Presentation of the New Boat House.

The new University boat house was formally presented to the University by representatives of the Harvard Club of New York at four o'clock yesterday afternoon. The meeting at the boat house was attended by about eight hundred students who had marched down from the Yard with the University band. The speakers, President Eliot, Professor Hollis, Edmund Wetmore '06 and A. G. Fox '65 came up to the boat house in the launch "John Harvard," together with Major Higginson h. '82, E. C. Storrow '89, G. W. Weld '60 and others.

Professor Hollis spoke of the difficulties which had been surmounted in the construction of the boat house, and alluded to the generosity of Alexander Agassiz '55 who added to the gift of the New York Club enough to make the house entirely fireproof.

Mr. Wetmore, president of the Harvard Club of New York, then presented the boat house to the University and expressed the hope that it will foster a spirit and develop a skill that will bring to Harvard many victories in rowing. The determination and perseverance characteristic of Harvard are typified in the building of the present boat house on the ashes of the one burned last Christmas, and the gift of the New York alumni is a demonstration of the friendship and enthusiasm which Harvard alumni feel for Harvard institutions.

Mr. Fox, secretary of the New York Club, briefly reviewed the work of planning and constructing the boat house and said that the constructing the boat house and said that the credit of originating the project is largely due to Mr. Lehmann. He also said that if the students enjoy the use of the boat house half as much as the alumni enjoy giving it, its success will be secure.

President Eliot accepted the boat house in behalf of the University. He said that the development of the body is necessary to the cultivation of a sound mind, and that rowing is a great means to such development. However, he expressed the fear that rowing is not today as pure a pleasure as it should be, and as it was when he rowed on the crew. It is to be hoped that rowing will be further fostered in the near future by the construction of a dam at Craigie Bridge, which would keep the river at high water mark all the time. In concluding, he spoke of the generosity of Alexander Agassiz, who had already given much to the University in many ways, and of the diligent efforts of Professor Hollis in the interest of athletics.

The meeting ended with the singing of "Fair Harvard."