New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-07-15
THE STORY OF THE GREAT RACE

BEFORE THE START.
iBY TELEGRAPH FROM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE
TRIBUNE.1
SARATOGA, July 14.-"Mv God They've won it,
they've iron tr screamed a junior by my car
Screamed it 1t was howl and yell, crossed with
sroar. Yes, they had won it--wOn it with strong
arms that for months had been fitting themselves
for this brief and intense squirt; won it by pluck
and strength and skill; won it with the red and
white flag flying along their path for it was
Cornell that had gained the prize won it with
SOy that was fierce and burning, though no one
would have guessed that under that enforced calm
their hearts were humping with triumph. 1t was
their second victory, and there were no more such
worlds left to conquer. The race began before
sunrise. 1t was a race to rise hrst, ana
battle for breakfast. The whole hotel population
made at least one stride toward health, wealth, and
wisdom and nearly surprised the walters out OF their
two or three senses. These active creatures were
seized with the same affection, that every
great gathering public excitement brings upon
them They jumped about as if every dish they car
ried had St. Vitus's dance, and everything they
brought, which was invariably the wrong thing,
came on the run. Your napkin came with hop,
skip and jump, and you were lucky if your coffee
came at all. All Saratoga was in state
of mind. The main street was clogged
from end TO end with vehicles of every
gender and religious denomination, all surrounded
by the eagle-eyed Saratogan on the lookout for the
innocent and unsuspectng tourist. There were
stages carriages, phactOns two-seat wagons bugges,
dirt carts farm wagons barouches. and every vehicle
which the cupidity of man can make use of, except
wheebaTTows and pOws. There were enough wheels
10 have transported the army of Xerxes and the fact
that wheeled cOnveyances were pretty nearly
drug In the market, together with the presence OF
Police Justice who stationed all day in one of
the hotels, crammed to the muzzle with warrants,
served to moderate the itching palms of these Jehus
The crowd was made up of all the veteran pleasure
seekers and the raw recruits of Saratoga, those who
had come for day and those who were here all the
time The main railroad had been bringing in more
than 5000 people day. for the last three days, and
the swarm in the village showed the increase. The
tide of people that ceaselessly flowed along the
street soon turned out with the procession of
wheeled things towards the Lake. The dust was
volant, but only ID brief gusts. The weather bureau
had come to the rescue of the local watering cart,
and the road was in submissive mood.
The rvalres of spectators were evidently to be no
less pronounced than those of the crews. Whoever
bad college to stand by stood by it, at least to the
extent of bit of coOrcd silk. The ladies blOomed
out in these decorations. wore them on their arms
and hats, and in big defiant bows at the peaks of
wore them, and the little boys. The horses
them too Large accessons came to all the colleges
during the night The road was fairly aflame with
Harvard and there was enough of the Williams
purple 60 have ROBBED all the PharaOhs. The colOrs
fraternizud and when pretty Yale blonde recog
nized the blue badge IN some masculine button hole
both smiled smile of sympathy and became friends
by intuition.
The day was diviney fair. Line on line of great
white clouds rose above the horizon, grouped
like giant navIes in the skies, to witness the
contest Of the mimic feet below, while the
central sky one magnificent ellipse of un-
broken blue The lake lay bathed in all the glory
Of the July sun, which seems here to have nothing
but healing in its beams The clouds that early in
the day had obscured the sky had disappeared, and
there was nothing to the beauty of the to
the cOlegians eye save the slight ripping breeze
that broke the surface Of the lake into a million
brilliant dancing points, proclaimng rOnghened
water. The wind was scarcely more than enough to
curl the water into ripples but it was more in its
threats than its effects. This gentle air seems ter
ribe TO the longing college boy. He cannot know
the fate of his college till the smooth water paves
her way. At this early hour the lake Is scarcely
dotted by score of craft From the starting line
quarter Of mile above Snake Hill to the finish at
the grand stand the water lies unruhled by keel.
THE POSITIONS OF THE CREWS ON THE COURSE.
The flags marking the stretch like belt
down the lake, the hues gradually deepening into
uniform black, until in the distance even this dsap-
pears in the glitter of the water The long line Of
the stretches its full length from one shore to
the other starting at the promontory that rises into
Snake Hill. and ending on the other bank at the
cape which is the place Of the grand stand. lake
could hardly have been devised TO fit a race course
more closely. The transverse lines of flags cross the
course at every eighth Of mile, like rows
Of lilies Each flag is one hundred feet from its
negLbor in the same transverse line. and an eighth
Of mile, of course from lis fellow in color, in the
long procession that stretches down the lake and in
which each cross line seems TO form battalion in a
long regiment Of flags. Looking from the eastern
shore, the first course is that Of Union which has
no flag ct all, but it is TO this
side Of Harvard. and is given wide berth
IN all that edge Of the lake that lies