e
ancient or modern poets, from which the students write a short
essay, usually denominated a _theme_.--_Works of R.T. Paine_, p.
xxi.

Far be it from me to enter into competition with students who have
been practising the sublime art of _theme_ and forensic writing
for two years.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 316.

But on the sleepy day of _themes_,
May doze away a dozen reams.
_Ibid._, p. 283.

Nimrod holds his "first _theme_" in one hand, and is leaning his
head on the other.--_Ibid._, p. 253.

THEME-BEARER. At Harvard College, until within a few years, a
student was chosen once in a term by his classmates to perform the
duties of _theme-bearer_. He received the subjects for themes and
forensics from the Professors of Rhetoric and of Moral Philosophy,
and posted them up in convenient places, usually in the entries of
the buildings and on, the bulletin-boards. He also distributed the
corrected themes, at first giving them to the students after
evening prayers, and, when this had been forbidden by the
President, carrying them to their rooms. For these services he
received seventy-five cents per term from each member of the
class.

THEME-PAPER. In American colleges, a kind of paper on which
students write their themes or composition. It is of the size of
an ordinary letter-sheet, contains eighteen or nineteen lines
placed at wide intervals, and is ruled in red ink with a margin a
little less than an inch in width.

Shoe-strings, lucifers, omnibus-tickets, _theme-paper_,
postage-stamps, and the nutriment of pipes.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I.
p. 266.

THEOLOGUE. A cant name among collegians for a student in theology.

The hardened hearts of Freshmen and _Theologues_ burned with
righteous indignation.--_Yale Tomahawk_, May, 1852.

The _Theologs_ are not so wicked as the Medics.--_Burlesque
Catalogue, Yale Coll._, 1852-53, p. 30.

THESES-COLLECTOR. One who collects or prepares _theses_. The
following extract from the laws of Harvard College will explain
further what is meant by this term. "The President, Professors,
and Tutors, annually, some time in the third term, shall select
from the Junior Class a number of _Theses-Collectors_, to prepare
theses for the next year; from which selection they shall appoint
so many divisions as shall be equal to the number of branches they
may assign. And each one shall, in the particular branch assigned
him, collect so many theses as the government may judge exp