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ORNELL UNIVERSITY taught the colleges of this country a lesson in sportsmanlike conduct last month which should not be forgotten. For about three months, Yale and Harvard had been squabbling over arrangements for a boat race, in a manner which reflected nothing but discredit upon themselves; each party taking a stand and declining to recede from it. Yale was perhaps the more to blame in the matter, because Yale was an applicant for a race that would, in a certain measure, interfere with Harvard's arrangements. The latter had on hand a race with Cornell, which Harvard, to its credit, declined to withdraw from. Finally, Yale backed down from her position that she would not row in any race with more than one crew, and consented to row against Cornell as well. This, of course, called for consent on the part of Cornell, and within twenty-four hours of the receipt of a request, the Cornellians met and consented to the arrangement, merely suggesting that they would like Columbia and Pennsylvania to be admitted to the race. This, Yale strongly objected to, and so also did Harvard, but for the reason that the Harvard captain knew that Yale would not consent to any such condition.

With that understanding, Professor Wheeler, of Cornell, went to New York and met the delegates from Columbia and Pennsylvania, and very speedily decided to row a second race with them. Harvard wanted the Yale-Harvard-Cornell race on June 24 or 25, and Cornell named June 25, with the possibility of a change to a prior date. Then Cornell suggested July 2 to Columbia and Pennsylvania, and that was at once acceded to. All through the entire arrange

ments for these two races, the action of Cornell stands out in bold relief as one of the most sportsmanlike ever taken by any college.

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What the result of this new arrangement will be, remains to be seen. We know very well that Yale has for years objected to a race with any college but Harvard. objected to it this year, but had to consent to letting Cornell in, in order to get a race at all. Now, Cornell has no claim on Harvard beyond the present year, and if Yale should insist next year upon rowing Harvard alone, will Harvard consent, or will she tell Yale that there is something due to Cornell? Personally, I have very little confidence in Yale nowadays. At one time, what Yale said was always a true, sportsmanlike verdict upon any subject, but of late years, the undergraduates have simply dragged the college down, and there is no saying what they will do from one year to another. Yale cannot, with anything like respect to herself, refuse to row Cornell next year, and if she insists upon a race with Harvard alone, that college, Cornell, and every other, ought to ostracise her.

There is of course something in all these arrangements beyond the mere boat race. Yale is anxious to renew her old terms with Harvard for an annual football match, a series of baseball matches, and an athletic meeting, all of which she has been deprived of for eighteen months. For her to concede the one point of allowing Cornell to row in the Harvard-Yale race, is giving very little in return for what she hopes to get, and Yale cannot expect to dictate to the entire college world in all matters athletic, as some of the undergraduates seem to think she may do.

From Yale comes the information that Captain Cook has resumed his coaching of

the crew, with the additional news that he has made certain changes in the method of tank rowing, whereby the crew can row thirty strokes a minute in place of fifteen. It is just possible that Captain Cook's plan, of which I know nothing definitely, is the outcome of a suggestion made to him by me a year ago.

I had then just returned from New Haven, where I had seen the tank apparatus for the first time, and was more convinced than ever that my first objection made to it years before was sound. It cannot help making men row slow and spoil the catch at the beginning of the stroke. Meeting Captain Cook in New York, 1 spoke to him on the subject, particularly with reference to the fast stroke that would be needed at Henley; and suggested that instead of the blade they were using at New Haven, one should be made, say with a steel frame and slats across it, so they might be added to or taken out, to increase or diminish the face of the oar and allow it to be driven through the water at about the same rate that the boat is driven by the oar in racing. We spoke of several ways by which this could be done, and I am a little interested to know whether the new method said to be in use at New Haven is not the outcome of that conversation.

James Watson.

Indoor Rifle Shooting and Cartridges. WITH some rifle clubs, it is the practice

to give up outdoor shooting at the 200-yard ranges when winter comes, and then gallery shooting begins; though even when outdoor shooting is continued through the winter, some clubs have gallery shooting also. And besides the pleasure of a social evening, the gallery is useful to the rifleman, for he has all the practice in "holding" that he would have on the 200yard range, the only important difference being that he shoots a 22-caliber cartridge instead of one suited to the longer distance.

