The New York Herald Newspaper, July 19, 1874, Page 3

AL COLUMBIA! The Student Oarsmen of America on Saratoga Lake, —-—-—-—__ The Nine Crews Preparing for the Contest. SCENES ON THE SHORES, THE COnthusiasm of —-c Multitude. Predictions in Favor of For- mer Victors, ——sa—__—_— PRE START. William Blaikie’s Description of | the Battle. COLUMBIA WINS.) The New York Boys Seize the Flag. VALE AND HARVARD FOUL. ‘The Wesleyans Second, the Cam- bridge Crew Third. TIME, 16M. 421-48. Great Enthusiasm Over the New York Boys. Position of the Herald Boat at the Finish. SARATOGA, July, 18, 1874- “flere we are at the end of the week; money @N spent; borrowing, by George! ‘lo-morrow’s Sunday, and no race !” These were the remarks of the average young men of college rate who had paid half a dozen times to ride to and tro between the village and the Lake of Saratoga, fares varying each way from Bfty vents to $5. For the past two days it has been nearer the minimum. But there have been glorious compensations for aildelay. Such nights to sleep through, such ac- eommodations for sleep, such springs to drink from, such air to breathe, such beauty to see. It ‘could be truly said, in the trite joke o/ the street, “Fine day for the race all the time—the bigger human race,”” of which @ great portion has been here. A goodly number charge the weather, the Pippies, the inauspicious coincidences of good shies ‘and raging waves aud malapropos hours to that Wague and nondescript being, THE SARATOGA HOTEL KEEPER. There is no such person here. A great battalion f people possessing distributed powers, centring nowhere ina head, constitutes the Saratoga pro- prietorship. The hotels are so big that they have mo boss, and one of them 1s compelled, after pub- hashing a string of names of lessees, to add, ‘‘&c.”” One or two ostensibly bave a master; but he is Mike the poet's river, ‘lost in tne continuous shade ‘where rolls the Oregon, and heard no sound save 1ts own dashing.” Therefore the Saratoga hotel keeper, having no entity. has no responsibility, particularly for the ‘weather. That part of him which can be detached from the great battalion is a good deal smiffed at ‘the behavior of the lake, and lays it ali to Moon— THE MOON ON THE LAKE, mot Moon that guides the weary traveller on Dis way, raises tides and affects the wind, but Moon who is the genius of the lake, takes in the tourist with greasy potatoes whittled down to wafers, sells lemon pop at a quarter a bottle, contributes nothing to the expenses of the regatta and derives all the advantage therefrom. ‘The lake being generally destitute of habitations, and Moon’s inn and the lake being synonymous, it ts agreed that Moon's meanness extendas to the ‘weather, and if Saratoga be abandoned of regat- ‘tas moon Is the cause. GOING ovr. ‘The people took their way to the lake in sober trim about eight o’clock Saturday morning, ‘There was no need of haste, as the excitement was one, the buik of the students departed, the la- dies too much discouraged to try the hard board g@eats twice, and the Jenus bawied for loads in vain, Bull, with so large a multitude, a very great thinning out must still leave a large crowd. Toward hall-past ume the march of wheels and Jeet out past the club house and the race course ‘was eteady and strong. The jockey boys, who are getting the racers ready for the pending meeting, Toitered around the park gate and mocked the passers with the prospect of another flasco, “Big southerly wind, boss! You’li have to come @ut on Monday or Thursday next!” AT THE LAKE, Moon was doing no business, and everybody had Jeisurely breakfasted, even the poor crews, who had been stripped naked to the waist jor hours in the night air of the previouseve, The great ranges of plank seats were at first scarcely inhabited at all and presented a view of orange peeling and rejected programmes through their open lattice ehinks, The band stand, of rustic cedar, raised among the oaks against the blutt, was depopulated nd no more musical sound was afforded than the water plashing against the beach and wooden angways and the steady tramp of recruits upon the boards. The judges’ raft, built on piies a dozen rods from the shore, was like the abandonea Preaching stand of an inundated congregation at wer beneath the leaden ripples of the lake, , The san shone warm on the long, nearly oval, per- pective of Lake Saratoga, with Snake Hill at the Mead of the perspective, lying gnarled and woody m the water, like a wrinkled turti¢; upen the vellow sheaves of barley shining through the , Moves, upon the two points of land tipped, the © WF With a boathouse and the other with a belve- deve. which enclosed the homestretch, and upon ‘the’ pair of little steamers, already whistling up the wtarters and reporters, Half a dozen boats ‘were\rowing on the lake, TALK ON THE GRAND STAND. “It will be a hot pull under this sun,” said Mr. Observation, wiping his forehead with a band- anna. Dnder Leslie's cottage, where the family seemed to \be too indolent to have yet arisen, the college stand, disclosed the ten gonfalons scarcely moy- ing on their poles, and by a quarter to ten this was Billed again. “The crews Sre all up there,” said Mr. Cheery- man, peeping shrpuch hie goygiass; ‘the lake is NEW: YORK HERALD, UNDAY, JULY 19, 1874.