New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-07-25
things, plain speaking concerning themselves
and their works
TIE FARMERS TO THE pOpr

AT tire tournament the interest ia aIwax.
with the unknown knight, who rides in late
unann0unced, attended by a single scn;re
(Josh Ward, for instance), with visor down.
and co0lly defes the challengers i'm a body To
mortal combat. Especially is this true when
the spectators, the majority Of whom ara
Saxon, have become restless under the ins0-
lence OF their Norman cOnquerors, against
whom no Saxon champion OF equal metal ap-
pears, and who make the lists ring with their
disagreesbIe NOrman-French war-cry Of "Rah.
"'rah" When, then, the Unknown, at tho
critical pause, appears at the end Of tho list
sounding his solitary trumpet, ond, advancing
strikes with the sharp end Of his spear the
shield of the COntemptu0u3 Brian dc Bois-
Gu!bert, indicating that Che contest is to be
at oatrapcc, the astOnishmcnt Is extreme at his
hardihood, but the whole Saxon assembly put
up prayers for their champion and hope.
against hope, that the dOmineering Norman
will get some OF the "'rah" taken ont of him.
"Uave you confessed yourself, brother.n
says the Knight of Harvard, "and have you
"heaid mass this morning, that You peril
"your lie 50 fronkly9" 81 am filter 10 meet
death than thou art,r answers the Farmer of
Amherst, for thus has the stranger recorded
himself upon the books of tho tourney. Then
take your place in the lists" says Bois-
GuiibeTt Of Harvard, "aud look your last
"upOn the sun; for this night thou shalt
"scep in paradise" "Gamercy for thy
courtesy replies the Farmer; and they go
" Cor each other Gn the language Of chivalry).
The world knows that Boise hilbert went
down in the encounter, horse and man rolling
IA, ybn Itrlf Nbo
of the spectators and that the comb Of the
Harvard Knight was so cut thai be could MT
cry "'rah' for a month; that he shut him
self in his chamber, refusing to eat al vege-
tables and that he throw an attendant out
Ct the fourth story window of hls dOnjon for
daring to use the word agricultural in his
presence.
History repeats itself. The Normans Of
Cambridge, who instituted the Regatta at In
gle3ide, were regardless OF the Saxon cliurls OF
the interior. Wherever danger might come
from, it was not to be apprehended from the
farmer crew Of the Agricultural College AT
Amherst. Wcll-meaning fellows, these Saxons;
bYOad-shoudered, wcll-muscled, but no style
no training, no azure blood. Good material.
if they only knew how TO row! IL was
a queer idea, any way, that an agicul-
tural institution should send out crew to
compete with the classic chivalry of the wave
And the fact was that the Farmers of Am
hurst were day-laborers, so TO speak, on the
College farm. They had no water for prac
tice nearer than three miles, at which distance
they found the Connecticut; and thither they
walked daily, three miles through the hot sun,
TO take their training at the oars, coming
+bn 10 -r,,rioI oft a.
over. And these are the farmers who have
beaten the splendid crew Of the champion
University, in straight pull Of three miles
by % seconds! There might not have
been much chiyalry about it, but il
was good square beat farmer fashion,
With 10 preliminary Boosting and nc
airs. Brian de Bois-Guilbert fought well, as
he always does, but the crowd rejoiced in hls
downfall. as il conceded Templar had re-
ceiyed needed lesson.
The rowing of the Amherst farmers for the
crew was wholly from the Agricultural Col
lege, which has no connection with Am.
herst College proper had a quality in it thai
did not seem to have been put there by
few weeks of training and dietingj it was
genuine muscle, consolidated By steady labor
muscle of the hard, enduring sort, that win not
go away whenthe effect of the temporary training
has ceased. 1t was a stout crew, made healthy
by outdoor labor, which only needed to know
how to Use its strength to send a boat
over the water at a fearful pace. Boating
men in other colleges will be likely to take
notice of this new element. We do not know
what time this farmer crew might have made
if it had been pushed 1t is certain that they
viii be considered dangerous antagonists in
the future, against whom it will not do to pit
mere training and skill The Brahmins will
be a little shy of the knight who rides into
the list with wisp of hay "a his shield, and
the motto, "Agricola, caue;' and may pos
sibly remember the proverb, fGauR habet IN
"cOrRan