By my official power, I swear,
That you shall _smell the country air_.--_Rebelliad_, p. 45.
RUSTICATION. In universities and colleges, the punishment of a
student for some offence, by compelling him to leave the
institution, and reside for a time in the country, where he is
obliged to pursue with a private instructor the studies with which
his class are engaged during his term of separation, and in which
he is obliged to pass a satisfactory examination before he can be
reinstated in his class.
It seems plain from his own verses to Diodati, that Milton had
incurred _rustication_,--a temporary dismission into the country,
with, perhaps, the loss of a term.--_Johnson_.
Take then this friendly exhortation.
The next offence is _Rustication_.
_MS. Poem_, by John Q. Adams.
RUST-RINGING. At Hamilton College, "the Freshmen," writes a
correspondent, "are supposed to lose some of their verdancy at the
end of the last term of that year, and the 'ringing off their
rust' consists in ringing the chapel bell--commencing at midnight
--until the rope wears out. During the ringing, the upper classes
are diverted by the display of numerous fire-works, and enlivened
by most beautifully discordant sounds, called 'music,' made to
issue from tin kettle-drums, horse-fiddles, trumpets, horns, &c.,
&c."
_S_.
SACK. To expel. Used at Hamilton College.
SAIL. At Bowdoin College, a _sail_ is a perfect recitation. To
_sail_ is to recite perfectly.
SAINT. A name among students for one who pretends to particular
sanctity of manners.
Or if he had been a hard-reading man from choice,--or a stupid
man,--or a "_saint_,"--no one would have troubled themselves about
him.--_Blackwood's Mag._, Eng. ed., Vol. LX. p. 148.
SALTING THE FRESHMEN. In reference to this custom, which belongs
to Dartmouth College, a correspondent from that institution
writes: "There is an annual trick of '_salting the Freshmen_,'
which is putting salt and water on their seats, so that their
clothes are injured when they sit down." The idea of preservation,
cleanliness, and health is no doubt intended to be conveyed by the
use of the wholesome articles salt and water.
SALUTATORIAN. The student of a college who pronounces the
salutatory oration at the annual Commencement.--_Webster_.
SALUTATORY. An epithet applied to the oration which introduces the
exercises of the Commencements in American colleges.--_Webster_.
The oration is often called, simply, _The Salutatory_.
And we ask our friends "out in the world," whenever they meet an
educated man of the class of '49, not to ask if he had the
Valedictory or _Salutatory_, but if he takes the
Indicator.--_Amherst Indicator_, Vol. II. p. 96.
SATIS. Latin; literally, _enough_. In the University of Cambridge,
Eng., the lowest honor in the schools. The manner in which this
word is used is explained in the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, as
follows: "_Satis disputasti_; which is at much as to say, in the
colloquial style, 'Bad enough.' _Satis et bene disputasti_,
'Pretty fair,--tolerable.' _Satis et optime disputasti_, 'Go thy
ways, thou flower and quintessence of Wranglers.' Such are the
compliments to be expected from the Moderator, after the _act is
kept_."--p. 95.
S.B. An abbreviation for _Scientiæ Baccalaureus_, Bachelor in
Science. At Harvard College, this degree is conferred on those who
have pursued a prescribed course of study for at least one year in
the Scientific School, and at the end of that period passed a
satisfactory examination. The different degrees of excellence are
expressed in the diploma by the words, _cum laude_, _cum magna
laude_, _cum summa laude_.
SCARLET DAY. In the Church of England, certain festival days are
styled _scarlet days_. On these occasions, the doctors in the
three learned professions appear in their scarlet robes, and the
noblemen residing in the universities wear their full
dresses.--_Grad. ad Cantab._
SCHEME. The printed papers which are given to the students at Yale
College at the Biennial Examination, and which contain the
questions that are to be answered, are denominated _schemes_. They
are also called, simply, _papers_.
See the down-cast air, and the blank despair,
That sits on each Soph'more feature,
As his bleared eyes gleam o'er that horrid _scheme_!
_Songs of Yale_, 1853, p. 22.
Olmsted served an apprenticeship setting up types,
For the _schemes_ of Bien. Examination.
_Presentation Day Songs_, June 14, 1854.
Here's health to the tutors who gave us good _schemes_,
Vive la compagnie!
_Songs, Biennial Jubilee_, 1855.
SCHOLAR. Any member of a college, academy, or school.
2. An undergraduate in English universities, who belongs to the
foundation of a college, and receives support in part from its
revenues.--_Webster_.
SCHOLAR OF THE HOUSE. At Yale College, those are called _Scholars
of the House_ who, by superiority in scholarship, become entitled
to receive the income arising from certain foundations established
for the purpose of promoting learning and literature. In some
cases the recipient is required to remain at New Haven for a
specified time, and pursue a course of studies under the direction
of the Faculty of the College.--_Sketches of Yale Coll._, p. 86.
_Laws of Yale Coll._
2. "The _scholar of the house_," says President Woolsey, in his
Historical Discourse,--"_scholaris ædilitus_ of the Latin
laws,--before the institution of Berkeley's scholarships which had
the same title, was a kind of ædile appointed by the President and
Tutors to inspect the public buildings, and answered in a degree
to the Inspector known to our present laws and practice. He was
not to leave town until the Friday after Commencement, because in
that week more than usual damage was done to the buildings."--p.
