The age-herald., 1899-08-05

The event of the week in London, of course, has been the international athletic contest. There are more Americans in Lon- don this season than was ever known be- fore, consequently at the contest the sup porters of the two contestants was pretty evenly divided. The Harvard and Yale boys about twenty in number, sailed over on the 9th of July. Upon their arrival here they went down to Brighton, which is the most famous watering place of Great Britain. There they had the benefit of the sea air while they finished their training for the great contest. The Oxford and Cambridge boys trained pretty regularly at the grounds of the Queens club, which is at West Kensington
 Several days before the contest few of the Yale and Harvard boys surprised the Englishmen by appearing on the grounds of the Queens club and giving them an idea of what their opponents could do. This fact led the London Telegraph to speak very highly in praise of our American athletes, who in the high jump and 11-yards dash could uotdo all English records, and it con vinced them that if they would run the odd event they must look to their laurels.
  dreds wearing the blue and crimson colors with the stars and stripes could be seen vending their way to the Queens club. The reserved seats sold at ten shillings ($2.5O each, and every seat on the grounds was sold before the 22nd arrived. A long stand extending the entire length of the grounds was marked, Harvard" and 'Yale" block and it was filled to overflow ing. The Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York lent special distinction to the sports, together with the American Ambassador and Mrs. Choate, Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, the Earl of Roseber-y, the Earl and Countess of Jersey and many others.
 The grounds of the Queens club are square and perfectly smooth and level. The grassy lawn looking much like a smooth velvety carpet. Around three sides of the club houses and stands for visitors, and all around the four sides of the grounds stood those who had admission tickets only. Looked at from every point of view, the meeting was the best thing of its kind ever known in this country. And beautiful sight it was. People and people everywhere you looked. with colors flying and flags tied to cane and umbrella waving merrily in the breeze. It was perfect as regards the quality of the sport, the weather, the at tendance and the enthusiasm displayed In the early morning the weather was un- promising and a few drops of rain made our anxious hearts fear that our nervous American boys could i'll afford a postpone ment.
 But by noon the sun came out and the weather brightened, giving ample assur- ance of a perfect afternoon. However, the weather is unusually warm for England and the sultry oppressive heat made all Americans fear that our boys would not be equal to the long distance runs, ana sad. to relate just so it proved. AL promptly in the royal box overlooking the finish of all the runs, the Prince of Wales arrived and the London Victoria Military Band seated in the corner of the athletic grounds played the national anthem and every human in the vast assembly arose as with one mighty impulse. It was an impressive sight but we felt that "Ihe Star Spangled Banner" should have fol- lowed Then the contest began The pro- gramme was made up of nine events. Pro-  ing and long jump simultaneously in oppo- site corners of the grounds It reminded me of a double performance at the circus, it was so hard to watch all that was going on, and the extreme distance made 1t diff fcult to easily distinguish the man. How ever, soon realized that the two Harvard boys, c. D. Daly, and J. T. Roche, were not in any way approaching their record, and that the long jump would surely be won by Oxford. Sure enough in moment more, while our hearts were fairly in our throats, up went the Union Jack, and it was announced on bulletin board and through the megaphone that G. c. Vas sail, of Oxford had won with a leap of 23 feet. In a moment more the Hammer" throwing came to an end and up went the Stars and Stripes amid the widest cheer ing and applauding which is possible with Americans alone for w. A. Boal, of Har- vard had won, throwing 136 feet and some inches. Then came what was regarded as the event of the day; the 100 yards dash. The spectators were all excitement when the competitors in the 100 yards toed their marks. Everything was deathly still; the occupants of the Harvard block seemed scarcely to breathe when a pistol shot snapped in the air and a Harvard boy, half kneeling just beneath us got a magnificent start Wild cheers went up and the sup porters of the Blues looked rather glum when J. F. Quinlan. of Harvard. beat the Oxonian, c. R. Thomas, in magnificent style in the British record time of 10 sec- onds. Then up went "Old Glory again and the lusty rah, rah, rahs-Harvard, rent the air quite merrily. Oh! how happy every face looked. In the full excitement you can't imagine how we dd want our boys to win. But just picture our silence. our gloom and disappointment when A. Hunter. of Cambridge, evened things up by winning the fourth event-the one mile race. Now came what had been regarded as the turning point of the day-the hur- dlers. The four runners took their places Oxford, Cambridge and F. B. Fox and J. w. Hallowell both of Harvard. The "hur- .-sB a1. ,tla