Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1868-01-31
Sliding Down Hill.
BY HENRY WARD BEECHER

There If nothing in the tropics that can
console a man doomed to dwell there. for the
loss of northern winters Monkeys and
humming birds, gorgeous flowers and gigan-
tcvegetatlon, insects. reptiles and luscious
fruit, which YOU cannot eat without chol-
era, sweltering nights and roasting days
Deliver us from the intolerahle delights of
tropical luxury
But a northern winter is full of bracing
Joys. In doors all is ruddy and social, and
out Of doors all Is energy and manly Joy. \
man who has blood and vital spirits glorics
in the cold winter. But Of all sports what
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 sled.
two barrel slaves fastened together by the
knowing workman, served an excellent pur-
pose, and required no mean skill in sitting
and steering \ slight mistake in balancing,
and the boy went under and the sliding ma
chine on top-and then gradual ly rolling intoa
promiscuous heap,outof which came some rip
ping remarks not made by the sled.
Next came the glory of full and real sled
shp-a sled with runners. and iron or steel
shod a sled painted and lettered With
faces against the north wind and the long
the hill, full half mile, is sought, not all
of a gentle slope, nor yet too steep, but pro-
perlv made up. as hills should DE. with a
fine gradual beginning. then a pitch quite
steep, then another long middle slope.
jounce here, rullock there, a sweep yonder
round point and fetching up place right
along the river On such hilltop with
Il i
boy seats himself on his sled prouder than
ever sat king upon his throne.
Away he goes, with uimble feet reaching
out before him, (for a sled carries its rudder
at the bow, whose heels with skilliul touch
steer the flying machine. See him make a
leap over the rullock, lifted clear into the
air, and coming down with a jounce that
makes everything crack Boys have springs
inside of them under every muscle, on all
sides Of each bone and come down with a
springy bound, that cars and carriages may
envy but cannot hope to attain
None Of your belly 1oundering This "
inc down on a sled, like buckwheat cake
on a griddle: or that sidewi-e sitting on the
hind end of it, with one leg cork-screwed
out behind for the purpose of steering. are
not the thing. They are not orthodox. They
SAVIOR of a compliance with weakness and Ii
mditv 4 real boy should sit upon his sled
fair and square, with his face to the work,
and ready to meet all difficulties with his
breast To them.
Nor let any one dccry the long tramp up
hill that follows this fierce flight downwards.
What if it Is long. the sled hanging behind,
the way slippery. and withall some perils Of
those avalanches of other boys that come
roaring and whirling down? The going up
Is still an Indispensable part Of the epic. 1t
is the dark that gives power to the light.
The mp makes, by contrast, the very glory Of
the d0icR.
We never see the snow on the ground, old
as we are that we do not feel the spirit Of
the sled again And now. an old man, we
would. if we could, mount and plunge down
the hill again. Though a mans hair Is as
white az the snow under his feet, he need not
he ashamed of a voyage on a sled
One winter not long ago, when in New
Bedford. we found long street refused 10
horse vehicles. and set apart to sleds. The
selectmen, or whatever their names were, at
the public expense, carted snow where the
track was worn iced it by water thrown on
over night stationed band Of music there;
had torches lit and placed along the sides;
and the generous people catching the spirit
illuminated their houses, and this prepara-
ton was thrown open to men, women and
children. That city is civilized. That part
Of the millennium which consists in sliding
down hill, We believe will begin first in New
Bedford