—TRIPLE SHE ET. 3 THE Map of the Last Half Mile of the SARATOGA Race, Showing the Boats as Columbia Crossed the Tine. REGATTA. Positions of Flach of the | their eyes fairly gli: for there were nine cae boats ike theirs, only lighter, each having, like theirs, sfx men, and each man with, perhaps, clothing enough, but certainly none too much, ‘They move smartly about for a little while and now gradually form in ime and all point down the jake. Behind them @ tiny steam launch hag been drawn up opposite the middie boat, A gur on @ neighboring ill, fred @ little before, had called them into line, and now their watchers over in the reeas have also crept further out and thelr boat at last shows boldly on the broad Princeton <> my © Moon's LJ take side ‘O) WesLeyan ke WILLIAMS { W.Abelr : Dartmouth.<> Wiliams. <> ; Cornell. <> Wesleyan. <> \) Harvard. <> Waters of the lake. They lie quietand keen eyes are all busy with the distant craft, Their faces at any time would arrest attention, but now thelr | thin lips and very boldly chiselled faces are @ study indeed. Every one of these men has @ national reputation, and that reputation gained its brightest lustre on this very Saratoga water; for five of them are brothers, sons of one man; they have leit at home four more and five | Sisters, One of them, he at the stroke oar, bas @ | little granddaughter of three or four summers; but, gray as he is becoming, he 1s almost as play- | fulas she ts. The sixth 1s hardly less renowned, | for with two oars, and in a boat by himself, probe | ably the man does not live in this whole land who | can outrow him, let the distance be what you will. | When the first gun firea the old stroke shot out his oar to grip the water as if he were tn the race. “Did you see me turning that oar?” he said. “% | turned it as quickly as @ cat would spring, catching "8 a Me r—— 7 Lake Honse _ Columbia, <: a@ mouse.” It made you think of some retired war - horse still sniMng the battle. THE SIGNAL GUN, Now alittle cur! of smoke among the distant boats, andinasccond the crack of @ pistol ts heara; but no pistoi conld’ make that smoke, an@ hardly had the report died away when the boom of a heavy cannon came rumbling ail around, The ' six headed their craft down the lake and com } menced paddling. The water has fallen until ite surface is hardly rippled, and the bright glare of like glass. man’s work. presently!” “Boom |" went the tirst gun at a quarter to ten, and then there was a loud cheer. ‘The steamers,at once shot up the lake. telegraph office at the water’s edge flashed THE QLAD NEWS to Saratoga, intimating to those yet tardy that | there would be time to see the race with a fast horse to assist. But, looking over the stands, where, at a fair estimate, there were 5,000 people assempled, the absence of fashionable costume and rouged | beauty was very evident. Not as on the pre- vious day, mistress of her self-esteem and slowly | awakened to perfect afternoon enjoyment, the | langutd hotel beauty took her place among tne collegians, Now, with a yellow wrapper and an | old veil, she appeared sullen and lethargic, as if her | nap had been interrupted and the colors of her | favorite college she rejected altogether. The tall | coquette, however, who had paraded in Colum- | bia’s colors in the stern of a row boat all Friday afternoon, was out in her pristine brightness | again, bothering the reporters to know to whom she had made those too plain, too touching mo- | tions. ‘Ah, mistress! the woman who strikes the | American reporter, while at work, except in the line of self-deience, 1s ——” Halloo! Here 1s seen, for the first time, the Hon- orable John. He wears a white collar and no tie, low shoes and a straw hat; his manner is quiet and apart, He judges that Harvard or Wesley will win, but expects Columbia todo it. His affec- tions are always one-half his bet, and when the | result comes about he never betrays any sensi- | bility. His gratifications he conceals; his resent- | ments never. THE FRIENDS OF THE CREWS. There are two overpoweringly big crowds here— Yale and Columbia—yet not nearly so many of either as of Yale and Harvard at the Quinsiga- mond Or the Springflelad courses, where ticy are near their alma tnater. ‘the Columbia party, male and female, number probably three hundred, and they are the most lively and cheerful of all the auditors, huzzaing and gaying to the extent that some suppose they are juvenile and must have a light laddish crew to pull with, The Yale folks