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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1899)
398 YALE ALUMNI 7 Foes Tae Whether the youth who have had these great advantages in the last 25 years, my Lord Jersey, are going to excel their predecessors, who were deprived of these advantages, time only will tell. There are very good men in public life, both in England and America, who never were in a boat. There are very good men who never made a long jump of 23 feet or even of 22 feet 3 inches. There are very good men who have sever even tried to run a three-mile race; and there are very good men who never even had a hammer to throw. Well, time will show which system of training and edu- cation is the best. Everything promises in favor of the rising generation. “But I must close my remarks, because this toast is to be divded into four equal parts. My brother Wendell, the adviser, shall I say, the committee, the dry-nurse of the Harvard athletic team, arrived on this scene very late, and the only explanation that he had to give of it was that he had been spending what time was necessary in preparing ‘our speech.’ And so I propose to take my seat, expressing the thanks that I think we all owe to the Queen’s Ciub for their lavish hospitality to-day and to-night, and wishing that this toast may be renewed from year to year as the result of alter- nate victory upon the one side and the other, and that the young men of Eng- land and of America may learn to love each other as brothers.” : The Ambassador’s speech was fre- quently interrupted with applause and roundly cheered at its close. Mr. Wendell’s Speech. Mr. Wendell responded as follows: | “Tord Jersey and Members of the Queen’s Club—It is a very pleasant duty which you charge to-night, and I deeply appreciate the honor which is conferred upon me,— an honor not conferred upon myself alone but upon my country. The dis- tinguished gentleman who has preceded me has said that this toast is divided into four quarters. Ifa toast is divided in which Mr. Choate has a part, I think that at least seven-eighths of it has been exhausted when Mr. Choate has finished. He also made one state- ment td which I must venture to take exception in describing America _ to- night as a ‘beaten nation.’ So long as it is possible for contests to be, and for America to take part in them, America will never be a beaten nation. It is possible for the moment to place us upon our back, but it is awfully hard to hold us down. We earnestlv trust, gentlemen, that the representatives of Oxford and Cambridge are going to give us the great privilege and great pleasure of entertaining them in our country in the coming year; and we shall be only too delightful if we may have the oppor- tunity, alternately, of trying once more to retrieve our laurels on this side of the water. “International relations in sport be- tween the colleges of England and America I suppose began in 1869, when the Harvard crew crossed the water to row against the crew of Oxford. These agreeable relations have been continued in the contests between Yale and Ox- ford, here, and Cambridge and Yale in America; but, gentlemen, international sport never has received a greater im- petus than in the visit to America of that prince of sportsmen and good fel- lows, Rudolph C. Lehmann, whose influence upon the spirit of the colleges in our country will never die, so long -as there is a man who can remember looking into his kindly eyes and feeling the encouraging grasp of his friendly ‘hand; and although Mr. Lehmann, this year, was not present upon our side of the Atlantic, I think there are very few Harvard men who do not feel, from their hearts, that the victories on the water which Harvard achieved at New London were largely due to the spirit which he himself put into our men in the two years when he so unselfishly came to our rescue, and did what he could to bring us out of the depths of despond. “T don’t know whether you remember the story of the gentleman who attended a revival meeting and who sat down on a seat at the back of the large room in which it was held, and went to sleep, entirely losing consciousness of the pro- ceedings. Toward the end of the meet- ing the clergyman got up and said: ‘Now, my friends, everybody in the room who wants to go to heaven stand up, and everybody in the room did stand up except this man, who, being asleep, and not hearing the announcement, have asked me to dis-— ' upon the list. kept his seat. When the clergyman had spoken awhile, he told the people they might sit down again, and then said: ae; there is anybody in the room who does not want to go to leaven, he will please stand up.’ As the people were seating themselves, the gentleman next the sleeper accidentally knocked against him and woke him up, so hearing the last words of the clergyman to _ please stand up, he stood up. The clergy- man was about to launch an invec- tive upon his head, when the gentleman anticipated him with the remark: ‘Look here, my friend, I don’t know what it is we are voting about, but you and I. seem to be in a hopeless minority.’ Well, gentlemen, let me say that, when Oxford and Cambridge come to visit America, those who don’t unite in giving them the heartiest of hearty welcomes ‘will be in a hopeless minority.’ We ap- preciate the invitation you gave us to come here to you, and as the clergyman said to the old lady who sent him some brandied peaches, ‘We especially appre- ciate the spirit in which it’ was sent.’ We have come, we have seen, and you have conquered. But, gentlemen, we are most anxious to try again, and we hope we shall have the opportunity soon. “At the end of the last century, I suppose very few men could have been found who would have believed it pos- sible that a warm and hearty friendship could ever exist between our two coun- tries. We are now at the end of another century, a hundred years after that time; and I defy you to find a man who doesn’t feel that the chances never were better and never could be better than they are to-day of a firm and last- ing friendship existing between us! We have been received by your athletes in the spirit of true sportsmanship. Twenty years ago I made up the first table that had ever been compiled of the best records of college perform- ances, and when I came to the record of a hurdle race that had taken place some time before, I thought to myself: ‘It is impossible! That record of 16 seconds never could be!” That record of 16 seconds was made 30 vears before its time, by the horiorable gentleman who has been the chairman of the Oxford and Cambridge teams, Mr. C. N. Jack- son. I had the pleasure of placing it I have had the nleasure this year of meeting that gentleman, and I assure you I shall carry back most agreeable remembrances of our meet- ing. “Gentlemen, this last war through which we have passed in America has had several results, which we all most heartily welcome. It has united our country in a way which I think nothing else could ever have done. It has made the representatives of the North‘and the South march together under one flag, with their hearts beating to the same stirring airs of patriotic music—only thirty years after we were fighting against each other. It has absolutely united us. But, gentlemen, one of the things we prize most is the evidence of the hearty friendship which has come from this side of the water. The chord of harmony has been sounded which has bound four of the greatest universities in the world together, and which has bound the two greatest countries in the world together. Let us see to it to-day that the notes of that chord shall never die away, but that the friendship shall be so firmly planted that these melodious strains shall go rolling and echoing on throughout the ages; and let us all take to ourselves as our motto, the beautiful words which the greatest of poets, he of Stratford, three hundred years ago put into the mouth of Polonius in his fare- well address to the departing Laertes— “When friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, : Grapple them to-thy soul with hooks of steel.” Mr. Jackson’s Response. ~ Mr. Jackson was next announced also to the toast, “International Sport,” and “ spoke as follows: 3 “Lord Jersey, Mr. Choate, and Gentle- men: The dry-nurse has had his say, the wet-nurse follows. Wet with the labors of a month in preparation of these sports, wet with the substantial knowl- edge which has compensated for the month; wet with the tears of joy, wet with the tears of sympathy, I appear before you to try and rival the elo- quence of my _ distinguished friend. That he is my distinguished friend, you may most heartily believe, for I cannot imagine a more excellent, courteous friend, and one whom I hope may be Fox, Harvard, at 8th hurdle—Competitors rising together. Fox (H.) Hallowell (H.) Paget-Tomlinson (C.) [Photo. by Byron, New York.]} Parkes (O.) a lifelong friend. He has spoken to you of a great many things, but he has not spoken to you of one subject. The American Ambassador has said he is the International Sport—that is to say, he is the sport of international athletics, but we have to see what international sports mean, and they mean a great deal. It is a very large order to be called upon to answer stich a toast. It covers a very wide area. It ranges from international yacht. racing to bagatelle, in which my friend Mr. Paget-Tomlinson takes a vast interest, or perhaps to international dominoes, in which my friend Mr. Hol- lins takes supreme interest; but no mat- ter what its area, no matter what its sphere, it is of vast importance to the young and to the old men of both countries. MR. SHERRILL’S PART. “To Mr. Sherrill you owe a great deal. If there had been no Mr. Sherrill, I think I am right in saying there would have been no sports to-day. I relied entirely upon what he told me to pro- duce these sports, and they have been produced to the intense satisfaction of the general public. “Well, now, gentlemen, it is not all champagne and chicken. There is a serious side to all this. What do these