Omaha daily bee., 1909-06-27

loyalty and pride.
When the universities thus springing up
became regularly organized, the professors
or bachelors or doctors of divinity, and the
graduates OF the faculties of Jaw and art
above the bachelor degree, wore their
regular dress flowing gowns, with capes
and hoods. Very high rank was then In
dictated by a special cap.
This was the beginning Of the present
academic garb so generally seen in the
early days of June, the month of com
mencement.
Some Later Developments,
Although in general form the dress has
remained much the same, there have been
many developments. In the fifteenth cen
fury special distinction was made between
the masters and the bachelors gowns, the
formers being shorter. Soon a system was
! evolved by which the higher degrees would
be indicated, and eventually there came
into existence a whole system of graduation
OF academic attire just as clearly graded
and marked as the degrees of heraldTy.
But this system has never been uniform
among the worlds universities. There have
been many variations growing out OF diff
ferences in religions.
OF existing universities. oxford claims to
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that of any Of it's contemporaries. The
graduating class of this year in the famous
English university will wear Just exactly
the same kind Of ecclesIastical and civil
robes that were proper in the days OF the
early Georges, a couple of centuries ago.
The gown of Cambridge goes q long dis
lance back, not quite as far perhaps as the
other.
oxford makes very marked difference in
the garb OF a graduating minister and law
yer, for instance. Cambridge still further
differentiates between students of its va
rious colleges.
A Uniform System.
The ordinary academic dress Of today
consists OF cap, gown and hood, and In the
! United States the system has been so uni
fled that a very definite code has been es-
tablished.
In 1891 an inter collegiate commission met
at Columbia college with Seth Low as
chairman and Colonel McCook of Prince
ton, DR.. Palmer of Yale and Chancellor
McCracken of New York university, as
members OF the commission. They made a
careful study of academic costumes in
the various Universities OF Europe. and out
Of the chaos they involved an orderly sys-
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the greater universities and colleges In the
land.
There are three types OF gowns, which
are marked by varying cuts of hoods to
represent doctor, master and bachelor de-
grees. The Doctors gown has full open,
round sleeves, faced with velve and has
three bars OF velvet on the sleeves.
The masters gown has a closed sleeve,
square at the bottom, falling below the
knees. The arm enters through a slit near
the elbow. The bachelors gown has long,
pointed sleeves.
be silk; bachelors of worsted stuff, The
doctors cap has a gilt tassel, while the
others have silk tassels.
Thus far the United States follows the
custom OF Britain, but the lack OF uni
formity in hoods and the application OF
color to them, made the American authori-
ties adopt a system Of their own, very
carefully elaborated.
Grades of Hoods.
The three grades OF hoods vary In cut
as much as do the three grades Of gowns
They are made Of the same stuff as the
gown. but are generally lined with the
color Of the institution granting the de-
gree. They are trimmed with q color that
stands for the department from which the
degree emanates. This trimming is gener-
ally Of velvet
Arts and letters are represented by white