Paul's, of which this Department spoke last week, it has made rapid
strides ever since the sport was introduced there two years ago, and now
boasts of a well-equipped navy. Owing to the school's location on Cayuga
Lake, aquatics will become the distinctive form of athletics there in
the future, although, as a member of the New York State Interscholastic
League, football and baseball teams are also put into the field. But it
is a good thing to have rowing developed in some of the preparatory
institutions, and I shall not regret to see some of the vast amount of
energy that now appears to be running riot in track athletics turned
into this new channel. Every large school situated near a watercourse or
a lake ought to add rowing to its list of sports, if it is possible to
do so.
The principal difficulty in the way of such progress at present lies in
the fact that so few schools have crews, that interscholastic contests
are hard to arrange. The Cascadilla oarsmen are fortunate in having the
Cornell crews to row against, and each year they get races with the
Freshmen and 'Varsity eights. Thus far they have secured no victories
over either of these rivals, but as the sport grows older with them they
should make a better showing from year to year. The Cascadilla commodore
is now negotiating with a school near Philadelphia that has taken steps
toward the organization of a crew, and it is possible that next summer
will witness the first of a series of interscholastic regattas between
these progressive institutions.
The same lack of a scholastic rival hampers rowing at St. John's
Academy, Delafield, Wisconsin, where the school eight have to seek as
their opponents the crews of Madison University. Last spring they
defeated the '97 crew by three lengths in an exciting race over the
Nagawicka course in the excellent time of 8 min. 3 sec. This victory was
all the more creditable from the fact that several of the Madison
'Varsity men had seats in the '97 boat. I have spoken of the rowing
which is done in the several schools mentioned to show that it is
possible for young men not yet in college to approximate the work
performed by older athletes. The Department has devoted space to the
description of the crews and their methods in the hope of encouraging
other institutions to take up the sport during the coming winter and
next spring. It is an excellent exercise, and a seat in the 'Varsity
boat is looked upon as the greatest athletic honor a college man may
attain, excepting, of course, a captaincy. It must be the same in every
school where rowing is practised, and the school that has a crew in the
spring is bound to have a better football team in the fall, for the
training done in the winter and the rowing done later develop new
material, and strengthen the older men.
The proposition to organize a National Interscholastic Athletic
Association, modelled upon the Inter-collegiate Association, made in
these columns in the early part of last spring, is looked upon favorably
not only by the schools and associations in this part of the country,
but also by the schools on the Pacific coast. In fact, the Westerners
have shown a much greater spirit of enterprise and sportsmanship in the
matter than have the managers of scholastic athletic interests in the
East. It is probable, however, that the apparent stagnation in this
quarter has been due to the summer vacation, and the consequent
cessation of school sports, and the absence from town of those who could
take hold of the scheme and put it through. Now that the fall term is
about to open, this matter promises to be taken up with the energy
required for such an undertaking, and all we need is the hearty
co-operation of the many interscholastic associations from every State
in the Union. On October 8th there will be a meeting of the New York
I.S.A.A., and I am assured that at that meeting the first steps towards
the formation of the National Interscholastic League will be taken.
Steps have already been taken in California toward joining the League as
soon as it shall be started, and the San Francisco newspapers are
already talking of it as though it were an accomplished fact. This is
all due to those lively young sportsmen of the Oakland High-School, who
are not only eager to enter a general association, but are anxious to
send a team of athletes to the Berkeley Oval to threaten the supremacy
of the Eastern schools in track and field sports. Here is what the San
Francisco _Call_ of September 4th says on the subject:
The Oakland High-School decided to-day that it would join the
National League of High-Schools, and send a team to New York next
year to join in the national High-School contests. The team will
consist of ten of the best athletes in the school, and the boys
anticipate being capable of holding their own and capturing some
of the trophies. They have received much encouragement from the
recent tour of the Berkeley team. The Oakland High-School has for
some time been a member of the league of which HARPER'S ROUND
TABLE is the organ, and now that they have decided to branch out
and seek national honors, athletics will receive a boom, as there
is much rivalry as to who will ultimately be the ones chosen to
uphold the honor of Oakland's High-School in the Empire State. A
general meeting will be held in a few days, and a manager will be
elected who will at once put into practice all the available
material. After that the boys will commence to obtain pledges for
financial aid, as it will require about $1600 to defray the
expenses of the trip. The next national High-School contests will
be held in the summer; but entries are now being made, and Oakland
will not be dilatory in outlining the events for which she will
seek to carry off the honors. "The sending East of our team will
be one of the best things that ever the High-School undertook,"
said one of the O.H.-S. athletes to-day. "It will call attention
to our school and to Oakland, and will let thousands of people
know that we exist who are in doubt just now as to where Oakland
is. We have been debating the proposition of sending a team East
all this year, but after we saw what a lot of attention was shown
to the Berkeley team we could see no reason why we should not try
a similar tour among the crack Eastern High-Schools. We do not
anticipate any trouble in raising the necessary funds, as we think
the noise we shall make will prove a very valuable advertisement
for this city."
