Yale Banger_, Oct. 1848.
The rites of Wooden Spoons we next recite,
When _bootlick_ hypocrites upraised their might.
_Ibid._, Nov. 1849.
Then he arose, and offered himself as a "_bootlick_" to the
Faculty.--_Yale Battery_, Feb. 14, 1850.
BOOTS. At the College of South Carolina it is customary to present
the most unpopular member of a class with a pair of handsome
red-topped boots, on which is inscribed the word BEAUTY. They were
formerly given to the ugliest person, whence the inscription.
BORE. A tiresome person or unwelcome visitor, who makes himself
obnoxious by his disagreeable manners, or by a repetition of
visits.--_Bartlett_.
A person or thing that wearies by iteration.--_Webster_.
Although the use of this word is very general, yet it is so
peculiarly applicable to the many annoyances to which a collegian
is subjected, that it has come by adoption to be, to a certain
extent, a student term. One writer classes under this title
"text-books generally; the Professor who marks _slight_ mistakes;
the familiar young man who calls continually, and when he finds
the door fastened demonstrates his verdant curiosity by revealing
an inquisitive countenance through the ventilator."--_Sophomore
Independent_, Union College, Nov. 1854.
In college parlance, prayers, when the morning is cold or rainy,
are a _bore_; a hard lesson is a _bore_; a dull lecture or
lecturer is a _bore_; and, _par excellence_, an unwelcome visitor
is a _bore_ of _bores_. This latter personage is well described in
the following lines:--
"Next comes the bore, with visage sad and pale,
And tortures you with some lugubrious tale;
Relates stale jokes collected near and far,
And in return expects a choice cigar;
Your brandy-punch he calls the merest sham,
Yet does not _scruple_ to partake a _dram_.
His prying eyes your secret nooks explore;
No place is sacred to the college bore.
Not e'en the letter filled with Helen's praise,
Escapes the sight of his unhallowed gaze;
Ere one short hour its silent course has flown,
Your Helen's charms to half the class are known.
Your books he takes, nor deigns your leave to ask,
Such forms to him appear a useless task.
When themes unfinished stare you in the face,
Then enters one of this accursed race.
Though like the Angel bidding John to write,
Frail ------ form uprises to thy sight,
His stupid stories chase your thoughts away,
And drive you mad wi
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