The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1885-02-14
Tee as Smooth as Glass.
MINNE3oTA GIRLS Eu1cGY or THE sKlT


INC IN TIE NORTH STAR s-ATE.
"And You call this ice, do you? You
poor deluded Chicagoian! Why, should
aS soon think ofattemptiug to skate down
Michigan eYenps." aud tie iur muiTed
and cloaked yed.cheeked dnmsel from the
far northwest gazed half contemptuously
half PITY ingly, at the three or four thou.
sane youngsters who plowed hborions'y
through the creased and broken surface
Of the ice in Lincoln park on phrialmas
day and called it skating.
"Dont ask me 10 try and skate ou such
euifnce rs that, yourg man, Let's go
inside, Perhaps thc oysters are paSsable,
and III tell you how we ekato in Mime.
sofa, where there is ice-real ice, miles of
it, and as smooth as glass; ice that elis-
tens like FURNISHED steel; ice so clear Of
flaws that YOU cal see through j; ard 10
the bottom Of the stream. All, that's sbe
kind Of ice for skating, young man"
The oysters evidently were passablo,
and Il o meek and lowly Chicagoln yeu-
iured b fore they had quite disappeared
10 remind the far skater of the frozen
northwest. that her tale was still uufin-
ished,
Or, yes. I was about TO say how sor-
ry am for those poor, ridicolous people
out there. What would they think of an
evening spin Of ten miles down a frozen
river and beck oyer surface that had
neyerbee en- scratched by skate iron? II We
You everheen to Mankatp,M NJ mn? All ,theu
yon remember that bend in the Mime
SOFA riyer, where it changes from its
southcasterly course and turns north
west toward St. fapl. For twenty miles
mp the river from the bend the bauks are
high and thickly wooded with soft maple
cottonwood, and noW and then grove Of
stately black waluu;s. The rigtr there
is deep and the current very rlnw. The
ice freezes as clear as crystal, and when
there's nc snow, and the nights are frosty
and clear. your skates ring out like bells
aud the eSbo Of each stroke comeg back
from the yQoded banks like music, It is
music 10 the skater, and when you hear
it ONCE and experience the delight OF thai
swift. e%hiliara!iug motion, sept up for
miles without q break, youIl waut n
other company than the echo OF your
skGte-sirokes and lbe track Of tue moon.
hight on the glistepiug ice,
FOR full twenty miles up the river
my brother and used to-
i beg yoqr pardon; your BROTHER, did
you s,y2'
"Ye5, my brother, Have you eny
fault to Gud with him''
mo- replied the meek and lowly
Chicagonn, "omly thought maybe i
might baye been somebody else's brother
somebody's brother WHO didn't hay,
any sister who could skate, you know ="
"Your unworthy suspicious are ground
less, young man. Don't interrupt M
again. Yes, don't know but will tax,
another dish OF these. Oysters add 81
much to ones enjoyment Of good story
don't they?'
"Well, as ! was saying, my brothe
and used to skate twenty miles mp th
river, DANCE all night and skate hom
again before sunrise."
Twenty miles, did you say7'
"Ycs, twenty miles; why noIi7
"OA, nothing, relnrncd the meek an,
lowly CbicasO8n, "ouly l didn't kuo.
but on second thought you'd take Of
eighty rods or so aud call it niueteer
miles and thrse quarters"
young man, youraitcm?ts to be Wit
" are always GotdnP you into trouble
aud thi, one makes me shRdder TO thiul
what your fate vii be if You keep Oh.
Then, the skating parties We had
and tho whirligiga You don't know
what whirligig ia2 Wei. on the nigh
before the party some Of tae boys wcul,