are almost all college boys, laden down with blue hat- bands and sashes, and, possessing the honors of the University, they teel a confidence bordering on haughtiuess, yet not quite so serene as Harvard, which is greeted by them at odd times with— “ah! dear; yas, now, fair Arvard!” There is more versatility and open air character about Yale than any of the colleges; in Harvard more Of the cool, resolved, sedate English air than anywhere else; in Columbia a kind of city bounce, ready to hail victory, but take defeat with philoso- phy. lt is strange that on this day’s race Harvard, in its emulousness with Yale, closes hands with Columbia and cheers its victory, while Yale, in the dumps about both Columbia and Harvard, accuses Providence, and will not be satisfied either way. HOW THE WESLEYANS TOOK IT. The friends of the Wesleyan crew muster strong and, saying little, are yet trusting in God and their conquering Church. They are mainly old gentle- men or younger ones with an elderly expression, and motherly looking old ladies, often peeping at the boat race through @ pair of gold spectacles. This powerful crew, strange as it may scem, is the favorite with all the sporting men, who like their sel'-reliance and the appearance they putin at a regatta, though a Methodist college. Lavender is the color of many 4 clerical necktie this day. PLUCKY PRINCETON. Princeton expects little from the University race, except {rom the pluck and example given by her Freshmen in the beautiful spurt of last Wednes- day, and the orange banner of the Scotch Presby- terians waves over a few orange ribbons and hat- bands, They expect Columbia or Yale to pull through the race best of any. There are many Cornell men here, under the dark red and white, often of a rough Western look, and they cheer heartily. The morning ‘is the time for a young Now, W@ shall be sure to have it The WEARING OF THE GREEN, The friends of ‘trinity, quiet and substantial, are grouped under the green and white banner of Hartford; fewer under the mch brown bunting of Brown; @ goodly squad under the Presbyterian orange of Princeton; a few yet faithful under Dart- mouth’s green; and more, all intent, under the | royal purple o: Williams, THE SECOND GUN. About twenty minutes after ten o'clock the | second gun boomed at three miles diatance, loudly cheered, “Now the race is certain! Make your bets!” The spyglasses were run out on the judges raft, the little silken flags of college colors made ready to be in turn attached to the halyards, as the boats successively in the lead would be signalied, and all were on the qut vive. There was now an abundance of people at the college stand—as many as were comfortable, and, except for the missing accessories of music and coolness, everything was on a scale suffictent for the occasion, “Boom! went the third gun. In a minute or two, after hesitation, the American fag was hoisted on the low flag pole on the raft, anda lond cheer, rolling round the circuit of the soaded | bluffs, announced the relief and satisfaction of thousands that the regatta was to be jought and finished at last. Little accidents, of no moment, disturbed and amused the gazers for the first few minutes, when the eye strained in vain to discover the shells and their men against the sphinxine countenance of that distant knoll of dark green. A couple of boys fell overboard; a boat load of men, reinforced by uninvited guests, careened and banched them all in the stern; four or five boatloads of rowers got ia: front of the spectators and were hooted away; hetwho raised an umbrelia took it in speedily or was\ saluted with rattans from unknown hands overtthe whalebones thereof, The'yfrst thing known was @ little tag ran up at the topwof the judges’ fag stat—the light biue and white of Columbia College, never put forward in a race before. At this\, display the multitude next to the Magenta, git!s and children, matrons and students, raised to theirfeet, and out of their unpremed- itated cheer broxe the rattling alphabet C-O-1/U- MBIA AL? . Ih minnte ox two the Magenta was raised vext to the Columbia, Then went sut the flying flap- whangle of Harvard, like a creat bird of blood rioting over a battlefield, aid the mght of the stand was waving with red light on sticks and veils and parasols ana hats, Next the lavender was lifted up, and all the brethren arose and shouted “Hosannas.” The blue of Yale had scarcely been indicated when, oefore it touched the halyards, the Yale men wire all tumult, yet troubled at the tardiness of taeir boys. Again the blue and white, ut the end of the mile, was run to the peak, and now it was seen that half the whole audience had grasped the proba- bility of so many wild stories o! the time made by this crew over the course, and had come to belief | the representatives from these two of and desire together. New York had been ahead from the start, and was