230 



KNOW^LEDGE ♦ 



[May 1, 1886. 



to one that the fault has been with the stroke himself. But 

 the whole description is absurd on the face of it. The 

 reporter hears a number of remarks made by persons around, 

 whom he fondly imagines to be experienced rowing men; and, 

 having to write as if he himself knew something about row- 

 ing, he pvits in these absurdities as the results of his own 

 experienced observation. Neither of the crews which rowed 

 that gallant struggle on the 3rd were all abroad, or went to 

 pieces, or were within measurable distance of accomplishing 

 either achievement, from start to finish. 

 * * * 

 In the course of the hard-fought struggle, one or other 

 boat, in a bit of lumpy water, takes a rather bigger roll than 

 usual, and two or three of the oars catch the top off a wave. 

 Then some backer of the other boat, knowing nothing of 

 rowing, calls out, "Cambridge (or Oxford) is going all to 

 pieces ! Look how they're splashing ! " On this the reporter, 

 who very likely has not at the moment been looking at 

 either boat, takes his pencil and writes down quickly, 

 " Here Cambridge (or Oxford) began to show conspicuous 

 traces of the strain which had been put upon them. It was 

 evident to those conversant with boat i-acing that they were 

 .all abroad. They splashed terribly on the bow side, bow 

 and two being particular]}' noticeable in this respect" ("two" 

 is not on the bow side, but what matters ?) ; " in the afl;er-part 

 of the boat they were steadier." Evidently the experienced 

 reporter supposes the bow side to be the forward half of tlie 

 boat; and people down in the country read the account, in 

 natural wonder at the acumen of the London papers, and 

 also at the marvellous pluck by which a crew in pieces and 

 all abroad managed, after all, to win a closely-fought struggle. 



Absolutely the funniest account of all, however, is the 

 following in the Yorkshire Post : — 



Not only did the Cambridge crew possess speed, but they had 

 extraordinary stamina, and, what is more, an excellent coxswain. 

 The way he bored the Oxford boat in the first mile, so as to give his 

 men as much possible benetit of the tide, was a piece of steering 

 in which he ran great risk, and again lie was equally as clever 

 through the temporary structure at Hammersmith, where the crews 

 were nearly level. Cambridge then began to lose ground, and 

 when daylight appeared between the boats .as they reached Barnes 

 Bridge all hope seemed to have vanished so far as the Light Blue 

 i;rew were concerned. It seemed any odds, and had there been 

 professional betting men on the steamer like we meet in sculling 

 races I have no doubt that we should have heard extraordinary odds 

 ottered on Oxford. The repoiters had finished making notes, and 

 the artist with his instantaneous photographic machine Lad ceased 

 to take further views of the contest. Wo had but about half a mile 

 to go, and to the e.ye Cambridge were in hopeless pursuit of a crew 

 who had in fact taken their opponent's water. But in a shorter 

 time than it takes to tell it it was observable that Mr. Pitman's 

 frequent calls upon the crew had reduced the gap, and quickly 

 following upon this new life seemed to be thrown into the boat. 

 Spurt after spurt on the part of Cambridge caused the Oxford 

 coxswain to leave the Cantabs' water, and I shall never forget the 

 wild and exciting yells that came forth from the steamer carrying 

 the partisans of the Light ]!luc crew. A quarter of a mile from 

 home Cambridge were again almost level with their opponents. 

 Whether the latter had spun themselves out in trying to maintain 

 their lead [!], or that they became scared [! 1] when Mr. Pitman 

 placed his crew in close quarters, 1 am unable to say, but Oxford 

 went to pieces all of a moment [!], and in the last hundred yards 

 Cambridge snatched the verdict out of the fire by, to use the official 

 words of the judge, " two-thirds of a length." In every sense it was 

 a grand race, and, as one might have expected, several of the men 

 were very much baked bj' the pressure of their ever to be remem- 

 bered struggle. Still, more than one waved their hands in the 

 Cambridge crew when the gun fired, and least distressed of all was 

 Mr. Pitman, who, in picking up his men off the Brewery at 

 Mortlake, is recorded to have put In 21 strokes in 30 seconds. A 

 marvellous performance 1 [A stroke of 42 to the minute is not ivri/ 

 wonderful in a spurt ; in old times 47 or 48 to the minute would 

 often be noted, though now 42 to the minute is about as much as 

 any good stroke would care to go to, even in the fiercest spurt. But 

 increasing the rate of striking would be a rather marvellous way 



of " picking up " an unsteadied crew.] But this grand stroke of the 

 winning crew, aided by Mr. Barclay at No. 7, won the race. [Poor 

 balance of the crew ! Of course they did nothing towards winning 

 the race: Oxford being 'spun out," and "scared" and "all to 

 pieces" from that fatal "moment," Cambridge rowed in as a 

 winning " pair oar" with six " passengers" !] 



©m m\Wi Column. 



ON THE ORIGINAL LEAD. 



By Mogul. 

 PART ir. 



ITH the view of settling by authority the question 

 under discu.ssioa, I drew up the following hands, 

 with the questions at foot, and got as many 

 opinions as I could from players whom I knew 

 personally to be fine players, or who were so con- 

 sidered by those on whose judgment I could rely. 

 The hands have been submitted to Cavendish, but 

 I have not beeit favoured with his views thereon. 



What card should first player lead from above hands — first, when 

 the score is love all ; and secondly, when the score is four love ? 



Analysis of Results showing the number op times the 

 VARIOUS Leads were recommended. 



Total results 10 (hands) x 2 (states of score) x 16 (opinions) = 320. 



Now, omitting for the present hand No. 9, in which the trumps 

 are the longest suit and the other suits are of equal length, it will 

 be observed that in .all the other hands the Club suit is either the 

 longest suit or, as compared with any other of equal length, the 

 strongest ; and, omitting also all cases of trump leads, there are 

 only 84 Club leads, as compared with 183 leads of other suits. This 

 proves that the long-suit theory is not generally adopted as a rule 

 of faith. Taking only hands Nos. 4 to 8 inclusive, which many 

 people will consider the most crucial, there are only 67 Club leads 

 against 89 of other suits. In No. 4 there are only 5 leads from a 

 four suit, as against 27 from a shorter suit. It would therefore 

 seem that Cavendish's advice on the lead from such a hand is gene- 

 rally disregarded. No. 7 is the hand wdiere the results are most 

 opposed to my own views, there being 26 Club leads against C of a 

 strengthening card ; but I get my revenge in hands No. 6 and 8, 

 there being only 20 Club leads against 44 from a suit of only three 

 or two. Although No. 5 is also opposed to my views, I should be 

 obstinate indeed if I did not feel that the lead from King and three 



