ROWING IN AMERICA.
The sport of rowing, as I gather from Mr. Caspar Whitney's well-known book," was in its infancy in America when it had already taken a prominent place amongst our amateur athletic exercises in England. The Detroit Boat Club, established in 1839, was the first rowing organization in America. Next came Yale University, which established a Boat Club in 1843, and was followed by Harvard University in 1846. The first boat-race between Harvard and Yale took place in 1852 on Lake Winipiseogee, New Hampshire, in eight-oared boats with coxswains. Other meetings between these two followed at intervals until 1859, when a College Union Regatta was instituted. This took * "A Sporting Pilgrimage" (published in 1895 by Messrs. Os good, Mcllvaine & Co.), one of the best all-round accounts of English sport that it has ever been my good fortune to read.
place at Worcester (Mass.), on Lake Quinsiga mond, in six-oared boats without coxswains, the bow oar invariably steering, and was continued, with an interruption of three years during the Re bellion, until 1870, when the course was changed to the Connecticut River. Up to this time two Universities only had competed besides Yale and Harvard ; but in 1872 the number increased con siderably, and in 1875 no less than twelve different Universities were represented in one race. These were, in the order in which they finished, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Dartmouth (Hanover, N.H.), Wesleyan (Middletown, Conn.), Yale, Amherst (Mass.), Brown (Providence, R.I.), Williams (Wil liamstown, Mass.), Bowdoin (Brunswick, Maine), Hamilton (Clinton, N.Y.), and Union (Schenec tady, N.Y.). The most eventful of these big regattas was that of 1874 at Saratoga, when nine boats entered. Harvard and Yale, having adjoin ing stations, unfortunately became engaged in a dispute as to " water," and were left disputing by several boats. Harvard got away from the en tanglement first, leaving Yale with her rudder and one oar broken, and went in pursuit of the others ; but in spite of the most heroic efforts, were beaten by Columbia and Wesleyan, who finished respec tively first and second. In 1876 Harvard and Yale decided to withdraw from these crowded meetings, and in this and the following year they rowed a private match at Springfield in Eights with coxswains, and in 1878 on the Thames at New London, where they continued their annual contest up to and including 1895.* In that year there took place a break in the athletic relations between these two Universities, and in 1896 Har vard took part in a "quadrangular" race with Cornell, Columbia, and Pennsylvania Universities. This was won by Cornell, Harvard being second, and was rowed on a perfectly straight four-mile course at Poughkeepsie on the River Hudson, where Cornell, Columbia, and Pennsylvania had decided some previous contests. In the present year, however, the differences between Harvard and Yale were happily adjusted, and a race was rowed at Poughkeepsie between them and Cornell, in which Cornell came in first, Yale defeating Harvard for second place. Harvard, Yale, Colum
bia, Pennsylvania, and Cornell possess at the present day the most important University rowing organizations, and at all of them the sport is practised with that intense keenness which charac terizes the young American in everything that he undertakes. Especially is this the case with Harvard and Yale. Their rivalry has continued for many years, and a meeting between them in rowing, or in any other sport, evokes among their members an eagerness and an enthusiasm of which an Englishman can have little conception. Most of the Universities that took part in the contests of the seventies seem to have dropped altogether out of the rowing world. Last year saw a new arrival in the shape of the University of Wisconsin. These Westerners, in spite of their difficulties of climate, were able to form a very good freshman crew, which defeated the Yale freshmen in a two mile race. This year the Wisconsin University Eight rowed a two-mile race against the Yale University Eight, but were unable to make much of a show against them. The United States Naval Academy at Minneapolis can also put a very fair crew on the water, though the course of their studies allows them but little leisure for practice. This year they were defeated by Cornell in a two-mile race. The chief rowing school of America is undoubtedly St. Paul's, at Concord, New Hampshire. It is divided into two boat-clubs, the Halcyon and the Shattuck, and the teaching and training of the boys are looked after by Mr. Dole, a man of great knowledge and experience in rowing matters. They practise on a large lake situated close to the school buildings, and show on the whole very fair form, though in this re spect they cannot equal an Eton crew. Rowing recruits from this school are eagerly sought after by Harvard and Yale, in whose contests old St. Paul's boys have a very brilliant record. At Groton School, in Massachusetts, the boys row in Fours on the river Nashua, their coach being Mr. Abbot, a graduate of Worcester College, Ox ford. Rowing, however, at Groton has not yet assumed the importance it has at St. Paul's, base ball being considered of the first importance, and the captain of baseball having the right to claim rowing boys for his team. Not a few Groton wet-bobs have, however, done well in Harvard and Yale crews. Besides these two rowing-schools, there is also the High School of Worcester (Mass.), whose Eight this year—the first, I believe, in its rowing history—rowed a severe but unsuccessful race against the Harvard freshmen on Lake Quin sigamond, and later in the summer won the race for Intermediate Eights at the National Regatta held on the River Schuylkill at Philadelphia.