The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-09-30
PRINCET0N'S CENTURY.
How Students Lived When
the College Was in Its
Infancy.
EARLY COMMENCEMENT DINNER
Why the College Was Taken From
NeWark-President Edwards
and Algebra.
Special to the Jersey cstu Ne,us.

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PRINCETON, Sept. 80. 1Ss6s-The old
town is once more alive. After an alb
sence of two and a half months, the 1,20o
students have returned and taken posses
sion. The digniied senior, the noisy
sophomore, and the innocent freshman.
with terrified look, again give life to
Nassau Hall and the surrounding build
ings. But in the eyes of everybody con-
nected with the college the formal OPEN
ing this year is OF little moment, for, as
President Patton expressed it in his adj
dress to the students on Thursday after
noon; "Our minds are completely occn-
pied, / might say better pre-occupied,
with the s-esquicentennial celebration.
Everybody has an eye on October q.
The faculty committee is busy with the
arrangements of what promises to be the
grandest college celebration ever held in
this country, the student looks forward
to a grand occasion, with the town full
Of "old grads and the townspeople are
all anticipating the big day."
A visitor to Princeton does not have to
be an alumnus of the college to realize
the meaning of 100 completed years of the
life of the college, with all the changes,
additions and Improvements that nave
taken place in that period. From the
granting of Princeton's first charter by
Governor Hamilton of New Jersey in
1746. which gave the right to President
Jonathan Dickinson and a half dozen
students to gather at Elizabeth and be
called the College of New Jersey, down
to the present, which finds that college
among the leaders of the country and the
world-the successful completion of such
an interval Is certainly a fitting occasion
for celebration.
A glance at the college of 1850 shows
this: 1t was then located at New Ark,
as it was then written. having been
moved from Elizabeth at the time of the
election to the Presidency of Aaron
Burr, father of the third Vice President
Of the United States. This removal and
the ease with which it was accomplished
show the primitive character of the Col
lege Of New Jersey at that time. Nova
days when a man is elected president of
an institution of learning. convenience
and custom dictate that he should go to
the college. Not so with Princeton's
was promptly moved from Elizabeth to
Newark. But when we take into consid-
Grafton the facts that the presidents
house was the principal college building,
twenty, IL appears hat the college and
president could both move with almost
equal facility.
Not until the removal to Princeton. in
175, did the college have a building.
Nassau Hall was built at that time, and
was for many years he largest and one
country. This latter distinction still
clings to 1t. Used as a quarters by Wash
ington's army in 1777. nearly demolished
by the fighting around Princeton in those
days. and later used as the meeting place
of Congress, 1t is a storehouse of histor-
ica1 associations, greater than any other
9 s,Idgs fay ,t building adna, IN the vs World d. = The ne
raised by means which today would be
regarded as novel. if nothing more. APP
plication was made to the New Jersey
Colonial Government for permission to
draw a lottery in the interest of the coll
lege. Being refused in New Jersey, the
trustees s t with With fertility utility Of a res4uace e w Prnn.
~sylvania. There the necessary sanction
was obtained. and a lottery drawn in
Philadelphia realized about $4,000 for the
quently drawn in Connecticut n New
Jersey for the benefit of the college.
A thorough knowledge of the classics
the following will show: None may be
admitted to the college but such as being
examined by the president and tutors
shall be ound able to render Virgil and
Tully's Orations into English; and to
turn English into true and grammatical
Latin, and to be SO well acquainted with
the Greek as to render any part of the
four Evangelists In that language into
Latin or English" This hist of require
ments takes up less space. than the SINH
ldI > li d iiAooCAh OAiC6 q Z
but ito render any part of he four Evan
gelists into Latin or English is a. re-
quirement that would cause an appalling
decrease in the size Of the classes now
entering colleges. Requirements in
mathematics seem to have been based on
a much lower. standard. 1t was not until
necessary for entrance, and the Rev.
Jonathan Edwards, third President of
the college. in reply to the letter inform
ing him of his election to that office.
refers to his deficiency lin some parts of
learning. particularly in algebra and the
higher parts of mathematics.
In these days when the average college
student, whose parents are in moderate
circumstances, spends between 1900 and
5000 on a college education, II seems
strange to read snar a g perx,Ipeeantsoens 81 oho an
1860, amounted to an equivalent of $40;
made up of $40 for tuition, s45 for board,
81 for washing, s. for Ugh and fuel and
50 for room rent. But everything financial
in the college was on the same diminutive
scale, and a gift of fifty guineas from
General George Washington caused more
would today. President Burr received a
salary of about $3.50 a year. and each of
the two tutors, who were his only assist
ants, labored for GAO proclamation money,
or about 500 a year.
The commencement exercises then were
much the same formal and uninteresting
function that Ihsy az are n f9day. ! 1zea Penn snn
lished an account of the commencement
of that year, which consisted mostly of
orations in Latin and syllogistic disputes.
forensic disputes, n disputes in the
"Socratick Way all Latin. But aside
from the formal exercises, the commence
ment season was a gay one, for In place
of the modern dances and p~romenades.
there were horse races, bull batting and
similar amusements, and the campus was
temporarily transformed into a county
fair ground. The commencement dinner
of It'll. served by a William Hicks, must
have been a rather festive occasion, If We
may Judge from the items on the bill
which he rendered to the trustees OF the
college. Thirty-seven loyal sons of
Princeton came back to their alma mater
on that occasion, and consumed dinners
to the amount of GA. II shiliings, 6 pence.
while to wash down this repast they used
A23 bottles of wine s bottles of porter. 6
bottles of beer, 8 double bowls Of punch,
and s double bowls of toddy, bringing
the total bill UP to f13 IS pence. Small
beer or cider was. part of the regular
diet Of the faculty and students in those
Although governed by rules which
would seem little but cruel to the stu
dents of today, the early Princetonsans
seem to have maintained the beat dis
cipline. A large horn blown through
the entries at 5 A. M. summoned all the
studants to prayers. Students were not
allowed to leave their rooms without
permission, except FOR half an hour after
morning prayers, an hour and a half
at dinner, and from evening prayexs un-
til Z o'clock, under q penalty Of four
pence for each offense. Card playing