The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1878-02-08
FUN At THE RINK.
E,w the Weather is Set at Naught By tns
Eager Seekers for Winter Sports.

The sixteen thousand square feet o
smooth, level asphaltum at the Rink, Twen
ty-third g. Chestnut, were alive last nighi
with more than four hundred skaters
"Our average daily attendance" said the
manager, /" is between seven and ei ght
hundred. and one night last week there
were nearly nine hundred upon the surface
at once" Away they sped around ant
around in giddy whirl, just as did the
Parisians of sixty years ago, upon the same
| kind of skates, over the smooth, broad
walks of the metropolitan parks. The
| whole mass is constantly changing and
| shifting with motion as rapid as the ka-
leidoscope, and with colols only less bright.
The violence of the exercise renders outer
beauties of form are brought out with ev-
cry change of motion. Most of the skaters
seemed at home upon the rollers, but here
and there mild-looking, middle aged per-
son, with some hazy recollection of the
way he used to skate when boy, might
be seen just In the act of getting up or
down, or else foundering about the edges,
to the terror Or amusement of those more
expert. Now and then a man feels q sud
den, conyulsve grasp on his arm, strongly
reminding him Of the proverbial drowning
man and his straw, and the next moment
finds him going down, with feminine
shrek in his ear, to land amid wreck of
barber-pole stockings and crimson skirts.
Here and there u pom the surface are to be
seen good-looking young men, whose os-
tensible duty 1t is to instruct and assist be-
ginners, but by some principle of natural
selection they seem always to be found
among the pretty girls, and their manner
does not always seem to have that gravity
which becomes an instructor of youth.
While the sons and daughters glide back
and forth to the merry strains of the music,
the sedate mammas and papas and the UNI
fortunate awkward ones sit around in the
galleries looking on. Little "Ohs" and
s'Ahs are heard now and then among
the crowd, and the whole performance is
filled with enthusiasm and life. Though
the Philadelphian who had the honor of
skating with the Empress Eugene was not
present, there was enough grace and ease
among the performers to make one half in
clined to change that pretty definition of
dancing "the poetry of notion" to the
kindred art of skating. Sometimes the
evening is varied by game of polo, and
there is a large windlass of rope to mark
out the lines for racing. Stoves in each
corner of the large room enable lookers-on
to enjoy the scene without discomfort.
"We have to scrub the surface two
or three times a week to prevent its becom-
ing gummed with oil from the skates"
explained one of the attendants. Two
hours in the morning are devoted to in
structing such young ladies as wish to
learn the mysteries of the gliding art, and
then it is that the gold buttoned young
men are especially happy. An equal space
of time in the afternoon is devoted to
wrestling with the male novices, and a
conspicuous placard informs us of the fact
that the special time for business men is
from half past FIVE to eight o'clock
PhiEa. Times. .s- -.-.t.ss