“Presentation Day,” says the writer of the preface to the “Songs of Yale,” “is the sixth Wednesday of the Summer Term, when the graduating Class, after having passed their second ‘Biennial,’ are presented to the President as qualified for the first degree, or the B.A.  After this ‘presentation,’ a farewell oration and poem are pronounced by members of the Class, previously elected by their classmates for the purpose.  After a public dinner, they seat themselves under the elms before the College, and smoke and sing for the last time together.  Each has his pipe, and ’they who never’ smoked ‘before’ now smoke, or seem to.  The exercises are closed with a procession about the buildings, bidding each farewell.” 1853, p. 4.

This last smoke is referred to in the following lines:—­

 “Green elms are waving o’er us,
    Green grass beneath our feet,
  The ring is round, and on the ground
    We sit a class complete.”
    Presentation Day Songs, June 14, 1854.

 “It is a very jolly thing,
  Our sitting down in this great ring,
  To smoke our pipes and loudly sing.”—­Ibid.

Pleasant reference is had to some of the more modern features of Presentation Day, in the annexed extract from the “Yale Literary Magazine":—­

“There is one spot where the elms stretch their long arms, not ’in quest of thought,’ but as though they would afford their friendly shade to make pleasant the last scene of the academic life.  Seated in a circle in this place, which has been so often trampled by the ‘stag-dance’ of preceding classes, and made hallowed by associations which will cling around such places, are the present graduates.  They have met together for the last time as a body, for they will not all be present at the closing ceremony of Commencement, nor all answer to the muster in the future Class reunions.  It is hard to tell whether such a ceremony should be sad or joyous, for, despite the boisterous merriment and exuberance which arises from the prospect of freedom, there is something tender in the thought of meeting for the last time, to break strong ties, and lose individuality as a Class for ever.

“In the centre of the circle are the Class band, with horns, flutes, and violins, braying, piping, or saw-filing, at the option of the owners,—­toot,—­toot,—­bum,—­bang,—­boo-o-o,—­in a most melodious discord.  Songs are distributed, pipes filled, and the smoke cloud rises, trembles as the chorus of a hundred voices rings out in a merry cadence, and then, breaking, soars off,—­a fit emblem of the separation of those at whose parting it received its birth.

“‘Braxton on the history of the Class!’

“‘The Class history!—­Braxton!—­Braxton!’

“’In a moment, gentlemen,’—­and our hero mounts upon a cask, and proceeds to give in burlesque a description of Class exploits and the wonderful success of its early graduates.  Speeches follow, and the joke, and song, till the lengthening shadows bring a warning, and a preparation for the final ceremony.  The ring is spread out, the last pipes smoked in College laid down, and the ‘stag-dance,’ with its rush, and their destruction ended.  Again the ring forms, and each classmate moves around it to grasp each hand for the last time, and exchange a parting blessing.