Indoor shooting has increased in popularity from year to year, until now almost every rifle club of importance in the country has its gallery adjunct. San Francisco has a particularly active club, though, of course, in that climate they keep up their outdoor practice. St. Louis has an enthusiastic gallery club, as also has Chicago, while Milwaukee's club is one of the most enthusiastic in the West. Cincinnati riflemen continue outdoor practice with gallery work, as do they of Pittsburg. Each city has a large number of live riflemen. Baltimore and Washington have their indoor clubs, and Philadelphia has several very active ones. Among the German-American shooters of the country, the rifle clubs around New York are looked upon as the head and front of the handlers of heavy rifles and

set-triggers. In some of these clubs, 200yard shooting is continued through the winter, and in all of them, gallery shooting is largely practiced. The distance adopted by these clubs is twenty-five yards.

Anent the rifle matches at the Sportsmen's Exposition in New York this month, most of the club members in the nearby cities have shown more than ordinary interest in gallery practice since the announcement of these events. However, these matches will be of much more than local importance, and will doubtless be the beginning of annual indoor matches that will bring together riflemen from all parts of the country. The time has passed when riflemen are content to "let their lights shine under a bushel," and local experts now become ambitious to try their skill with experts in other localities. The last few years have wrought great changes in this respect in the ranks of the indoor marksmen. What was looked upon half a dozen years ago as an evening pastime, develops with these matches into a competition of almost national importance.

Until within a few years, there were only two kinds of 22-caliber rim-fire cartridges in use, the short and the long. The latter was so inferior in accuracy that it was of no use to the target shooter, so for several generations the 22-short held full sway in the galleries. But as most of the ranges were only about fifteen yards long, its lack of accuracy was not so perceptible as it was when the ranges were extended to twentyfive, and even forty yards, as was done in a Boston gallery.

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With the longer ranges, it became evident that the 22-short cartridge did not shoot as closely as some riflemen could hold. terest in gallery shooting naturally flagged somewhat until the accurate 22-long-rifle cartridge was brought out. The difference in the loads is slight too. The short cartridge contains three grains of powder and thirty grains of lead; while the long-rifle has the same powder charge as the long, but the bullet is longer and weighs forty grains. Another difference, and an important one, is that the shell of the newer cartridge is not crimped into the bullet.

The heavy bullet of the long-rifle cartridge requires more twist of the rifling, but when suitable barrels had been made, marksmen were astonished at the increased accuracy over the time-honored 22-short. Scores were made that were before thought to be impossible, and short-range shooting received a new impetus all over the country. Boston, one of the most progressive of our cities in rifle matters, was the first to adopt the long-rifle and bring out its possibilities. The short was dropped, and went out of use entirely among rifle clubs in the Hub. But to the riflemen of New York and Jersey City, extreme accuracy in the gallery seemed to have no charms, for there is not a club in these

cities where the long-rifle cartridge is used to-day. This is particularly strange when it is known that, for 200-yard shooting, these riflemen desire, and insist on having, rifles and ammunition giving the greatest possible accuracy; nothing but the extreme will answer. Then why this blind idolatry of the imperfect 22-short cartridge?

As to the relative accuracy of the two cartridges at the 25-yard range, the long-rifle will doubtless average 25 per cent. better than the short, while at longer ranges, the difference is greater.

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The matches at the Sportsmen's Exposition are announced to be shot at 100 feet, and in the interest of progress, let us hope that it will become so apparent that expert rifleman can "outhold" the short cartridge, that a unanimous cry will go up from members of all rifle clubs for the cartridge that will give the greatest possible accuracy for indoor shooting.

Rollin E. Smith.

Foolish Lawn Tennis Legislation.

HE annual meeting of the United States

was held last month in New York, and a majority of those who attended the "convention "went away with the same feeling of impotence that has been generated at each of the conventions of this organization for the last few years. The formality of holding this meeting seems to grow less necessary with every year, for the clique in whose hands the management of the Association rests, so effectually control every act of the governing body that the executive committee to which the members of this clique are annually elected, might just as well decide any points that might come up, at its star chamber sessions, and conduct the rest of the business of the organization through the mails.

One of the members of this committee invariably holds enough proxies to control the meeting, and opposition would be futile even if it were desirable. The usual farce of "I nominate Mr. Smith for vice-president; I move that the nominations be closed, and the secretary be instructed to cast one ballot for Mr. Smith," was gone through once more last month, and the entire board of officers and three of the other five of last year's executive committee were re-elected.

When it came to reading reports, however, none was heard from the handicapping committee appointed a year ago to promulgate handicap events in America; and it was all too evident to those interested in the subject, that this promising movement was to be allowed to die a natural death. For five years, lawn tennis writers have been harping on the absence of handicap tournaments in America, and when official recognition

was finally given to this feature of the sport, and a committee appointed with instructions to report this winter, the movement seemed fairly well launched. But the wretched handicapping of this committee in the only two tournaments "officially" held during last season, evidently discouraged its members so far that a report of their work would seem too much like adding insult to injury.

