Page:Samuel F. Batchelder - Bits of Harvard History (1924).pdf/158

 flourished in post-revolutionary times, and of “Peter” Waters from Rhode Island, who succeeded him, have been handed down by history without comment. We may fancy nevertheless that these sable chefs, perhaps cannibal chiefs in their native jungles not so many years before, regarded with a somewhat scornful eye the pale and flabby refinements of a Caucasian cuisine, and did not on the whole add to the success of Commons.

This “cheap and nasty” virus was injected into the new-world conception of Commons at the very outset, by the avarice of Eaton. It was continued by the real organizers of the College from a precisely opposite motive—a mistaken generosity in making the higher learning as inexpensive as possible. Before its pernicious effect was realized it had become ingrained in the very marrow of the system, and had hardened into a precedent only too readily followed by an institution chronically impecunious. Indeed it presented the unusual situation of an addendum more powerful than its foundation, a tail that wagged the dog. The original English scheme of Commons might languish and decay, the buttery might be closed, the Butler disappear, the Steward depart upon other business, even the brew-house melt into a fragrant legend; but Yankee frugality triumphed