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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1900)
396 Y ALLE ALUMNI WEEKLY “For God, For Country and For Yale.” They went about the tables twice, and then the doors were thrown open into the hall and from that time on the crowd filling the vestibule and the stairs of the hotel practically participated in the dinner. From the doorway the crowd was led in cheers by Mr. Ong of the graduating class. Every man on the crew and the captain twice was given the long cheer with very hearty ones for the coach, Dr. Gallaudet, and for the President of the Navy, Mr. Schweppe. The cheer- ing within the room was lead by Mr. McBride of the graduating class. Neither he nor the rest of the diners could begin to satisfy themselves in showing regard for Dr. Gallaudet and Mr. Allen. They were cheered over and over again, the whole crowd rising to their feet for every call. Enthusiasm for the new captain, Mr. Blagden, who rowed 7 on the winning crew, was hardly second to that for the old leader. As Mr. Kennedy, the assistant at the boat house, who has care of the rigging and other technical points and _ has proved himself in all ways a most help- ful man, came in and took a place re- served for him, there was most tumul- uous cheering. His work was very handsomely endorsed several times in the course of the evening and this always nieant more hearty cheering. When he was called on for a speech he said that his friends had always stood in the breach for him at such a time, and he only wished to thank them for doing so well again. : SERIES OF SPEAKERS. Judge William K. Townsend, ’71, had charge of the dinner and opened it with ereat vivacity and dignity. The speak- ing was in series, so to speak. After what seemed the completion of the toast list, it occurred to several people that there were several other men who ought to be heard from and up they went one after the other, always with something to say. This meant a fresh set of cheers. After one of these numerous series had ended, Judge Townsend turned the con- tinuation of the dinner over to Mr. Julian W. Curtiss, 779, who carried it through with the same dash and force. Of all the good speeches of the even- ing, of course those were most appre- ciated which came from the coach and his men. Dr. Gallaudet’s was character- istic in its modesty and its earnestness. He gave the credit of the victory to the spirit of the men, and paid a beautiful tribute to the work and the influence of Mr. Robert J. Cook, ’76, in Yale rowing. The sentiment was applauded to the echo, and was taken up later by Mr. George A. Adee, ’67, who reaffirmed in very handsome terms the debt of Yale to Mr. Cook. Captain Allen, on his part, gave the credit of the victory chiefly to Dr. Gallaudet. He as well as the coach re- ferred very gratefully to the cooperation and signal assistance of Mr. John Ken- nedy. Captain Allen was cheered for the third and fourth time when he got up, and when he sat down, and several times afterwards. MILE REPORTS FROM THE CREW. After a number of other speeches, which are referred to below, Mr. Corbin recalled the custom of old crew dinners, of hearing from each member of the Crew as to how he felt at each mile of the race. They began with the cox- swain, Mr. Chittenden. He said he felt very well at the start, somewhat alarmed at the first mile, a good deal scared at the second, very badly at the third, and all right at the fourth. : Mr. Cameron, the stroke, said that his feelings were reflected in the-face of the coxswain, into which he looked through the race. The coxswain he described as one of the class beauties... He said he looked perfectly natural at the beginning of the race. At the second mile his beauty was largely gone. At the third he considered him positively ugly. At the fourth he was handsome again. Mr. Bladgen, number seven, admitted that at the conclusion of the second mile he felt a bit wearied, but confident. At the end of the third mile, after Har- vard’s terrifle spurt, it came to him that the men in the other boat were not made of steel any more than those in the Yale boat. Captain Allen, called to his feet for the second time, spoke of his satisfaction in holding the four-mile gait without -and tell how he felt. spurting. When Harvard’s spurt came his conclusion was that they were either a much better crew and would beat Yale considerably, or else that they were play- ing their last card. In either case, he saw nothing for Yale to do but to hold her gait consistently and finish, as their coach had ordered, “dead at bridge.” At the third mile he admitted he was quite anxious, but shortly after that he saw Harvard’s rudder begin to jerk back between the strokes, showing that there was no longer a strong and steady pull in the