tea and then gotten in three hours' study before bedtime. There is little stiffness in the society here, and many young men are privileged to drop in to tea or dinner without an invitation at almost all the professors' houses. Two friends have little time to see each other, except in the hour before and after tea, and if their rooms lie far apart this is almost impossible: so frequently one may go three or four days without seeing an intimate friend, unless both happen to have the same class.
In the lecture-room the professors treat the students as gentlemen, to whom politeness and consideration are due, and the students consider their professors their best advisers in time of trouble or when they wish help, and try to spare them annoyance when possible. I shall now touch upon that crowning jewel in the diadem of this grand old university,—that, in fact, which has given her the reputation, of which she is so justly proud, of sending from her halls men noted for their sense of honor and self-respect: I refer to the honor system, which has been in vogue here for more than forty years. A student's word is considered by the professor as good as his bond, and on an examination there are no watchful teachers ready and glad to detect fraud, but a notice is simply put upon the blackboard, requesting those standing the examination to append to their papers the statement that they have neither given nor received assistance. The student who signs this statement is considered to have pledged his honor. There has been only one case, to my knowledge, of cheating at examination, and on that occasion the students were so indignant at the confidence reposed in them being betrayed by one of their number that they held a mass-meeting and sent him away before the faculty could interpose. I have known of several cases of men caught cheating at cards or at something else dishonorable, and in every case the culprits were treated in the same way.
It is impossible to overestimate the benefit to the student and professor from this kind of honorable, friendly intercourse, which is one of the characteristic features of the University of Virginia.
As the session draws to a close, the men who have not been spending much time on their studies during the year get tired, and the longing to see home is not counteracted by the hope of reward in their classes, so very naturally they begin to drop out and wend their way homeward, and thus by the time the final examinations are upon us there are few left who are not making the most of their time in preparation.
These final examinations begin about the middle of May, and occur at intervals of two days until the last of June, when there reigns the wildest excitement as the different lists go upon the bulletin-board, an-
