Middletown transcript., 1884-02-15

mise, flannel skirt shorter than the
two linen skirts, thick dress, velvet
basque, a sealskin sacque, a sealskin
cap, red worsted muller, sealskin
gloves, and silk wristlets. These gar
ments altogether must weigh between
twenty and twenty-five pounds.
In the next window are seen several
varieties of blanket or snowshoe suits.
They take the place of the dress,
basque, and sacque in the other win
dow. They are made so as to display
all the vaTiegated border of a first
quality blanket. The prettiest are the
white ones with the red, green, yellow,
and blue borders. The sacque has a
big hood tied with a silk bow, and
hanging like pointed bag between the
shoulders. When it halls or SHOWS the
girls pull these hoods over their heads,
and the long, cylindrical points stick
ing high in the air look very comical.
When the girls wear these snow-shoe
suits they put on buckskin moccasins
trimmed with colored porcupine quills
in the place of artics.
G. dressed up in the full rig of girl
friend Pm staying with" said a Ia
year-old New York girl yesterday,
and it made me waddle like a big
Dutchman. l couldn't get my knees
anywhere near each other, and l felt as
if | was i'll a steam bath. One thing is
certain, you can't get hurt when you
are dressed that way. l felt as if it
would be perfectly safe to go on the
roof and roll over on the sidewalk.
You feel as if you were done up inside
a ball of worsted." !"
But the Canadian girls find no trou-
bic about locomotion. They walk very
beautifully, and the impression Of stiff
ness and unapproachableness that they
give to stranger bellies their natures.
The young men say that they thaW
right out in the society of any man
that pleases them, and are as ardent in af-
fection as they are enthusiastic in sport.
The sport they like best is toboggan-
ing. A toboggan is nothing but thin,
flat board, curved up in front, and pro-
vided with handles at the sides. The
young men build slides on the snow
down the mountain side, coat them with
ice, and then ride the girls down them
for hours at a time. One youth said
to-day that having to drag a forty
pound tOboggan up the mountain, hour
after hour, was what drives the men
to work, Up oil top Of the slide, which
is decked at the sides by evergreens
and lighted at night by torches stuck
in the snow, the girl gets on to the tobog
gan, slows her legs under the roll of
the board ahead, grasps the side handles,
and holds her breath. The young man
gets on behind on one haunch, with
his right leg free to steer with. He
edges the slender board to the edge of
the precipitous alley of ice and gives a
strong kick, and down they go like a
shot from a gun. There is a seconds
pause, then a whirl and roar, and a
minute of bated breathing as the slen-
der sled shoots in its groove of ice be-
tween the black lines of spectators. 1t
is a dangerous sport, but there is Sc
cret about it. A tide on toboggan is
like a galvanic shock. The friction of
the rapid motion on the thin board
over the rough ice electrifes, and
thrills the rider. Every nerve tingles
and every muscle becomes rigid.
Though it lasts but a few seconds,
they are seconds of strained enjoyment.
-MnntraeI Letter to NeaC York San.