"Busy" is a hard word to utter, often, though heart and conscience and the college clock require it.—Scenes and Characters in College, p. 58.
BUTLER. Anciently written BOTILER. A servant or officer whose principal business is to take charge of the liquors, food, plate, &c. In the old laws of Harvard College we find an enumeration of the duties of the college butler. Some of them were as follows.
He was to keep the rooms and utensils belonging to his office sweet and clean, fit for use; his drinking-vessels were to be scoured once a week. The fines imposed by the President and other officers were to be fairly recorded by him in a book, kept for that purpose. He was to attend upon the ringing of the bell for prayer in the hall, and for lectures and commons. Providing candles for the hall was a part of his duty. He was obliged to keep the Buttery supplied, at his own expense, with beer, cider, tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, biscuit, butter, cheese, pens, ink, paper, and such other articles as the President or Corporation ordered or permitted; "but no permission," it is added in the laws, "shall be given for selling wine, distilled spirits, or foreign fruits, on credit or for ready money." He was allowed to advance twenty per cent. on the net cost of the articles sold by him, excepting beer and cider, which were stated quarterly by the President and Tutors. The Butler was allowed a Freshman to assist him, for an account of whom see under FRESHMAN, BUTLER'S.—Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., App., pp. 138, 139. Laws Harv. Coll., 1798, pp. 60-62.
President Woolsey, in his Historical Discourse pronounced before the Graduates of Yale College, August 14th, 1850, remarks as follows concerning the Butler, in connection with that institution:—
"The classes since 1817, when the office of Butler was, abolished, are probably but little aware of the meaning of that singular appendage to the College, which had been in existence a hundred years. To older graduates, the lower front corner room of the old middle college in the south entry must even now suggest many amusing recollections. The Butler was a graduate of recent standing, and, being invested with rather delicate functions, was required to be one in whom confidence might be reposed. Several of the elder graduates who have filled this office are here to-day, and can explain, better than I can, its duties and its bearings upon the interests of College. The chief prerogative of the Butler was to have the monopoly of certain eatables, drinkables, and other articles desired by students. The Latin laws of 1748 give him leave to sell in the buttery, cider, metheglin, strong beer to the amount of not more than twelve barrels annually,—which amount as the College grew was increased to twenty,—together with loaf-sugar ('saccharum rigidum'), pipes, tobacco, and such necessaries of scholars as were not furnished in the commons hall. Some of these necessaries were books and stationery, but certain fresh fruits also figured largely in the Butler's supply. No student might buy cider or beer elsewhere. The Butler, too, had the care of the bell, and was bound to wait upon the President or a Tutor, and notify him of the time for prayers. He kept the book of fines, which, as we shall see, was no small task. He distributed the bread and beer provided by the Steward in the Hall into equal portions, and had the lost commons, for which privilege he paid a small annual sum. He was bound, in consideration of the profits of his monopoly, to provide candles at college prayers and for a time to pay also fifty shillings sterling into the treasury. The more menial part of these duties he performed by his waiter."—pp. 43, 44.
At both Harvard and Yale the students were restricted in expending money at the Buttery, being allowed at the former "to contract a debt" of five dollars a quarter; at the latter, of one dollar and twenty-five cents per month.
BUTTER. A size or small portion of butter. "Send me a roll and two
Butters."—Grad. ad Cantab.
Six cheeses, three butters, and two beers.—The Collegian's
Guide.
Pertinent to this singular use of the word, is the following curious statement. At Cambridge, Eng., "there is a market every day in the week, except Monday, for vegetables, poultry, eggs, and butter. The sale of the last article is attended with the peculiarity of every pound designed for the market being rolled out to the length of a yard; each pound being in that state about the thickness of a walking-cane. This practice, which is confined to Cambridge, is particularly convenient, as it renders the butter extremely easy of division into small portions, called sizes, as used in the Colleges."—Camb. Guide, Ed. 1845, p. 213.
BUTTERY. An apartment in a house where butter, milk, provisions, and utensils are kept. In some colleges, a room where liquors, fruit, and refreshments are kept for sale to the students.—Webster.