wenty,--together with
loaf-sugar ('saccharum rigidum'), pipes, tobacco, and such
necessaries of scholars as were not furnished in the commons hall.
Some of these necessaries were books and stationery, but certain
fresh fruits also figured largely in the Butler's supply. No
student might buy cider or beer elsewhere. The Butler, too, had
the care of the bell, and was bound to wait upon the President or
a Tutor, and notify him of the time for prayers. He kept the book
of fines, which, as we shall see, was no small task. He
distributed the bread and beer provided by the Steward in the Hall
into equal portions, and had the lost commons, for which privilege
he paid a small annual sum. He was bound, in consideration of the
profits of his monopoly, to provide candles at college prayers and
for a time to pay also fifty shillings sterling into the treasury.
The more menial part of these duties he performed by his
waiter."--pp. 43, 44.
At both Harvard and Yale the students were restricted in expending
money at the Buttery, being allowed at the former "to contract a
debt" of five dollars a quarter; at the latter, of one dollar and
twenty-five cents per month.
BUTTER. A size or small portion of butter. "Send me a roll and two
Butters."--_Grad. ad Cantab._
Six cheeses, three _butters_, and two beers.--_The Collegian's
Guide_.
Pertinent to this singular use of the word, is the following
curious statement. At Cambridge, Eng., "there is a market every
day in the week, except Monday, for vegetables, poultry, eggs, and
butter. The sale of the last article is attended with the
peculiarity of every pound designed for the market being rolled
out to the length of a yard; each pound being in that state about
the thickness of a walking-cane. This practice, which is confined
to Cambridge, is particularly convenient, as it renders the butter
extremely easy of division into small portions, called _sizes_, as
used in the Colleges."--_Camb. Guide_, Ed. 1845, p. 213.
BUTTERY. An apartment in a house where butter, milk, provisions,
and utensils are kept. In some colleges, a room where liquors,
fruit, and refreshments are kept for sale to the
students.--_Webster_.
Of the Buttery, Mr. Peirce, in his History of Harvard University,
speaks as follows: "As the Commons rendered the College
independent of private boarding-houses, so the _Buttery_ removed
all just occasion for resorting to the different marts of luxury,
intemperance, and r
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