, 1876-12-01
Flirtations and Skating Kinks.


vincial town will be without its rink
II is easy to understand that the skating
rink should be full of fascination for
the Young and vigorous that they
should delight to rush swiftly through
the fresh air. In one point the skating
rink can claim a great advantage over
the ballroom. Partners are by no
means a necessity. A plain girl, there
fore. does not find herself at the same
disadvantage as at a dance She need
NOT wait beside her chaperon for part
ners who may never come, nor has she
tbe modification of contrasting the
empty blank of her own card with the
weil-filled list of her pretty neighbor.
In the rink she can buckle wings to her
feet and pursue eldest sons as swiftly
as her fairer sisters. She can exercise
equally far-sighted calculation, and
manage to fall as picturesquely and as
belplessly when the heir to twenty thou
sand year passes her by in a lonely
corner. If she has small feet she can
have her skates put on inNpublic, or in
event a dozen excuses for requiring a
strap frightened or loosened by the men
she meets. If these devices fail, it is
easy to pretend preference for skating
alone or with those of her own sex, or
else to set up as a good-natured coach
10 the inexperienced. Should -a~Rirl,
however plain, become more than COM
monty accomplished on the wheels, she
NAV Re able to attract and retain as
,nuch attention as if she were good look\
ing. which is. no doubt, a great conso-
lation. Indeed, there is a great deal
more freedom and intimacy in the rink
than would be possible in a drawing
room, or than a wise mother ought to
allow. How any refined lady can like
tosee her daughter exhibiting her PAGES
in a crowded skating-rink Is q mystery
to those old-fashioned people who cling
TO the exploded idea that a girls chief
charm is modesty and purity of mind.
An involuntary wish to rescue a pair of
happy country maidens from the pol
luted atmosphere seizes one as they
glide down the long, narrow slip of con-
crete hand in hand. 1t is their first
season, and they are friends as we'll
as sisters. Their short life has hitherto
been spent in the school-room, the gar
den, visiting the village poor, or scamp
ering along green lanes on q shaggy
pony. They have looked forward to be-
ing presented as to religious ceremony,
and to their first ball as though it must
decide their whole future life. Their
adoring mother has kept them as long
as she could in u well-guarded Eden of
her own manufacture, from which the
tree of knowledge was conspicuously
absent. They know as little as possible
oI0a,,k oD.y ,vorlI h1k thasr Ovfy, rr0rl1
of family love, tenderness, and faith in
each other. But their mother never
thinks of resisting the call of custom
and fashion, and from this atmosphere
they pass without preparation to the
London marriage market. Emancipated
from the drudgery of the school-room,
they revel in the liberty which they
taste for the first time. New dresses
are boundless treasure, the Opera q
realization of fairy-land, and skating an
endless delight pastime only too
brief, an exercise to be taken without
measure. But one Of them looks at her
watch: they have been hours on the
wheels, and where is the poor mother?
They beg her to come home; they pro-
test they have had enough, as if that
were possible; they are sure she is tired,
which indeed she is; but no, she smiles
lovingly while she bids them enjoy
themselves as long as possible, and with
pretty mendacity asseryates that she is
not in the least fatigued. The younger
daughter, with an innocent but highly
Questionable ardor Of gratitude, will
perhaps kiss her mother, and call her q
dear, delightful, unselfish old darling,
and Aida oUou Tor anokhov. kr1rp Aa
she waves her hand by way of good-by
she hears the gook-natured remark:
How can girls think to take men in by
such ridiculous exhibitions of mock
amiability? Lord Wildacres, for whose
benefit this was evidently got up, is too
Old to be caught by such well-worn
tricks" Our pretty skater has tasted
OF the forbidden but bitter fruit; and
the angry blood rushes to her finger
ups, and she can hardly keep the tears
out OF her eyes. Her pleasure Is spoilt
ior the day, and she almost persuades
herself that she is an impostor. But
one seasons blighting influence will
thieken her skin; her bushes will not
oe 30 ready 10 protest against injustice,
and her belief IN giFlish innocence will
- much the aame a. that of her de-
tn.etos. She vii b. able in the giddiest
nAns 20 remember which of the Guards
nen pru-ent ars eligible. and vii bo
iniimately anqnzinisa With ~ the un-
nsory ananIlal. Shs uill watch with
tnirre-i and amnaemant. Instead q dis
.ppsula1iun. the doings q women q
n-ny sua.uns. ani lis1sn uifh uell-hred
e.lpotuls - IL que-tianahle aiories
- ~ ~ fa.t mlFriri mea. II sho
- ~ marry. she ny. alaa' folioS
~ te.,-,.Is q = I.liliel ala Po.-