"commencement," the Latin programme of which was carefully prepared by
Professor Lane of Harvard University. I acted as president of the
occasion, Colonel Higginson as my aid; and we both marched up the aisle
in Oxford caps and gowns, and took our places on the platform. I opened
the proceedings by an address in Latin, Greek, and English; and when I
turned to Colonel Higginson, and called him, "Filie meum dilectissime,"
he wickedly replied with three bows of such comic gravity that I almost
gave way to unbecoming laughter. Not long before this he had published
his paper on the Greek goddesses. I therefore assigned as his theme the
problem, "How to sacrifice an Irish bull to a Greek goddess." Colonel
Waring, the well-known engineer, being at that time in charge of a
valuable farm in the neighborhood, was invited to discuss "Social small
potatoes; how to enlarge the eyes." An essay on rhinosophy was given by
Fanny Fern, the which I, chalk in hand, illustrated on the blackboard by
the following equation:--

"Nose + nose + nose = proboscis
Nose - nose - nose = snub."

A class was called upon for recitations from Mother Goose in seven
different languages. At the head of this Professor Goodwin, then and now
of Harvard, honored us with a Greek version of "The Man in the Moon." A
recent Harvard graduate recited the following:--

"Heu! iter didulum,
Felis cum fidulum,
Vacca transiluit lunam,
Caniculus ridet
Quum talem videt,
Et dish ambulavit cum spoonam."

The question being asked whether this last line was in strict accordance
with grammar, the scholar gave the following rule: "The conditions of
grammar should always give way to the exigencies of rhyme."

A supposed graduate of the department of law coming forward to receive
her degree, was thus addressed: "Come hither, my dear little lamb, I
welcome you to a long career at the _baa_."

As I record these extravagances, I seem to hear faint reverberations of
the laughter of some who are no longer in life, and of others who will
never again meet in such lightness of heart.

This brilliant conjunction of stars was now no more in Newport, and the
delicious fooling of that unique summer was never repeated. Out of it
came, however, the more serious and permanent association known as the
Town and Country Club of Newport. Of this I was at once declared
president, but my great good fortune lay in my having for vice-president
Professor William B. Roger