A good many of the statements made by the _Call_ are inaccurate, but the
main announcement, that the O.H.-S. will come East, is authentic. It
behooves the Eastern sportsmen, therefore, to get ready to receive them.
As I have said before, the ROUND TABLE will do everything in its power
to further the organization of a National Association of the schools,
and these columns are open to correspondents who care to make
suggestions for the advancement of the scheme. Perhaps a better idea of
what the Californians have actually done, and will do, can be obtained
from this letter, which came to the ROUND TABLE from the Captain of the
O.H.-S. athletic team:
"The newspaper reports are not at all accurate, but they will
serve to show what we have been doing lately. While they do not
convey the exact truth, they have aroused great enthusiasm among
the Oakland people, and we have great hopes of taking an Eastern
tour. We are only awaiting the formation of the Big League to go
right to work, and we have a big job on hand. I suppose that the
Field Day will be held about the latter part of June, and that the
list of events will be made to coincide exactly with the
Inter-collegiate programme. If we came East we could doubtless
make arrangements for a series of dual games with three or four of
the crack schools in the vicinity of New York in addition to the
Big Field Day. Of course this could all be arranged later on; what
we are worried about now is getting started. I wish you would prod
the schools up and get them to take immediate action. We want to
get to work right away, for to raise $3000 is quite a job. The
U.C. boys are in favor of the trip, and will help us in every way.
I wish you would inform us of any steps taken in this regard, and
also put us in touch with the officers, so we could correspond
with them. Would it be necessary to be the winning or champion
team of our league to join in the Field Day, or could the O.H.-S.
alone join the League and uphold the honor of California in the
scholastic world in the East?"
It strikes me that the New York I.S.A.A. will lose an opportunity that
may never offer again if it fails now to take the initiative in the
formation and foundation of the National Interscholastic Athletic
Association of America.
Lawrenceville opened last Thursday, and the football men went to work at
once. Some of the old players got back a week earlier, and saw to it
that the eight fields were put into shape and laid out, and now every
afternoon one may see sixteen elevens hard at work rushing and kicking
and otherwise developing new material. This system of requiring
everybody to join in the game is an excellent one. The boys at
Lawrenceville are arranged according to size, and are taught how to
play, and thus it is plain that in the course of a year or two the
Captain of the school team has plenty of good material to pick from. The
first and second teams have the additional advantage of being coached by
some of the instructors who were star football players in their college
days, and the benefit of whose experience goes largely toward making the
Lawrenceville eleven the successful one that it usually is.
Last year, for instance, Lawrenceville defeated the Hill School, 22-0,
the Yale Freshmen, 16-0, and Andover, 20-6, besides disposing of every
other school team they met. They tried to arrange a game with the
Princeton 'Varsity, but were not successful, for the reason, they
believe, that in 1893 they scored 4-8 on the orange and black champions.
Of course this is probably not the reason, for Princeton should be only
too glad to get such excellent practice even from a school team, and
this year no doubt there will be a match, and another probably with the
University of Pennsylvania.
A feature of the football record of this school, which it is pleasing to
be able to call attention to, is that in the twelve years the game has
been played there no dispute has ever arisen and no serious accident has
occurred. Moreover, as far as I am able to ascertain, no boy ever went
to the school because he could play football. All this tends to create a
genuine and healthy interest in the sport, and not only the scholars
themselves, but the graduates of the school take pride in such a record.
This is shown by the fact that the Alumni have presented a $300 cup for
class championship contests, each winning class getting its numeral
engraved upon the trophy; and an alumnus has also offered a cup to be
played for by the House teams, and to become the property of the House
winning the greatest number of times within ten years. The boys live in
Houses at Lawrenceville, as they do at Rugby and Harrow, and each House
has its eleven.
Of last year's first school team five men return: Emerson, full-back;
Dibble and Davis, half-backs; Cadwalader and Edwards, guards. This is a
first-rate nucleus, and Dibble, the new Captain, is expected to bring
forward a team equal, if not superior, to that of last year. There are
few better half-backs in the schools than Dibble. He is a great
sprinter, having covered the 100 in 10 seconds at the school games last
June. Davis, the other half-back, and Emerson, the full-back, will
surely improve this fall over their last year's style, while no better
guards are necessary than Cadwalader and Edwards. They weigh 210 and 218
pounds respectively.
