Story 4-Chapter I STORY FOUR The Crew of the Rose
For some time the four rowers bent earnestly to their oars, the coxswain doing the principal part of the talking work; but as the stream carried the boat along, and there was no necessity for constant pulling, they at times restrained their arms to let their tongues run free. The chatting commenced thus:
We havent given a name to the boat yet.
Well, I vote for the Hose.
I think the shamrock sounds well, said OMackerry.
The Leek, was Ap Tydvills suggestion.
Leek ! an unlucky name! observed Green, the coxswain, who, though a gentlemen and a scholar, was sadly addicted to punning; but they were all of Saint Johns College, and therefore punsters by prescription. This bad pun let out a good deal of punning; when it ceased to flow, the original subject was renewed.
Will the Trinity boat beat us next month? They have a choice crew, all in capital condition, and heavy men. OMack is the only twelve stone man here, (all gownsmen, you know, are men , however boyish in years and appearance), and Tyd is such a little fellow!
Im five feet seven, replied he, rather snappishly; and I can tell you that the mean height of a mans stature is but
five feet four. (Murmurs of dissent.) OMack is about ten inches above the standard; but Ill back a man of my own height (drawing himself up majestically) against him for walking, jumping, running, fighting, wrestling, swimming, throwing a bar, or rowing a long distance if he have my breadth of chest and shoulders, and such an arm as this, displaying a limb as hard and muscular as that of a blacksmith. By his own estimate he was of the perfect size and form.
Im not afraid of Trinity, shouted he loudly, if not musically. Sumamus longum haustum et fortem haustum, et haustum Omne simul , as Lord Dufferin said at the Norwegian Symposium, and we shall bump them.
At the spirited Latin watchword, our Cantabs commenced a chorus, Omne simul, omne simul , etc, etc, which Tyd himself had set to an old Welsh tune of the Bardic days. The effect was thrilling the coxswain, both sonorously and with a correct ear, singing, Omne simul, omne simul , and beating time with his feet against the stretcher, while the rowers, arms and lungs and all, pulled and chorused sympathetically.
This sport lasted about half an hour, and then the question was again mooted, What name shall we give to the boat?
Green, the steersman, put the question: Those who vote for the Rose will say ay three ays; those who vote for the Shamrock one; those who vote for the Leek one.
The ays have it.
Three triumphant cheers for the majority.
The freshman, quite cockahoop at the victory gained over Ap Tydvill and OMackerry, ventured to ask the Welshman how it happened that a leek became the national emblem of Wales? He readily answered, When my country was able to lick (query: leek) your country, I dont include yours, OMackerry, one of our jolly old princes having gained a great victory over one of your Saxon leaders and his army, took up a chive , which he found growing somewhere near the Wye, and said, Well wear this henceforward as a memorial of this victory.
Pooh, pooh, said the coxswain; the true version is this. Once upon a time, Wales was so infested with monkeys that the natives were obliged to ask the English to lend them a hand in destroying them. The English generously came to their assistance; but not perceiving any distinction between the Welsh and the monkeys, they killed a great number of the former, by mistake of course; so, in order to distinguish them, clearly, they requested that the Welshmen would stick a leek in their bonnets. A running fire (though on water) commenced against poor Monsieur Du Leek as the bantering youngsters, with profound bows and affected gravity, chose to name Ap Tydvill of pedigree immeasurable.
However, he recovered his serenity, after an explosion of wrath somewhat dangerous for a moment; and, on the free trade principle, began to quiz some one else.
Mack, said he, do you remember the ducking you got there , among the arundines Cami ? pointing to a deep sedgy part of the river.
I do; and I had, indeed, a narrow escape from drowning, or rather from being suffocated in the deep sludgy mud.
How was it? one of the others asked.
I was poling a punt along the bank, looking for waterfowl to have a shot, you know, and I pulled myself into the river!
You mean, Paddy, said Mr Tydvill, that you pulled yourself out of the river.
No; I mean what I say; there is no blunder for you to grin at. I stuck the pole so firmly into the deep mud, that I could not pull it out; but it pulled me in.
Why didnt you let go at once?
I hadnt time to think of that; instinctively I grasped the pole, lost my balance, and tumbled into the river.
The unfortunate youth was extracted from the deep slime among osiers by a labourer near hand, and he dried his clothes in a cottage