Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1855-08-08
VOL. 2.-NO. 2.-TOTAL, 81.

| lowing from brace 5 Home Lille IN Germany." :"
The suggestions here thrown out are worth
pondering and practising upon. The author
| is speaking of .s Winter amuscments in Bcr-
| linz and of skating in particulsr:]
L have never seen a more graceful exercise
| for women, and the most here were accom-
plishcd in the science. 1t has only been tried
among the ladies of Berlin for a few years,
| since one of the princesses set the fashion,
though now it is quite the mode. The most
surprising thing to an American was the num-
Der of elderly men joining in the sport-men
of station-the professors and students to-
gethcr. or the wOrn-out business man coming
out to have one of the free sports of his youth
over again.
know of nothing in the habits of foreign
nations which struck me at first as so entirely
new as this love for outdoor sports. In Eng
land, did not pass through village without
finding the green cricket-ground; and bo it
remembered, not with boys at play on it, but
! mcp-men often of rank and character La
ter in the season were the boat-races, whero
the whole population gathered gentlemen of
the highest rank presiding, and the nobleman
and student tugging at the oars as eagerly as
the mechanic or waterman.
In September, wc were taking our foot trip
through the Highlands of Scotland, and We
scarcely found an inn so remote which was
not crowded with gentlemen shooting, riding
| or pedestrianizing through the mountains,
and with the zest and eagerness of bows let
! out Of school.
On the Continent, with the exception of
Hungary, there is not such a passion for ex-
| citing icldsports, but the same love for the
open air. In Paris, pleasant day will fill
| the Camps Elyses with cheerful parties sip-
ping their coffee under the shade, or watching
| the thousand exhibitions going on in omen
assemblies. And in the provinces, the man
who can have spot six feet by ten in the free
| air uses 1t to sip his wine, or take his pottage
| therein.
In Germany, the country houses seem to BIO
| made to live out Of doors, and people every
where take their meals or receive their friends
| in balconies and arbors. Every city has its
| gardens and promenadcs, which are constantly
full There arc open air games too, where
| old and young take part, and in summer, tho
| studying classes, all who can get leisure,
or Switzerland, or nearly home.
There is throughout Europe rich animal
love of opcn-air movement, of plays and ath-
letc sports of which we Americans, as a peo-
pie know little. A Frenchman's nerves quick
en- in the sunlight, even as the organization of
plants: and a German would be very old and
decript when he should no longer enjoy a real
tumbling frolic with his children. The Eng
lishman, cold as he is in other directions,
would lose his identity when his blood did not
flow fresher at a bout of cricket, or a good
match with the car. We, on the other hand,
are utterly indifferent to these things. We
might pull at boat-race, but it would be as
men, not boys because We were determined
the Yankee nation never should be beaten not
because we enjoyed it. We do not care for
children's sport. We have no time for them.
There is a tremendous, earnest work to be
done, and we cannot spare effort for play. 1t
is unmanly to roll ball in America Our
amuscments are labors. An American travels
with intensity and rostlessness which would
of itself exhaust German; and our city en-
joyments are the most wearying and absurd
possible.
We like being together well enough, but
our srcgarious tendencies are nearly always
for some earnest object. We can crowd for a
lecture or political meeting, but as to gather
ing in a offec-garden or in park, it would
be childish Cor vulgar.).
We work too hard, and play too little.