Third Winter Meeting.

The third winter meeting the of H. A. A. was a great success. A large crowd of spectators, including many ladies, had plenty of chances to show their enthusiasm over close and exciting contests. There were an unusually large number of entries for the events since about a dozen members of other colleges belonging to the Intercollegiate Athletic Association and of the Institute of Technology had availed themselves of the chance of contesting. The visitors made such good use of their strength and agility, that they carried off five first prizes and one second from the eight events.

The meeting was opened by the two-hand fence vault which was contested by A. H. Green, '92, D. G. Tenney, Yale, and G. W. Pearson, L. S. The first to drop out was Tenney, who touched the boards at 6 feet 3 1-8 inches. Pearson did not miss until the bar was raised to 7 feet 7-8 inches. Green cleared this on his second trial, but was unable to vault higher; He was therefore awareded the first prize and Pearson the second.

There were five entries for the standing high jump. S. Crook, Williams, L. C. Wason, M. I. T, F, G. Curtis, '90, H. Bean, '91, and W. H. Duane, '92. All the men jumped easily as high as 4 feet 6 inches, when Wason and Curtis were obliged to make two attempts. At 4 feet 9 inches all the men failed except Crook who cleared the bar easily. It was then raised to 4 feet 10 3-4 inches, and finally to 5 feet, but Crook retired without clearing the latter height. Then the bar was lowered to 4 feet 8 inches again, and the contestants tried to decide for second place. None were able to jump this height, and the bar had to be lowered several more times before Wason and Bean managed to clear it. Bean finally won with a jump of 4 feet 8 inches to his credit.

A new plan was adopted for the rope climbing. Instead of hampering the climbers with a belt and a safety rope, a canvas was held underneath to catch the men if they fell. Only three out of the seven contestants appeared. C. E. Curry '89, won in 14 1-5 seconds, with H. French, M. I. T, second, in 18 1-4 seconds, and J. Crane Jr., '90, third in 20 1-4 seconds.

The next event was the first bout in the tug-of-war, which was to be decided by the best two out of three five-minute pulls, instead of a single tug as usual. The teams were as follows: Columbia-1, C. H. Hart; 2, E. C. Robinson; 3, E. Harris, (capt.); G. M. Elliot, (anchor). Harvard-1, E. W. Grew; 2, F. O. Raymond, Jr.; 3, J. Endicott, (captain); G. Perry, (anchor). Columbia won 1 inch on the drop, but retained only half an inch at the end of the first minute. At two minutes Columbia had 1 inch again, and at three minutes 1 1-2 inches. Perry was caught soon after this trying to heave and lost about 3 inches more, so that when time was called Columbia won by 4 inches. The Columbia men excited considerable comment by their leather shoulder guards which they varnished and resigned until a firm grip for the rope was formed.

W. F. Pillsbury, '89, W. H. McLellan, Jr., '91, G. H. Oakey, M. S., and F. H. Leonard, '92, then appeared on the parallel bars. All the men gave a highly creditable exhibition. Plisoury performed the most difficult feats and was the most graceful. He was clearly entitled to the first prize, which he received. The second prize was awarded to Leonard. McLellan's performance showed off his great strength to advantage, but did not contain as much variety as the others.

The contestants in the running high jump were J. P. Lee, '91, T. G. Shearman, Yale, D. G. Tenney, Yale, and R. G. Leavitt, '89. Tenney was the first to drop out at 5 feet 5 1-4 inches. From this point the contest was extremely interesting, for first one man and then another failed on his first trial, but cleared the bar on his second or third attempt. Lee dropped out on 5 7 1-4 inches; Shearman cleared 5 feet, 8 inches, and won, as Leavitt, whose best jump was 5 feet 7 1-4 inches, could not reach this height. The bar was then raised to 5 feet, 8 5-8 inches, when Shearman touched it in his jump, but did not knock it off. This was five-eighths of an inch above his best previous record.

G. Rublee, L. S., and L. C. Wason, M. I. T., contested the running high kick. Rublee had some difficulty in reaching 8 feet 8 inches, but Wason kicked 9 feet without failing once.

The next event was the pole vault, for which T. G. Shearman, Yale, and R. G. Leavitt, '89, appeared. Leavitt cleared 10 feet, 3 1-4 inches, breaking the Harvard record of 10 feet, 5-8 inches, made by Leavitt himself, April 2, 1887. Shearman vaulted 1 inch higher, thus winning the event, and also establishing a new record for Yale. The intercollegiate record for this event is only 10 feet, 3-4 inches., and was made at the meeting in 1886 by Shearman and A. Stevens, of Columbia.

The second and final heat in the tug-of-war brought the meeting to a close. Columbia won half an inch on the drop, but this was soon recovered by Harvard, with half an inch more. The strain was clearly too much for Perry, however, and at the end of two minutes, Columbia had pulled an inch of the rope to their side. From this time they kept increasing their advantage, until they had 5 inches at the end of four minutes, and a foot when time was called. The arrangements on the shoulders of the Columbia rope men evidently gave them a great help, not only in holding, but in pulling, for by this means their hands slipped less, and they could use their strength to more effect.