The candidates for end rush are Noble and Righter, and unless some new
phenomenons develop, they will hold the positions. The tackles will have
to be taken from the incoming classes, and the hardest position to fill
will be quarter-back. Captain Dibble may well watch the play of the man
in this position, if he expects the team to be engineered as well as De
Saulles did it last year. De Saulles is a wonderful quarter-back, and
will no doubt make the Yale 'Varsity in a year or so. A large number of
new Fourth Form boys, or Seniors, have been entered this fall, and it
will be strange if in a school of 350 enough available material cannot
be trained to bring the eleven up to its usual standard of excellence.
The teams of the New England League are also in the field, and in a few
days practice games between schools will begin. Boston Latin is
scheduled to meet Charlestown High to-morrow, and English High meets
Dorchester on the same day. There is unusual promise of good new
material everywhere, and the championship matches ought to furnish good
football. Only three members of the Cambridge Manual Training School's
champion eleven are back this fall, and the candidates for positions are
mostly small, light men. Captain Murphy, however, has signified his
intention of trying to make up for the probable lightness of his team by
perfecting it in team work.
The Boston Latin School was the first to get its men into training, and
has a start of nearly a week over its rivals. Many of last year's
players have returned to school, and most of them are heavy fellows.
Lowe, one of the guards, is the biggest man of the aggregation, and
weighs 210 pounds. Eaton at centre weighs 198 pounds, and his other
guard, Nagle, tips the scales at 185. These three have played together
for B.L.S. for the past three years, and are undoubtedly the strongest
centre in the League. The tackle positions are open, and one of them
will probably be filled by Rankin, who was a substitute last year. D.
Lockin, who showed some of the best end work of any of the school
players, is back in his old position.
Captain Maguire will keep his old place at full-back, and ought to
manage to develop a strong eleven. He is familiar with the fine points
of the game, and has been a member of the team for two years past. Last
year he proved himself one of the cleverest ground-gainers in the
League, and in the game with English High his punting aided materially
toward the securing of victory. His tackling and interfering have
improved, and will doubtless grow better as the season advances.
The showing made in the early work of the English High-School players
has not been very encouraging thus far. Like the C.M.T.S. men, the
candidates are small, but all of them are apparently hard workers. It is
fortunate for Captain Callahan that there are not so very many positions
to fill, but on the other hand the vacancies occur in places where
strong and reliable players are required. If things are allowed to run
along in the slipshod way that characterized E.H.-S.'s endeavors last
year, however, the team will be a poorer one than has represented the
school for some time. Only continuous and careful work can bring the
team into championship form.
The two scholastic representatives in the A.A.U. championships at
Manhattan Field on the 14th managed to hold their ends up pretty well.
Baltazzi took second to Sweeney in the high jump, with 5 feet 10-1/2
inches, defeating Cosgrove, and Syme got first in the low hurdles. He
ran his trial heat in 26-3/5 seconds, but got the medal with 28-1/5
seconds. His victory was in some respects a repetition of his success at
Syracuse in the Metropolitan championships. There he met Sheldon and
Chase, the latter falling over the eighth hurdle. At Manhattan Field,
Cosgrove led up to the ninth hurdle in the trials, and then took a
cropper, leaving Syme to win the heat. In the finals, Syme and Cady had
it neck and neck to this same ninth, when the scholastic runner struck
the timber so heavily as to break it, but recovered in time to see Cady
go somersaulting over the tenth. Before the Yale man could recover, Syme
had breasted the tape.
THE GRADUATE.
A NEW USE FOR A DOLL.
A new use for a doll has been discovered by an ingenious London thief. A
woman who was arrested for stealing from one of the large dry-goods
shops was found to have been carrying what everybody supposed to be a
baby; but what in reality turned out to be a huge doll with a wax face
and hollow leathern body. It was the thief's custom to conceal the
stolen articles as quickly as she got her fingers on them, gloves,
laces, and so forth, in the cavernous and spacious interior of the
"baby."
SOME STRANGE VISITING-CARDS
Calling in Corea must be a very difficult performance, if, as a London
journal has recently stated, the ordinary visiting-cards there are a
foot square. The same journal goes on to say that the savages of Dahomey
announce their visits to each other by a wooden board or the branch of a
tree artistically carved. This is sent on in advance, and the visitor,
on taking leave, pockets his card, which probably serves him for many
years. The natives of Sumatra also have a visiting-card, consisting of a
piece of wood about a foot long and decorated with a bunch of straw and
a knife.
SOME NOVEL RACES.
