At dinner, every mess was served with eight pounds of meat, allowing a pound to each person. On Monday and Thursday the meat was boiled; these days were on this account commonly called "boiling days." On the other days the meat was roasted; these were accordingly named "roasting days." Two potatoes were allowed to each person, which he was obliged to pare for himself. On _boiling days_, pudding and cabbage were added to the bill of fare, and in their season, greens, either dandelion or the wild pea. Of bread, a _size_ was the usual quantity apiece, at dinner. Cider was the common beverage, of which there was no stated allowance, but each could drink as much as he chose. It was brought, on in pewter quart cans, two to a mess, out of which they drank, passing them from mouth to mouth like the English wassail-bowl. The waiters replenished them as soon as they were emptied.
No regular supper was provided, but a bowl of milk, and a size of bread procured at the kitchen, supplied the place of the evening meal.
Respecting the arrangement of the students at table, before referred to, Professor Sidney Willard remarks: "The intercourse among students at meals was not casual or promiscuous. Generally, the students of the same class formed themselves into messes, as they were called, consisting each of eight members; and the length of one table was sufficient to seat two messes. A mess was a voluntary association of those who liked each other's company; and each member had his own place. This arrangement was favorable for good order; and, where the members conducted themselves with propriety, their cheerful conversation, and even exuberant spirits and hilarity, if not too boisterous, were not unpleasant to that portion of the government who presided at the head table. But the arrangement afforded opportunities also for combining in factious plans and organizations, tending to disorders, which became infectious, and terminated unhappily for all concerned."--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. II. pp. 192, 193.
A writer in the New England Magazine, referring to the same period, says: "In commons, we fared as well as one half of us had been accustomed to at home. Our breakfast consisted of a good-sized biscuit of wheaten flour, with butter and coffee, chocolate, or milk, at our option. Our dinner was served up on dishes of pewter, and our drink, which was cider, in cans of the same material. For our suppers, we went with our bowls to the kitchen, and received our rations of milk, or chocolate, and bread, and returned with them to our rooms."--Vol. III. p. 239.