Evening star., 1932-06-17
COLUMBIA ROWERS
HAVE FINEST PLACE
Camp Ingram, Navy's House,
Is o. K, but 1t Adjoins
an Insane Asylum.
BY LAWRENCE PERRY.
HOUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y, June IT,
- Only two days of prepara-

ton lying before the supreme
test of eight university crews
over the four-mile course on the Hud-
son one notes a gathering tenseness
among oarsmen and their coaches. At
one quarters you will observe an effort
to maintain a confidence which achieve
ments in the preliminary regattas in
spired at another is marked a girding
of determination to the end that pre-
vlous disasters be wiped out through
success in the impending intersectional
classic.
Meanwhile, the old river, as though
accustomed to this sort of thing, rolls
calmly on to the sea as it has rolled
through the ages since first its course
was defined and its character marked
by forces of nature that most certainly.
by accident or design. moved along
lines of beauty and even grandeur.
MOT that the hand of man, or at
IN least the hands of those involved
in rowing hereabOutS, worked to
similar effect The lighthouses on the
west shore OF the stream occupied by
PENNSYLVANIA, Syracuse Washington
and Cornell are the very vagabonds of
architecture. ill-favored in appearance,
unsubstantial in construction and, in
sum- disgrace to the sport with which
they are associated. Columbia three
miles up the river, has shown what can
be done to grace an alluring environ
ment and to house her galley slaves in
respectabllity.
On the city shore citizens of Pough-
keepsie interested in rowing have on
IL h11i16jnu
which first brought the Navy TO the
east side of the river, which last year
housed Massachusetts Tech a mile
down the stream and this year accom-
modateS California. All these new
quarters are architecturally pleasing
and are fitted with all comforts and
conyeniences which rowing men by any
possibility could desire.
But the Navy camp, Camp Ingram
adjoins the insane asylum, California
rests hard up on the municipal water
works. while the shoreward outlook on
the S. NJ. I. T. quarters is lumber
yard.
60. despite the lordly Hudson and the
- lovely highlands through which it
flows. the aspect of poetry COM
monty associated with the sport of row.
ing is a minor impression here. Moth
ing OF the SWeetly pastoral charm which
you note on the Thames at Gales Ferry
and Red Top, where dreams Of contest
are soothed by the breath of meadow
sweet and the quiet voice OF placid
waters.
II is all serious business at Pough-
keepsie. All unvarnshed drama. You
see the West Shore crews at their meals
or preparing for bed in the boarding
houses and hotels of Highland, and you
feel that life is real and life is earnest.
Even at the vassar alumnae house,
where the Californians sleep, and Vassar
Inn, the abiding place of NJ. I. T., the
lighter side of youthful existence Is by
no means predominant.
For there is a race to be roWed. a
hard gruelling. grinding thresh OF four
miles which pulls the heart out of you
and makes your back ache reminiScently
as long as you shall live. A race to be
roWed among crews, many of which are
not natural rivals, being geared by
exacting task masters to win great
sporting event. That is the main thing;
about the only thing.
THE Navy IS now trying something
i in the way of amelioration. having
inaugurated an interchange OF
luncheons among the various crews.
yesterday tne MlQCleS prayed nOSC 10
the California varsity. and the Bear
junior varsity responded in kind with
the Navy Jayvees as guests. Today
Columbia visits the Navy, and the
dawning spirit of amenity thus estab-
lished will surely grow as these func-
tions become a part of Poughkeepsie
regatta tradition.
AS to the relative strength Of the
crews, it is a bit early yet to speak
with any great warrant or authority.
But your correspondent has seen
enough to be willing to hazard hint
that Cornell must certainly be watched
In a burst OF speed on the river yes
terday he never saw a stronger Ithacan
crew or crew better together. AS
to California and Syracuse, nothing, it
seems, can prevent them from being
somewhere in the vanguard of Mon
days flight