A London newspaper some years ago contained an account of a strange sort
of contest which two noblemen once got up for their own amusement. It
consisted of matching a flock of turkeys and a flock of geese for a race
on the London and Norwich road, in the middle of the last century. The
turkeys would insist upon flying up into the roadside trees to roost
while the geese, keeping up a steady waddle till night, reached London
from Norwich two days ahead. The same journal also mentions the feats of
the Hon. Tom Coventry's sprinting pig. In 1803 this speedy animal was
matched against a celebrated runner, and started a strong favorite on
the day of the race which she won with ease. The pig had been trained to
run the distance each day for its dinner. Another strange contest of
this time took place between two sporting noblemen, who raced against
each other on a windy day on Hampstead Heath, one running backwards in
jack-boots, and the other holding up an open umbrella, and running
forwards.
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Commit to Memory
the best things in Prose and Poetry, always including good Songs and
Hymns. It is surprising how little good work of this kind seems to be
done in the Schools, if one must judge from the small number of people
who can repeat, without mistake or omission, as many as =Three= good
songs or hymns.
Clear, Sharp, Definite,
and accurate Memory work is a most excellent thing, whether in School or
out of it, among all ages and all classes. But let that which is so
learned be worth learning and worth retaining. The Franklin Square Song
Collection presents a large number of
Old and New Songs
and Hymns, in great variety and very carefully selected, comprising
Sixteen Hundred in the Eight Numbers thus far issued, together with much
choice and profitable Reading Matter relating to Music and Musicians. In
the complete and varied
Table of Contents,
which is sent free on application to the Publishers, there are found
dozens of the best things in the World, which are well worth committing
to memory; and they who know most of such good things, and appreciate
and enjoy them most, are really among the best educated people in any
country. They have the best result of Education. For above Contents,
with sample pages of Music, address
Harper & Brothers, New York.
[Illustration: If afflicted with SORE EYES USE Dr. ISAAC THOMPSON'S EYE
WATER]
[Illustration: BICYCLING]
This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the
Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our
maps and tours contain much valuable data kindly supplied from the
official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelmen.
Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L. A. W., the
Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership
blanks and information so far as possible.
[Illustration: Copyright, 1895, by Harper & Brothers.]
The third stage of the trip from New York to Boston by the shore road
demands our attention this week. It extends from New Haven to New
London, a distance of forty-five miles or more, and though the rider
can, if he desires, stop at Saybrook, thirty-three miles distant from
New Haven, it is wiser to make the run to New London in one day, as the
accommodations at New London are better, and the next stage, from New
London to Shannuck, which comes on the next day, is much lighter.
Leaving New Haven and going eastward the rider should keep always to the
right on going into the suburbs of the city, and continue to the south
of Fair Haven through East Haven. One and a half or two miles out of
East Haven the road crosses the railroad track, and then runs on another
mile into Branford, which is eight miles from New Haven. From Branford
the road is, in the main, easily followed, the general tendency being to
keep in the vicinity of the railroad, and near the shore of Long Island
Sound. It is well for the rider, where possible, outside of villages, to
take the side path, as the road is not in the best of condition in
certain places, and the side path is usually very good. From Branford to
Stony Creek is a distance of about three miles. Thence to Leetes Island,
two miles further, where the road is clear, there is little to be
described. There are almost no hills of importance, and the side path
usually offers a very good substitute for the road itself when the
latter becomes sandy.
From Leetes Island to Guilford, about three miles further on, the road
winds about a good deal, crossing the railroad track twice before
entering Guilford in order to make a detour to the north and cross a
creek. After leaving Guilford the road runs down close by the shore, and
keeps its position in passing East River and Madison. Between Madison
and Clinton, and between Clinton and Grove Beach, a distance altogether
of between five and six miles, the road is fair in general and very poor
in spots. The side path should be taken wherever available, but,
everything considered, it is not one of the best bicycle roads that
could be desired. From Grove Beach into Saybrook, a distance of six
miles, the rider passes through Westbrook, and the road does not alter
its condition, being in the main fair, but very sandy in spots.
If possible, the rider should start from New Haven early in the morning,
and make Saybrook some time about noon, stopping there for lunch or
dinner. This is a distance of thirty-three miles altogether. To be sure,
it only leaves a run of thirteen or fourteen miles to New London, but
the accommodations there are so much better than along the line that it
is advisable to try and reach it, and at the same time it is always well
to do more than half the journey in the morning. Leaving Saybrook the
rider should proceed, still on the turnpike, to the Connecticut River
bank at Lyme Ferry. Crossing by this he turns to the right and runs into
Lyme over a capital road. Thence the road runs along over a reasonably
good bit of country to the north of the railroad into South Lyme, five
miles further on, with the exception of a spot a mile or more beyond
Black Hall, where the road crosses a creek and is poor riding for a
short space. From South Lyme to Niantic is about three miles, and after
passing East Lyme, a short distance out of Niantic, the rider crosses a
long bridge over an inlet of the Sound. From this point, keeping to the
left just after crossing the bridge, he runs through Jordanville into
New London, and may there put up at the Crocker House in the middle of
the town.