St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-02-14
MY FIRST sEowSHoE TRAMP.


picturesque sight upon happier or mer-
rier party than that of the S. G. B. Snow
shoe club of Montreal, grouped on the lawn
of that prettiest Of all pretty country homes
S.eepy Hollow, nesting coZily at the foot
of the two Oh hills which seemed TO bend
protectingly over L. The blinds of the
drawing-rUom windows had not been drawn
and the mingled freight and lamplight
streaming out made an effective contrast TO
the wintry landscape.
was standing slightly apart and alone.
and beginning to feel rather forlorn as l
realized that the little Yankee" as was
! playfully designated BY my Canadian
| friends was for the time forgotten.
noted with admiration the rosy cheeks.
sparkling eyes and graceful supple forms of
the girls-every muscle allowed perfect
| freedom in their comfortable and becoming
blanket costumes. Stray locks and curis
peeped coquettishly from under the tOques
perched jauntily upon their heads. Their
lsIghter rang out upon the clear frosty air.
and stray sentences reached me, such as:
Draw the strap a little tighter, please"
mo. didn't promise to tramp with you
.O-nlght. you were my escort last time;"
'What glorious night 1t is as bright as
May" etc.
turned from my contemplation Of the
pretty girls and their handsome. gallant
cavaliers kneeling at their feet faStening
on their snowshOeS, and glanced into the
coy room We had just left. / saw the
great logs burning in the immense old
fashioned fireplace. before which the cat
stretched herself cOntentedly, thinking no
doubt or cats do think. What fools these
mortals be" TO prefer a tramp in the snow
to a comfortable snooZe by the fire. /
II.
had thrown 1t upon the arrival Of the
club. and had half decided to return to it
when
Miss D., may have the pleasure Of
escorting you on the tramp"
looked around with a start and beheld
the tall, manly form of the '.sweeper-in."
Thank you. Mr.. Walker" l replied.
''but fear you will not find II pleasure
taking care of me, for / have never worn
snOwShOes in my life"
You will never want 10 take them OF
once you have had them on" he remarked
eneOuraginglY. and proceeded to strap them
ON.
Now" he said, as he took my hand;
TRY and forget you have never worn them
before. Step out as naturally as you can
with your feet farther apart than usual.
and be very careful not 10 put one foot
over the other"
''Oh. will be very careful. " / assured
him, and as 1 saw the others glide so
smoothly over the surface of the snow, the
| hip-hOp of their shoes was music in nv
ears. Ny blood began to Jingle. l expert
enced deep contempt for easy chairs, nov
| els and fires. Ny courage revived. l
| laughed gleefully and stepped out briskly
4 in the flush of my new-fOund confidence.
! Alas! what l was especially warned against
happened and was frantically trying 10
| balance myself-snowshoes and all-on one
| foot. A total collapse was, of course, the
result. and L would have plunged head
| foremost i'm the snow had not Mr.. Walker
caught and held ne while he placed my
feet in position. 1T is no use," cried
| despairngly, IL cannot walk on these
things; you had better take me home. 1
am ashamed to give you so much trouble. s"
Nonsense, you must not think of giving
up SO soon; where is all this Yankee pluck
and perseverance l have heard so much
about? AS for myself l am proud and
| happy TO be of service to you"
To avoid repetition / will state here
that / fell out with my snowshOes on
an average every five minutes or sO-it was
a constant battle between US, and got the
worse OF it every time. After Mr.. Walkers
| insinuatiOns l would not suggest turning
back and he was too polite to do so. He,
however, had ceased to express himself as
being happy. etc.; he probably thought that
even the bliss of kneeling in the snow and
adjusting refractory shoes with half-froZen
| fingers becomes monotonous in time.
The other snOwshoers had long since dis
appeared; we had followed their trail until
il was crossed and recroSsed by others, and
so we gave il up.
We struggled along and finally came to
the foot of the hill, at the top of which We
thought we discovered the missing party.
| We recklessly began the ascent. 1 tried so
hard 10 follow implicitly the directions OF
my guide that my perseverance was re-
warded inaSInuch that we succeeded in
/ getting half way up the hill without an ac-
cident and then, oh misery, one shoe
twisted itself completely around, j stumbled,
and the miserable stick at the end hit me
over the side of my head. knocking of my
toque, and down l went in the deep snow
up to my waist; one limb was buried at
| least the foot with the shoe attached staid
on the surface. / remained in this awkward
and uncomfortable position in an agony of
shame and confusion until my unhappy
companion succeeded in digging me out.
We reached the top Of the hill to find, to
our disgust a tobogganing party instead Of
| the snowshoers-
Miss D." sighed Mr.. Walker, sit is
useless for you to attempt to tramp down
this hill. IL you will stand on one of your
snowshOes will draw you down."
l acQuiesced meekly. He fastened a
strap 10 one shoe and carried the other,
and so we began the descent. holding on
to his arm firmly with both hands and gig
Cling hysterically; he concentrating every
thought and energy to the task of landing
me safely at the bottom. 1t was accom-
plished. and my shoes once more fastened
on. We left the open country now and
struck the bridle-path through the woods
by the side OF which was a deep gully filed
of course with snow, Mr.. Walker hsllooing
and shouting at the top of his voice, but no
answering sound rewarded him.
/ was beginning TO feel absolutely un-
happy, and my longing for the easy chair
and novel returned with an intensity that
was painful.swhen something dreadful hap
pened to Mr.. Walker. He was about tn
regain his footing after fastening my shoe
for the hundreth time, when in some way
he lost his balance and fell backward head
foremost in the gully, and his snOwshoes
waving frantic signals Of distress appeared
before my astonisbed eyes. l fought des-
perately with an almost irresistible desire
10 laugh. bit my lip, wrung my hands,
and then advancing just as Mr.. Walkers
head appeared in sight faltered out: Can
i assist you In any way?'
mo, please go behind that tree" he
spluttered. evidently ashamed that 1 should
witness his undignihed plunges and
struggles.
1 stepped as requested behind the tree. but
of course / peeped around. and nearly
choked. with my handkerchief stuffed in
my mouth to stiffle my laughter. at ing es-
corts' unfortunate predicament When he