An enthusiastic mass meeting was held last evening in the Union to practice the cheers and songs for the game with Yale this afternoon. A short form of the regular cheer was tried with great success and will be used in cheering the men as they come to bat this afternoon. In this cheer the "Harvard" are pronounced as one syllable and the cheer is given much faster than the regular one. Several speeches were made, and R. Oveson '05 introduced the speakers.

Coach Murphy said that the Yale team is the best one which has been developed at New Haven for six years and is going to fight Hard. The Harvard team has shown steady improvement in fielding, base-running and team work and the Holy Cross game although a defeat, was, from a Harvard standpoint, the most game this year. Hitting is still the team's weak point and the confidence which will remedy this defect will be given by hearty cheering.

Captain Randall, the next speaker, gave great credit to Dr. Nichols and Coach Murphy for the spirit of aggressiveness which they have instilled into the team. Every game up to the president, he said, has been; practice for the Yale series, and on these two or three games depend the success or failure of the season's work. Harvard has already scored 6 more runs than any University team of recent years has scored in a whole season. He concluded by saying that there are three ways of cheering. The first is the kind heard when a team has a good lead and cheering seems unnecessary; the second kind is heard when a team is near behind and cheering seems hopeless; the last kind is that which is heard at an exciting crisis, and it is this kind which gives the team confidence.

Dr. Nichols said that the work of the team was unsatisfactory at the first of the season, but the development since then has been good. The chances of victory favor Harvard, but the teams are more evenly matched than they have been for six years and Harvard will win only by good hitting and by avoiding stupid errors