keeping up her stroke. This part of the audience had the whole of the cheering to do lor the rest of the two miles yet to be rowed, and there was no cessation of the joy and gratulation, until at the last it took the form of ecstacy, and was the stronger because it was a | genuine metropolitan outburst, m part discon- nected from college knowledge and college aMlia- tions, The ladies, as an Irishman might have ex- pressed it, were for Columbia to a man. Meantime tne crews had been discerned in that | vacuity of aistance to be coming to some sensible form and substance. First we saw a few pale flashes when the sun struck the oar blades and the shining backs of the naked crews, as if a shoal of moss bunkers or blue fish had come to the sur- face, Presently this anima! light extended across the beit of water rowed, and something seemed to struggle in the air for outline and intelligibiiity. Next, like a wide line of battle of Indians, stripped, | in their war canoes and approaching with purpose, the living men appeared in the body, bending columns of flesh, all of one bright walnut tint, with turbans above af bright or parti-colors, and as they drew nearer they grew more distributed—some very plain and high above the water, others yet in the struggle between formlessness and form, Still.the pleasant colors of Columbia held the peak o1 the low flagstaff, the azure and the lily dominating above tne green of the mountain air of Dartmouth, the unsabstantial lavender of Wesley- an, or ihe royal purple of the great University of Massachusetts Bay. “Whereis Yale?’ say many voices, whispering low. Harvard answers it back satirically, “Where is Yale?’? > Now entering the neck of the lake, the last half mile, ail which have any chance are seen in their relative opportunity. Columbia clear ahead, and rowing clear and equal as the sweep of the wings of migratory birds bound for some far journey. Her men seemed tobe making no effort other than plain avocation, and so gently did their oars and bodies fail and rise that it looked as if they might keep up the stroke to the end of time. Four of the six men were six-footers, but he who sat in the stern was only twenty years old and the least of allin stature, and of the weignt of 153 pounds, Everybosy knew Frank Rees, Columbia's stroke, who said in the morning, “IfI can't win this race Iwon’t go home this summer.’ Their bandages of bine and white described an are through the air as they rowed, which attested the perfectness of their stroke—partly nature's, partly the best obtainable from English experience—and, reach- ing far forward on the sliding seats, they pulled to the cbin as they drew again, while other crews in sight were only draw ing to the middie on a horizontal line, like & man pulling a gang saw, They were so tar the superiors in finish and style of their com- petitors in the rear that the Ward Brothers and Biglin, pulling the New YorRK HERALD’s boat abreast of them, scarcely seemed more profes- sional boatmen, A perfectly homogeneous crew, every boy a New Yorker, city bred and city schooled, they were beheld from the shore by their family connections—Cornells, Reeses, Rapalios, Griswoids, Goodwins and = Timpsons—with quiet metropolitan pride, while their college mates: and sweethearts, and thousands, who never knew them except by the instinct of fellow townsmen, shook hats and skirts, raised voices and jaughter, and rushed along the gangways to hail them as they closed the score and vindicated the city. The moment the boat backed oars and grated on the snore, Frank Rees fainted. He was lifted up by instantaneous hands and followed by @ multitude, few of whom knew that he was disabled, was carried, like the victor he was, up the hill to Moon’s and laid upon the porch. His perspiring and nearly naked fellows were a'so carried by their associates up the bill, and they ap- peared on the upper balcony for a minute, rous- ingly cheered. The lawn was now full of the sing- ing of staves and snatches of rejoicing airs and fluttering of shawls, streamers and boat flags of blue and white. And so it was all the way to town, as if nature had suddenly ordered the rea stripes out of the American flag and restricted the population to the white and azure. Meantime, behind, the other crews were giving their several stories of the way things went wrong. Harvard was, on the whole, delighted that Colum- bia had beaten instead of Yale. Yale was re- proaching Harvard, without acrimony, of running foul of their shell and breaking an oar for them: and calling on the Wesleyans to attest it. The ‘Wesleyans also advanced the theory that Columbia had taken their water, which was evidently the truth, having taken it from the start, THE CREWS BEFORE THE START. a ny SARATOGA, July 18, 1874. The hours preceding ten o’clock, the one named for the starting of the race, were slipping rapidly by and on every side busy