Word: encaenia
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Dropping political tiffs for the day, a pair of Oxford Old Grads-Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Laborite Leader Hugh Gaitskell-donned flowing robes and floppy velvet bonnets to receive honorary Doctorates of Civil Laws at the university's centuries-old Encaenia-the first time opposing party heads have ever been jointly honored there. In the Sheldonian Theater, a Public Orator read out the traditionally glowing, donnishly funny praises in Latin, described Macmillan (Greats, 1919) as an "imperturbable Scot" who "watches the signs of the sky most attentively, but above all the Great Bear, whose progeny has lately added...
...everywhere the same. Two orators and two poets, chosen by vote of the undergraduates themselves, in turn commemorated the glories of Harvard, criticized its system, and exhorted to emulation of its past. The most perfect decorum prevailed; in fact any one who had witnessed the pandemonium of the Oxford Encaenia could not fail to marvel that these things could be. The Harvard undergraduates no doubt felt the responsibility of the occasion. They were taking their part in a great celebration, and were doing their duty to themselves and their Alma Mater. Nothing could exceed the order with which they entered...
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