And so the movement was allowed to drop, although the results of the first year— excepting only the committee's poor assignments of odds—promised ultimate success. The lawn tennis legislators even begrudged the small appropriation that encouraged the work last year, and totally ignored the existence of the committee and its expected report. Only a year ago, when it was suggested that the management of the Newport Casino, where the national championship tournament is held every August, could well be taxed more than five hundred dollars for the privilege of holding this tournament, as it was well-known that it yielded several thousand in profits each year, objection was raised on the ground that the Association did not need money; and now this promising movement is to be allowed to drop because the Association has not the money, or is unwilling to raise the money by such legitimate means as those suggested last year to carry it on.

The dearth of knowledge of the values of odds among American tennis handicappers was emphasized last summer by the conflicting methods adopted by the handicapping committee. At the 1896 convention, the quarter-fifteen system of handicapping was adopted as official, but the committee appointed to carry out these plans preferred the "sixth" system, and used it in both of the official handicap tournaments, in utter defiance of the existing laws. Almost if not all of the other events of the year were handicapped with quarters of fifteeu, and when the ranking committee (two of whom also served on the handicapping committee) came to make up its schedule at the end of the season, they went back to the official system in contradiction of what had been used in the official tourna

ments.

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When the subject came up for discussion at the recent annual meeting, a motion was made to substitute "sixths" for "quarters" as official, and without a single word of discussion the matter was voted on and mechanically passed. The clique "pulled the string" and the meeting did the rest. substitute the smaller units for handicapping means simply to make the work of the handicappers more intricate, the most inadvisable move that could be made, after last year's committee had failed so utterly to adjust the odds between players. They tried to use sixths" and found the units so small that the differences between classes

American master, whose clever play in the recent masters' tournaments abroad has won for him a high place in the hearts of American chess lovers, was the first man on the American team, and was pitted against Blackburn, the veteran British expert. This game resulted in a draw that should have been a victory for the American. Pillsbury secured an advantage in the early part of the game, but was finally forced to propose a draw when Blackburn threatened perpetual check. Showalter, the American champion, who has recently been recognized as a master of the game, scored a clever victory in thirty-six moves over Locock, his British antagonist. The American won a piece

HE second international chess match

captured last year by American players representing the Brooklyn Chess Club, was played by cable last month between teams of ten experts each, representing the London Chess Club and the Brooklyn Chess Club. The result was a defeat for the Americans by five and one-half games to four and one-half. The intention was that these teams should be representative of all England and all America, but much adverse criticism has been caused in chess circles by the narrowness of the field from which the Brooklyn Chess Club selected its team.

Last year's match in which there were only eight men on each team, was won by the Americans by a very narrow margin. When it was decided this year to increase the number of players on the teams to ten each, American authorities questioned the advisability of this change because of the differences between the Brooklyn and the Philadelphia experts. When it came time to select the players, the Brooklyn management put in two or three local experts in preference to calling on several Philadelphians who would have materially added to the strength of the American team. Had they overlooked their petty quarrels long enough to select a representative American team, there is good reason to believe that America would have won the match instead of losing it. The eighth, ninth, and tenth men on the American teams were all defeated, and several experts who studied the games closely, declared atter the match was lost, that had these three men been substituted by the leading experts from the Franklin Chess Club, of Philadelphia, certainly two and possibly three of the games would have been scored for the United States. As the reversal of only one game was necessary for America to win the match, it may be seen that to this narrowness of policy may be attributed the defeat this year.

Of the rest of the American team, only one was beaten, while three of the remaining six scored victories and three games were drawn. Pillsbury, the brilliant young

sign after thirty-six moves.

Burille, the third representative on the American team and a Bostonian, was the only man of the first seven to lose, and several of the experts who followed the game most closely, expressed the opinion that both Hymes and Barry, and possibly Hodges, should have been placed above Burille on the American team. Barry, the hero of last year's international match, once more flattered his admirers by winning a clever game from Lawrence, the English representative, after thirty-four moves. Barry had the white pieces and opened with P-Q4. Hymes and Hodges, two clever New York players who were placed fifth and sixth on the American team, both drew their games against their British opponents; while Delmar, another New Yorker-who played with the black men, by the wayannounced mate in five" after forty-four moves had been scored. Of the last three men on the team, Helms, Teed and McCutcheon, all three were beaten, the lastnamed surviving only twenty-seven moves against Jacobs, his English antagonistand McCutcheon had the advantage of white men at that, too.

