THE RACE.

"HARVARD has crossed the line (time, 20 min. 44 3/5 sec.), Yale is expected every minute," was the telegram despatched from the finish to the start at the end of the fourth race of eight-oared University crews in America.

Early on the morning of June 28 crowds from all parts of the country began to pour into New London. They came in yachts, ferry-boats, excursion steamers, wherries, cat-boats, and steam-launches; they came in railroad trains and carryalls; they came on foot and on horseback. Even the casual observer must have perceived that it was a great day for Connecticut and New London.

None but the Harvard scratch-races were ever known to take place on time. It is hardly surprising then that the crews in this regatta were not started until an hour after the appointed time. At five minutes past twelve the word was given, but the Yale men seemed to have perceived by intuition that it was coming, and got under way a second or two before Harvard. But our men were off the next instant, and made the smooth paper shell literally jump through the water. At the end of the sixth stroke they were fairly ahead of Yale, and the rest of the race showed only a constant increase of the distance between the two boats.

At the end of the first quarter-mile Harvard was rowing 36 to the minute, and Yale was three lengths astern, pulling 33. Yale kept a slow stroke during the entire race, and it was evident to any one who watched their rowing that they had not broken themselves of a bad habit of pausing, or "hanging" at the beginning of the stroke. For the next half-mile Harvard kept the same stroke; but at the end of the third quarter, when the crimson was four lengths ahead of the blue, they slackened to 34 strokes per minute, while Yale was rowing 32. At the beginning of the second mile Yale gained about a length on our crew by pulling 34 to the minute, but lost it before the end of that mile. The Harvard crew did not pull a faster stroke at this point, but they pulled a stronger one. The third mile saw Harvard pulling 36 to the minute, and Yale, four lengths behind, at the same old stroke of 34. This part of the race was enjoyed intensely by the crowds on the grand stand. All we could see were the flashing crimson oars, and we had to imagine the blue oars in the distance.

At the opening of the fourth mile Yale made a grand effort and spurted up to 36. But it was of no use. The crimson eight, who were pulling a clean, even, and powerful stroke, which contrasted strongly with the splashing stroke of the Yale crew, went up to 38 to the minute, and kept it up to the beginning of the last half-mile, when they slackened to 37, which was their rate when they crossed the line. The men from New Haven pulled a plucky race, and stuck to their work manfully, though they could not have had any hopes of winning after the first mile of the regatta. They came in 44 2/5 sec. behind the Harvard crew, but even then their time (21 min. 29 sec.) beats Yale's winning time at Springfield in 1876.

Harvard's time in the New London race (20 min. 44 8/5 sec.) is the best time made in the four University regattas with eight-oared shells. It would probably have been several seconds better if our crew had not caught their oars in the eelgrass near the start.

SUMMARY.New London, Conn. June 28, 1878. Third annual race of eight-oared University crews, four miles, straight away.

1. Harvard University Crew. - Alvah Crocker (bow), N. M. Brigham (No. 2), B J. Legate (No. 3), M. R. Jacobs (No. 4), V. D. L. Stow (No. 5), W. U. Schwartz (No. 6), F. W. Smith (No. 7), W. A. Bancroft (stroke and captain), F. H. Allen (coxswain). Time, 20 min. 44 3/5 sec.

2. Yale University Crew. - J. W. Curtis (bow), F. E. Hyde (No 2), B. S. Keator (No. 3), H. Livingston (No. 4), H. W. Taft (No. 5), G. B. Rogers (No 6), D. Trumbull (No. 7), O. D. Thompson (stroke and captain), C. F. Aldrich (coxswain). Time, 21 min. 29 sec.