April 30, 2008
Rules for Harvard Freshmen, 1741
The blog Boston 1775 has posted Harvard's rules for incoming class of 1741.
In the 1700s, ordinary schooling for Boston boys ran from about age seven to age thirteen or fourteen, if they lasted through the whole course. Therefore, the few boys who went on to college were still truly boys, only in their early teens. Usually they graduated college at eighteen, still years away from their legal majority.
The fact that college students were the age of high-school students now, and away from their families in an nearly all-male environment, helps to explain such traditions as these rules for Harvard’s incoming class in 1741.
1. No Freshman shall wear his hat in the College yard, except it rains, hails, or snows, he be on horseback, or hath both hands full.
2. No Freshman shall pass by his Senior, without pulling his hat off.
3. No Freshman shall be saucy to his Senior, or speak to him with his hat on.
4. No Freshman shall laugh in his Senior’s face.
5. No Freshman shall ask his Senior any impertinent question.
6. No Freshman shall intrude into his Senior’s company.
7. Freshmen are to take notice that a Senior Sophister can take a Freshman from a Sophimore, a Master from a Senior Sophister, and a Fellow from a Master.
8. When a Freshman is sent of an errand, he shall not loiter by the way, but shall make haste, and give a direct answer if asked who he is going for.
To read the final thirteen rules, click here. (Link via Blog 4 History)