Year: 1875

As the day for the great intercollegiate con-
test on Saratoga Lake approaches the interest
in that event becomes deeper and more gen.
eral Everything touching the training and
practice of the crews is of the utmost impor-
tance, and, while there is Hesitation on the part
of even the most experienced and observant
boating men to risk q judgment on the result,
ibis only quickens the scrutiny into the rela-
tive merits and faults of the rival oarsmen.
On this account the specuations as well as
the facts in our Saratoga letter this morning
will attract general attention and prove an
intelligent basis for tutrre comment and COM
parison. All the crews thirteen in number
are now on the lake and engaged in CO.. SAINT
preparation for the regatta. 1t will be OBJ
served that many of them since their arrival
at Saratoga have greatly improved under care
full coaching, so that, with one or two excep
tons, the crews of the present year may
be fairly claimed as superior to those
which took part in previous races. This
is matter of which we ought to
be especially proud. 1t shows growth,
and growth Is what was most to be desired
from these annual contests. When the Uni
vcrsity races between Harvard and Yale were
first projected the use of the oar was almost
lost art in this country. Physical culture
was still in its infancy, and skill and knowl-
edge were yet to be gained by trial and ex-
perlence To these early contests, so full of
faults as we see them now, boating i'll this coun-
try owes everything that 1t is or expects to be.
They gave an impetus to rowing which nothing
else could have excited, and not the Collegi-
ate Association only, but the Harlem and
Schuyllzill navies, and indeed, all of the best
of our boat clubs, can trace their existence to
the interest in the races at Worcester and
Springfield. Out of them has come moro
than victory for one or other of the contest
ants-more even than the magnificent fleets
which havo sprung full grown into being
like so many daughters OF the greatest of
the gods; for all the growth and skill and
beauty Of the past, the great physical culture
of the present and the high hopes of the
future are the fruits of these earlier endeavors
of the youth of these TWO New England
colleges.


Important as have been many of the events
of previous years, the coming regatta at Sara
toga will mark an era in college boating.
Rapid decline or unexampled excellence will
be the result of this year s race. In this view
one or two suggestions made by our CORE
spondent are doubly important. The length
of the course is O matter of the gravest I'M
portance, and the committee having in charge
the preparations for the regatta must see to
it that the distance to be rowed does not
differ even hairs breadth from the course
of last year. Uniformity is the first step
toward permanence, ard both are necessary
if tue future is to be made worthy of the past
The timing of the boats, especially in the
excitement of the finish, is q matter of even
more significance. 1t is best it should be
understood in advance that the results of the
regatta will be thrown away if there is to be
of time or an inch of space. More
depends just now upon these two points
than on the training of the crews even; for
both skill and endurance will prove of little
avail if there are to be any misunderstand-
ings, either as to the time or the course. We
make these suggestions now that there may
not even be an excuse for failure in these re-
spects.


In regard to the regatta itself we can only
repeat what we said yesterday-that the race
promises to be a well contested and q brilliant
one, and that most of the crews seem to pos
sess in an eminent degree the skill which is
the first accomplishment OF ON oarsman. We





advance, but continue to hold to our previous
wish that the best boat may come IN first at
the finish. There never was time when q
fairly contested race, free from accidents as
we'll as other faults, was 50 important as in
the struggle which is 10 take place this week,
and we are bound to admit that our high
hopes of the coming regatta are tempered by
the anxiety incident to so important an
occasion.