The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-04-11 00:00:00

THE BOAT-RACE DESCRIBED.

"A ere Looker-inn," gives the following description
of the boat-race of last Saturday :--
I stood on the right or Surrey hank of the Thames between
telt and twelse iii sat urd uy morning Lomion was out with
me, unfolding its huge roils :61011g a four miles' line fronting
the river. The jumble of hoofs and wheels, the crush of
shouldersand elbows was not vet y fright id at tnat early hour
for the .• Water Derby " differ, in this from the "Derby
of the 'turf," that, while with reso,t to the latter all
roads Converge sin one point, the former is reached from
various thoroughfares, liar, •sigh which the compact masses
find ti.enry f space to dela usti and de olsy at thvlr oitirtiey's
end. 1-11,re- as, therefore, 5t crowd whit, int a crush ; and
evet yb, sly count enjoy the deli:lit of in airing at,
without being lammed against, everybody else. I choie my
statism on the towing-path, half.a.niile or so out of Barnes,
towanis Mortlake, ona prominent reach of the river,
soh Awe I could survey the itrsain above atid below,
front the Barnes Railway-bridge far away on my right almost
to the winning-p.m, on my left. Rebind me were the well- '
Irireined grounds of a citizen's villa, one of those Thames
" &flinched" of which Thtutlore Hook used to make excel-
lent tan; opposite to me, over the water, were the green
lists of Chi•is lOC with a great straggling elin.tree looming in
solitary grandeur through the rune ling fog indhe distance--
a tame scene enough in working.days, though it was from
Chisui and Barnes-terrace that Turner knew, when
the tansy seized him, how to Mitch-out the suliPme ; lint
now the sluggish stream end its disgy lanks had put on all
their holiday finery ; wherries WO ertll4o., with gay pennons
PPM ntr:anners, danced along, and the pate gr. en of the sew
foliage was all alive with motley silks and sittm,
dark.blue ribauds, and bright eyes of every poss.ble
variety of blue.
•
. . . _

what I tell you, and take your odirella," had been
' the lost affectionate warning as 1 was pulling on my over-
coat in the doorway. w Remember the old uying. Thames
boot race and Chiswick Rovers Dever come off without
showers.'" hut I was sure I knew better : and, moreover,
1 it out for aiittaUc sports," and an umbreha could only
hove spoilt hall the pleasuie of a ducking. Tiny tell me
London woke in a Put In the morning : they Insist there was
big uu the river, till the police cleared it off with other en-
cumbrances. Fr my owl, part, I declare I saw nothinc of
It . There was sunshine Inside of nie, and everything
closed retill e‘ther. and dm ight and hatieinfiss
anent me. 1 was bent on enjeyii.g 'obeli sad I had
the Lo..don ralllkan—half of it of the tenor, wer—to
1..,•ii v. It trio a giiy I Cl., yet its in.

ZOOM ere chilly Of their breadth, se lass than cf their
tint% and have Mieir ow" quie4—eall it dull, If you like—
way of eon, ins themselves At Swale or at Naples. with
us-fourth.•• the crowd there woeld h.sc been four times
the clamour No Joan., the cello-rola annul have Men
nooli more ..f a show DalllMl4.l‘ 4.10ti0, would have Mutt/ at
all the windows; b 'tight awl II wets would have strewn
I.a, h. Tim two* of the lieu wooltl hove bees more
freq..iit Iliad the rattle of the "rthn-p44.1- I once, and i 53
Would have gone round More briskly than petiuy a pot
nuts. But the roaring of those southern throats is very
trying to the nerve,. "%tall waters no deep" ought to be
trite of lorry emotion of the soul.
Well, as were sober alt.! orderly soot reste.etable in our
eoloyineto Iwe stow n-ill ;we anA still .Sr "stied One hour
—tw.l hours, all NOW tor the '•aquatie snort that was to
come. I Is, e seen aquatic sports In my lite—seen them in
MOW!, a town which boasts no Seli. Olt river or lake, and
le re, nevertheless, regattas, with iuknic Navarhio.
Indulgers, are perforaled before 31,000 spectator., all under
pie aWill, ::;—.Brell them at Toulon, whore the land-locked
harbour Is turned iota. rag amphitheatre and where the
ere.n of the Impel, .1 marine imke at ear other lint long
ataiothic twn-ti et hoards soder,, opposite le-at.. as
thrac thisS, psat acahist ..ile another at lull Speed the niMii
fun ccillilßtlng in the splash that either or both champions
make as they at, souse tinder water There!, show and
varle.y, and, ahoie all things continuity ti Continental
sports of every oesetiption, bat pleasure f English spurt
is in the waiting w littler, in the riot, as a reward for the
spe•.i atom' patiell se, nit% sport actually comes off, or
. -•

