Page:Literary Landmarks of Oxford.djvu/27

9 study everything from football to physics; who attempt everything, from golf to geometry, on the Western side of the Atlantic.

How could a resident of Princeton, for instance, an adopted son of its Alma Mater, resist the temptation of telling to the Princeton undergraduates to whom, among others, he is writing, and for whom he is gathering his information, what were the rules laid down by the Trustees and Faculty of Oxford, for the guidance of the Manager of the fore-runner of the Princeton Inn, when the Plantagenets and the Tudors were kings of England? What would his story of Oxford be worth, if there were no allusions to Amateur Theatricals at Christ Church, in the reign of Elizabeth; to Hazing at Merton; to the Buttery-hatch of Oriel; to the Table-manners at Queen's, in the good old days gone by?

One proper, and unbroken, custom, at Oxford, however, does strike, and favorably, the thoughtful college man of America; and that is the universal wearing of cap and gown, by Don and by Student. It is not always a comfortable costume, but it is quite as becoming as is a high hat and a frock-coat at an Afternoon Tea; and it is, certainly, more dignified than is a jersey at a lecture, or a sweater at Chapel.

The approaches to Oxford are not so