New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-27
TUE BO1T RACE.

THE BOAT RACE.
Since the DAYS when the young men lio'h AZ
u,o stotcs &c Greece used to meet periodically
on the nl,ip Of Olympia, and all the ordinary
rrrs,i,s of jfp-busincss labor, love, and war
wore laid aside while the nation looked Oh
- t,oir trials of strength and skill, no con-
tcst If athletes has engrOssed the attention
If so large proportion of the ciViiiHeu
world rs the one which IS to take place OH ''o
River Thames this afternoon. Elght you"S
mon. vho represent the highest physicai cu''u'o
If two of the foremost nations OF the "oi'u'
arc there to test the merits of their Respective
r,ctbods of educating the body, and 1t may III
,~o.t no said that a million or 50 OF man
Kind ponse TO look at the trial ne IL"
t,n,,,a,,5s who will crowd the banks OF the
rivor tI,is afternoon will be only handful III
comparison with the many thousands VINO Wi"
watch with an equal anxiety Tor the announce
mani of thc result as it viii be hashed 10y
telcor,nb upder the deep ocean ana across 10
tbo ,t+ornost end of the American Continent
Six tbousand miles away the excitement OF tle
race will he hardly less intense than IN Lon
don itself. We dare say the sensation IN
pome when Nero took a prize at the Olympic
cannes WIS nothing to the thrill which VIII
shoot through San Francisco to-day II Harvard
should be the victor between Putney ana
Mortake.
Perhaps it might not be easy to give per-
fectlv good reason why two entire hatiohS
should metaphOrcally speaking, SIT down
Inv river bank to watch eight college
Iads row boat; or to show what advantage
commensurate with the trouble taken to
obtain it is gained by the rigorous mode OF
life which a race of this kind involves; but 1t
is no time to weigh the value of victory when
the trumpct is sounding for the battle
nor indeed have we much respect uhuer
ony circumstances for the excessively practi-
cal people who measure the exact price OF every
thing and the productiveness OF innocent
amusement. The statistical legislator VINO
convicted poor Tr0tty Week OF roOblng the
widow and the fatherlcsS because he dlu II
confne his diet to those viands which con-
tanned the greatest per .centage OF nutrimeht,
is not a popular character, and men VIII
have their tripe in spite of him. 1t Is enough
for us to remember that rowing IS perhaps the
very best exercise by which college young men
can repair the physical strength wasted by
hard study and confinement. and that an inter-
national match conducted as this has been Is
IN excellent school of manncss and
ccntlemauly bearing. Ii has been chvanc
cnterprise of our Yankee lads to challenge the
most magnificent crew which the principal
boating school in the world ever produced-a
school with the experience of long years and
the trophies of long line of victories; to give
them ali the odds travel 5000 miles 70 row
them on their own waters; cut down the'r
4 0 Il.
crew to match the English method and carry the
! unaccustomed weight of coNswain whom
they did not want. They have done all this,
! be it remembered, against the advice of many
of their best friends, and even of their own
University. Nearly everybody has prophesied
defeat, and it is only on the eve of the race
that people discover for the first time that
| they are formidable opponents, who, if they do
not win, will not fall far behind. On the other
! hand, they have received from their opponents
a generous greeting and every opportunity Tor
fair play. The minor preliminaries OF the race
the appointment of the referee, have been
, settled to suit them, and whatever the issue OF
this afternoon, we are sure the Harvard young
men will bring home pleasant recOllectlonS OF
their visit and leave pleasant memories behind
them.
We are glad to learn authOritatively, from
Mr.. Blaikie's letter to The London Times, that
the stories about Harvard adopting the English
style of rowing, taking lessons from an English
coach, and using an English boat, are all
untrue This race ought to be a test of two diff
ferent systems of rowing, and our men mean
| that it shall be. They have not changed their
stroke in the least; it is the same which they
have beaten Yale with for the last three years.
! They have taken no instructor except the gentle
man-hmSelf an alumnus of the Harvard Club
who went with them from Boston. They have
tried variety of boats and have now deter
mined to win or lose in n boat built by an
American maker on an American model. So
here are English and American boats and
English and American rowers fairly pitted
against each other If the result shows that
England can teach US anything in this line,
we shall do as Americans always do in such
cases-lean it, and go back after a while with
! some improvement upon it,