CHALLENGE FROM ENGLAND.

The following despatch appeared in a Boston paper yesterday morning:

OXFORD, ENG., June 5. - Oxford and Cambridge will send a team of picked athletes to America in September next to meet a picked team from Yale and Harvard. A joint committee of both the English colleges which has been considering the University of Pennsylvania's challenge, today cabled a challenge to Yale and Harvard, and later mailed a formal challenge.

All that is wanted now is the acceptance of the athletic authorities at Yale and Harvard. Of the Yale men who competed here in England in 1894, one of the members of the committee said today: "They are the nicest fellows in the world and true sportsmen. Therefore we would be glad to help them out and we have decided to send a challenge ourselves.

"We today cabled them a challenge and we have also mailed to them a formal challenge. We, that is, Oxford and Cambridge, would be glad to take a team to America next September, to compete with Yale and Harvard, and the decision whether this match shall take place, rests with them alone. We understand that Yale and Harvard both would have preferred to have this meeting next July, but unfortunately we cannot arrange for this. Therefore it only remains to be seen whether Yale and Harvard, in their sportsmanlike desire to bring about a contest of this character, will be willing to arrange for a meeting next September.

"There need not be the slightest apprehension that if the match is arranged it will interfere with the match between the London Athletic Club and the New York Athletic Club. Some of the members of the Oxford-Cambridge Athletic Association are also members of the London Athletic Club. They can take part in both contests. Our team, if the challenge is accepted, will not be selected until after the Oxford-Cambridge events in July.

"In case the challenge is accepted the Oxford-Cambridge team will probably include Fry for the 100 yards dash and the broad jump, Oakley of Oxford for the broad jump and hurdles, Horan of Cambridge for the three mile and half mile runs, Lutyens of Cambridge for the mile run, Jordan of Oxford for the quarter mile run and the 100 yard dash, Robertson of Oxford for the hammer throwing, Williams of Cambridge for the 100 yards dash, Fitzherbert of Cambridge for the quarter mile run, and Johnson of Cambridge for the hurdles and hammer throwing.

"The team will consist of 24 men, including reserves, and the officials of the associations. During the past few weeks the Oxford Athletic Association has been occupied with an extensive correspondence with the Athletic Association of the University of Pennsylvania. Representatives of the University of Pennsylvania requested a team to be selected from Oxford and Cambridge to meet the winners of the American intercollegiate games, the American athletes to come to England.

"The proposed contest, as was represented by the University of Pennsylvania men, could easily take place after the Oxford-Cambridge events, fixed for July 3, and be decided. The committee from the Oxford and Cambridge University athletic clubs which has challenged Yale and Harvard, carefully considered the proposal of the University of Pennsylvania students at two conferences held during the last fortnight. Yesterday the committee cabled the officials of the University of Pennsylvania Athletic Club that they could not accept the challenge."

Yale Willing to Accept.NEW HAVEN, CONN., June 6. - Lewis P. Sheldon, the newly-elected captain of the Yale Track Athletic Team, was asked this afternoon to confirm the statement that Yale and Harvard would be invited to meet Cambridge and Oxford Universities here in September. He said: "I have no knowledge of the matter except through the newspapers. The invitation of the English universities has not been received here. Yale will be delighted to accept the invitation, in case satisfactory arrangements can be made. I do not know whether Harvard will be willing to join Yale in the meet or not. The meet means that the two American colleges will be obliged to train more or less all summer, which we will cheerfully do if we can meet the English team."

It is feared at Yale that the invitation sent by the University of Pennsylvania to meet the English team has been slighted. The cablegram inviting Yale to meet the Englishmen is expected here hourly.

Meeting of I. C. A. A. Committee Called.[N. E. Associated Press.]

PHILADELPHIA, PA., June 6. - President Kendrick, of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association, today stated that a letter is now on its way to this country from Mr. Jackson of the Oxford (England) University, stating why Oxford and Cambridge have refused to meet in England the winners of the recent intercollegiate championships. Mr. Kendrick has called a meeting of the executive committee of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association in New York on Tuesday, when the letter, which will then have been received, will be discussed.

From the Harvard Side.Ex-Captain Bingham was seen at a late hour last night, on his return from Andover, where, with Captain Bremer and Mr. Lathrop, he had been coaching the Andover track athletes. He said that he could say nothing as to either the desirability or probability of a meeting with Oxford and Cambridge in September. He said, however, that no challenge had as yet been received. Until it should come, and before it could be considered by the Athletic Committee, it would be impossible for Harvard's position to be announced.