The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-01-22

X reNCNeu Out surpassed inc master In tne per
fOrmance of difficult evOlutiOhs on the Ice
aud their society has become the rival of the
skating clubs of New York" In connection
with the Juror to which Mr. Haynes exhibi
tons in Europe gave rise. our readers will per
haps recall sketch by Mr.. DuMaurier which
was published IN Punch in January, 1865
called "Rlncomanla," and was accompanied
by the following spirited lines:
Friends OF the heeting skate, behold in this
A Rincomaniacs dream Of earthly biss
Sketched 10y she frantic pen OF one who thinks
That heaven Is paved with everlasting Kinks!
Where rherubs sweep forever and u day
Smooth, tepid ice that never melts away,
While graceful, gay, good natured lovers blend,
To endless tune, In circles without end.
| Up to the year 1850 but very little was
kHown of the origin Of skating. According
to tradition this mode Of locomOtion WAS sup.
posed to have originated among the Scandina.
VANS, since it is spoken of in the Eodas. Re-
mote as might be its antiquity it could not, 1t
was urged, have existed before the Iron Age,
since iron seemed indispensable for it, and
great, therefore, was the establishment when IN
1860 bone skates were found among remains
of the Stone Age, which had evidently been
used by the inhabitants OF lacustrlne cities
when the waters were frozen around their
dwellings. Such skates could have been used,
however, only IN conjunction with pointed
poles used as means OF propulsion, and the
President of the Glasgow Skating Club Mr..
George Anderson, cites from an old descrip-
ton of London passage to show that similar
cOntrivances were ancently used on the
Thames. The first mportat Improvement on
this primitive method was made in Holland,
and here also the keel of the skate was made
fiat aud smooth, while in most other countries
it was channeled, a mistake which, in late
ti,,Nn I'm IN frat
rect Until about thirty years ago skates were
generally made after the Netherland pattern,
the keel (or ruuner) being heightened before
and ending behind in front of the heel of the
foot, "a construction which rendered possible
certain artistic teats, such as pirouettes on the
heel, which cannot be performed by one who
wears the modern skate. Since then, however,
Americans have improved on the old form,
which was adapted almost wholly to long and
rapid journeys, and they have constructed
apparatus through which skating has been
made almost fine art With the old short
and sharp heel all that was necessary when
the skater wished to stop was to raise the toes,
whercupOn the sharp heel dug into the ice so
that one came to a halt almost at once, but if
one tries this maneuvre with the modern skate
he falls The second change made by the
Americans consisted IN the removal OF the
curve at the toe of the runner and the substitu'
ton of an angle, whereby it was possible to
prOutte on the toes, and we have also greatly
improved upon old methods of fastening the
skate on the foot and making it comfortable,
as too, upon the form of the sole and height of
the runner.
AS to practical purposes IN general and
specially artistic motions, there are only three
forms of the runner which it is profitable to
consider: The normal runner" the rapid
~, d.,
ties of the first are that 1t should permit of
easy and swift forward and backward motions,
curves, spirals and SO on; of the second, that
it should permit of the highest possible ease
and speed in forward motion, and OF the third
that as its name implies, it should be applica-
bic 10 all sorts of artistic work. Its curve
may have so small tangent AS five MILNE
tiers, so that the skater can make short and alb
rupt turns, circles, splrals aud so FORTH and
work all the wonders Of modern ice art, such
as are illustrated in this book with about two
hundred and fifty plates. Of the three prlnci,
pal forms of ska'es-the Halifax Acme Club,
the New York Club and the Jackson Haynes
torms-that OF the New York Club Is consid
cred as peculiarly adapted to specialists and
artists rather than to beginners, and therefore
has not, "at least IN Europe obtained wide
popularity "The Jackson Haynes model Is
the peculiar skate OF the artist" and of all is
hest adapted to dancing. "Spuren auf dem
Else" is pleasantly written book, and is even
profound IN places-as, for instance, where it
discusses the theory Of skating and its YET I'm
solved problems, that IS to say, figures which
might priori be written by the artist on the
ice, but which no one has as yet succeeded in
making. Its practical instructions are many,
but, with the exception of those which are no
ticed above, they cannot be understood if read
apart from the accompanying plates.
*Spuren auf dem Eiss. Die Entwickelung
DIES Elslaufcs auf der Balm DIES Wiener Eislauf
Vereins Won den Vereins- Mitgliedern ID.
Diamantdi, DR.. CIV. Kurper. M. Wirth. Wien:
1881 Alfred Ilolder.--N. y. World
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