New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-06-27


.,,o,c,o tha ttle of Yale College to Yale UNI
IT, hoe rocoivcd n serious setback. The
s,,,tor, of cuIture at the great New-liayen IN
atitnt;on Of learning seems sadly lacking in
some mportant points, and until the dehciene'eS
,,, ,,,,,,lio1 oven her best friends will be slow
n claim for her that roundness, symmetry ana
fitness Of training in all departments Oh ki'o"i-
edge that the true university shou'o ai"ayS
comprise. There appears to be TINS year Da'n'
inadeouacv in the mathematical department III
dealing with the curves OF pitched balls ana tue
angles OF daisy-cuters, while IN the school OF
onnIied science something has gone wrong III
hydraulic engineering Harvard has shown
the most overwhelming superiority in both de-
partments of the humaner letters, anu her
dome-like forehead is now wrcaihed with the
double crown of the great college champion
ships.
How was it possible that such a funeral as
that on the Thames yesterday should occur
Yale had the bigger and brawnier men, giants
we'll seasoned By previous contests, Astounding
in experience rs we'll as in intellect. Her crew
were directed in their work by the skill ami
sacncity Of that past master OF Craftsmanship
that encyclopndia of aquatics, Robert j. Cook.
9 professional hints and lessons, but the col
leee world long ago with one voice acclaimed
Mr.. Cook "a the superiorOl any professional VINO
could be found. Mr.. Cook and II great many
erperts were sure that the Harvard stroke
vould snever do" But n disparity OF some
fifteen lengths and n minute and n quarter at
the finish showed that it did pretty well, AFTER
all
Bloodless. indeed, mist be the heart that does
not bleed for the eight gallant young men who
strovc 80 hard for success yesterday against a
stroke which they desp;'ed and failed 50 com
pletely. They had gone through many weary
months of gymnasium work and practice pulls.
they had denied themselves an nnumeraOle
number of innocent indul gences and diversions,
they had often turned aside from the aIlurng de-
lights of comic sections and the calculus for this
OF course we must honor the victors who have
acquitted themselves 50 nobly. but every fibre
of our being throbs in sympathy with the much
enduring young men who, with unilnching de-
votion to lofty IDEAL have turned aside from
the temptations of yaledictory and salntatory
honors, gold medals and scholarships, only to be
so grievously disappointed.
There is a general feeling, we believe on the
banks of the Charles and the Connecticut, that
the undergraduates and alumni of other colleges
pass their days and their nights in malignant
| envy and unavailing gnashing of teeth because
| Harvard and Yale persist in making their
annual rowing match duel instead OF a battle
royal. We don't know how widespread may be
this feeling of anguish. but we are inclined to
commend Harvard and Yale in this matter rs
great public bcnefactors. IL is bad enough to
! have the students and graduates of one great
institution shrouded in gloom every year. If
there were a dozen crews, instead of one, to be
beaten in each season, and to spread wretched-
ness through rs many colleges by their defeat,
the sum of human misery would be increased
to an extent wholly intoerable.
The baseball rivalry between the colleges is
entirely unlike the rowing. In baseball there
are many games to be played, full of variety
| and incident, and in themselves thoroughly en-
ioyable In rowing everything is stakcd on
| one tremendous throw, and the strain Of that
heart searching, bone -racking pull OF four miles
! is ANYTHING but q pleasure. In defeat IL il
| torture. The generous victor must always feel
his exultaton tempered by pity for the van
ouished. But the latter have this consolation
They can fairly feel proud of the self-denial,
the perseverance, the resolution and the cour-
age which carried them through their training
and the final supreme test, and the manly
qualities that they have proved in the prepare
ton and tho actual accomplishment will not
serve them ill in after life. And twenty years
from now. when they are busy pleading at the
bar of the Supreme Court with sonorous clo-
qucnce, using the surgeons knife with the pre-
cision and delicacy of master, or moving vast
audiences hy theirpuIpit celebrations, not one of
them will feel the faintest regret that the great
race of 1885 between Harvard aud Yale re-
suited in a victory for the crimson and not for
the blue.