There will be a radical change in Class-day this year in the introduction of the cap and gown, but aside from this, to the ordinary observer, the exercises will be essentially the same as last year. Yet there are certain changes in detail every year and it is by these small changes that Class-day has developed from a very simple observance to its present form. It may be interesting to students themselves as well as to their friends to know just what the history of Class-day is.

It has been said that something like the present literary exercises of Class-day existed from the earliest years of the college, and records of them can be traced as far back as 1648. The exercises were of an extremely serious and weighty nature and little resembled those of the present day. The size of the graduating classes in the early years of the college made the present institution of Class-day impossible. Like other customs, then, at Harvard, Class-day is a development. It was never formally created but grew from an intermingling of several ancient festivities, more especially those of Commencement, Exhibition day and the old Class-day. From a strictly leave-taking it has become a joyous celebration of an attainment, and its hospitality, which was mainly confined to the home of the President, has been extended to the entire neighborhood.

It is probable that the literary exercises on Class-day are due to an attempt by the Overseers, beginning in 1754, to improve the elocution of the students by requiring the public recitation of dialogues, translated from Latin into English; for Class-day was then less a Senior's day than now, and was chiefly under the control of the college authorities. This very likely suggested the idea to the undergraduates and created among them an ambition for further displays of oratory.

Just when it occurred to them to have literary exercises of their own it is impossible to say. The first reliable date of an organization of the Senior class for this purpose is 1760 and in 1776 the list of annual Class-day orators begins. Ten years later a poet was added. Until then the exercises had consisted of a Latin oration sandwiched in between two prayers by the President of the college.

Down to the end of the eighteenth century, the official language of the college was Latin, and the Class-day orators seldom attempted the vernacular. But the Latin verse was difficult and the poets from the first appear to have written in English. Toward the end of the last century the orators began to incline toward their mother tongue and this occasioned a remonstrance from the faculty in the form of a regulation, passed in 1802, that "in future no performance but a valedictory oration in the Latin language * * * be permitted" on Class-day. The faculty was soon forced from its position, however, by the growing liberalism of the times, and in a few years both orators and poets were allowed to take their places and use Latin or English as they preferred. Even then Class-day did not become a brilliant affair, for few were interested beyond the Senior class.

In 1743 the order of exercises for Class-day was as follows: At 10 o'clock in the morning the class escorted the President, professors and tutors to the chapel, preceded by a band playing solemn music. The exercises began with a short invocation by the President, and after the Scriptural reading, this was followed by a longer prayer of much fervor. The poem was then read and the singing club, accompanied by a band, contributed a song. The valedictory completed the programme, and in stately procession the class escorted the officers of the college to the President's house, where refreshments - wine, cake, and lemonade - were served. The afternoon was spent in drinking punch and dancing on the green. In 1826 the graduating class was escorted to its exercises by the famous Harvard Washington Corps. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes was poet of the class '29. The following extract from a diary is of interest:

"I was in University Chapel for the valedictory exercises of the Senior class. Oration by Devereux of Salem, poem by young Holmes, son of Rev. Dr. Holmes of this town. He is both young and small in distinction from the others, and on these circumstances he contrived to cut some good jokes. His poem was very happy and abounded with wit. Instead of a spiritual muse, he invoked for his goddess the ladies present, and in doing so he sang very amusingly of his "hapless amour with too tall a maid."

It was in 1834 that the festivities of Class-day began to change, and in that year the custom arose of the Senior class treating all comers to iced punch in the afternoon of that day. From this time on, the solemnity of the occasion gradually disappeared.

In 1836 the college janitor, not without much vain protesting, was carried about the yards upon a door by the class. This led to other pranks and Class-day became so notorious that crowds gathered each year to witness the orgies. The custom of serving punch still existed, but the new generation was more susceptible to the intoxicating influence than the preceding one had been, and it became necessary for the authorities to institute a reform. President Quincy accordingly notified the Class-day committee of '38 that if there was any drinking or dancing on that day, the members of the committee would all lose their degrees. The class then decided to invite lad' and several members agreed to furnish spreads. This was permitted and in the afternoon the President removed his restriction on dancing and Class-day became a festival. Exhibition days had been for conviviality, but Class-day now appropriates this and the former soon died out. The Senior class began to issue invitations to all the friends of the members, to teas and spreads, and the whole affair came to be looked upon as the chief event of the whole college year.

The exercises now extend over nearly the entire day, and are always preceded by the baccalaureate sermon on the Sunday before Class-day. On Class-day, as it is now celebrated, the class assembles in front of Holworthy Hall and headed by the class chaplain marches to Appleton Chapel, where prayer is offered by one of the preachers to the University. Then the class takes breakfast with one of the officers, where the milder stimulus of coffee does duty for the wine and punch of earlier days.

At 10.30 the class reassembles in front of Holworthy Hall, preceded by the Marshals of the Day, the orators, poet, and odist, marches, about the yard to Sanders' Theatre where the literary exercises of the day take place. There the class oration, ivy oration and the poem are read, and the ode is sung to the tune of "Fair Harvard," the programme being equally divided between the serious and the humorous.

The class oration and ode are sober and more or less pretentious affairs, while the poem and ivy oration are directly the opposite. Both aim to give, in a humorous way, the history of the class, and the ivy oration, although the most recent addition to the custom of the day, is the gem of the day. This position grew out of the old custom that when a president went out of office the class of that year should plant an evergreen to his memory and sometimes an ivy was substituted. While the planting went on it was the custom for the ivy orator to recite a humorous and satirical oration in which the follies and peculiarities of the class and of the college faculty were lightly touched upon. The custom of planting the ivy has died away, but the ivy orator still exists.

For years past it has been the custom of the Senior class to wear dress suits from early morning to night, but this year the last radical change in Class-day observances was made in abolishing that garb to the more appropriate cap and gown.