The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1865-02-11
Skating,

den ice constrained it is even more com
mon than here that in the winter season in
Lapland it affords the only means of foot
travel; that skates are of as much use as
feet among the frozen snow of Russia, and
that in Holland everybody wears shoes up
on metal runners over tho frozen rivers
and canals, from the wealthy and Stalwart
burgher down, to the slim, blooming frau
lein, or the amply developed frau, who in
the season Of ice and snow does her mar
keting and her shopping upon skates.-
Whether it be fashionable in this good old
country Of dykes and bitches for the one to
roll into his beer saloon upon these feet or
for the other to float upon her wings Of steel
in at the shop door to buy kreutzer worth
Of ribbons or Of "krout," the charming
Deutsch books which find their way to this
side of the pond which never freezes, vouch-
safe no information. .l raa a
" ith the simple fact that skates are the
common means of winter travel in Holland,
Lapland, Russia. and other icebound coun-
tries, the knowledge of most skaters end.
1t is here that we propose to take up the
subject and give few wrinkles even to
those who can cut them much better upon
the ice than we. M .sa4oiaf
1t may net be generally known that both
the name and the article skates, are taken
by other nations from one of the countries,
Of which we have been speaking, namely,
Holland, yet such is the case. From a
land whose merits we are accustomed to un-
derrate, and from people whom we are
wont to disparage as sluggish and immo-
bile, we have taken the most graceful and
agile OF all our sports. Holland isthe birth
place of skating. The art there is native
and to the manor born" Dutch minstrels
have tuned their haTps to its praises, and
the Germans have Joined them in the song
The great Goethe, and Herdei, and other
bards have celebrated it in tuneful verse,
and Klopstock has said, with the enthusi-
asm of lover, that man upon skates, sis
like the Homeric gods, striding with winged
feet over the sea transmitted into solid
ground" But though to Holland we are
doubtless indebted for the method of ska
ting, which gives such exquisite pleasure,
for an art that is in other countries merely
the necessary mode Of travel, we are per-
haps to lcok to the latter as the originators
Of the practice, which is certainly very an
cient, of wearing runners upon the feet in
traversing the ice.
In the Edda, a romance written more
than eight hundred years ago, the god Ut
ter is mentioned with especial favor for his
beauty and his skill with arrows and with
skates. In those times the rudest inple-
ments were used to propel the wearer over
ice and snow. The Icelanders used shank
bones of deer or sheep, about foot long
which they creased that they should not be
stopped by drops Of water upon them
1t is amusing even to fancy our elegant
professors of the art-the Pages, and the
Weavers, and Van Hooks-indulging in
their peaceful antics, noncbalantly rolling
backwards, cutting spread-sagle or join
ing in the may intricacies of waltz, or q
quadrille, upon the sbinbones Of an inuo-
cent lamb iasa ~ ~ rss
Skating was popular, We are told in Ed
inburg and London several centuries ago !;
yet in the age of Shakespeare it could have
been but little known, or that great obser-
YER Of all the manners and customs, bus-
ne Sses and pleasures of the men round
him would not have failed to notice it, and
we find no mention of skates in his works.
The French have always been q nation
Of innoyators, and accordingly we find in
troduced in Paris, as early as 1919, new
kind Of skate. made for running upon the
ground This toy was furnished with three
little brass wheels, instead Of runners, and
was capable of being very nimbly employed
in executing the more difficult pedal ma
nnuvres. After q time they came TO be
used upon the French stage, and the opera
of"Le Prophetic included ballet of ska
ters who being very skiful excited univer-
sal admiration. Such an innovation would
be very popular, at least while it remained
novelty, upon the boards of our own the
atres. These Partisan opera skates eyi-
IDENTIFY suggested the parlor skates, which
have lately been extensively introduced in
American families. s75tl e d - isam