scenes were being enacted, Along the whole line of the Western shore, from Ramsdill to Moon's, groups were selecting sites from which they might view the grand struggle of the student oarsmen, for the first time after two postponements, over the waters of Saratoga Lake. The grand stand was fairly occupied with spectators, but of course the vast crowds of the two previous days were missing, waiting with anxiety the start, the race itself and the finish which was to bring victory to one boat only out of the nine, and gladden the hearts of the six stalwart fellows who were to be the successfal oars in this great aquatic struggle. Aud noverin the whole hiafory of Amexican uni- + readily be imagined what versity boat racing did men prepare so thoroughly for the work they had to perform, YALE AND HARVARD, the two great rivals of years gone by, recalled the memories of the past to stimulate the men of "74 todo their level best for the honor of the colors they wore and out of pure love for the university vhey hatled from. And together with this anxiety was the teeing so perceptible last evening that an outsider might step in and win the honor for which the wearers ol the dark blue and Magenta had so zealously faithiully and vigorously trained. Yale in the past had won, so had Harvard, and the recollections of these victories helped to nerve the strong arms of the older schools of learning. But how would it be when the sun had reached its zenith ? Would either of | the two rival crews have anouler score to add to their many aquatic honors of the past? ‘That, in- deed, was the question which many of the oars- men asked themselves as they jooked out over the Waters of this beautisul lake from their quarters at the old Schuyler Mansion, or irom their retreat under the Cedar Blum. Harvard to-day migit beat Yale and yet be denied victory, for there were OTHERS TO CONTEND FOR THE HONOR which to the victor woula be awarded, Wesleyan was determined, and tie six good and true men who sat in her boat and sported their colors of delicate lavender were in the struggle. ‘There, too, was Columbia, bearing ner bright blue and white, hailing from the great city which ever and always feels proud of her sons, as resolute as the best of them. Wil- liams, Cornell, Dartmouth, Trinity and Prince- ton were inno respects behind their more ex- perienced competitors in the determination to do the best. And, by the way, what a surprise the boys of Princeton created in the Freshmen race of Wednesday, when with a crew lighter than either of its opponents they gallantly snatched victory | from the hands of Yale when it was almost within the grasp of the latter. This triumpp, the manner of its being secured ag mueb as the act itself, Was not without its effect on the men who wore the orange colors to-day as they rowed to the Stakeboat and took their places in line. They came up resolved to dotneir best, as did all the others, but then they had, in case of defeat, the recollection of having won one honor at least by their Freshmen crew, beating, after a hard struggle, the crew of old Yale. This was some- thing to cheer them up, to brighcen their spirits, and to fall back upon in case fortune, fickle at vest, deserted them in the hour of trial, It can | 4 Busy, ANxiOvs MoRNING it was in all ofthe quarters of the crews. From each of the houses where the men were quartered the colors by whicn they have already been distin- guished floated in the breeze. At points along the eastern shore, from beneath the shadows of Snake Hill down to the cedar bluffs, Columbia, Dart- | mouth and Yale waited anxiously during the long hours of the morning, and skirting the western shore down almost to the bridge ‘Trinity, Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, Wes- jeyan and Williams watched the day grow old and see the hour approach which was to announce a defeat and proclaim a glorious victory. In the boat houses during the early morning the closest scrutiny and utmost vigtlance were exer- cised over all appertaining to the race boats and their belongings. Oars were examined and sub- mitted to tests; outriggers were seen to with careful attention to see that nothing was loose or weak; the wires leading to the rudders were gone over with @ carefulness which betokened the im- portance of the work, and the shells, from stem to stern, every plank was scanned with eyes in which the anxiety of the duty was evidenced, How necessary ALL THESE PRECAUTIONS every rowing man can tell, The best crew that ever sat in a boat might be defeated by neglecting the observances mentioned, A broken oar, a loose outrigger, & weak rudder wire, which upon the first strain would give way, any or all of these might occur; and to a boat or a boat's crew ex- pertencing them what chance would there be in these days when seconds, not minutes, aecide the winner? Jt is the thought of all these possipilities