COLLEGE PENALTIES.

IT scarcely ever occurs to us, who revel in almost absolute independence, what curious yet sometimes painful punishments our forefathers underwent in their college days. Strange, indeed, would it be now to see a fellow-student publicly prayed for and flogged; still more wonderful would it appear to our parents if a long list of fines should accompany our term bills! Yet the College records tell us that these punishments were once looked upon in the same light as "privates" and "publics" are now. A century ago such a Christian spirit was manifested by the students that the authorities saw fit to impose a fine of 6d. upon those that came to "meeting before bell-ringing," and the luckless undergraduate who neglected to repeat the sermon was reminded of his inattention by a fine of 9d. A social game of cards cost the players 2s. 6d., as a warning to those who should thereafter indulge in such wicked amusements. Rudeness at meals - shades of Thayer Club! - was an offence punishable by Is. Other acts also were once deemed worthy of fine, which in this degenerate age are entirely overlooked; for instance, "selling or exchanging goods without leave." But the strangest of all penalties for a college, and the one which seems to us now as the most barbarous, was the custom of corporeal punishment. This was one of the early customs in our College. Then were stripes for cutting prayers, now three deductions; the mere comparison would almost induce us to absent ourselves for an indefinite period from the "devotional exercises at early morn." Admonitions and marks are of comparatively recent date, and perhaps even these may yet give place to a more perfect system. Thus, as the age advances, more and more is left to the sense of duty, and who can deny that a century hence even censure-marks may be looked upon as a relic of barbarism?

W.