It is easier to teach the boy of sixteen to row in good form, because his muscles are not yet formed, and his body still lithe and supple ; it is more important to teach him, because he is not so strong as his elders, and consequently has not as much strength to waste.
A description of best how to use your strength would be out of place here, for it will be found set forth in another part of this volume. Let me, therefore, pass on to a subject which lately has caused considerable discussion—the subject of the length of the course for the Junior and School races. All these races are held over a course of about three miles in length, and take some twenty minutes to row. They start oppo site the Brocas, and continue up-stream round " Rushes," and then down-stream to Windsor Bridge. The contention of many is that the length of these races is too great, and that the trial put on boys of perhaps fifteen years of age is too severe. From this view of the matter I differ, for to any one who has rowed over both the Henley and Putney course it will be evident that the forty strokes per minute for a mile and a half would be more trying to a young boy than the thirty-four per minute for four miles.
A short note on the proceedings of the wetbobs on the 4th of June, the great day of celebration at Eton, may have some interest.
As I have said, a procession of all the boats takes place on this day. About five o'clock they start in order from the Brocas, and row to Surley Hall, where, in tents on the grass, a supper is prepared. After supping, they return to the rafts in time for a display of fireworks, the crews standing up in their boats and tossing their oars, whereby a very pretty effect is obtained. The dresses worn by the crews are quaint and old fashioned on this great day. All are dressed in white ducks, a shirt of the colours of their boat, a dark-blue Eton jacket trimmed with gold or silver braid, and a straw hat covered with various em blems of their boat. The coxswains of the Upper Boats wear naval captain's clothes, while the Lower Boat coxswains represent midshipmen.
So much for Eton rowing ; and, in finishing, I must pay a slight tribute to three old Etonians, to whom the success of Eton rowing is mainly due.
They are Dr. Warre, the Rev. S. A. Donaldson, and Mr. de Havilland ; and I feel sure that out of these three, who have all done yeomen service for their school, I may single out Dr. Warre, and
yet give no offence to his two successors. Before Dr. Warre came to Eton as a master, in the early sixties, the masters had taken little interest in the proceedings on the river ; consequently the traditions of rowing, learnt mainly from the riverside watermen, were not of a very high standard. Eton had never rowed in any races, except against Westminster, and it was due to Dr. Warre's efforts that competition for the Ladies' Plate was first allowed. From this date till the middle of the eighties, Dr. Warre was always ready to coach when asked, but never till asked, for he believed, and still believes strongly, in allowing the boys to manage their own games as far as possible.
How well he kept his principles of rowing up to date is shown in his pamphlets on rowing and coaching, for probably no one but he could have written so clear and concise a description as he has given.
Besides being an eminent coach, he understands thoroughly the theories of boat-building, his ideas being well exemplified of late by the boats which won for Eton in '93, '94, '96, and '97.
When the duties of head-master became too engrossing to allow him to devote as much time to the Eight as formerly, his place was taken, and well filled, by Mr. Donaldson. Mr. Donaldson was always a most keen and patient coach, and followed closely on the head-master's lines ; and his cheery voice at Henley—clear above all the din of the race—once heard, could never be forgotten. He was very successful with his crews, and helped them to win the Ladies' Plate several times.
In 1893 Mr. de Havilland first coached the Eight, and, since this date, has had an unbroken series of wins. In the first year of his coaching, fifteen-inch slides, instead of ten-inch, were used, and this, aided by his excellent advice, helped to produce one of the fastest Eights that Eton has ever sent to represent the school. Mr. de Havilland has that wonderful knack, possessed by some good coaches, of training his crew to the hour, and it is surprising with what speed his crews always improve in the last week or so of practice.
I can only hope, in conclusion, that I have to some extent succeeded in explaining to the un initiated the mysteries of the career of an Eton wetbob during the five or six happiest years of his life spent at the best of schools.