occurring which makes the hours and minutes previous to the start hours and minutes of anxiety, doudts and fears. Now shortcomings were recollected, weaknesses dreaded = and crudities mentaliy specu- lated upon, This does not pervade one crew, but all—each one is influenced more or less— for what boat’s crew ever pulled a perfect stroke or could guard against all or every circumstance which might lessen its chances of victory, The only thing which remainea was to hope for the best, And this appeared to be the case—for whether it was Cook of Yale, Dana of Harvard, Eustis of Wesleyan, or Kees of Columbia, the work cut out by these stroke oarsmen, or any of the others for that matter, to-day was faithfully fol- lowed out and as vigorously rowed by the men behind them, Jt was a sight which few will forget to see these FIPTY-FOUR YOUNG ATHLETES, as they sat in their boats waiting for the start. Bare to the waist, every man of them, and bronzed, they presented a scene not readily torgotten, The green and the orange side by side, about to strive in generous rivalry for honor’s sake. The same colors under Which many a@ bloody fight occurrea ina land across the sea, and through which many a bitter hate, which generations have not obliterated, have been engendered, were side by side worn by earnest youths in honorable rivairy. Harvard and Yale, old rivals, wearing the ume- honored colors under which for years they have fought THE BATTLE OF THE OARS, were also there, Yes, the blue and the red were to-day, a8 in the years which have dropped into the lap of Time, side by side in the struggle tor victory. Close up to the bine was acrew which, before the race began, was among the favorites, The Wesleyans had, indeed, grown into favor 80 that among the three first boats one heard men- tioned on all sides as we steamed down to the start, Wesleyan was conspicuous, The sturdy Methodists, composed of men from Matne, New York and Pennsylvania, had impressed their friends | the sun shining down upon it makes_ | 1t diMecult to distinguish objects as distant as eT — | Were the nine racing boats, a mile they would not be the last at the finish. If pluck | away; butin a moment you get them clearly, and and Will was to do it, they might be the first, | @ strange thril! of excitement comes tingling GOING UP THE LAKE. | through one as they draw nearer. Far over on At a few minutes before ten o’clock the Commo- | the east shore, near Columbia’s boathouse, goes dore Brady, the boat provided for the press, was | little Trinity, and next her the orange of Prince- off Columbia's house, Columbia had, indeed, as | ton, next the white and carnelian of Ithaca, and the great city from which ber boys hailed trom | next, by their side, moves the best known color of Would have done, thrown open wide her doors and | the jour, the deep, dark blue of Yale. In the had given temporary shelter to half the crews | middle, as if the post of honor, and flanked who were to contest to-day, The blue field, with | on the one side by these four, shines “Columbia” in bright white letters, floated the famous Magenta, the battle flag of Over the house of the crew which, with @| Harvard, Next to her moves Wesleyan, warm welcome, courteousiy greeted every boat’s | ner men done up tothe head in dainty lavender. crew, whether tt wore the orange or green, | The white and blue beside her marks the metro- the magenta or blue, the purple or lavender, and | politan Columbians, and 100 feet from them come offered them the rude but genuine hospitality | tne green-turbaned, hardy Hampshire men from which their roof afforded. New York to-day may | Dartmouth. There is one more color—the royal well feel proud of her sons, ‘The lessons which the | purple of Williams. Every man tin each of all these great city itself nad taught were here carried out | boats had jooked forward to this moment fer by her own boys, whose first paddle was on the | aimost a whole year. Had he rowed oiten before ? Harlem River. Aud little did they think when first | It matters not; all the pent-up energy he ever had they commeaced their work this season that ere | was now at fever heat while waiting for this last the summer was out they would be receiving | gun, ; under their roof, just before the great inter-colle- THE START. giate race, the crews of five of the universities of Long ere its smoke rolled away they came our land who were to contend with them for the ; dashing down the lake almost exactly abreast, honor of victory. Now the first winds are gone, and force and train. SPLENDID DAY AND FINE WATER. | ing begin to tell, for already from the ranks has A more delightiu! day contd not have been chosen | Shot out the blue and white of Columpia. Yes, bus for a regatta, The slight breeze which was blow- she cannot hold it; she 1s too young and too light, ing from the southwest fanned the surface of the | We shall