New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-12-27

our public ponds. He is fearful OF beng
laughed at for his awkwardness by prohcient
but beardIess boys And therefore he denies
himself the health giving pleasures OF the Ice
and gliding steel.
To the unskilled ones, at season when
there is more than the average prospect Oh
hard frozen ponds during the Winter, re"
suggestions may not come amiss. There nave
been very great improvements In skates IN re-
cent years, and several of the most modern
patterns nearly approach perfection. IL Is a
mistake to suppose, as many do, that person
who is awkward ON skates is more likely 10
have a fall on the new-fashioned ones than on
the old. deeply guttered runners. In purchas-
ing skates it is best to buy the best. In the
modern devices the old tOe-strap is almost
wholly unknown. A generation OF boys
and girls lis growing up that will never
90 through the sad experience OF their
elders, of having their toes pinched by straps
fastened with buckles. These happy youths
will never know the misery OF the squeezeu
foot when it became needful to ughteh the
straps and draw them till the buckle tongue
would enter one hole higher. They will never
experience the mingled feelings with which
their fathers used to limp home from the
skating pond-the relief because the feet were
no longer squeezed by the straps; the distress
that still remained in the cramped and halI-
frozen extremities If perchance man OF
middle years has the skates OF his youth lald
aside in some dusty lumber-rOOm, 1t is far better
that he should leave them there. No greater
mistake could be made than to take them now
TO a skating-pond. Let him buy new skates,
to be clamped to the boots or shoes which he
is accustomed to wear; and if he does not
succeed as skater he will, while on the Ice,
at least have comfortable feet.
The fantastic performances OF skating ex-
merits are not so difficult to learn as many
people imagine. Nerve and strength OF nmD
are required, but neither need be In excess
After the skater has acquired the ordinary
capacity for straightforward skating, he most
needs a practiced knowledge of what is called
outside and inside edge At this stage many
persons waste their time in trying to acquire
skill in skating backward. They would save
time by first training themselves in skating
forward alternately on the edges OF ther
skates. The simplest method OF such practlce
is what used to be called "chopping bark" IN
n circle. The centrifugal force in this move
mcnt helps the novice; he soon learns to IN
cline his body off the perpendicular, with his
head toward the center of the circle. The art
Of using outside and inside edge for either foot
being thus acquired, there is little difficulty with
the long sweep of the "Dutch roll 1.-THE most
graceful of all the larger movements In the art.
In fact, where the pond is not too crowded, there
is nothing nearer akin to luxury on skates
than the dutch roll" with a good partner.
The confidence thereby acquired proves OF
great service when skating backward Is after
ward attempted; and if that be also practiced
in a circle, the outside and inside edge back
ward may be readily learned. After that all
else is comparatively easy, depending more
upon the time and patience that the skater is
willing 10 expend than upon any intrinsic diff
Guilty in tho performance. Skating protfers to
Americans in general the most healthful exer-
else that they are willing to undertake, at the
smallest cost. The dangers are few In COM
harrison with nearly all other outdoor sports.
Already there are not few of our citizens that
have noted the fact that their health in Spring
and Summer has been on higher plane than
usual when they have had more than the
average of skating in the preceding Winter.