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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1899)
YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY ee set of men better in every respect than our opponents. ‘I have been abused in England—imagine my having to use the word—for entertaining the idea of inter- national athletics, simply because the great ocean divides us. J have been abused because I have beeif*told that Oxford had to limit itself to Cambridge, and Cambridge ought to limit itself to Oxford. I have learned this—that you could not have a better experience than the experience of your opponents and your foes, who are your friends and your allies.” Loud cheers greeted Mr. Jack- son’s speech. | Mr. Camp’s Response. Mr. Walter Camp, closing the four- sided response to International Sport, said: “If, as has been remarked, Mr. Choate has absorbed seven-eighths of these four quarters of International Sport, I think after Mr. Wendell and Mr. Jackson the amount left to me must be very limited, but I am nevertheless glad of even a mo- ment in which to thank Mr. Jackson for his very courteous remarks regarding the team. I wish to thank him on behalf of both. Yale nd Harvard teams, and I wish to express to him our feelings of reciprocity in this matter. We be- lieve that international sport is a good thing; we are thoroughly convinced that it is a pleasant thing, and we hope there may be more of it. “Mr. Jackson said that he had been abused; I wish to join him. I never was more abused in my life than I was to-day. I received a letter asking me to be a timer for Yale, and it said ‘no expert knowledge is required.’ Gentle- men, I have timed a great many races, and I have even gone so far as to write treatises on the subject how the personal equation affects timers; and to be asked to act as timekeeper with the proviso that no expert knowledge is required is rather hard. But the letter also said that I would be called upon for a speech, and I suppose there the same corollary applied. “I may be forgiven for advanc- ing some explanation for the defeat of the Americans to-day. When some of our team visited Westminster Abbey, the verger showed them the tombs of the knight templars and explained that the templars were always buried with their legs crossed; and I am afraid some of our men to-day in the commendable spirit of emulating the Englishmen, managed to get their legs crossed before they were buried. At any rate, that is the only explanation I have in my mind at the present moment. A TRIBUTE TO PALMER. “But I do want to say one thing about the contest to-day, and I know that Mr. Workman will forgive me when I speak of it. I must say that every American here was pleased when he saw the mag- nificent pluck with which Mr. Palmer finished in the three-mile race. <A gentleman was once attacked by three thieves, and after a vigorous struggle the three thieves mastered him and be- gan to go through his pockets. After searching diligently in every pocket, they found only a sixpence, and one of the thieves remarked to the other, “Good God! If this man had had a shilling he would have killed us all.” Now I thought when we saw the men drop, that no one could say but what, if Mr. Palmer had only had a shilling, he might have killed them all. “You have seen to-night perhaps at this dinner, although it has been al- ready said how modest and retiring Americans are, and how averse to mak- ‘ing any noise, that we are sometimes driven by our feelings to go beyond the bounds of decorum, which reminds me of one more anecdote which you will forgive me for relating. There is a town in the United States called Charles- town, which was once attacked by an earthquake. A father in Charlestown had two boys, and he sent them further South while the town should recover from the earthquake. He sent them to an uncle, and after they had been there three weeks the uncle telegraphed to the father “Take back your two boys and send down the earthquake.’ “Gentlemen, you will forgive us if we have been a little like the earthquake, and don’t telegraph for any one to take us home yet. Seriously speaking, gentle- men, I want to say a word regarding international sport in both countries. It seems to me that there is nothing that is conferred upon us that can in any way equal athletics in certain | respects. -or_later.-in life. other side of the water, and I presume There we find the education of strength. There men learn unselfishness, the ability to forego pleasure, the ability to withstand fatigue, the ability to stand in critical positions—and there are posi- tions which every man must face sooner 7 Some people on the here,—Laodiceans—are good enough to say, ‘Have your sports. It doesn’t make any difference which man wins; simply enjoy them.’ It does make a difference and is part of the education. It is by wanting to win that a man learns to work and to know that he must go through fatigue. When in the last lap of the’ three: milés° he “feels that he cannot go on, it is the thought of his comrades that makes him go on; it is the education which makes the man pull harder on account of the other men, if not on his own account. This is the valuable thing. belief of every man who has gone through these sports, that if once we prohibit them, then goodbye to the Anglo-Saxon race, goodbye to the Nor- man blood.” | THE CHEERS CALLED FOR. Mr. Grenfell, in rising to call for col- lege cheers for the toast, said: “[ am not going to rise to take up another half-quarter of the time which has been alluded to, but I think that this most excellent toast would ill come to a close if we didn’t hear from Harvard and Yale their well-known war cries. We Englishmen think that we can cheer lustily, but from the experience of the Oxford and Cambridge sports I feel we are like laggers in the race, and when I ask Mr. Wendell for a cheer from Harvard, and Mr. Sherrill for Yale, I am sure they will teach us some- thing.” The cheers were given with the names of Oxford, Cambridge and the Queen’s Club at the end, and their volume did not disappoint the Englishmen. The English collegians returned the compli- ment, cheering for Harvard and Yale. The Competing Teams, The Earl of Jersey, rising to propose the toast of the “Competing Teams,” said: : “We have had the advantage of learn- ing, I wont say one thing, but three things. We have learned three war cries, which certainly seem very in- spiriting and yet are given in the most harmonious tone—three war cries which we shall always be glad to hear in this country, and which you may be quite certain will be received by the British public with applause. Some of the speakers have alluded to a limit of time. I shall endeavor if possible to make a record. I certainly could not do it upon the path, though I may do it standing still. It is my pleasure to propose to- night the “Competing Teams.” I shall not do what Mr. Jackson suggested— pick out the names of everyone who ought to be distinguished—hbecause in that case I ought to pick out the name of every single competitor this afternoon. Though it may be true that only a few receive the prizes, yet remember