TO THE EDITORS OF THE CRIMSON:-

ALTHOUGH the athletic sports on Saturday last were very successful, they were so at the expense of some irregularities. When the entries closed, on Thursday evening, there were nineteen entries for five events; of the remaining, the running broad jump had no entries and the other four but one each. Yielding to the wishes of the other members of the Executive Committee, I left open the entries until noon on Friday, when by going about and begging men to enter we succeeded in filling all the events but one. Notwithstanding this dearth of entries, there were two men who wished to enter just as the events were about to begin. One of them, and his reasons I could appreciate but not comply with, said it was not convenient for him to join the Association before. The other said he thought the entries closed at the post, and was quite sure there was nothing on the posters about closing on Thursday.

I sincerely hope that the members do not think hey are kept out from any personal feeling; it is right that the entries should be secret, and should close in time to print the programmes, if for no other reason, and never again, with the consent of the Executive Committee, will entries be received after the advertised time of closing. It would have been much better for that audience of two thousand people to witness those five events on last Saturday than to have to go about begging men to enter. If we, the largest college in America, are not ready for athletics, I think that they had better be given up for the present. It is absurd to suppose that a few men, no matter how efficient they may be, can bolster up athletics if there is not interest enough to make more than nineteen men enter. Do the men want more costly prizes? If they do, there must be an annual assessment. Do they want other events? If they do, and will kindly write word to that effect, their wishes shall be considered. But if at the spring meeting there are not more entries than there were this fall, I shall advocate postponing athletics at Harvard until the interest is more general.

VICE-PRESIDENT.COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIP.TO THE EDITORS OF THE CRIMSON:-

CORNELL, Columbia, and Yale are in a highly excited state over the prospect of our sending a crew to England. Cornell is particularly irritated, as she claims that the two races she won at Saratoga in six-oars entitle her to the "championship," and that Harvard has no right to go until she has defeated her in an eight-oared race. Yale and Columbia are equally anxious to have a race with Harvard, and let the winner of the race go to England as the "champion" college crew. What the "championship" has to do with it is not very clear. If Cornell considers herself the "champion" of American colleges, she is perfectly welcome so to do, and no one will care to dispute her title. Harvard has now beaten Yale for two consecutive years in an eight-oared race; therefore Yale is out of it entirely as far as the "championship" goes. Columbia she has also defeated in eight-oars. Cornell has beaten Harvard twice in six-oars, and our Freshman crew last year in an eight-oar. As far as the eight-oar "championship" goes, then, Harvard has a perfect right to that title (if she has the bad taste to choose to claim it), and is justified in sending a crew to England under that name, if she wishes. If Cornell (in event of our accepting a challenge from them) were to make some definite preparations for sending their crew abroad if they beat us, outsiders would then think they really meant business; but as matters stand, their only avowed object is to beat us, and then send their crew abroad if they think fit. If they will agree to send out their men if they should win in a race with us, a race would not be a bad thing, as then the fastest crew would be sent out, which is, or should be, the main object.

But does Harvard claim the "championship"? Would she assume the title even if it were her due? We sincerely trust not; in this country of "champion pie-eaters," "champion walkers," etc., etc., we should hope that no gentleman or set of gentlemen would aspire to be called "champion" anything. As we understand it, Harvard proposes to send her eight, as Columbia did her four last year, merely as a college enterprise, and, without any regard for "championships" or "representative" college crews, to try if either of the English colleges can do in 1879 what they succeeded in doing in 1869. We have, and have had for two years, the best crew that ever sat in a Harvard boat; and we think that they may possibly be able to defeat the Oxford and Cambridge crews. Anyhow, we propose to make the trial, without reference to Cornell, Columbia, or any one else, and if these colleges don't like it they must (as the boys say) "lump it." Our annual race with Yale will of course be rowed, and probably always will be, until the end of time; but with Cornell and Columbia we "have no quarrel"; it would be no pleasure to us to beat them or have them beat us, and if we do row either, it should be regarded as an act of kindness on our part.

B.[As a matter of fact, if arrangements can be made with Oxford and Cambridge, our crew will go abroad next summer, whether they are successful or unsuccessful in the Yale, Cornell, and Columbia regattas. It ought to be the aim of our crew to establish their reputation, before going to England, as the best American college oarsmen; if they fail in this, they are bound none the less to row the Englishmen for the honor of Fair Harvard. - EDS.]