carrying real, _bona fide_ spades and shovels originated wholly in
our class. It has always been the custom before to wear a spade,
cut out of white paper, on the lapel of the coat. The Navy
Privates were dressed in blue shirts, monkey-jackets, &c., and
presented a very sailor-like appearance. Two of them carried small
kedges over their shoulders. The Ensign bore an old and tattered
flag, the same which was originally presented by Miss Mellen of
Cambridge to the Harvard Washington Corps. The Chaplain was
dressed in a black gown, with an old-fashioned curly white wig on
his head, which, with a powdered face, gave him a very
sanctimonious look. He carried a large French Bible, which by much
use had lost its covers. The Surgeon rode a beast which might well
have been taken for the Rosinante of the world-renowned Don
Quixote. This worthy AEsculapius had an infinite number of
brown-paper bags attached to his person. He was enveloped in an
old plaid cloak, with a huge sign for _pills_ fastened upon his
shoulders, and carried before him a skull on a staff. His nag was
very spirited, so much so as to leap over the chains, posts, &c.,
and put to flight the crowd assembled to see the fun. The
procession, after having cheered all the College buildings, and
the houses of the Professors, separated about seven o'clock, P.M."

At first like a badger the Freshman dug,
Fed on Latin and Greek, in his room kept snug;
And he fondly hoped that on _Navy Club_ day
The highest spade he might bear away.
_MS. Poem_, F.E. Felton, Harv. Coll.

NECK. To _run one's neck_, at Williams College, to trust to luck
for the success of any undertaking.

NESCIO. Latin; literally, _I do not know_. At the University of
Cambridge, England, _to sport a nescio_, to shake the head, a
signal that one does not understand or is ignorant of the subject.
"After the Senate-House examination for degrees," says Grose, in
his Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, "the students
proceed to the schools, to be questioned by the proctor. According
to custom immemorial, the answers _must_ be _Nescio_. The
following is a translated specimen:--

"_Ques._ What is your, name? _Ans._ I do not know.

"_Ques._ What is the name of this University? _Ans._ I do not
know.

"_Ques._ Who was your father? _Ans._ I do not know.

"The last is probably the only true answer of the three!"

NEWLING. In the German universities, a Freshman; one in his first
half-y