Tripos Song
By L.M.Chesney, 1894
For a number of years the women candidates wrote their papers in a Baptist schoolroom in Downing Street.
The swans, John and Emma, were presented by the Fellows of St.John’s and Emmanuel, as a gift for Girton Pond, created in 1884 – hence their appropriate names. Unfortunately it turned out that the bird from St.John’s was a lady swan, and that from Emmanuel a gentleman!
Note: the forbidden word in this song meant a failure!
Tune: There is a Tavern in the Town
Lyrics
There is a schoolroom in the town, in the town,
And there the Tripoi sit them down, sit them down,
And write with all their might, in anxious fear and fright,
And never get an answer right.
Chorus:
Then farewell, for I must leave thee;
Do not let the parting grieve thee;
But remember that the Tripos comes at last, at last,
Adieu, adieu, kind friends, adieu, adieu, adieu;
I have a Tripos to get through, to get through;
I spend my days in the Baptist Schoolroom now,
And may you never get a…(!!??!!)
They start each morn at half-past eight, half-past eight,
And always think that they’ll be late, they’ll be late;
But when in Downing Street they reach the room,
They wish they had not come so soon.
Chorus:
etc.
Then dig a pond both deep and wide, deep and wide,
And lay those Tripoi side by side, side by side;
Bid John and Emma tell the news aloud,
These Tripoi died because they all were…(!!??!!)
Chorus:
etc.