Girls who do not care to row should act as umpires. A grand stand may
be a massive rock ornamented with a tangle of vines and for a canopy a
wide-branched tree.
There should be three races, one between the girls, another between
the boys, and a third between the girls and boys together. Two large
willows or other trees, conspicuously overhanging the water, and
therefore impossible to mistake, should be selected as the points to
start and end the race, the prow of the boat should be even with the
centre of the tree trunk at starting, and the stern of the boat should
be even with the centre of the tree trunk on closing. Only one person
should be in the boat at a time, and no person can have a second chance.
As the water is frequently too narrow for all boats to be out at once,
it is wiser to try two boats at a time, and then two more should row
and so on. After the race is over the victors must row again, two and
two, as at the first, and so determine the winners. When the winning
girl and the winning boy are known, they should race together, and thus
the champion rower will be discovered. Whoever is champion should be
rewarded with a wreath of laurel, after the fashion of the great Roman
victors; if laurel cannot be found, use oak leaves and tell the hero
they are meant for laurel. The wreath must be made and at the grand
stand before the race opens. The coronation should take place at the
stand.
While gathering the leaves for the crown it would prove a pleasure to
gather quantities of wild flowers, with which to decorate the boats. A
simple and pretty trimming would be to carpet the boat with moss and
edge it around with fern leaves. Another way would be to canopy a boat
with apple blossoms; the branches are easily held in place between the
narrow strip of wood that forms the border, and the boat itself. But a
canopy retards motion, and the rowers must consider speed before they
decide on decoration.