international athletics mean? With re- gard to our country, I think they mean a great deal. Athletics don’t stand very high in this country called England. I think after to-day they will stand much higher. They do stand high in America, and I think we have 1 ot only done some- thing for England, but we have done a great deal for America. Amateur ath- leticism is in a very ambiguous state in both countries. To-day’s meeting has done the utmost that human beings could 6-407 4st ie ip. Avira has. this meeting done to-day for America? I hope you won’t say I am speaking any words of indelicacy. but I really think that it has done a great deal, when you think of the large society of colleges, the Intercollegiate Association of Ameri- can Universities, for, in America, it is not a case of Oxford and Cambridge, it is a case of I5 or 20 universities, and I think it has done a great deal for Har- vard and Yale. It has shown -to America that we, in the exercise of a very just discrimination, have said that we are quite prepared to meet Harvard and Yale. And what has it done for Oxford and Cambridge? I speak very frankly. If they have thought too much of themselves—I mean if they have’ thought of one another—perhaps they could not think of anything better. But now after to-day I think that they have others to think of also. THE DAY’S EVENTS. “And now I come to the events of to- day. Coming up in the train this morn- ing I read in the papers that this is a great internaticnal athletic meeting, but one omniscient, omnipotent editor said this doesn’t count in international ath- letics; this doesn’t count in international championships. Very well, gentlemen, it doesn’t, if the papers are right. All I say is this. It has revealed unto us to-day some international champions. Amongst these international champions I don’t know whem to name first. Per- haps it would not be fair to name any- body, because that part of to-night’s ovations has fallen to somebody else. Now I am passing on to a subject which is even more delicate than anything have alluded to, and I wish you to take it with the utmost consideration, the utmost grace. It has even been said that an Englishman should be very care- ful as to what team he meets, and I say the same as to what team the American should meet. And you have seen in the papers remarks about America, and about some of our American colleagues and our American opponents, which should never have appeared. I only wish you to feel this which we have felt on this side. There is in life what is hard, and there is in life what is pleas- ant; there is also in life what is official and what is wnofficial. NEWSPAPER COMMENTS. “If anything hard has appeared in any paper on our side of the Atlantic, or on your side of the Atlantic, always remem- ber this—that it was bound to appear. You are under the governing laws of your Association; we are under the governing laws of ours; and in the present state of athletics in America and England, the utmost care has to be taken in order that a meeting of this character may be brought forward under the best possible conditions and with the best possible results, and so far as any opposi- tion, any objection was concerned, the opposition, the objection never had the slightest sympathy from any Oxford or any Cambridge man. Nothingcouldhave been more comprehensive, nothing could have been more satisfactory than the meeting of the joint committee at Brigh- ton last Sunday, in which everything was explained most frankly and everything was most frankly accepted. If I may di- vert my remraks, my Lord Jersey and Mr. Choate, to the members of our oppo- nent I would say this. Amongst the hardships of their lives, those gentlemen concerned will have many things to suf- fer, and possibly nothing harder to suffer than what they have suffered in recent days. Amongst the pleasures of their lives they will have many things pleas- ant, and amongst the pleasant things of their lives possibly nothing more pleasant than this—that from first to last. as they felt we felt, Oxford and Cambridge. [I want them to go back to their own land feeling this most thoroughly, that in all this little difficulty—for it was a little difficulty—what they thought, we thought, what they felt, we felt. I wish you to think of it in that way, all of you. I ask you to reflect that nothing could possibly contribute more to international amenities and courtesies than the feel- ing which we entertain and which I hope you now entertain, and will take home to your land. “TI only have to thank you frankly for listening to me so courteously. I only wish to add this: I have been connected, as Mr. Wendell says. with athletics for thirty years. In that time I have had a vast experience of difficulties, and aspira- tions, jealousies and happiness, friendship, and all that is delightful. And I have had an experience of the Yale and Oxford meeting, and I have had an experience of the Harvard and Yale meeting against Oxford and Cambridge; but I tell you from my heart that I have never met 2
