YALE ALUMNI
W BHBRiUyY
A TRIANGULAR RACE.
Yale, Harvard and Cornell will Meet
at New London in June.
The arrangements for the meeting of
the crews of Yale, Harvard and Cornell
at New London were finally made at
New York last Thursday, by the Cap-
tains of the three crews. Captain
Goodrich of Harvard and Captain Col-
son of Cornell had agreed to meet in
New York and settle on the place and
date for their race and an invitation
was sent to Captain Whitney to be
present also, there being a_ possibility
that a triangular contest might be ar-
ranged. The situation was frankly dis-
cussed and finally Mr. Whitney wrote
out and handed to Mr. Colson the fol-
lowing challenge:
Capt. F. D. Colson, Cornell University
Crew, Ithaca, N. Y.
Dear Sir: The Yale University Boat
Club hereby challenges the Cornell
University Boat Club to a four mile
eight-oared boat race,
place to be mutually agreed upon.
PAYNE WHITNEY.
Captain Yale University Crew.
- This was accepted by Mr. Colson,
who was empowered to act for his Col-
lege. As both Harvard and Yale ex-
presses themselves strongly opposed to
leaving the Thames, Cornell agreed to
row there, and instead of two separate
races desired to make it triangular. ©
The feeling here is one of satisfaction
that the difficulty has been adjusted
and that Yale will meet Cornell again
next Spring.
—_——_—_+04—__——
The Crew’s Good Form.
On account of cold weather and ice
in the harbor, the candidates for the
University and Freshman crews were
forced to confine their work to the
tanks on Thursday and Friday of last
week. Since then, however, the mild
weather has been taken advantage of
and both Eights have been given sharp
coaching in the barges and the indivi-
duals in pair oars. On Washington’s
birthday, recitations being suspended,
the Crews were taken out in the fore-
noon as well as in the afternoon and did
long stretches. It is noticed that the
men are rowing in much better form
than at this time last year, and indeed
for several years past. Many changes
in position are still being made, the
object being of course to determine the
place where each man can get out the
best that is in him. At present the first
boat is rowing in this order: Bow,
Whitney (Captain); 2, Williams; 3,
Niedecken; 4, McGee; 5, Cross; 6,
Allen; 7, Greenleaf; stroke, Flint.
Williams, who stroked the winning
Freshman crew last year, was obliged
to leave College for almost a week on
account of tonsilitis, and in his absence
Flint, a Sheff. Junior, was tried at
stroke. Williams returned on Satur-
day and has been seated at 2 for the
present. Brock, who has been rowing
at 3, was obliged to quit work on ac-
count of illness, but will be back in the
squad in a few days.
Captain Whitney and Mr. Cook were
assisted in their work on Monday by
Mr P. Hi. Bailey, captain of the Ninety-
Seven crew, on Tuesday by Messrs.
Ives, Hartwell, Goetchius and Dater.
No Changes Made.
At the meeting of the Committee on
Football Rules at the University Ath-
letic Club, in New York, on Saturday,
there were present Walter Camp, Yale,
Chairman; Robert D. Wrenn, Har-
vard; Alexander Moffat, Princeton;
Professor L. M. Dennis, Cornell; John
C. Bell, University of Pennsylvania;
and Paul J. Dashiel, Lehigh. Two ses-
sions were held, from three to seven
and from nine to eleven p.M., behind
closed doors. It is understood that
nothing but very preliminary work was
done at either meeting, and the Com-
mittee adjourned to meet on call in
a week or two. The chief questions
raised on Saturday had to do with
changes in definitions, in order that
they might be made clearer and all dis-
puted points in wording settled. In
this connection it is said that the Com-
mittee will concern itself more with
interpretation and explanation than in
changes.
the time and.
VIGOROUS CRITICISM.
Gov.
Western Massachusetts Banquet.
The annual banquet of the Yale
Alumni Association of Central and
Western Massachusetts was held at
Worcester, Mass., on Wednesday night,
Feb. 16, about 50 graduates attending.
Col. E. B. Glasgow, ’63, acted as toast-
master. Among the speakers were:
Prof. H. M. Reynolds, ’80, of Yale Uni-
versity; ex-Governor D. H. Chamber-
lain, *62; Col. Samuel E. Winslow;
John R. Thayer, ’69; T. M. Balliet; C.
C. Spellman and C. M. Kirkham.
Mr. Chamberlain in the course of his
speech criticized what he called the
“all-pervading Yale spirit of self-satis-
faction.” His remarks on athletics and
_the English Department at Yale were
very severe. He said in part:
“If I. were to name to-day what I
deem the least commendable trait of
Yale sentiment, the weakest, narrowest,
least becoming sentiment, I should call.
it the present all-pervading Yale spirit
of self-satisfaction; and if | were to go
further and indulge in a more specifi-
cally critical word, I should say the
great exemplar of the spirit in our wor-
thy and much-beloved president, Timo-
thy Dwight. I go behind no man in
my love of Yale. I have memories
connected with Yale such as few other
men have, ties such as bind few other
men to her, recollections which after
40 years often unman me—recollections
of struggles against fortune, against
myself. No man can challenge my
ardor or my service to Yale according
to my ability. But I was born free,
and am too old to put on even the Yale
gyve.”
In speaking of the English Depart-
ment, Mr. Chamberlain said:
“T first call attention to what I deem
well-nigh a positive scandal—the neg-
lect, the low condition, the deliberate
failure to promote the proper study of
English at Yale to-day as well as for
many years past. I should weary some
audiences by this word, for I have
spoken it more than once before; but
I have had no chance yet to weary you.
It passes my comprehension how men
who have seats in the Yale Corporation
can suffer this condition to continue.
