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
