Cantabrigians made preparations as if a hurricane were approaching: taking a break from their usual program of hellfire and brimstone, preachers warned their congregations to put furniture out of harm's way.

Harvard tried to rein in the festivities, outlawing Commencement dancing in 1760 and cracking down on alcohol (especially the troublesome liquor-soaked "plumb cakes").

Inside the walls of the meetinghouse, where Commencement addresses were given, the scene was a little more sedate.

Dressed in ruffles and silk stockings, with shiny buckles topping stockings, knees, and shoes, the graduates tried to stay awake; many stayed awake all night to preserve the hairdressers' work of wigs and powders.

At one colonial Commencement, the first Latin oration was delivered "in a heavy manner," noted a bored Samuel Eliot Morrison, Class of 1708.

Happily for him, the second Latin oration was interrupted by a fight outside of the meetinghouse; six men and a constable were beating two drunken English soldiers.

By one Commencement in the 1890s, the audience was getting a little tired of the orations, delivered in a measured manner that didn't vary from presenter to presenter.