The Republican journal., 1886-05-13
correspondence of the journal.

LONDON. April II, 1856. On Saturday, the
third of this month, the annual boat race be
tween Oxford and Cambridge [ Universities took
place, and owing partly to the urgent soicta-
ton of friends, partly from feeling that it was
my duty to witness such notable event, was
II spectator. | do not like races of any kind
Horse trotting has no charm for me. heel and
toe or 90 a. you please tournaments pass by
on the other side. and never had sufficient in
tere>t i'll rowing matches to attend one. NJ ore
overI was confident / should see nothing of
the struggle if did 90 for il is always my lot
on such occasions to get into a crowd Of six
foot men and being of comparatively limited
stature | might a. well be thousand miles
away. but as for the past three weeks this af-
pcr> and had been the principal subject of con-
Ner>ation everywhere | went | could not help
getting up Il little interest, and then too | con-
~idcrcd the future and how | could say with
assumed carcleSSucs> when the subject Of
aquatic sports should be brought up, "Ah. yes,
saw the Varsity race of So and that was 4
consideration not to he dcspi>ed. A friend had
procured me an invitation on a steamer char
tered by the st. Georges club, and as 10 ladies
were 10 90 with the party felt that might
enjoy the sail anyWay-race or no race. For
tunately it was Il beautiful day and after | went
on board the River Queen and we had start
ed III the Thames | began to feel glad that |
had come. Then also | found several Ameri-
cans among The guests, and one in particular
who abused England in general to my hearts
content, and this added to my pleasure. The
river was full of all descriptions of boats, large
steamers, small steamers, steam launches, steam
Yachts, barge>, canal boats. Toured cared shells,
wherric>. >kitis, canoes, and | saw one water
bicycle. and there was Us much variety in the
people. We would pass Il long racing shell pro-
PEELED by the arms and oars Of white suited and
blue capped co"@ian> with gaiiv dressed ladies
in the Stern ami then alongside Of them would
le AIRY and his pal with their sweethcart>,
laboring sturdily Oh in some old tub and chat
linz everyone. not always with the most deli
cate language. Almost all the boats Were pro-
fu>cly decorated with flags and strcamcrs. and
the light blue and dark blue of the two colleges
of course predominatcd. Al the first bridge
we passed under after leaving Westminster
Pier the steamers funnel came down and | cX-
lrrtcd tie next instant hc blown up OF down
or >omcW here, but | was quoted when | SAW
the smoke stack rise slowly into position again,
and was told that the Thames bridges were al
ways salutcd in TINT manner, TO say nothing of
the fact that there is not room for an upright
and generally honorable funnel to 90 under
meath. ! am pleased 20 state in addition that il
came down once aftcrward where there was no
bridge, and crushed a fine old English gentle
mans hat to his great alarm and Indignation
dislike To say ii but no made use on this oc-
ca>ion Of most blood-curClling language to Wit
ION. dash it ali! say. that's very nasty ye
know :"
But / digre>s. We arrived al cur position.
which was a capital one just below Barnes
bridge and but a short distance from the win
nIn% pest. giving Il good view of at least half
mile Of The course, and the hour and IA half be-
fore the race was Whed away in eating lunch.
watching the passing boats, and some wicked
men made bets OH the result tried to leave
The steamer when found out about this latter
fact but was unable to do 50 and it cast gloom
over the rest Of the day. The course was four
and IA half miles ami al 80 the boats started.
Cambridge took the lead at first and held it
until the crab-trec was reached when oxford
came up even. Then came Iammersmitll
bridge and-an exception to former races-it
had been decided that both boats should 90
through the >amc arch. there being. provided
they were abreast, only two or three feet of
room to spare and under such conditions d
foul almost certain. But they did pass the
arch together and without accident Then
they kept even for some distance. oxford row
Ing in much better form and Cambridge appar-
entity making great deal harder work Of it
From this time oxford led, and when they
passed our position this crew was pulling
%randIy while the rantab> We're 'spa>hing
badly and two of their men seemed nearly used
up. 1t was magnificent sight. for the oars
men were all superb specimens of muscular
humanity and the rowing was like machinery
! on can Judge little what sort of athletes
they were when ! tell YOU that five Of them
haiacd TO over one hundred and ci%hty-ti,c
pounds each. and Fairbairn of the Cambridge
crew, one ninety-four, forming something of {:
contrast TO his coNsWain who tipped the beam
nj ninety pounds. When they were out Of
sight by Barnes bridge | turned to one of my
friends, an Old boating man, and asked if Cam
bridge had any chance now OF winning. lie
replied If their crew We're not used ny they had
slight one but it looked to him a. if they Were
not capable OF making the squirt 1T the finish
which was the only thing that could give them
the race One man who had backed Cambridge
paid his Wagers and all seemed to think the re-
suit sure for oxford, but in Il few moments the
ilags Went up at the Wlnnln"-post and the light
blue penhon of Cambridge was above the 9th
en- we could not believe it until we had
steamed up 10 the hllSh and learned that the
crew which had seemed to be so completely
used up had made Il most heroic squirt at the
close, and won by two-thirds of Il length The
papers called it the most remarkable and eN-
citing struggle ever known between the two
Universities, and the performance of the
WihlllAS crew. rowing close and losing race
1or Tour ana hall miles III very rough water,
and then at the last being equal to an extra eff
Tort th;it gave them the victory makes old oars
men simply wild with delight. After we re-
turned to town several of our party including
myself went to Remington Oval where was to
be PLAYED football match for the Association
cup between two of the finest elevens in Eng
land, the blackburn ROverS and the West
BromWlch Albion. 1t was my first experience
OF this sport and knew absolutely nothing of
the game. but Tins made no difference in my en-
Joynent after had been there few mo-
ments with the fourteen thousand nine hun
drcd and nmety-nine other distinguished spec
tators. If knew not what ''dribbing" meant
or ''tackllng:' or feeding his forwards" or
getting the ball out of bully" nevertheless I
could heartily appreciate Sreinga man get kick
Ell III the SIDE 50 that it could Ge heard ali over
the Held and then observe him lie down and
roll over several times with pleasant writings.
There were many similar incidents but unfor-
tunateiy no one was Killed. | have now only
10 see game OF cricket and then shall have
done the three principal pastincS of the Brit
1sh youth. Once pu@ii>m might have been ill.,
cludcd but ii Is somewhat out of favor now
although a little interest was shown in the
recent artistic contest between Jem Smith and
another distinguished professor, which took
ni n