In addition to the regular notes of the crew we print today a letter from W. C. Nichols '93:

NEW LONDON, June 18, 1894.

To record an improvement in the Harvard 'varsity crew is something which is a pleasure for every Harvard man who is following the crews on the Thames with any degree of critical interest. In the week just finished, the Harvard crew has not made rapid strides towards that perfection of stroke at which every crew aims, but slow though noticeable improvements are evident. Though the watermanship is still manifestly inferior to Yale's, it has improved markedly in a week.

The chief excellence of the Harvard crew is the body work; for in both time and blade-work Yale excels. Where Harvard men may lay their hopes of their crew is in that splendid dash and vim and grit in which the crimson men go at their work. In the slower stroke Yale rows far the easier, more graceful stroke. But when they come to "hit up" the stroke to 36 and 37, as in the fourmile time row on Saturday, that superb finish vanishes. The time of that fourmile row was 21m. 10s., just one minute slower than the Thames record, made under similarly favorable conditions of wind and tide.

A notable feature of the Yale crew is their over-confidence, from "Bob" Cook down to the coxswain. They think there can be but one result to the race and that favorable to Yale. It may be that this over-confidence may act strongly to Harvard's advantage. The present week's work and its day-to-day improvement or deterioration will tell the story by next Monday.

As for the freshmen, it is folly to predict much. The Yale '97 men only arrived on Saturday and took their first row today. As between Columbia and Harvard, the latter is rowing the better. Even "Bob" Cook told me that the Columbia freshman crew is the "worst freshman crew" he ever saw. Still, their stroke, Pierrepont is an excellent oar and their improvement may be more rapid than Harvard '97, whose crew today was rowing in very fair form. Hollister, by the way, has been put back in the boat at No. 2 in place of Sleeper.

WALTER C. NICHOLS '93.