With the encouraging reports which are now being received in regard to the progress of the crew, it seems well worth while to say a word in regard to the attitude of Harvard men toward the race on the twenty-fifth.

In the first place, fast as the English stroke may be, and well qualified as Mr. Lehmann may be to teach it, it is practically an impossibility for any oarsmen to make a very radical change in their system of rowing and master all the fine points of a new stroke all in one year. The Harvard crew is a fairly strong one physically, and we believe the rowing methods in vogue at Cambridge and Oxford to be the best adapted to eight-oared crews. But it must be remembered that Cornell and Yale, especially the latter, have crews which are excellent physically, which have had the benefits of a good deal of racing experience, and which are undoubtedly both about as fast as any that have ever represented those universities. In addition, the so-called Yale and Cornell strokes are by no means so inferior or different from the English as seems to be supposed; at recent Henley regattas and on other occasions Yale and Cornell crews have rowed very close to the most thoroughly trained and experienced British crews, and then under the disadvantages of a foreign climate.

In view of these circumstances it is important for the University not to be so confident as to expect a victory as a matter of course, and not to be disappointed with the new rowing system if it looses in this first trial. It would be a really remarkable performance if the crew should win this year; all that we have a right to expect of it is for it to make a reasonably good, creditable showing, and we may feel sure that in this at least, the men will come up to expectations.