seo! water harmlessly—yes, most delicately. There | Whocomes next? Harvard. Well, that’s nat was scarcely a ripple —yet there was enough of a | ural enough, and she will soon teach Columbia her zephyr to temper the rays of the sun, and make tt | manners. And who follows Harvard? The ‘boat agreeable for the oarsmen. Not, indeed, that they | Whose six men sitting up so straight and high paid much attention to 11s infuence; but then to | Swing to and fro with more precision than any those who were looking on and not working, it | others on this water, These men are blue capped, Was some consolation to know that the oarsmen | and here, at their elbow, setting a startling Were hot roasted while they rowed or without a | stroke, is Eustis, with his new team from breath of wind to retresh them during the strug- | Wesleyan. So they passed on over their first half mile, but Columbia by this time must have spent gle. Never was water m_ better condition for a “the edges with slimy weeds, aud ythere, tov, that when the race was rowed boat race than was Saratoga Lake this forenoon, and had the Regatta Committee taken the advice of more experienced heads than theirs the Univer- sity race of ‘74 could have been rowed yesterday in the forenoon. Butno. They threw away every chance but one and depended on that, and that one chance deluded them. THE CREWS COMING OUT. At ten o’ciock precisely Cornell pulled out from the Columbia's oat, As if to make amends for | their delay of the previous evening she was now the first boat out, and pulled away up under the | shady bluffs of Snake Hill, At eleven minutes past ten the Princeton boat was’ in the water, and Started down towards the stakeboat. The second gun was fired just as the | Princeton boys pulled off. A movement Was again seen on the shore. ‘Here's another | boat,” and the Magenta of Harvard toid who they | were. Dana took his seat first, his men following, | feeling and looking contident and determined, | Twenty minutes aficr ten and the Dartmouth | giants, as they are caiied, gotin their ship and followed in the wake of Harvard. Now came Wiliams, distinguished by her royal purple head gear, at 10h. 46m., and just about the same time Trinity might be seen rowing across from their quarters on the western shore of the lake. “Where are the Methodists ?? qnerid one. “Yes, where is Wesleyan?’ asked another. ‘Never mind,” quoth a third, “the wear- | ers of the Javender mean business and will give a good account of themselves at the close of the race.’ But the Metnodists were at their posts, under the shade of the trees which lined the shore, @ short distance up. The dark bine of Yale was not visible, but that her boat was not far off was evident, for she was at her post alongside of Harvard when the last signal was given. | “Here comes Columbia,” the last out from | the float. With a hasty adieu to those on shore the boys pulled away merrily, determined to work as they never worked before. ‘God speed you,’ } was the hearty wish which went with those merry, | light-hearted boys, as they dipped their oars and | rowed up to their stakeboat, All the boats were | now at their places, and after a slight delay the | referee addressed them the usual caution; then the pistol of Commodore Brady, the starter, was | raised in the air, and at exactly 10h. 42m. 24s, the | University boat race of 1874 was started. | THE RACE, BY AN OLD OAR. SARATOGA, Ne Y., July 13, 1874, A mile up Saratoga Lake, on the west side, hid- den away out of the world, and thick with reeds and marshy bogs, lies a region deserted, damp and lonely. Noman, probdabiy, ever did live in it, and no man, probably, ever wiil. It is called the “drowned lands.” Working its way here and there through these lands, runs a | tortuous creek, shallow in some places, very | deep in others and much overgrown ‘about | Most men would | look at the place once, and, thinking of chills and | snakes and dread malaria, avoid it carefully ever | aiter, Away up this creek, in @ shady, secluded | spot, where man’s foot seldom treads, he who by | chance at an early hour this morning had strayed | might have seen scattered about, on the shelving bank, @ little group of men, They were all hardly | more than half clad, and by their sharp, quick | giances and sudden movements, and their | skin bronzed to @ Copper hue, suggested | that they might all their lifetime have been sons | of the forest, Hidden away in the fens by the | water's edge, lay a long, slender crait with pro- jJecting arms of iron, with here and there near by | six gracefully turned spruce oars. For three | whole days these men lay hereabouts fn ambusb. | Now they would all board the craft, and, creep- ing stealthily outwards by the edge of the lake, peer anxiously over its surface as if eagerly seeking some one; then after lying long hidden under the tall weeds, they would work back to | their