Each man's mind was made up
To obtain the "_Class Cup_."
_Presentation Day Songs_, June 14, 1854.

See SILVER CUP.


CLASS DAY. The custom at Harvard College of observing with
appropriate exercises the day on which the Senior Class finish
their studies, is of a very early date. The first notice which
appears in reference to this subject is contained in an account of
the disorders which began to prevail among the students about the
year 1760. Among the evils to be remedied are mentioned the
"disorders upon the day of the Senior Sophisters meeting to choose
the officers of the class," when "it was usual for each scholar to
bring a bottle of wine with him, which practice the committee
(that reported upon it) apprehend has a natural tendency to
produce disorders." But the disturbances were not wholly confined
to the _meeting_ when the officers of Class Day were chosen; they
occurred also on Class Day, and it was for this reason that
frequent attempts were made at this period, by the College
government, to suppress its observance. How far their efforts
succeeded is not known, but it is safe to conclude that greater
interruptions were occasioned by the war of the Revolution, than
by the attempts to abolish what it would have been wiser to have
reformed.

In a MS. Journal, under date of June 21st, 1791, is the following
entry: "Neither the valedictory oration by Ward, nor poem by