The Freshman Crew.

The freshman crew will leave for New London Thursday next by the one o'clock train. We have watched with interest the work of the crew both in the gymnasium and on the water, and we have now to make a final estimate of the men individually and of the crew as a whole.

The crew itself is light, averaging eight pounds lighter than the '87 freshman crew, and four pounds lighter than the '86 crew. After getting on the water, the crew developed many bad faults; the men rushed the recover and hung badly at both ends of the stroke, they slumped on the finish, their time was poor, and they failed to get in their weight. It can not be expected that a freshman crew will row in anything like perfect form; but after making due allowance for this, the outlook was discouraging. The men seemed to work hard and conscienciously without making much improvement.

About ten days ago, however, a decided change for the better began to be noticeable. This improvement was due partly, though not wholly, to the fact that the crew changed from the '87 boat into the new '85 shell. Since then the crew has braced up and improvement has been steady. The bad fault of rushing the slide in coming forward has been to a great extent over-come; but more improvement in this particular is necessary. The slump at the finish has been partly overcome, though some of the men, especially 3, need to pay strict attention to this point. The time is still poor, and the crew as a whole rows short. The men (except bow and stroke) still swing back too far, and when they get back they jerk in their hands badly instead of flnishing smoothly. This failure to row smoothly applies all through the stroke and, to a greater or less extent, throughout the boat. The great improvement, however, has been in overcoming to a great extent the bad hang which the crew had on both the catch and the finish. This change is most encouraging. The men still fail to get their weight on the stretchers, and after rowing well for a short distance they let up too much. This last fault is being gradually overcome. Most of the men ought to get in somewhat more work with their legs. Eighty-eight has been seriously handicapped by the want of a regular coach; under these circumstances the men deserve much credit for getting into their present form.

We give below individual criticism of the men. Bow: rows oar out at finish; catches ahead; has good body movement, except a little drop at the catch, and does not swing back too far. 2: a strong man; rows pretty well; over-reaches somewhat and fizzles a little on the finish; his chief fault is that he does not pay attention to time or to the boat. 3: very hard worker, but gets in work at the wrong time; does not get weight on to his stretcher until half through his stroke; has bad jerk at finish; slumps badly at finish, and swings back too far; covers his blade well at the beginning. 4: works hard, and is getting a good deal of work out of the crew; swings back and forward too far; should try to work more from his stretcher and less from his seat; pulls out too soon; does not watch man in front of him carefully. 5: does not cover blade at beginning; fails to get weight on stretcher soon enough; swings away from his oar badly; pulls his weight when he covers his blade. 6: catches lightly and does not cover blade soon enough; begins to take blade out too soon; swings back too far; is a hard worker. 7: does not support stroke, but that is hard to do because stroke is unsteady: catches behind; lets up on pressure at finish; drops hands on full reach; slumps at finish; rows more smoothly than any man in the boat. Stroke: unsteady; over-reaches with body and does not slide up far enough; has bad swing; feathers under water and too flat; careless watermanship; does not swing back too far; can push the crew for all they can stand; one of hardest workers in the boat.

The outlook for the crew is promising. The crew is not up to the exceptionally high standard of the '87 freshman crew; but on the other hand the Columbia '88 crew is inferior to their winning freshman crew of last year. The rapid improvement which the men have made during the past week, makes us believe that '88 will follow '86's example, and will win the race with Columbia.

We cannot close this article without expressing publicly the high appreciation which the captain and every member of the crew have for the valuable assistance which Mr. Mumford, of the University, has given them by his coaching. Whatever success attends the crew, the credit will be due to the hard and earnest work of Mr. Mumford.

The freshman race will be rowed June 25. The following is a list of the men with their weights:

Position. Name. Weight.

Bow. H. D. Hale, 147

2. J. R. Thomas, 159

3. A. P. Butler, 155

4 F. C. Woodman. (Capt.) 160

5. A. Churchill, 172

6. C. F. Adams, 3rd, 146

7. F. J. Bradlee, 162

Stroke. C. A. Porter, 150

Average, 156 1-2

Substitutes. J. R. Purdon, 160

W. D. Bancroft, 165

Coxswain. F. W. Knowles, 110