The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1861-01-09
SLIDING DOWN HILL.
BY HENRY WARD BEECHER.

| BY HENRY WARD BEECHERs
There is nothing in the tropics that
can console man, doomed TO dwell
there, for loss of Northern Winters
Monkeys and humming birds, gorgeous
flowers and gigantic vegetation, insects,
reptiles and lusciousf ruits, which you
cannot eat without cholera, sweltering
nights and roasting days Deliver US
from the intolerable delights of tropical
luxury.
But Northern Winter is full of brac-
ings joys. Indoors all is rudy and So
cial, and out of doors all is energy and
manly Joy! A man who has blood and
vital spirits glories in the ccla Of Winter.
! But of all the sports wha one can claim
superiority over coasting; or. as in our
boyhood days it was called. sliding down
hill!
Long before we attained the age of a
sled, two barrel slaves, fastened together
by knowing workmen, served an excel
lent purpose, and required no mean skill
in sitting and stearing. A slight mis-
take in balancing, aud the boy and slaves
cha, gel places. the boy under and the
sliding machine a-top-and then grad
ually rolling into promiscuous heap, out
of which came some ripping remarks,
not made by the sled.
Next came tue glory of full and real
sledsAip--a sled with runners, and iron
or steel shod; q sled painted and letter
cd With that we defed the thermome-
ter, and set our faces against tho North
Wind And how the long hill, full
half mile, is sought, not all of gentle
slope, nor yet too steep, but properly
made up, as all hills shonld be. with a
fine gradual beginning, then pitch quite
steep, then an other long middle slope,
and jounce here, ruliock there. a
sweep yonder around a point, and q
fetching up place right over the rivcr!--
On such hilltop, with sled, well mufH-
ed and mittened, the boy seats himself on
his steed, prouder than ever king upon
his throne. Away he goes, with ninbls
feet reaching out before him, (for sled
carries its rudder st the bow and whose
heels with skilful touch steer the flying
machine. See him make leap over the
rullock, lifting clear into the air, and
coming down with jounce that made
every thing cracly-t1t the boy. Boys
have springs inside of chem, un1er every
muscle, on sll sides O. each bone, and
come down with springy bound, that
cars and carriages may envy, but cannot
hope TO attain!
None ofyour belly-founderingl This
lying down on sled, like a buck-wheat
cake on q griddle; or that side sitting, en-
the hind end of it, with one leg cork
screwed out behind, for steering are not
the thing. Thay are not orthodox. They
SAVIOR of q compliance with weakness and
timidty. A real boy should sit upon his
sled fair and square, and ready to meet
all difficulties with his breast to theml
Nor let any one decry the long tramp
up hill that follows this fierce flight down
ward. What if it is long, the sled hang
ing behind, the way slippery and withaI
some peril Of those avalanches of other
boys that come roaring and wiiIIing
down? The going up is still an indis-
pensible Part of tho Epic. 1t is the
dark that gives power TO the high light.
The up makes by contrast, the very glory
of the down. Besides, as it is appointed
to every hen when she has laid an egg
to enter IS large into the merits. on the
performance, and to tell the barnyard,
and neighborhood, her opinion of that
last egg, and, doubtless, five but under
sood the true interior meaning Of cacHe.
to say: Heres an egg, for omeettes,
omelettes, ome'ettes; good also for cakes,
cakes, cakes; the very soul of custard,
custard. eustard good raw, good boiled,
good fried. Good soft or hard good
eyes, good eggs, very good eggs.'--So
(let me see; that intoIerable hen, has
confused this sentence, 50 that we don't
Just see how to tie it together--ah, here
it is,)-as this hen, having done all the
above, discourses of 1T, Jas per abov
translation so, the boy, occupied the
long ascent, in declaring the skill. speed
and wonderful daring Of his descent, and
is vehement in setting forth what liked to
have happened, and the thing which he
almost did
We never see the snow on the ground,
d as we are, that we do not feel the
very spirit of the sled again! And nov,
an old man, we would, if we could.
mount and plunge down the bin again.
Though a mans hair is as white rs the
snow under bis feet. he need not be
ashamed of a voyage on a sled.