been usual. More was then done, probably, from the fact,
that for several years, during the Revolutionary war, there was no
public Commencement. Perhaps it should be added, that, so far back
as my information extends, after the literary exercises of
Presentation Day, there has always been a dinner, or collation, at
which the College Faculty, graduates, invited guests, and the
Senior Class have been present."

A graduate of the present year[60] writes more particularly in
relation to the observances of the day at the present time. "In
the morning the Senior Class are met in one of the lecture-rooms
by the chairman of the Faculty and the senior Tutor. The latter
reads the names of those who have passed a satisfactory
examination, and are to be recommended for degrees. The Class then
adjourn to the College Chapel, where the President and some of the
Professors are waiting to receive them. The senior Tutor reads the
names as before, after which Professor Kingsley recommends the
Class to the President and Faculty for the degree of B.A., in a
Latin discourse. The President then responds in the same tongue,
and addresses a few words of counsel to the Class.

"These exercises are followed by the Poem and Oration, delivered
by members of the Class chosen for these offices by the Class.
Then comes the dinner, given in one of the lecture-rooms. After
this the Class meet in the College yard, and spend the afternoon
in smoking (the old clay pipe is used, but no cigars) and singing.
Thus ends the active life of our college days."

"Presentation Day," says the writer of the preface to the "Songs
of Yale," "is the sixth Wednesday of the Summer Term, when the
graduating Class, after having passed their second 'Biennial,' are
presented to the President as qualified for the first degree, or
the B.A. After this 'presentation,' a farewell oration and poem
are pronounced by members of the Class, previously elected by
their classmates for the purpose. After a public dinner, they seat
themselves under the elms before the College, and smoke and sing
for the last time together. Each has his pipe, and 'they who
never' smoked 'before' now smoke, or seem to. The exercises are
closed with a procession about the buildings, bidding each
farewell." 1853, p. 4.

This last smoke is referred to in the following lines:--

"Green elms are waving o'er us,
Green grass beneath our feet,
The ring is round, and on the ground
We sit a class co