The quality of the commons was then a matter of great interest to stu- dents and tutors, as the over- seers had voted that " all who had actually studies at college and resided there were ordered to be in commons " unless ex- cused by the president and a majority of the tutors. The tutors were also required to be in the hall during the hours for meals, to prevent disorders. The colonial Harvard University. 47 colonial government and the early patrons of Harvard College very strenuously insisted upon the maintenance of this feature of college life, as they believed that many benefits would accrue to the students from such associ- ation together — that is, by being brought up collegiately, and not allowed to board here and there in private families, as was done in some European universities. In spite of all that was said at the time in disparagement of the college, it is evident that it was true then, as it is now, that the disorders were the work of but a small number of the students. We know, from the high posi- tions afterwards filled by most of the graduates, that, in general, the character of the students was good. The Puritan fathers, how- ever, had suffered so much for the sake of their religion that they 48 Harvard University. they were, doubtless, somewhat too severe in their denunciation of condu6l that seemed lacking in solemn and respectful de- corum — which they considered the chief outward manifestation of a religious life. The college regulations required that the stu- dents should attend church in Cambridge, where " a particular gallery" was allotted them; and Dr. Cotton Mather tells us that they " were greatly benefited and their after lives greatly influ- enced " by the sermons and coun- sels of the devout pastors who ministered there, and cites the influence of these pastors as sim- ilar to that of a certain famous preacher at the English Cam- bridge. The reading and expounding of the scriptures at morning and evening prayers, which had been a marked feature of the daily routine Harvard University. 49 routine of college life during the first half-century, seems gradu- ally to have grown into disfavor, so that even Dr. Increase Mather — a great stickler for the old methods — speaks, in 1698, thus contemptuously of this custom, which he had evidently neg- lected: — "Only to expound to forty or fifty children, few of them capable of edification by such exercises ! " In 1708, soon after Leverett became president, this custom was revived by the corporation. The freshmen were then, however, permitted to use their English Bibles, but all other students were required in the morning to read Hebrew from the Old Testament and translate into Greek, and in the evening service read an English or Latin version of the New Testament and translate into Greek; but this was only customary " whenever the $o Harvard University. the president performed the ser- vice." A few years later, this exercise had become so distaste- ful to the students that the presi- dent declared that, if he contin- ued it, he would have to be " supported," indicating his belief that there was danger of rebel- lion. After 1725, the classes met for their scripture reading " at the chambers of their respec- tive tutors." The morning ser- vice then began with a short prayer by the president, after which he read and expounded a chapter from the Old Testament. In the evening he read from the New. On Saturday the relig- ious exercises were varied by the singing of a psalm, and on Sunday a psalm was sung both morning and evening, but the exposition of the scripture was omitted. On Sunday evening one of the students in course was called Harvard University. 5/ called upon to repeat the ser- mons preached that day in the parish church. EXAMINATIONS AND DEGREES. During their college course the students had weekly decla- mations, on Fridays, in the Col- lege Hall, and also disputations, which either the president or one of the fellows moderated.* The author of " New England's First Fruits " says that in Presi- dent Dunster's time public dec- lamations in Latin and Greek and logical and philosophical disputations were held once every month " in the audience of the magistrates, ministers, and other scholars," to test the prog- ress of the students in learning and godliness. For three weeks in June each year all students of two or more years' standing * See Notes. were 52 Harvard University, were required to attend in the " Hall," from nine to eleven and from one to three on Mondays and Tuesdays, for their annual examination. As visitors might at this time test their proficiency in the studies pursued, and, as it was customary for some of the overseers of the college to visit the school whilst the students were thus doing " what they called sitting of solstices," these were known as " weeks of visita- tion." Those who failed to pass the examination were " deferred to the following year." The degree of bachelor* of arts was conferred (at least after 1655) upon all who had completed the four years' course of study, and the master's degree upon gradu- ates of three years' standing. The examinations for these de- grees were frequent and close, particularly just before com- * See Notes. mence- Harvard University. 53 mencement, but good conduct, as well as scholarship, was es- sential in order to secure a degree. To quote from the ancient record: "Every scholar that on proof is found able to read the originals of the Old and New Testament [and translate] into the Latin tongue and to resolve them logically; withal being of godly life and conver- sation; and at any public ac~t hath the approbation of the overseers and master of the col- lege, is fit to be dignified with his first degree." " Every scholar that giveth up in writing a system or synopsis or sum of logic, natural and moral philoso- phy, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy; and is ready to de- fend his theses or positions; withal skilled in the originals as above said, and of godly life • . . is fit to be dignified with his 54 Harvard University. his second degree."* The idea of studying in all seven years was, it is said, "to answer to the Hor- atian character of an artist: — • " ' Quis studiis annos septem dedit, insenuitque Libris et curis.' " * The candidate for a degree was required to make application therefor to the overseers. In doing this a certain formula was followed which President Dun- ster had prepared. Other for- mulas — for presenting the can- didates to the overseers when about to receive their degrees; those to be used in making a public confession; and also cer- tificates of character, to be given to undergraduates, bachelors, and masters of arts — were prepared by the indefatigable Dunster.* The degrees of bachelor and master of arts were the only ones * See Notes. author- Harvard University. 55 authorized by the first charter. But by the temporary charter of 1692, the honorary degree of doctor of divinity was given to President Mather. A like de- gree was not given until seventy- nine years later, when it was received by Mr. Appleton, the pastor of the church at Cam- bridge. Years before this date, however, the laws of Harvard College provided for a doctorate in divinity; but, " partly from the novelty of the matter itself," and partly from " the modesty of the persons most worthy," the degree was not conferred.* COMMENCEMENT DAY. The first commencement (a term borrowed, apparently, from the English universities,* and meaning the day on which the scholar commenced the career of * See Notes. bach- 56 Harvard University. bachelor of arts) took place at Cambridge on the second Tues- day in August, 1642, when a class of nine was graduated. Great interest was taken in it by all the people, and, judging from the unusually minute report of the proceedings of the day, the occasion must have fully met the expectations of the friends of the college. Indeed, so au- spicious was the event consid- ered that a letter was addressed by the governor and " diverse of the ministers" to their friends in England, in which they say of the students of the first class that they were thoroughly exam- ined for their commencement, and that " the governor, magis- trates, and ministers from all parts, with all sorts of scholars and others in great numbers were present and did hear their exer- cises; which were Latin and Greek Harvard University. 57 Greek orations and declamations, and Hebrew analysis, grammat- ical, logical, and rhetorical, of the psalms: and their answers and disputations in logical, ethi- cal, physical, and metaphysical questions; and so were found worthy of the first degree (com- monly called bachelor) pro more Academiarum in AngliaP At this first commencement they had printed programmes, issued from their own " univer- sity press,"* which gave in Latin the list of questions to be dis* cussed. Of these questions ten were in grammar, four in rhet- oric, thirteen in logic, eleven in ethics, fifteen in physics, and four in metaphysics. Quite a remarkable fact is to be noted in connection with these themes, namely that, although the col- lege was conducted mostly as a theological institute, in accord- * See Notes. ance 5