I, A.B.,
on condition of being admitted as a member of Yale College,
promise, on my faith and honor, to observe all the laws and
regulations of this College; particularly that I will faithfully
avoid using profane language, gaming, and all indecent, disorderly
behavior, and disrespectful conduct to the Faculty, and all
combinations to resist their authority; as witness my hand. A.B."
--_Yale Coll. Cat._, 1837, p. 10.

Nearly the same formula is used at Williams College.

ENGINE. At Harvard College, for many years before and succeeding
the year 1800, a fire-engine was owned by the government, and was
under the management of the students. In a MS. Journal, under date
of Oct. 29, 1792, is this note: "This day I turned out to exercise
the engine. P.M." The company were accustomed to attend all the
fires in the neighboring towns, and were noted for their skill and
efficiency. But they often mingled enjoyment with their labor, nor
were they always as scrupulous as they might have been in the
means used to advance it. In 1810, the engine having been newly
repaired, they agreed to try its power on an old house, which was
to be fired at a given time. By some mistake, the alarm was given
before the house was fairly burning. Many of the town's people
endeavored to save it, but the company, dragging the engine into a
pond near by, threw the dirty water on them in such quantities
that they were glad to desist from their laudable endeavors.

It was about this time that the Engine Society was organized,
before which so many pleasant poems and orations were annually
delivered. Of these, that most noted is the "Rebelliad," which was
spoken in the year 1819, and was first published in the year 1842.
Of it the editor has well remarked: "It still remains the
text-book of the jocose, and is still regarded by all, even the
melancholy, as a most happy production of humorous taste." Its
author was Dr. Augustus Pierce, who died at Tyngsborough, May 20,
1849.

The favorite beverage at fires was rum and molasses, commonly
called _black-strap_, which is referred to in the following lines,
commemorative of the engine company in its palmier days.

"But oh! let _black-strap's_ sable god deplore
Those _engine-heroes_ so renowned of yore!
Gone is that spirit, which, in ancient time,
Inspired more deeds than ever shone in rhyme!
Ye, who remember the superb array,
The deafening cry, the engine's 'maddening play,'
The broken windo