43.
The duties of this officer are enumerated in the annexed passage.
"The Scholar of the House, appointed by the President, shall
diligently observe and set down the glass broken in College
windows, and every other damage done in College, together with the
time when, and the person by whom, it was done; and every quarter
he shall make up a bill of such damages, charged against every
scholar according to the laws of College, and deliver the same to
the President or the Steward, and the Scholar of the House shall
tarry at College until Friday noon after the public Commencement,
and in that time shall be obliged to view any damage done in any
chamber upon the information of him to whom the chamber is
assigned."--_Laws of Yale Coll._, 1774, p. 22.
SCHOLARSHIP. Exhibition or maintenance for a scholar; foundation
for the support of a student--_Ainsworth_.
SCHOOL. THE SCHOOLS, _pl._; the seminaries for teaching logic,
metaphysics, and theology, which were formed in the Middle Ages,
and which were characterized by academical disputations and
subtilties of reasoning; or the learned men who were engaged in
discussing nice points in metaphysics or theology.--_Webster_.
2. In some American colleges, the different departments for
teaching law, medicine, divinity, &c. are denominated _schools_.
3. The name given at the University of Oxford to the place of
examination. The principal exercises consist of disputations in
philosophy, divinity, and law, and are always conducted in a sort
of barbarous Latin.
I attended the _Schools_ several times, with the view of acquiring
the tact and self-possession so requisite in these public
contests.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. II. p. 39.
There were only two sets of men there, one who fagged
unremittingly for the _Schools_, and another devoted to frivolity
and dissipation.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d,
p. 141.
S.C.L. At the English universities, one who is pursuing law
studies and has not yet received the degree of B.C.L. or D.C.L.,
is designated S.C.L., _Student_ in or of _Civil Law_.
At the University of Cambridge, Eng., persons in this rank who
have kept their acts wear a full-sleeved gown, and are entitled to
use a B.A. hood.
SCONCE. To mulct; to fine. Used at the University of Oxford.
A young fellow of Baliol College, having, upon some discontent cut
his throat very dangerously, the Master of the College sent his
servitor to the buttery-book to _sconce_ (i.e. fine) him 5s.; and,
says the Doctor, tell him the next time he cuts his throat I'll
_sconce_ him ten.--_Terræ-Filius_, No. 39.
Was _sconced_ in a quart of ale for quoting Latin, a passage from
Juvenal; murmured, and the fine was doubled.--_The Etonian_, Vol.
II. p. 391.
SCOUT. A cant term at Oxford for a college servant or
waiter.--_Oxford Guide_.
My _scout_, indeed, is a very learned fellow, and has an excellent
knack at using hard words. One morning he told me the gentleman in
the next room _contagious_ to mine desired to speak to me. I once
overheard him give a fellow-servant very sober advice not to go
astray, but be true to his own wife; for _idolatry_ would surely
bring a man to _instruction_ at last.--_The Student_, Oxf. and
Cam., 1750, Vol. I. p. 55.
An anteroom, or vestibule, which serves the purpose of a _scout's_
pantry.--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 280.
_Scouts_ are usually pretty communicative of all they
know.--_Blackwood's Mag._, Eng. ed., Vol. LX. p. 147.
Sometimes used in American colleges.
In order to quiet him, we had to send for his factotum or _scout_,
an old black fellow.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XI. p. 282.
SCRAPE. To insult by drawing the feet over the floor.--_Grose_.
But in a manner quite uncivil,
They hissed and _scraped_ him like the devil.
_Rebelliad_, p. 37.
"I do insist,"
Quoth he, "that two, who _scraped_ and hissed,
Shall be condemned without a jury
To pass the winter months _in rure_."--_Ibid._, p. 41.
They not unfrequently rose to open outrage or some personal
molestation, as casting missiles through his windows at night, or
"_scraping him_" by day.--_A Tour through College_, Boston, 1832,
p. 25.
SCRAPING. A drawing of, or the act of drawing, the feet over the
floor, as an insult to some one, or merely to cause disturbance; a
shuffling of the feet.
New lustre was added to the dignity of their feelings by the
pathetic and impressive manner in which they expressed them, which
was by stamping and _scraping_ majestically with their feet, when
in the presence of the detested tutors.--_Don Quixotes at
College_, 1807.
The morning and evening daily prayers were, on the next day
(Thursday), interrupted by _scraping_, whistling, groaning, and
other disgraceful noises.--_Circular, Harvard College_, 1834, p.
9.
This word is used in the universities and colleges of both England
and America.
SCREW. In some American colleges, an excessive, unnecessarily
minute, and annoying examination of a student by an instructor is
called a _screw_. The instructor is often designated by the same
name.
Haunted by day with fearful _screw_.
_Harvard Lyceum_, p. 102.
_Screws_, duns, and other such like evils.
_Rebelliad_, p. 77.
One must experience all the stammering and stuttering, the
unending doubtings and guessings, to understand fully the power of
a mathematical _screw_.--_Harv. Reg._, p. 378.
The consequence was, a patient submission to the _screw_, and a
loss of college honors and patronage.--_A Tour through College_,
Boston, 1832, p. 26.
I'll tell him a whopper next time, and astonish him so that he'll
forget his _screws_.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XI. p. 336.