about four in the
morning
Mansfield , one of the wildest young fellows in the regiment , had vowed that the leave-taking should be commemorated by some very decisive and open expressions of our feelings , and had already made some progress in arrangements for blowing up the great bell , which had more than once obtruded upon our morning convivialities ; but he was overruled by his more discreet associates , and we at length assumed our places at table , in the midst of which stood a _ hecatomb _ of all my college equipments , cap , gown , bands , etc. . A funeral pile of classics was arrayed upon the hearth , surmounted by my `` Book on the Cellar , '' and a punishment-roll waved its length , like a banner , over the doomed heroes of Greece and Rome . It is seldom that any very determined attempt to be gay _ par excellence _ has a perfect success , but certainly upon this evening ours had . Songs , good stories , speeches , toasts , high visions of the campaign before us , the wild excitement which such a meeting can not be free from , gradually , as the wine passed from hand to hand , seized upon all , and about four in the morning , such was the uproar we caused , and so terrific the noise of our proceedings , that the accumulated force of porters , sent one by one to demand admission , was now a formidable body at the door , and Mike at last came in to assure us that the bursar , -- the most dread official of all collegians , -- was without , and insisted , with a threat of his heaviest displeasure in case of refusal , that the door should be opened . A committee of the whole house immediately sat upon the question ; and it was at length resolved , _ nemine contradicente _ , that the request should be complied with . A fresh bowl of punch , in honor of our expected guest , was immediately concocted , a new broil put on the gridiron , and having seated ourselves with as great a semblance of decorum as four bottles a man admits of , Curtis the junior captain , being most drunk , was deputed to receive the bursar at the door , and introduce him to our august presence . Mike 's instructions were , that immediately on Dr. Stone the bursar entering , the door was to be slammed to , and none of his followers admitted .