The Wooden Spoon Exhibition at Yale in 1865.

During the last twenty years many old customs have been done away with at Yale as well as at Harvard. These charges are especially noticeable in the class-day exercises of the two colleges. In former days, the graduating class took breakfast with the President, and in the afternoon came the memorable dance upon the green. At Yale usages have been abandoned even more than at Cambridge. One of the best known ceremonies that no longer occupies a part of the presentation week is the Wooden Spoon Ceremony. This custom had its origin at one of the colleges at Cambridge University, England. Before 1865, it was usual to give a jackknife to the homeliest man in the class, a cane to the handsomest, and a wooden spoon to the man who ate the most. Shortly before this year the plan was abbreviated somewhat. The wooden spoon was given alone-not as hitherto to the man whose gastronomic powers were best developed-but to the most popular man in the class. The wooden spoon exhibition itself was always elaborately gotten up. The curtain rose upon eight young men standing around an enormous bud, which leaved out, and the one who was to receive the spoon stepped from the group and delivered a salutatory half in bad Latin and half in worse English. In the course of this opening speech the orator addressed the classes individually, but in this year of '65 he launched his boldest flight in welcoming the fairer part of the audience when he said: "Oh tenerae virgines graciles formosae: may the smiles never leave vestros lipsos; may the roses numquam fade ex vestris checkibus nec your bonnets numquam be larger nec your flouncibus be less."