boat. At three-quarters of a mile from the finish he knew that Yale had rowed Harvard to a standstill. Mr. Brock, No. Five, observed the Har- vard coxswain splashing the Harvard stroke at the middle of the race and took much comfort from the fact. He thought then that Yale was going to last out and win. Mr. Kunzig, Number Four, was intro- duced as the “Quaker Hero of the Pennsylvania Barge Crew.” Mr. Cur- tiss, who introduced him, said that Num- ber Four told him that he had rowed in a race on the Pennsylvania Barge Crew in a Harlem Regatta, when the boats changed places for two miles every minute and a half, but had said that, for comfort, that race was a procession, as compared with the one he had rowed that day. “I admit I was kind of glad when we reached the finish. I confess I looked around two or three times in the last half mile and wondered whether we would ever reach that bridge.” Mr. Niedecken, Number Three, re- called a number of things which had made him feel good before the race. One was the Freshman race of three years before. Another was the fact that the University Crew rowed so_ badly three days before the race, which had been in times past a premonition of vic- tory. Two days before the race they also failed to row well and everybody said they would be beaten, and that he called a good sign. Yale drew the west course, where Cornell and Harvard had won before, and that also was good. She lost the start, and that by precedent was good. At the third mile his reason- ing got a little out of shape and he thought things were going wrong, but when they got into the fourth mile, the men in the stern of the boat set such a stroke that those behind could do noth- ing but follow and the boat had to travel. For all that, the last half mile was the longest one he ever remembered going over. Number Two, Mr. Wickes, was intro- HERBERT WESCOTT FISHER Winner of Porter Prize. : duced as the man who had a “cinch” on the Crew ever since he came to College. He said he followed the instructions of Gallaudet to strike a four-mile gait. He agreed with the others that the last two half miles were far from short. Number One, Mr. Williams, said that at the second mile point he began to think of the speech he would have to make that night as a member of the Crew, but that at the third he forgot all about the speech. HARVARD’S PRACTICE TIME. Dr. Gallaudet had to respond again He described the conclusions he had to draw from the apparent relative speed of the two crews before the race. A few days before the race Yale had done a half mile in 2.22. That seemed pretty good, and a little later Yale did it in 2.25, which was still good. The same day Harvard covered the half mile in 2.20. On Tuesday night before the race, Harvard did a half mile in the unprecedented time of 2.109. Then, on the day of the race, came the loss of the first two races. This was all far from encouraging. But the brighter side of the picture began with the yell with which the Yale eight responded to the signal from the referee’s boat that the race was to be rowed. It made his heart go up, as they jumped from their seats with a cheer and hurried to the boat house. Then came the last words at the boat house and his spirits went up still more as they rowed over to the start, rowing better than he had seen them for many days. Dr. Gallaudet repeated the in- structions which he had given the Crew, and said that they carried out the in- structions. He believed they rowed as ne eight men had ever rowed before. HARVARD'S BEST CREW. Mr. Curtiss, following Dr. Gallaudet, said that the Yale Crew had beaten what Harvard men had called the best crew they had ever turned out. He said the practice on the Thames had never seen so many records broken. Mr. Corbin, as a member of the record crew of Eighty-Eight, reminded the oarsmen that that record had been made under conditions which were very un- usual, the river being swollen with a heavy flood. OTHER GOOD SPEECHES. * There were many other good speeches. One of them was by Dr. George A. Adee, *67, who was paid the highest tribute by the toastmaster as a friend and helper of Yale rowing and Yale athletics. Mr. Adee spoke of the spirit and tone of the celebration as one he liked to see in Yale athletics, and he also emphasized what Dr. Gallaudet had said about Mr. Cook’s work. Another excellent speech was by Mr. Blagden, the new captain. It was not more than a half a minute long. He said he would try and follow the path that Mr. Allen had marked out; if he could do at all what he had done, he would be satisfied. Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, Jr., the Secretary of the Corporation also spoke. He thought the successful work of the crew this year was due to the spirit of unity and determination which were characteristic of the best Yale democratic life. Gen. Reeve was another speaker, who referred to the Yale men in the Philippines, and especially to those whom Yale had lost there. He thought the spirit of the boat race was the Yale spirit, which should be the American spirit to-day. Hardly anyone elicited so much en- thusiasm as George Langford, the Stroke of the ’95, ’96 and ’97 crews, whose reputation as an ideal oarsman and stroke is almost without parallel at Yale. As he stood up with his one armless sleeve, the men were almost beside themselves with enthusiasm. He very simply expressed his gratitude to those who had made his time in New Haven so pleasant, and closed with a toast to one of his old rowing associates, Theo- dore Miller, ’97, which was drunk in silence, DR. HARTWELL RESPONDS. One of the most appreciated speeches of the evening was by Dr. John A. Hart- well, 89 S., the old football player and oarsman and coach. He was unstinted in his praise of the crew and of their leader and coach. He brought out the interesting fact that that race was rowed at the dead hour of the day, as far as oarsmen’s energies are concerned. The time for work is fairly early morning and late evening. The delay of the shower, and the final call for the race at just that hour put both crews to their test. He considered the performance remarkable, especially on this ground. Dr. Hartwell’s presence having recalled good Yale captains, Mr. Curtiss asked the Yale captains who were then present in the room to rise in their places. Messrs. Allen, Blagden, McBride and Brown reluctantly stood up. Mr. Cur- tiss waited until the company had had a good look at them and had finished their applause, and then said he simply wanted everyone to see them; for himself, he wanted to say only that he considered Yale’s honor safe in the hands of any one of them. | | Gen. W. W. Skiddy made one of th most earnest speeches of the evening, dwelling on the significance of the vic- tory as the triumph of determination and the right spirit. Gen. Skiddy has been with the oarsmen a great deal this Summer. He has been very generous with the Yale Navy in placing a boat at their disposal, and has done every- thing in his power to assist the work. Winthrop E. Dwight was introduced as a very finished bow oar of the graduate four, which had surprised and alarmed the river by its appearance in front of the Yale quarters a few days before the race. Mr. Dwight spoke briefly, attest- ing the fact that the four could row without any serious break from the land- ing to the middle of the river. One of the best points of the evening was made by Mr. Thomas P. Wickes, ’74. whose relationship to Number Two of the Yale boat was duly noted. It seemed to him that the race had been a really remarkable one on account of the qualities shown by Captain Allen, in holding, without variation, to the plan DAVID STANLEY SMITH Composer of the Commencement Ode Music. marked out fromthe beginning. Not to spurt when Harvard was passing Yale, was to him as fine an example of steadi- ness of purpose as the annals of ath- letics furnished. Mr. Cameron, father of the Stroke of the Yale Eight, spoke for the fathers of the oarsmen. A long cheer was given for the fathers and the mothers. Mr. Heffelfinger took advantage of a second’s lull to remark that the day had shown that the Yale spirit was fairly alive, and that in his opinion, every man in the room. should consider himself a member of a committee to throttle anyone who talked about the disappearance of that article from the Yale Campus. By unanimous consent Mr. Heffelfinger was appointed chairman of that committee. These, and a great many other speeches, and cheers without number, made up one of the best athletic celebrations Yale ever saw. In the course of the evening Judge Townsend read the following note, de- clining an invitation to the dinner: June 28, 1900. My Dear Mr. Mitts :-— I thank you with all my heart for your invitation and should greatly enjoy accepting it, but the heat and work of the last three days have left me more dead than alive. Give my warmest con- gratulations to crew, coaches and man- agement. Wishing many happy returns of the day, I remain, Sincerely yours, ARTHUR T. HADLEY. <> > Fin ee The Injury to Captain Higgin- son, On Sunday, four days before the race, while taking exercise near the quarters, T. L. Higginson, Stroke and Captain - of the Harvard Eight, broke a small bone in his ankle, which put rowing entirely out of the question. As soon as this most distressing news was received at Broadview, the Yale Crew sent a message of regret and offer of any assistance in their power to Cap- tain Higginson. YALE MESSAGES TO HARVARD. On the confirmation at New Haven of the news of the injury to Captain Higginson, the following dispatches were S€nts
