Page:Samuel F. Batchelder - Bits of Harvard History (1924).pdf/166

 Thus spake officialdom, pro and con, as to the traditional feeding system at Harvard, speaking for the most part, as befits officialdom, in generalities. But the real enormity of that system begins to dawn on us only when we descend to details. Let us then look into the testimony of the students themselves, set down in copious and heartfelt terms in their diaries and reminiscences, regarding the alleged edibles actually put before them.

For over a century, we find, the standard breakfast consisted of nothing but beer and bread—both frequently sour. The former was issued by the “cue” (about a tumblerful), and the latter by the “size,” which an early alumnus, apparently of Hibernian stock, has described as quite indescribable. When breakfast began to be served in hall, the beer was superseded by coffee (cooked in a dirty copper boiler and tinctured strongly with verdigris), tea, or chocolate, at choice; and butter was also provided, usually of a villainous quality, characterized by one sufferer as “not fit to grease cartwheels with.” On the morning of the annual Thanksgiving Day a special treat was sometimes granted in the shape of that rich and stimulating compound, milk toast. What was served on the much more numerous fast days we can only conjecture. Ancient graduates of Yale recall another breakfast dish,