The result of the match therefore was that Great Britain won four games, drew three and lost three, while America-or rather the Brooklyn Chess Club-won three, drew three and lost four games.

The Newnes trophy is open to challenge again next year, and it is to be hoped that if an American team tries again for its possession, the challenge will come from a club whose management will show some judgment in selecting their representative team. If all of the native -born American experts were sifted, a team of ten men could be found on this side of the Atlantic which certainly ought to beat any that can be made up abroad. One of the conditions of the trophy is, that players must be native-born to represent any country whose team plays for this cup, and this bars from an English team such men as Lasker and Tschigorin, the former being a Pole and the latter a Russian.

Walter W. Fosdick.

Good Stories Told by Sportsmen.

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HE perverse spirit of the untamed bicycle is known to every wheelman, and the typical "mule" is sometimes docile in comparison.

A novice who recently became fascinated with bicycling, had so far succeeded in mastering his wheel that he could ride as long as the bicycle went straight ahead. But when it began to wander from the "straight and narrow way," he could do nothing but let it go, and trust in Providence.

One morning ne wheeled his machine out of the yard, and seeing no one in sight, he decided to ride on the walk. No sooner was he mounted and riding smoothly down the gentle incline, than an old man stepped out from a gate not a hundred feet ahead. To stop was impossible, and his only hope lay in the chance that the man might get out of the way. The novice rang his bell wildly, but without effect. The machine headed directly for its prey. "Hi, there! Look out! I'm coming! Run! Run!" called the rider, in despair.

The old man heard, but instead of running, dodged behind a tree on one side of the walk. His efforts were not rewarded with success, for, with the accuracy of fate, the wheel swerved from its course, took a turn about the tree, and struck the ill-fated man before he could dodge again.

It had always been a principle with Bwho was a thorough sportsman, to encour age youthful tendencies whenever he saw that they turned in the direction of his beloved sport, shooting. He took a deep interest in a friend's son, for the boy took an interest in his guns.

One Christmas B- presented the youth with a small rifle, and shortly afterward, he asked his friend if the boy was taking good care of the gun.

• Good care!" his friend responded, with vehemence; "I should say he was! He oils the thing all over every night and wraps it up in my Sunday trousers."

A young millionaire yachtsman, who knew more of New York's famous Wall Street than of the technicalities of a boat, but who was called a yachtsman only because he owned a yacht, took a party of his friends out for a day's sail on the Sound one day last summer. In the party, there happened to be two old yachtsmen, who really did know the sport from A to Z, and to them it was rather amusing, when, sitting together forward on the edge of the house, puffing away at their pipes, they overheard the following enthusiastic eulogy from their host to a friend:

The endless streams of people were parading up and down the long aisles of the big building, admiring the fine dogs displayed on the benches. It was the great dog show of the year, and the crowd was simply enormous. In front of the long rows of benches they passed, patting and snapping their fingers at the dogs in their fancied good nature, until almost every animal on exhibition began to show signs of temper.

But there was one row of caged benches, whose occupants were not disturbed, and one glance at the long, sharp teeth and ugly looks of the fierce bulldogs behind these networks convinced everyone that they were wisely labeled " Dangerous! Don't touch this dog. He bites."

By some mischance, one of these signs became misplaced and was hung over a bench to which was chained a shivering little Italian greyhound puppy;

A great, gruff Irishman, whose original comments on one after another of the dogs, as he passed their benches, had convulsed those nearest to him, suddenly spied this legend, and read it over carefully twice. Then he looked again at the meek, inoffensive little creature whose trembling legs and quivering body were not calculated to inspire fear, and the humor of the situation seemed to strike him forcibly, for he threw back his head, and after a hearty guffaw, burst out with:

"Bite, would he? I'd like to see him do it! Why, if that shivering spalpeen tried to bite me, I'd draw the teeth of him."

Another good story is told of an Irish visitor to the dog show.

After wandering past the benches of breed after breed, this curious lover of dogs suddenly came upon the first of a row of dachshunds, but he did not stop to look at more than one. At the first bench, one of these curious little bow-legged animals waddled over to his Celtic visitor with his usual lumbering gait. But the latter took only one glimpse and then hurried away.

A few minutes later he rushed excitedly into the office of the managers and asked for the "veteran surgeon." When the dog doctor was finally found, the Irishman declared breathlessly that the "little brown dog down at the end of the third row had two broken legs."