The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-08-28

attempting CHIbSS diu HdhIhS hlocldDIt
failures. and the worst of it is, Harry,
that l could be fond of you if | tried; /
really could"
Now all this, you can fancy, was not
very charming to a fellow who was hon
estly in love with a girl and felt that he
couldn't be happy without her; and it was
about this very thing | was thinking that
night alone in my room.
looked the matter squarely in the face
as | sat there. and | decided that to gain
Kitty Dorrance | must help to win a boat
race somewhere and somehow, or die in
the attempt. After awhile somebody ran
up stairs two steps at a time. and knocking
with one hand. opened the door with the
other and burst in. 1t was VIII
Hamlin. who roomed at the foot of the
stairs. and has pulled strokei in our boate ever
since we've been in college. He is even
more of a boating man than | am. He is
as fond of the sport for its own sake as
am for Kitty's. We lit fresh pipes, and
sat down comfortably before the fire to
talk the whole matter over.
''The trouble with us, | believe, said
Will, lis, and always has been, that We
have no captain
ssThere's Randali-sueh as lie is, | sug-
gested.
Yes growled Will, ':there Is Randall,
and there he's been for the last three
,oo. al n 1a,,.oJ ,ra4{ ~ u,acc hos made
of it. | tell you another man with our
material would have beaten every crew on
the river, and that's the plain truth OF it.
ssWell. | never stood out for Randall
myself" returned /, "but he's always been
popular it'll the fellows. He meets when
he pulls, and will never get over it; but
whom would you put for captain if you
had your say?'
s'Belairs,' said Hamlin promptly.
..Belairs? - said /, Douglass Belairs.
that quiet chap? He has a superb stroke,
but do you believe he's capable of hand
ling a crew and keeping them mp to the
mark?'
q Just do, that's ALL said Hamlin, de
cidedly. "He has the real stuff in him.
'.And who would take his place and pull
third?"
"Laribee, if yen can make him, replied
Will. ''He ought to have been in the boat
long ago
Well, we talked and argued until after
midnight, and the upshot was that we
called a boat meeting the next week, and
showed Randall, put Belairs in his place,
and succeeded in making Larribee promise
to pull third. Perhaps we were conceited
enough, but it did seem as if we had first
class material when we had things finally
arranged. Belairs was captain and bow.
and a regular giant he is, too. | pulled
second: Ned Larribee, third; VII Hamlin,
stroke. and little Smith was coxswain.
Belairs set us right to work in the gym"
the very day Of the election. How we did
work that winter, 1t makes a fellows
muscles ache now to think of it. We
gained the name of the maniacs, we went
in for exercise so madly. We took plunges
into ice-cold water after exercise, and Lar
ribee, who was the head maniac, used to
rub himself down with snow. We gave up
smoking and dancing; went to bed at nine
o'clock and rose at six; and, in short, did
everything that we didn't like. and moth
ing that we did like, and made Spartans
of ourselves generally. We were on the
-. .,-+ ~ ..nn oc tha Zoo wont ont mill
ed twice a day, and by the eleventh OF
June. the day of the race, We were M a
frst-class condition, every one of us, and
we really felt that there was no crew that
pulled in anything like As good form as
ours, unless it was the Juniors.
! wish you could have seen our crew
that day " hen we were all ready and down
on the floats. Belairs is superb,-as hand
some as any Apollo you'd ever wish to see.
Perfectly balanced and proportioned, and
not an ounce Of s~upertiuous flesh anywhere
about him. One would think Larribee
rather heavy. but he's all muscle; and
Hamlin looks about as much like rowing
as a baby.-wrists as white and slender as
a girls: he never burns or tans, and he has
the most absolutely sleepy, indifferent Face
YOU every saw; but You get him in our
four-oar, and. by George, you'll see that
the muscles of his wrists are steel; and the
way the great cords will play out ON ms
back is a caution to the Romans. He'll
pull for miles and never get his eyes out OF
the boat: never get winded; never put on
a squirt unless it's called for; you should
pull with him once to know What Hamlin
is. As for myself, I'm no brag; but you
can see for yourself Eve no deadwood in
the way of flesh; and-look here-wil you
just put your hand on lsy upper arm for a
a minutes Thank You, How is that for
| a biceps? But about the race.
The Sophmores didn't enter. THEN
stroke had strained his back; but the other
crews pulled out under the bridge, and
| came into line at the starting-fioatS. We
drew lots for places and had the middle
position, with the Junior boat at u left
and the Freshmen at our right,
That one minute when you are lying on
your oars waiting for the starter to give the
word is the most trying of the race. a,
we lay there that afternoon, with the sun
blazing on the water and the crowd on tho