si!-1., thee as. it happened last Saturd4t, it does 'not.
Eugli.sh enjoynteut is, to a great extent. in the mind's
eye. To think and talk of the ttniveraly boat-race is
as great n treat as to see it Indeed, this, who saw the least
enjoyed the mist to it. John Bull values the race not for
what it is, but for what it means, and its netaiiing is strife—
that instinct which wges every Enulicbman to be as good a
non as his heigheour, acid which keeps up the whole
Patton at least we a par ait g all ether nations. A Venetian
noty take kindly to the water; he may have at
many gondoliers Niel bargees.o as an English lord has
pr--ores, but 'oil, surely, would not expect lons to row? Von
would not expect hint t.i keep a dot and bark himself 1 Vet
in the age Id I.lli Itaititiclcs vll4l in the age Of 1,11.0 l'isani navel
here* sailed forth from the lagintes. A Men eertainly need
tilt Will a Iscat-race to bole Nelson; and the It maria, who
pelted themselves on being rulers of men, sickened at the
sight of their Emporia disputing the prise wish the art stlers
mot gladiatore in the ramie But the Eitelishman, like the
ancient liellene, thinks bathing of what the rank apd tile
reit do should ever he leneath the officer'. attention. Ile
knows that the man will le, *rest to do hie duty when the
g-iitiemaii can heat show lans the sae.
I hail just come tic the entictusion of my two hi-tin'
when a shouting, hoarse from the distance, was
heard on my right, 'They are corning " Those perched On
the walls a lit tie above me saw the bores shodute throuelt
the middle arch of the railway.bridge. As to myself, certain
Stacy barges bad come to their mewing* both On the right
and left their decks were Hued with epeetators, obstructing
' ttis'V ev. And leaving little more than haleamile's sluice
cm] I lily clear before tat' A sprnee, cicitcetilit OEld-oared
boat came gliding into my field of einem, and Oxford !
was the cry. fixiorit it was, dadiing gallantly on, MI alone,
with its even, nietuturedl, long sweeping, lieantlful stroke.
Ina 4:mitre-lite "Cambridge is nowhere !" The slang
phrase as literally correct in this Mustier. Four le at.
ler.gths in the wake of Oxford nothing hut clear water could
be seen Fur boat-lengths if I trusted my own eyes; six,
if I t,sok the °pluton ot a yoliugeter by my side, who boasted
a better eye-sight atid • tuore Offiture experience than mine,
but who, it must i.e borne is. mind, was •'41.0k blue." lour
or six as the boat lenglha might be, however, Cambridge
came up at last, the rowers tugging for very life, but
with a fitful, nervous action, too evidently defeating as pur-
pose. Such was the sport. Race, properly speaking, *ere
was none. Wont showed the way leisurely ; Cambridge
followed auxiously. Had we been told nothing beforehand,
we should hardly have guessed that these two boats had any-
thief to do with one another. or that aitything else thaw
sheer *mere had brolight them into each other's wake.
Presently, however, there was sight. A leathering squad.
ron of oieamera—Citizens, Waterwitches, Camellia., Deletes,
Seidl. sera, and other grimy things with awe* 'dunes—maw
up, hue or six of them abreast in a sort of line-of. battle,
headed by the Pride if London. bearittg the " Pride of Eng-
land,'' the clumsy proldles churning up the water till
wherries, catioes. and even coal barges danced like cockle-
*ells, sending the spray into our front ranks, to the great
ilnetantiture of gay flounces, blue Animus, stud Bilk stocking.
It wee the .dily incident approaehing fun of the whole day.
Presently the racieg hosts rowed back—the winner ahead,
received with ploriona shout.: the I iser in the rear of the
at, *Merit, w lilt 114.1,1,10 g spirits, which even the " compassion
! cheers" of the good-natured multitude had no power to
raise. .

Better luck for Cambridge another time ! I was told that
at the start there was something like fair Wllit shown 1511
both sides. We all know that the blame of the Cambridge
defeat is thrown on the narrow shit winding course if the
Cain, on the untimely death of one of the Crew, and on a
variety of other material and unavoidable causes. But,
seen as the race was from where I stood, I shouki any that
Cambridge only came in second because there was not a
third boat on the water.

Tin' Timex observes that this is the eighth triumph of
Oziord in as molly successive years. and the question most
be asksi again whether any gOnai reason call be el,ea for
h. r condoned secenilaucy over her rival MI the waters of the
Thames As Cauvirnige immaged for once to win the ton
nothing C sin be se dawn to tll.iuvk on this score ; nor can
we attrintre the hone, in ally aipreciable degree, to the
sodden and lamented death of Mr. Gordon. We may equally
dismiss front cons iderati.ol the alleged distil vantage id pm-
tNit,g on the narrow and sluggish Cam. There remains the
topothesis of inferior generalship, and to this hyp itha sit we
are thivest for want of a better Assuming, as we may in
this n'o'r. att t muddy of force, we have a right to 'infer that
victor" Is the long run will inclose equally LO either Pide if
the generalship be equal too. We do not, then. doubt that
fresh ud rts can and will be made by Cambridge to break
the spell of her il,ortge, end We ,e,ged the suggestion
that she will abandon the ni tch as quite unworthy of die-
CUsS

The Daily Newg, on the whole, cannot but area with
those vilei seek the cause of tilts persistent inferiority where
the cause of inferiority, in all human contests, is to be found :
part.‘, perhapr, in defective Tower, much tore in defective
training and tuition. The Oxford crew this year are oer-
taiuly very far from perfection in either point. But the
cantata to leave technicalities to experts have fallen into
a form" of rowing, which no amount of pluck can
atone for, and only a revere and patient course of training
by a that-rate practical oaxsaisti Call correct.

The !rally Telegraph invites notice to the fact, that these
C iritan hi, al nost always hare gone by catenation,
ill 5. ties. Cultl tilige won four consecutive tunes from 1834
to 1841, then three times from 184.5 hi 1e49 ; then Oxford
won thri, stiec,sively front 1819 10 IY:4, and now the i 619
b.. CC .1,11 light 1101111e1T11p1Pli gariate,s. 'Pits delitetion
whi It we make in, that toe tit a ',lll via. an affair of method "
tat apt extent which we by 110 mean, intended to deny In
depreelting the idea of talking away the present discom-
fiture with the slang 01 the boat house. Everybody mitt
own that these serial victories make It look almost positive
that there are from time to time fundamental characteristics
of style which conquer till they are im,tated or excelled.