hiding places. So they employed most of Thursday afternoon and evening. Last nigut they did the same, their oniy company being some startled quali or wild fows and numerous piping frogs. The sun went down and in the long | twilight they lay out by the lake edge until they | shivered from head to foot, Then they worked | back to their lair. | THE BOATS ON THE LAKE this morning at an early hour crept out again, This time off up the Jake stretched along in a suugie jine under Spake Hill lay a sigbt thay made | | from almost overhauling Columbia, her strength and fallen back where she belongs, for last year she was only sixth, Not yet, for here she is, ploughing along gaily, more ahead than ever, More than two whole lengths in front of even the foremost rival, Can she ever live up to this much Jonger? We will wait, for now come the trying moments. The next boat behind her ts begtnning to creep up, slowly, steadily, but very surely, She did not spurt on the start, but for that matter neither did Columbia, yet somehow she is getting nearer in spite of all Columbia can do. Her name is a tower of strength, and has on its escutcheon more victories enrolled than any other banner of all these here to-day can bave in years. No wonder that the Colum. bian stroke keeps his eye often on this threatening antagonist. Olose behind the latter, barely halfa length, scuds the swift boa: of Yale, as a foe ever dangerous, and over on her side, not far away, rows Wesleyan, who, somehow, always will give a good account of herself, And now they have gone a mile, and surely you can forecast the order at the finish. COLUMBIA, HOT AND STEAMING, must have spent herself and fallen back. Yes, at last she had—but only a hittle—for her tireless friends of the magenta were getting annoyingly close, and the gap of clear water between them had now nearly faded out of sight. And now a splendid race was going on well, after all the fretting, delay and disappointment of the week. ‘The order had not changed, but the four leading boats were getting well together and had quite cus adrift from the remaining five. arly in the race Princeton had, by well directed effort, succeeded | in getting the last place, and she seemed deter. mined not to let Trinity take 1t away from her. Wiiliams, you will remember, was predicted to be at the head of the rear three. Well, she was earing me out admirably, and the two behind her likewise. But now came the fatal mile that was to dim the story to-day. The four imthe front rank had opened a fine gap behind them. AN IMPORTED TRICK. Columbia, for the lack of something else to do, had got in front of Wesleyan, and was washing her fearfully. Turn which way she might, every- where was this terrible wash. It is a trick ime ported from England, perhaps by Columbia’s British coach; and it is too bad it was not left at home, for in a race between gentlemen it never ought to be seen. Throwing | over thirty bucketfuls of water off your oars each minute and right under the bow of your ad- versaries’ crank and narrow craft gives the latter very rough water and puts her at a disadvantage that makes any comparison between the capaci- ties of the twocrews unfair. Harvard, folowing suit, was doing the same for Yale, and at this the latter kicked unmercifully. She would sny one way, then the otter, and at last drew ous to starboard, and began to creep up alongside, In another minute they were together, and Harvard, suddenly slackened, until Josn Ward, one of the crew I was steering, called out that Harvard had stoppea rowing. After a moment’s entanglement Harvard broke away and made for Columbia, while the lat- ter seized this opportunity to give her @ nice wash, After that she never ceased from her good work, making the Harvard boat roll fearfully, ang throwing her men aimost out of time, TIME OF THE COLLISION, When the starting pistol was fired my watch said forty-seven minutes past ten, and at the cole lision I pencilled in my note book fifty-seven mina utes past ten, 80 that it took place, as both my men and I jadged, @ little below the mile anda halt fag. In the front cluster of four Columbia had now ®& masterly lead, and while Harvard and Yale were locked in each other’s grip, Wesleyan had sensibly come up and gone by them, Just before the collision I thought Yale showed a little ahead, but only very little, maybe three or four feet. But now she was far behind, and Harvard, racing sharply with Wesleyan, seemed not to mind her much, bué was hot after Columbia, The gap between the four Jeaders and the bunch of five behind was nowa wide one, and there was suddenly a strange sight, for the fourth of this head company was neither sturdy Dartmouth nor wiry King with his men of Cornell, but the leader of the reat guard, the poor and despised eleventh and last at Springfield, bad actually come ap and passed both, and was now at the CONTINUED ON TENTH PAGE,