that all the competitors have given up a great deal in order to battle for their respec- tive universities, and surely one of the advantages of our sports is that it trains people to work, not merely for them- selves, but for their universities: and perhaps in after life they will remember that they trained and worked, not merely for themselves but for their country. Still, I feel sure that in this city all those who had the advantage of seeing Mr. Fox and Mr. Quinlan and Mr. Clarke, also will recognize that these great qualities of speed, of endurance, and of tenacity, even when the victory was not within their grasp, are the qualities which have made our race, and which I, for one, believe these sports do tend to hand down to future genera- tions, and which I feel sure as long as they exist amongst us will keep our two races foremost in the world. ATHLETICS. “T am not going at this hour of the night to allude:to everything connected with the advantages of athletics. You know that in this country any man speaking at this moment on this subject has to speak with some degree of fear, because there was some right reverend prelate the other day who accused the university of which I am a humble It is my belief, and the . member of being given over to athletics, : and who said Oxford was very idle be- cause it had so many athletes. Now imagine athletes being idle. Some years ago I used to take part in them. I never thought myself idle, and I can read *. you a letter which has been sent to me by a gentleman who was my successful competitor, and who is now the Attor- ney-General for this country. You will allow that Sir Richard Webster is a very highly intellectual man. He writes :— ‘IT indeed regret that I cannot be with you to-morrow evening, and still more that I shall miss seeing the sports. If the Harvard and Yale boys have won by the time you receive this, they have my hearty congratulations. In any event, I admire them for their pluck and deter- mination in traveling three thousand miles to represent their universities. These contests do more good to the young men of both countries than all the lectures of professors, however emi- nent. Our own representatives know well what keen interest I take in their i, Kindly convey my good wishes tO Si “Well, I am sure this afternoon the British public has had the opportunity of seeing what éan only be seen in the United States of America or in this country. They have seen sports con- ducted in a gentlemanly and in a vigor- ous and-.energetic manner, and surely when you have sports conducted like that, there is not much more to be said. It is true, as Mr. Jackson has allowed, that there have been some splendid performances, and I hope that whenever there is a renewal of these contests, we shall see the records, if possible, cut. But, gentlemen, let me ask you to remember that athleticism, good as it is, is only one object in life, and that our meetings like this do very often create friendships which only in- crease as years go by. RIVALRY OF UNIVERSITIES. “There are two sorts of rivalry: one spells animosity, and the other friend- ship, and it is in the latter contention that two great races have learned not severance, but union. Our four great universities represented to-day have a threefold rivalry., Each endeavors to have the largest number of names on its roll who shall serve their country in politics, commerce, science, and litera- ture. Each one also wishes to send on to the ground the very best athletes to carry off the palm of victory; and each one, if fortune is not so kind as it ought to be, knows how to accept it always with the hope that on another occasion they will retrieve. But the universities of both empires—because after all, where the inhabitants of a country are emperors amongst men we may call them empires—have a nobler end in view. The closing years of this century have brought home to each branch of our race that, whether we will or not, the fortunes of the larger portion of mankind have been committed to them to make or to mar. What nobler rivalry could there be than to see who will best lay down the foundation for honest labor and equal law; who best will lay down the’ rules under which each infant state which is committed to our foster- ing care can flourish, and who best can crown that with the fairest dome of justice, happiness and prosperity. You, gentlemen, will hereafter have confided to you tasks like these, and the task also of teaching your fellow-countrymen, per- haps by your own personal, fine example by standing up for what is right and by opposing what is wrong. And if you only take your nart in after life and play it as well as you have done your duty on the ground to-day, you will win from the respect and gratitude of your fellow men far more enduring and still nobler success and honor, and you may feel sure that those whose days have passed away in active participation in athletics will be only too glad to know - that the foremost men in the United States and the foremost men in Great Britain are those who in their youth have done something for their universi- ties. I ask you to drink the health of the four captains of the respective teams —Mr. Vassall, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Roche, and Mr. Fisher.” The president rose to present the medals to the competitors, and said :— “I am not going to make any speech. I am going to do something pleasanter. I am going to give the medals.” The first and second men in each event then came forward separately and were presented with their prizes amidst tumultuous acclamations. The Earl of Jersey paid each man in turn a graceful compliment on his achievement. The prizes are of silver and bronze, two inches in diameter, bearing on one side the crests of the American universities and on the reverse the insignia of Ox- — ford and Cambridge. Captain Vassall’s Response. Mr. Vassall was the first of the four team captains to respond to the toast. He said: “My Lords and Gentlemen: I see that the reply to this toast is again supposed to be divided into four equal parts. I am stire you will all excuse me if I take one to myself. Any powers of speaking that ever belonged to me were taken away during the last race this afternoon, when I watched Mr. Palmer following and passing Mr. Workman. It was a great deal too close to be pleasant, for we had been counting on the three-mile and hoped by winning the quarter to have won the sports. But we saw our first string practically chased home the whole way by that most excellent run- ner, Mr. Palmer, when we had hoped he was going to be beaten off very quickly. One cannot help being sorry for those gentlemen who have come so many miles only to be beaten on the post or by a few inches after a most excellent struggle. They may think that our sympathy is misplaced, but I only hope Fox, Harvard, clearing last Hurdle in lead. Hallowell (H.) Fox (H.) Paget-Tomlinson (C.) Parkes (O.) By the courtesy of the British Mutoscope and Biograph Co, the English connection of the American : "Mutoscope and Biograph Co. These pictures form part of their permanent record of the games.]
