The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-27

with its curved keel, wide beam and seemingly
unwieldy length" 1T is long, round bottomed,
canal-like boat" "They row too much with
their arms, and not enough with their bodies"
The Harvards have been rowing with their
bodies as well as their hands, and with less of
that military stiffness which previously marked
their style" The prevailing impression appears
to he that our visitors have the makings of u
good crew, but that there is some doubt whether
1t will be made" ''lf the Harvard crew win the
race we will acknowledge that our notions
about our style of rowing are antiquated absur-
dities." And thus the fair-minded Englishmen
talked till within the last week, ''when they
began to eat their own words, and the Daily
NetoS said ''the Oxfords will have plenty to do
to win," while the Spectator said "the race is
likely to be close. If the weather is bad, the
result will partially be in favor of the OXfords.
If good the Harvards will win. A nice, slow
English drizzle is the thing to take the heart out
of the Americans" Their anxious question now
is, Can they keep up their starting pace?"
That "bustling spin may yet revoutionize their
"antiOuated absurdities.'
The Harvard Stroke.
The international race will be strictly a test of
whether the American or the English systems of
boat-rowing are superior The Harvards, al
though they have used Salter boat for practice
on the Thames, officially deny that they have
surrendered any of their distinctive peculari-
ties. To secure n competitive race they have
indeed been willing to sacrifice many considera-
tions- They have travelled several thousand
water long familiar to the latter, and of which
they can obtain but few weeks experience:
they take in the additional dead weight of a cox
swain, to oblge their opponents. But the boat,
the style of rowing, the system of training, are
all distinctively American. Their popularity is
a long stroke with quick recovery. The Eng
lsh press does not hesitate to declare them fully
equal in vigor and physique to their own coun-
trymen, while some have frankly ranked them
superior.
The Oxonians know every inch of the course,
and are accustsmed to the intricacies of the mar
row Thames. Thus, at the outstart, they achieve
great advantages; for the Harvards are not only
strangers to the course, but strangers to the
river, and to the English modes of rowing and
manner of boat racing. The sympathes and
outspeakings of the public have been wholly
with the former and the reporters have done
them good service by noting all the pecuiarities
of the Haryards and concealing their own
There is no denying that the stroke of Oxford is
pulled in proper trim and precision but it is
slow, though very telling. There is a stiffness
and rigidity about it, new to those accustomed
to the dashing and somewhat careless style of
Harvard.
The London Spectator summing up the op-
posing systems, says, "At last it is acknowledged,
with an odd kind of grunt, that the Americans
are wonderfully fast for II spurt,' and that if
they can only hold out victory over them may
be a real triumph. We have no opinion to offer
on racing of any kind; but having been pulled
many thousands of miles by men who pull with
the arms only, never laying themselves to the
oar at all, we rather doubt the want of staying
power attributed to such rOwers. They would
kill En2lishmen in race of fifty miles"
The Daily Ne'oS says the frequent talk is, "The
crew that can row mile on still water in one
minute and forty seconds, which this crew has
done, are match for any four the Thames or
any other English river can bring against them"
The Telegraph says, ''We would consider the
superior hardness of the Americans more than a
set off against the style of the English, and we
conclude that the contest will be mainly battle
of coXswains. Whatever may be the event. we
trust that kindly feeling and good fellowship be-
tween the two nations may be the result
The Race Course.
Our map of the river Thames will give q cor
rect view of the celebrated boating course to be
rowed over by the contestants to-day. 1t is on
scale of two inches to the mile. The dis
tance from the bridge at Putney to Barker's
Rails is five miles, from Putney to Mortlake
about four and quarter miles. The statements
of foreign journals and the cable dispatches are
so conflicting that it is impossible to say what
the precise limits of the race will be, although
the distance of four and half miles appears to
be about the proper limit. 1t is officially an
nounced that the 'conservancy of the Thames
have promised to chain the course, and to allow
no traffic on that part of the river, no steamers
barges, or guerilla wherres on the track. dur
ing the time of the race. 1t is to be hoped they
may be as good as their word, and if they should
| be, no one will withhold from them their need
of praise. 1t must be given however, after it
| has been won.
1t will be observed that this famous locality.
which has also witnessed for several years past
the boat-races of Oxford and Cambridge. is a
bend, of a horseshoe shape, about two miles
| across by land.
| Putney is a quiet little town of about six
thousand inhabitants, Immediately opposite
| Fulham, with which it is connected by a wooden
| bridge. The pipes of the Chelsea Water Works
| Company cross the river on piers lust above the
bridge. There is little of interest in Putney,
which was the birthplace of Gibbon, the histo-
| rlan, beyond the old parish church, built ages
| ago. and enlarged in the reign of Henry VII
! Some pretty villas lie scattered about along the
| river, the village bank of which, Immediately at
| the bridge, is edged with inns and beer-houses
! deriving their custom chiefly from the boating
| clubs.
About midway of the course the Thames is
spanned by a noble suspension bridge at Ham
mersmith, an outlying suburb of London; and
here the river bank on the northern side is lined
with buildings for n considerable distance.
Every window of these buildings is hired out on
occasions like the present, while the bridge also
from shore to shore, presents a dense mass of
human beings, occupying every foot of space
from an early hour of the morning.
Above Hammersmith, on the same side is
Chiswick, and beyond Chiswick, on the other
side, ID Barnes, small, antiquated cluster of
brick houses built along narrow lanes with n
tower peeping out of the foliage-the tower of
the parish church, where Melville breaches.
Here solid iron railway bridge raised on stone
piers crosses the river. No spectators are per-
mitted to go upon this bridge.
As soon as the boats shoot under its arches
the coXswains catch sight of the "Ship" at Mort
lake. just above the brewery building, where
flag signal indicates the goal. Not more than
six hundred yards now remain to be accom-
pllshed OF the distance, and as Barnes bridge is
passed the excitement of the spectators reaches
its acme.
On the southern bank of the Thames, all the
way from Putney to Mortlake there is a tow
~ fNa h.Nrg =