"PLEASURE-ROWING"

The reintroduction of a sculling competition as part of the Henley Regatta at Philadelphia, increases the importance of rowing as an intercollegiate activity. It will be the first time since the latter '70s that there has been an intercollegiate sculling race with Harvard as a competitor.

No doubt the direct cause for its re-establishment is the enormous popularity among undergraduates of this form of rowing. Last year the record showed that sculls were taken out from the Newell and Weld boat houses more than 5,000 times. These figures naturally recall the days of 1876 when the college publications used to bemoan the fact that there was such a dearth of "pleasure-rowing" among undergraduates. Then there was the annual regatta in which scullers took part, as well as the Scratch races on the Charles. Their popularity was so distinctly feeble, that in the spring of '76, when only two candidates reported for the sculling championships, the Advocate began to view the situation with proverbial alarm. "It is in vain to expect a true interest to be taken in boating, unless pleasure-rowing becomes more prevalent", an editorial remarked, and went on in appeal to the "loungers around the docks" to take up sculling or rowing in some form or other. But editorial exhortations had no effect; and apparently the indifference here was current among the colleges, for sculling was dropped from the regatta, not to be resumed until this season. Whether the compulsory physical training for Freshmen has been responsible for the recent rise in the popularity of "pleasure-rowing" or not, fifty years have brought a change, for all signs point towards a successful season for the scullers under Coach Edward Wachter.