The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-28
DRESS AT HARVARD
GAUDY COSTUMES WORN AT COM
MENCEMENT In COLO
NAL DAYS
ALL CoLoRs OF THE RAINBOW
OVerseers Gradually Changed Re-
sPIendent Attire to the SOM
Der Cap and Gown
of Today.

Opening a book whose author was writ
ing of a Harvard commencement fifty
years ago, what a picture l saw as l
looked at the authors sketch, says a.
writer in the Boston Herald She was
at Cambridge, up in the gallery OF the
meeting house, opened for graduating eX-
ercises. She was looking down on the
large commencement audience. What
pretty sight was beneath her! The Ia
dies chosen style of mead dress was not
that of a bonnet. but a short white veil
thrown back from the face and secured
around the hair with chaplets of flowers.
She said that the effect was that of
flower garden.
Let US imagine that the rose season is
at it's topmost notch of bloom. The
brightest and sweetest and fullest bios
SONS in Cambridge gardens have been
garnered for commencement day and are
doing honored duty about the lovely
faces Of mothers, sisters and sweetheartS
gathered in the meeting house. AS you
recall the old favorite, don't think OF
such teeth-twisting names as our Cen
erai Jacqueminot, the Gustav Pyanean,
the MerVeilie de Lyon, but the simple,
sW eet cinnamon-rose, the heavy yellow
Scotch rose and varieties with such good
old English titles as 'bIush,' crimson"
''damask," and a breath as fresh, I'M
spoiled and perfumed as that of nature
herself. l mean those sorts of old-tlm
commencement roses.
Let an enterprising zephyr look in and
step in at the opened windows. and what
a futter of ribbons there would be in
the old-time pews while a wave Of fra
GRANGE would sweep up to the platform,
intoxicating and confusing the blushing
senior Saying his part"
What wonder, friend said to me, that
in the presence of such a display that
Harvard students would dress their very
best on commencement day. But this
picture of the nineteenth century was
not so conspicuous for it's dress effect
as eighteenth century costumes
Think of Harvard students filing upon
the meeting house platform, dressed in
broad-skirted coats Of crimson, blue or
brown velvet, or yellow SATIN coats with
ample cuffs, blCssoming out in lace ruff
fieS; in waistcoats, too, of various rain
bow hues, in breecheS and hose as gay,
while polished buckles of silver fash at
the knees and upon the feet! And is that
a sword peeping out of that array Of col
or?
Dr. Edward Abbott. in his entertaining
work on Revolutionary times. says: The
small sword was a common article or
full dress, while scarlet cloth and gold
and silver lace with snowy buttons,
We're resorted to by patrlcians on inn
portant occasions"
If the graduating students, in contrast
with tOdays less conspicuous colors, may
seem very much like a gay butterfly f1ut-
tering about the commencement platform.
the ladies' in the audience could, in those
so-called primitive, sober and retiring
days. fully match the vivid coloring in the
student ranks. Says DR.. Abbott in his
picturesque book: The ladies made up
their silks and satins and brocades into
sacques and petticoats hooped and trail
ed, set off with ruffies, and vigorously pat
termed and bedecked, according to the
style of the hour They spent much time
upon their hair, and the arrangement IF
the headdress for the great party or the
grand ball was a very complicated opera
ton" If there were no charming rose
gardens in luxuriant bloom before the
bushing senior commencement day there
was in the dress of the women no lack
of brilliant coloring from other sources.
1t might seem, in those supposed days
of simplicity of methods, as if the only
check needed upon dress extravaganza
commencement day and other occasions
was that of public opinion, as in our day,
But the college overseers felt, in October,
1154, that there must be a tighter rein
upon undue tendencies. That autumn the
following blast from the government
trumpet was sounded:
''It appearing to the overseers that the
costly habits Of many of the scholars dur
ing their residence at the college, as also
of the candidates for their degrees on
commencement days, Is not only an I'M
necessary expense and tends to discour-
age persons giving their children q COL
lege education, but is also inconsistent
with the gravity and derneanor proper to
be observed in this society, it is there
cd tn ha -.
prepare law requiring that on no occa-
sion any of the scholars wear any gold
or silver lace, or any gold or silver bro
cades, in the college or town of Cam
bridge, and that on commencement days
every candidate for his degree appear in
black or dark blue or gray clothes, and
that no one wear any silk nightgowns,
and that any candidate who shall appear
dressed contrary to such regulations may
not expect his degree"
For over thirty years the college was
not tied down by any additional dress re-
strictions. Commencement was not cleo
trified by any gold and silver flashes.
and candidates came forward in sober
"black," or dark blue" or gray" n
doubtedly, the female dress Kaleidoscope
in the meeting house pews on. the floor
and up in the galleries was as gay and
animated as ever, but, in the college sec
ton. life was felt to be a serious matter.
and sober must be the show of it,
What it was that led to another turn
of the screw I know not, but that turn
came, and the twist was as follows: "Au
the undergraduates shall be clothed in
coats of 5lue-gray and with waistcoats
and breeches of the same color or of
black or nankeen, or of an olive color
The coats of the freshmen snail have
plain buttonholes. The cuffs shall he
without buttons. The coats of the sopho-
mores shall have plain buttonholes. like