The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-07-10
How Oxford Students Behave on
COmmemOratiOn Day.
From the New York Tribune.
SOXFORD TIE,

There nrc some reSpect5 III which 1t must
be admitted that our civilization is inferior
to that of England. Our college commence"
ments present dead level of propriety and
dullneSS, which contrasts most strikinsy
with the vivid and tumultuo,lS scenes which
are presented on commemoration day i'll
the most prominent university of Eng
land. 1t is the custom on this occasion for
the Younger undergraduate to crowd the
galleries and keep up 4 running fire of
insult and abuse ut every one in
the audience about whom there is any
thing distinctive enough to form the justi-
fication of an epithct. Sometimes Il
man is howed into shame and cnnfu-
sion for parting his hair in the middle :;
another catches the tickle regard Of the
Young savageS by not parting his hair at
all: while The apparitiOn OF 4 very bald
head is often the occasion for a tempest OF
sarcasms. a gentleman was once driven
from the house because he had committed
the indiscretion OF bringing his umhrela
into the hall, and when it was singled out
for animadyersion by the sllarp-eyed row.
dies of the gallery, attempted in an imbe-
cilc hope of escape to hide it under his
oyercoat. It is not long since there ap-
Dcarcd in an English journal u savage letter
from q travelling BritOn in Seville. who had
been forced by the merry Andalllsians in
the bull.ring to put on and This macintosh
once or twice, to Deguilc the weary mo-
mcnts of waiting for the fight. Yet these
were heather Spaniards, and the young
outlaws of Oxford are the result of some
centuries Of freedom and aristocraLic re-
finement. This disgracetul system of insult
is directed with special energy against the
recipients of honorary degrees. Men or the
highest distinction in literature and phlloso-
Dby are backguardcd and browbeaten in,
the most savage manner while the guests
of the University, in violation of every con-
sideration of hospitality and decency. 1t
is only wear or two sluce one of the most
eminent men Of science in Great Britain
refused a degree from the University on
the ayowed ground that his state or health
would not permit him to face the rowdyism
of the undergraduate Of tue gallery.
If it seems incredible that such m abuse
should be allowed to continue, still less is
it conceivable that it should fnd, ii not de-
fence, at least palliation among people of
culture and refinement. There is q little
pood.natured denunciation of it every year,
but no one seriously thinks of reforming it.
II would seem like tearing down the pillars
of the constitutions to force these young
barbarians to keep q civil tongue IN their
heads. This year there has been grotesque
illustration of the yindlctiye lawleSsness or
the students and the pusillanimity OF the
public. An unfortunate gentleman, with
an ill-regulated taste for color, went to
commem ,ration in red crayat. This
bit of personal adornment grated so
tearfully upon the artistic sense of the
galleries, that scene Of the widest contll-
sion ensued. The appearance of "the Man
in the Red Tie" was the cause of storm
of wells and bisseS, which could not have
l,on hn hpI
with mad bulls and turkey. gobblers, ami
mails which have hitherto been presumed
to have a monopoly OF this branch of color
phobia. The spectacle grew at last so un-
seemIy that the visitor was compelled to
take of, his red crayat, to restore order in
the assembly. The galleries were placated
by this scarlet sacrifice, and turned their
attention to another victim.
The matter could not end here. No true
Briton submits tamely to outrage without
the Times. The man in the red
tie writes TO the great organ OF public opin-
ion detailing the circumstances, ana, as Id
the retirement of his own closet he leelS
much more courageous than before gang
of aristocratic torturers, he announces his
intention to flaunt the blushing occasion
of discord next wear before the triumphant
galleries. But he meets with no SYM
pathy. The most respectable Journals
denounce him as the guilty cause
of the row. "He must have Known"
saws the Pail Mall Gazette, I" that red tie
was conspicuous and extraordinary artl-
Gle of clothing" 1t does not deny that the
uproar of the students was too violent
protest against the visitor taste in thoracic
decoration, but continues "The broad
fuct remains that the man came in RED tie
TO place where he was well aware that the
color of the tie would be the cause of
row." and with this solemn dictum the
hapfess Englishman and his outrageous
neck. cloth are handed over to the contempt
of the universe.