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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 8, Issue 412, 20 September 1866, Page 4

Me Dickens’s Experiences on the Wateb. —At a late dinner of the Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Club, Mr Charles Dickens occupied tno chair, and in the course of the evening remarked that he could not avoid remembrance ol what very poor things the amateur rowing clubs on the ihamea were in the early days of his noviciate ; not to mention the difference in the build of the boats. He could not get on in the beginning without being a pupil under an anomalous creature called a “fireman waterman”—(laughter) who wore an eminently tall hat and a perfectly unaccountable uniform, of which it might be said that if it was less adapted for one thing than another that thing was fire. He recollected that this gentleman had on a former occasion won a King’s prize wherry, and they used to go about in this accursed wherry, he and a partner doing all the hard work, while the fireman drank all the beer (laughter). The river was very much clearer, freer, and cleaner in those days than these; but ho was persuaded that these philosophical old boatmen could not of dreamt of seeing the spectacle which had taken place recently (the procession of tho boats of the Metropolitan Amateur Rowing Clubs), or of seeing these clubs matched for skill and speed, than he (the Chairman) should dare announce through the usual authentic channels that ha was to be heard of at the bar below and that he was perfectly prepared to accommodate Mr James Mace if he meant business (laughter). Nevertheless, he could recollect that he had turned out for a spurt a few years ago on the River Thames with an occasional becretary who should be nameless—(a laugh)— aud some other Eton boys, and that he could hold his own against them. More recently still, (he last time he rowed down from Oxford he was supposed to coyer himself with honor— (ciieers and laughter) —though he must admit tuat ho found the | locks” so picturesque as to require much exam* ination for the discovery of their beauty—(renewed laughter). But what he wanted to say was this, that though his “ fireman waterman ” was one of greatest humbugs that ever existed, he yet taught him what an honesty healthy, 'manly sport this was (cheers). Their watermen would bid them pull away, and assure them that they were certain of winning in some race. And here he would re* mark' that a aquatic sports never entailed a moment s cruelty, or a moment’s pain upon any human creature. Eowing men pursued recreation under circumstances which braced their muscles, and cleared the cobwebs from their minds. Ho assured them that he regarded such clubs as these a “national blessing”—(cheers). They owed, it was true, a vast deal to the steam power—as was sometimes proved at matches on me Thames —(a laugh)—but at the same lime, they were greatly indebted to all that tended to keep.up a healthy, manly tone.