Much-Hazed Freshmen in By-Gone Years of College Were Required to Supply "Batts, Balls, and Footballs" for Students

Hat-doffing and errand running characterized the life of the Harvard Freshman during the eighteenth century, if we are to believe the records of customs of Harvard College written into a copy book by an instructor in 1781 and even then called "ancient."

The first rule decreed that no Freshman should wear his hat in the Yard "unless it rains, hails, or snows, provided he be on foot and not have both hands full." Freshmen were also required to remove their hats when addressing Seniors or when in their chambers. All undergraduates, according to these customs, took their hats off in the presence of any member in the government of the College.

The Freshmen were also required to run errands for any of the Seniors, graduates, or undergraduates at any time except study hours and before 9 o'clock in the evening. The Freshman had not only to fetch and carry for the upperclassman who called upon him for that service, but he had to know the exact ranking of his seniors, as the neophyte could be taken from one upperclassman by another of higher position in the College, the Governors having all priority.

In connection with their going on errands for the Seniors of the College, the Freshmen were forbidden to tell for whom they were going "unless he be asked," nor were they obliged to tell what they were going for unless asked by a Governor of the College.

In accordance with another custom, the Freshmen of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries furnished "Batts, Balls, and Foot Balls" for the use of the students. Throwing anything across the Yard, or playing football or "any other game" therein was forbidden.

Two customs, which have long been out of recognition, are those in the latter part of this document which, when observed, must have lent a quiet dignity to the Freshman's conduct. The first of these made the Yard essentially quiet as it forbade calling "up or down, to or from, any chamber in the College." The second kept the popular Freshman continually jumping up from his desk to receive visitors, with the exception of studying time, as it declared that when anyone knocked at the Freshman's door "he shall immediately open the door without enquiring who is there."

The following quotation concludes the "Customs" and hints at the attitude with which Freshmen were accustomed to receive these rules. "The Sophomores shall publish these customs to the Freshmen in the Chapel, whenever ordered by any in the Government of the College; at which time the Freshmen are enjoined to keep their places in their proper seats, and attend with decency to the reading."