132 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



Oscillators — who were they, the good crew? I 

 almost forget. There were two Shoolbreds, I 

 think ; Willy Ward, good man, about now, who 

 wrestled someone at Henley, and beat him — Jem 

 Robey, was it ? I forget ; the Leaders, sons of 

 the chairman of the Alhambra directors — one of 

 them, the fine swimmer, was drowned at Staines, 

 a champion swimmer almost. Francis Stepney 

 Gulston, afterwards to be captain of the London 

 Rowing Club, that finest — I make no exception — 

 gentleman oarsman, who stood out by himself as 

 a waterman, was an Oscillator before he moved to 

 the London Rowing Club. I think I am right 

 in saying that Gully, who was, in my eyes, the 

 greatest of all amateur watermen, went to Cam- 

 bridge mainly and merely to row. Well do I 

 recollect poor dear old Jemmy Moxon, who 

 worked hard to start the Skating Association — 

 Moxon, LL.D. I shall never forget his descrip- 

 tion of Gulston's taking up residence at the 

 college with a pilot jacket on, a bottle of gin in 

 the o.p. side pocket, and a bottle of bitters in the 

 prompt. The sapient authorities would hardly 

 give him a chance in a college crew, and as for 

 the 'Varsity eight, they wouldn't look at him — 

 his style, those clever judges said, was too pro- 

 fessional. 



Then there was the pro. side, fully furnished 

 by the Taggs. Bless you, merry gentlemen, 

 start me on the Taggs, and I will go for a Beacon 

 Course! Of old man Tagg I do not enlarge, 

 though I must remember the time when telegraphy 

 was not what it is now, pigeons were useful, and 

 a Cambridge crew went under Hammersmith 

 Bridge — was it in Griffith's year ?— with a big 

 lead, and the pigeon bearing a light-blue ribbon 



