Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-07-16
RACE AT OYSTER BAY
President Witnesses Contest
 of Naval Yachtsmen.
IN ROOSEVELT CHILDREN'S BOATS
Enlisted Sailors of the SylDh Are Told That the Country Ex- poets Them to Be It's
 Defense.

OYSTER BAY, N. T., July 16.-Pres- ident and Mrs. Roosevelt, together with Secretary of the Treasury Leslie M. Shaw and a large party of relatives and friends, were enthusiastically in- terested witnesses of boat race on Oyster bay. The contestants were four crews of three men each selected from the enlisted men of the naval yacht Sylph All were trained oarsmen and, spurred by the knowledge that the eyes of the president were upon them, every one of the twelve brawny sailor men worked in the race as If his life de
 pended upon his efforts.
 The race was the idea of the Roose- welt children. It appealed strongly to the president. Through Lieutenant Preston, commander of the Sylph, the arrangements were perfected. The en- listed men on the Sylph and the chill dren, whose race it was to be, entered with enthusiasm into all the details. AS the Sylph has no boats suitable for racing the children rendered the sailors the use of their boats, four beau tiful, pair cared cedar skiffs.
 The president added a substantial zest to the contest by offering a prize of $35, $25 of which should go to the winning crew and $10 to the second crew. ....
 The president and Mrs. Roosevelt and Secretary Shaw, accompanied by seventeen Roosevelt children, including the presidents six children, embarked in launches at the J. West Roosevelt pier and were taken to the Sylph. Scarcely had the party boarded the yacht when the contesting crews, at tired in white rowing shirts and trous- CTS, tumbled into their boats.
 At the crack of pistol fired by The odore the oars struck the water as one, and the boats were off. For a hundred yards it was pretty even race, but No. 1 gradually drew ahead and never aft erward was in danger.
 President Roosevelt stood in the ex- treme bow of the Sylph and intently watched every yard of the race through glasses Beside him were his son Kermit and his nephew, Philip Roosevelt, who acted as judges of the 1 finish. AS the Kullman crew, the win- ners, swept across the finish line by ten lengths from the Snyder crew
 Kermit's pistol cracked, announcing | was fraction less than ten minutes | for the mile and a quarter.
 President Roosevelt greeted the mem- bers of the crews cordially as they went aboard the Sylph, shaking hands and saying kindly word to each one. 1 Then he presented the prizes to the cockswains of the winning and second crews. Soon afterward the president and his party left the sylph for Saga more Hill.
 l The president and Mrs. Roosevelt dined on board the Sylph as the guests of the enlisted men. The invitation to the dinner was extended to them | through the vessels commander, Lieu tenant Preston. After the dinner the president delivered brief talk to the men.
 He desired them to realize fully, he said, that as Theodore Roosevelt and
 us president of the United States he
 had a warm personal interest in them
 and in all the enlisted men in the navy. l The welfare of the enlisted men In
 both the navy and army was one of
 the safeguards of the country. He
 urged them to be efficient and faithful
 in the performance of their duties and
 jealous in their work Of preparation 1 for time which might come unexpect.
 edly when their services would mean
 the life of the nation. Tn that supreme
 moment, when all were thoroughly pre-.
 pared, when by faithful attention to
 duty in hours of peace the work of
 warfare had been discounted, he had
 no fear that the navy of the United
 States-the enlisted men of the navy
 would not add new luster to the Amer
 jean flag. ...