The dinner given by the Harvard Club of Boston at the Hotel Somerset last evening in honor of last year's victorious crew and baseball team was an unqualified success. About 350 men were present, and enthusiasm ran high throughout the evening. Music was furnished by an orchestra, and the football songs and others were played and sung.
Odin B. Roberts '86 presided and introduced the speakers, who were President Eliot, Robert F. Herrick '90, John Lowell '77, Dr. E. H. Nichols '86, O. D. Filley '06, J. Richardson, Jr., '08, and E. P. Currier '09. Major Henry Lee Higginson h.'82 presented the members of the winning team and crew with small gold baseballs and oars as mementoes of their victories.
President Eliot's Speech on Athletics.
Major Higginson introduced President Eliot as "the man who has given the devotion of his entire life to Harvard." The President began by saying that there should be no regret at his resignation. He desires to leave the strenuous task before his faculties are impaired. A young man is needed, who will have to learn much, but who must pursue a steady policy, for that is the only way to gain success. President Eliot said that he had always been interested in athletics and in the success of the Harvard teams; but he has always believed that honor is first, success second. Last year's crew under the able lead of Captain Richardson remedied a grave defect in our rowing system, one that was no- ticeable for a dozen years; and more important than this, they really enjoyed their practice on the river and showed thereby that victory could be gained without straining to the very point of exhaustion. There could be no more striking comparison than that between the athletic sports in the University in 1869 and at the present day. Then there was only one real sport; rowing and baseball were crude and undeveloped. The great changes that have come about are due to the kindness of our graduates, and especially of one of them, Major Higginson. The next president of the University will have an opportunity to improve the existing conditions still further
Read more in News
UNION LECTURE BY J. S. WISE