CLASS BOOK. Within the last thirty or forty years, a custom has
arisen at Harvard College of no small importance in an historical
point of view, but which is principally deserving of notice from
the many pleasing associations to which its observance cannot fail
to give rise. Every graduating class procures a beautiful and
substantial folio of many hundred pages, called the _Class Book_,
and lettered with the year of the graduation of the class. In this
a certain number of pages is allotted to each individual of the
class, in which he inscribes a brief autobiography, paying
particular attention to names and dates. The book is then
deposited in the hands of the _Class Secretary_, whose duty it is
to keep a faithful record of the marriage, birth of children, and
death of each of his classmates, together with their various
places of residence, and the offices and honors to which each may
have attained. This information is communicated to him by letter
by his classmates, and he is in consequence prepared to answer any
inquiries relative to any member of the class. At his death, the
book passes into the hands of one of the _Class Committee_, and at
their death, into those of some surviving member of the class; and
when the class has at length become extinct, it is deposited on
the shelves of the College Library.

The Class Book also contains a full list of all persons who have
at any time been members of the class, together with such
information as can be gathered in reference to them; and an
account of the prizes, deturs, parts at Exhibitions and
Commencement, degrees, etc., of all its members. Into it are also
copied the Class Oration, Poem, and Ode, and the Secretary's
report of the class meeting, at which the officers were elected.
It is also intended to contain the records of all future class
meetings, and the accounts of the Class Secretary, who is _ex
officio_ Class Treasurer and Chairman of the Class Committee. By
virtue of his office of Class Treasurer, he procures the _Cradle_
for the successful candidate, and keeps in his possession the
Class Fund, which is sometimes raised to defray the accruing
expenses of the Class in future times.

In the Harvardiana, Vol. IV., is an extract from the Class Book of
1838, which is very curious and unique. To this is appended the
following note:--"It may be necessary to inform many of our
readers, that the _Class Book_ is a large volume, in which
autobiographical sketches of