YALE AND EUROPE-1850-1857 33 



him for a course in vocal gymnastics. When he wished 

 me to recite my oration before him, I declined, saying that 

 it must be spoken in my own way, not in his; that his 

 way might be better, but that mine was my own, and I 

 would have no other. He confined himself, therefore, to 

 a course of vocal gymnastics, and the result was a 

 surprise to myself and all my friends. My voice, from 

 being weak and hollow, became round, strong, and flexible. 

 I then went to a student in the class above my own, a 

 natural and forcible speaker, and made an arrangement 

 with him to hear me pronounce my oration, from time to 

 time, and to criticize it in a common-sense way. This he 

 did. At passages where he thought my manner wrong, 

 he raised his finger, gave me an imitation of my manner, 

 then gave the passage in the way he thought best, and al 

 lowed me to choose between his and mine. The result was 

 that, at the public competition, I was successful. This 

 experience taught me what I conceive to be the true theory 

 of elocutionary training in our universities vocal gym 

 nastics, on one side ; common-sense criticism, on the other. 

 As to my physical education: with a constitution far 

 from robust, there was need of special care. Fortunately, 

 I took to boating. In an eight-oared boat, spinning down 



the harbor or up the river, with Gr. W. S at the stroke 



as earnest and determined in the Undine then as in the 

 New York office of the London Times now, every condi 

 tion was satisfied for bodily exercise and mental recrea 

 tion. I cannot refrain from mentioning that our club sent 

 the first challenge to row that ever passed between Yale 

 and Harvard, even though I am obliged to confess that we 

 were soundly beaten ; but neither that defeat at Lake Quin- 

 sigamond, nor the many absurdities which have grown out 

 of such competitions since, have prevented my remain 

 ing an apostle of college boating from that day to this. If 

 guarded by common-sense rules enforced with firmness 

 by college faculties, it gives the maximum of healthful ex 

 ercise, with a minimum of danger. The most detestable 

 product of college life is the sickly cynic j and a thor- 



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