The best solution of the mystery I can
get from others who are near the
throne, is that the members of the Cor-
poration are really puppets, moved and
only moved by the President. This is
not an agreeable word to speak in pub-
lic, but if it is true, it is time some one
spoke it.
“The head of the English Depart-
ment at Yale proclaims his opinion that
there should be no requirement what-
ever of English in the Yale course. He
further thinks, as do other Yale profes-
sors, that English cannot be taught, as
an ordinary study, at all. Whether he
would have any requirement of English
for entrance to Yale, I don’t know. I
don’t see why he should. That lan-
guage, therefore, which is not only our
vernacular but is the sole speech of
some 150,000,000 of men all over the
world, which bears a weight of litera-
ture of value unparalleled in the world’s
annals, is by the judgment of this man
to be so placed that one may bear the
credentials of Yale University, and not
know how to speak or write a sentence
of his own tongue with decent accuracy!
“But English is taught at Yale in
spite of Professor Beers. All thanks
for that! But how is it taught? To
say the best, scantily, meagrely; and
unnecessarily so! You all know there
are two highly endowed chairs of Eng-
lish at Yale, waiting to be filled, one
for at least two or three years! I fear
truly they are now as well filled as they
will be when their titular occupants are
finally, if ever, named. The whole De-
partment counts among its professors
or assistant professors but one man,
one only, who is a good teacher of
English, and this man has been under
-what I might call disgrace at the hands
of the powers that be, and is under-
stood to be now watched with jealousy,
lest he should indeed popularize the
study of English! ‘Hence, wilt thou
lift up Olympus?’ seems to be the
action, if not the speech, of the Yale
authorities to all entreaties or remon-
strances, on this subject. Well, a few
of us have and will keep the satisfaction
of knowing we have done our duty,
publicly and privately, in this behalf.
Baffled, if not spurned, we remain of
Chamberlain’s Speech at the.
the same mind, and we await the better
day,—day of freedom from some sinis-
ter influence that binds good men to-
day, day when independence shall mark
even a Yale corporator, day when a
sense of obligation to donors as well
as of duty to the University, shall again
govern in the Yale Corporation, day
when the English tongue shall be hon-
ored above all other studies at our
Alma Mater.”
“I must say a word on what may be
called athleticism at Yale. On. this
subject I do not intend to be misunder-
stood by the sensible or fair-minded.
As little do I intend to withhold any
criticism which I deem just. I do not
undervalue or deprecate athletics in col-
lege. I do not even deride athletic con-
tests between colleges—between Yale
and Harvard or any of our great uni-
versities. But when I am asked to
throw up my hat in mad joy to acclaim
the victors in these contests as the true
heroes of the College world, I must
pause long enough to ask one or two
questions, and first, how many of Yale’s
1,000 or 1,200 undergraduates, how
many of the 2,000 or more of students
at Yale who are eligible to these con-
tests, do the Yale athletic contests and
victories benefit? Are they an inspira-
tion to the whole body? Do they pro-
mote the practice of athletics among
the students at large? Is not the ath-
letic benefit, properly so-called, if there
be any, limited pretty nearly to the
mere handful—a few dozens, or a few
scores at most—who are in some degree
actual participants in these contests?
“But of the participants themselves,
what is the truth? Are even they bene-
fited? Do these contests actually pro-
mote the athletic good of the partici-
pants, let alone their moral or intellec-
tual good? Does the terrific strain and
excitement, the mental, physical, ner-
vous strain of these contests conduce to
any good results to the participants?
On the contrary, are they not, instead
of being healthy or health-giving, dis-
tinctly unhealthy, demoralizing, as well
as dangerous to health, life and limb?
Are they not, in the judgment of any
one who is informed, always attended
by scenes and influences which no wise
man can see without deep misgivings?
Let these questions be considered and
answered before I am asked to call
these athletic prize fights what mem-
bers of the Yale Faculty constantly call
them, “the grandest exhibitions of the
true Yale spirit.” If one agrees with
Judge Holmes, that war is desirable
because by it the great soldierly vir-
tues are brought out or if one thinks
with Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, that the
roughness of these contests—and I sup-
pose the rougher the better—is an es-
sential element of their value, then let
such a one stand by and applaud these
intercollegiate contests as the last and
best training for intellectual and moral
character and greatness. But for my-
self, and by parity of reasoning, I
should as soon welcome famine and
pestilence, shipwreck, earthquakes and
mine explosions, because these are al-
ways attended by the rarest exhibitions
of heroism; or the prize fights of our
Corbetts and Fitzsimmonses, Sullivans
and Hyers, because they show, in the
words of Mr. Roosevelt, “the qualities
of perseverance, of dogged resolution,
of power, of self-command and of the
masterful spirit.” Non tali auxilio;
non tali auxilio. Not by such aids is
any greatness won, except brute great-
ness; not by such aids is character
built up by the masterful spirit that
wins true fame and glory called out
and developed.
“No, the truth is, athletics are good
—good in spite of the foolish uses and
sometimes the base uses to which they
are put. Let them stand high in the
training and discipline of College life;
but let us, if we be reasonable beings,
‘stop this jargon and nonsense of count-
ing Yale great because in annual ath-
letic scrimmages and fights, in annual
athletic public shows and matches, she
wins the cheap fame of prowess and
supremacy. “The honors we. grant,’
said a great orator, ‘mark how high we
stand, and they educate the future.
The men we honor and the maxims we
lay down in measuring our favorites
show the level and morals of the time.’
Let the honors we grant as college and
university men mark our love of letters,
of art, of science, of statesmanship, of
moral heroism, of intellectual great-
ness’
a
ww
A picture of the Olympian games of
1896 has been presented to the gymna-
siim by the Misses Porter, daughters of
one late President Porter of the Univer-
sity. cet
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