“Yes, and I mean to go there myself some day!” announced John, immediately fired by the familiar name of our oldest university. “My father went, you know.”
Mrs. Pitt and the two girls spent the remainder of the evening in talking over plans for the next day, but John’s thoughts had been turned to college, and so he and Philip had a lively time comparing notes about English and American colleges.
“Where do you mean to go, Philip?” John inquired.
“Oh, to Cambridge, of course! My father, his father, and all my family for generations back have been to Trinity College, Cambridge. That’s the largest college in England, and was founded by Henry VIII. Oh, it’s jolly there! There are old quadrangles around which the men live; there’s a beautiful old chapel, built in the Tudor period; and there’s the dining-hall. That’s grand! Back of the college is the river, the Cam. There’s a lovely garden there, and over the river on which the men go boating, is an old bridge. I had a cousin who lived in the rooms which Byron once occupied. He, Macaulay, Tennyson, Thackeray, Dryden, and many other famous men went there. Oh, it’s the only college for me! I shall be there in three years, I hope!”
“Well, Harvard’s our oldest college. It was founded by your John Harvard almost as soon as Boston itself, and ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt went there! It’s good enough for me! The only trouble is that they can’t seem to beat at football, somehow, and I mean to play and see if I can’t help ’em win. That’s the only trouble with old Harvard, though,” John said, feeling that he must be loyal to his college in this international discussion; “otherwise she’s all right! There’s the Stadium, where all the big games are played, and there’s the Charles River for us to row on. There are loads of fine new buildings, too, and I’d like those better than the old ones. We don’t care who lived in ’em! Oh, the fellows at Harvard have a splendid time!”
Mrs. Pitt had overheard some of this conversation with much amusement, for the ideas and ideals of the two boys were so different, and so very characteristic of each.
“I think you’d enjoy a visit to Cambridge, John,” she said. “We must try to manage it. You’d find one of our colleges very unlike yours in America. Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities are made up of many colleges, you know; at Oxford, there are twenty-two, and at Cambridge, eighteen. Each college has its own buildings, its own professors, its own chapel and dining-hall, and each college is complete in itself, although they all belong to one university. You would think the rules very strict! When the Cambridge men go to chapel, and at other specified times, they are required to wear their gowns and queer little flat caps, called ‘trenchers’ or ‘mortar-boards.’ At Oxford, the gates of each college are closed at nine o’clock every evening; a man may stay out later (even until twelve), if he can give a good reason for it. If he remains out all night, though, he is immediately dismissed. How would you like that?” she laughed, seeing John’s disgusted expression. “There are men called ‘scouts,’ who look after the men’s rooms, and bring them their breakfast. The students are very carefully watched, and if one of them stays away from his meals at the dining-hall more than two or three times a week, the affair is investigated.”
“My! When we go to college in America, we are men, and can look after ourselves!” John drew himself up very straight, and spoke with great dignity. “Cambridge may be older and have more—more—‘associations,’ but I’d rather go to Harvard.”