natural that he should feel his own physical inferiority to the men whom he is for the moment required to order about so peremptorily, and diffidence at first tends to make him dumb. But he soon picks up his 7v/e when he listens to the auda- cious orders and objurgations of rival pilots, and he is pleased to find that the qualities of what he might modestly consider te be impndence and arrogance are the very things which are most required of him, and for the display of which he earns commendation.
Having once found his tongue, he soon leams to use it. When there is a coach in attendance upon the crew, the pilot is not called upon to animadyert on any failings of oarsmen ; but when the coach is absent the coxswain is hound to say some- thing, and, if he has his wits about him, he soon picks up enough to make his remarks more or less to the purpose. The easiest detail on which he offers an opinion is that of time of oars. At first he feels guilty of ‘cheek’ in singing out to seme oarsmen of good standing that he is out of time. He feels as if he should hardly be surprised at a retort not to attempt to teach his grandmother ; but, on the contrary, the admonition is meckly accepted, and the pilot begins at once to gain confi- dence in himself. Daily he picks up more and more theo- retical knowledge ; he notes what a coach may say of this or that man’s faults, and he soon begins to see when certain ad- monitions are required. -At least he can play the parrot, and ean echo the coach’s remarks when the mentor is absent, and before long he will have picked ‘up enough to be able to dis- cern when such a reproof is relevant and when it is not. In his spare time he often paddles a boat about on his own ac: count, and this practice materially assists him in understand- ing the doctrines which he has to preach. As a rule, cox- swains row in yery good form, when thcy row at all ; and before their career closes many of them, though they have never rowed in a race, can teach much more of the science of oarsmanship than many a winning oar of a University race. or of a Grand Challenge Cup contest.
