Sharp County record., 1891-03-12
E, G. HENDERSON, Proprietor.
EVENING SHADE. ARKANSAS
SNOWSHOE SPORT.

Fun on the Ice and Snow in Frigd sweden.
"Stori-ock-um bogger-inn,"
This is not Choctaw for toboganning,
it is the Swede's song of Joy as he goes
whizzing down the hillside on his snow
shoes.
These snowshoes very readily realize
ones dream of the poetry of motion.
They glide over the snow with the
smoothness of a shadow, rising and fall
ing from one drift to another
They are longer than the man him
self, and between four and five inches
wide. Made of one piece of hard wood
they are turned up at the end by being
soaked in hot water, which softens the
fiber, Then it is an easy matter to give
the ''toe" of the shoe just the bent
wanted.
The wood is generally ash, maple or
ironwood and polishes to a shining sur
face. rivaling steel in smoothness. The
elasticity of the wood gives the long,
narrow runners a wonderful springi-
ness that causes them to leap forward
like startled deer when passing over a
slight obstacle.
No specially prepared road is needed
for their use. They will support a
heavy man on freshly fallen snow but
to be best used the snow should have
frozen to slight crust. They descend
hills with greater rapidity than a sled,
but are easily controlled by slillful
slider with his feet and long pole with
an iron brad in one end, which can be
used for steering or increasing the
speed.
An inexperienced slider finds his
greatest difficulty in preventing the
shoes from spreading apart or in avoid
ing plunge head foremost, in which
case the shoes assuming position in
the air assist in keeping the unfortu-
nate buried in the snow.
They are used as means of locomo-
ton in all parts of Sweden, and the
pedestrian with their aid can keep up a
double pace all day long. Hills are
climbed on them with no great difficulty,
and on levels the brad does good work
in forcing the walker ahead. The feet
are held in place by passing under
loop of leather, heavy straw or twisted
grass.
This is distinctively masculine sport.
The women get their fun out of coast
ing. The toboggan does not flourish in
Sweden, but they make up for its alb
sence by using all sorts of sleds A IA
vorite is the ''fourstaker 1t generally
holds three persons, who are usually
two girls and boy for steerer
The girl in front bangles her dainty
feet over the edge with fearlessness and
grace She grasps both stakes for sup
port, and the girl behind her clasps her
about the waist. And the young man
behind; where does he get his support?
Well, he doesn't let any thing go to
waste.
"The ''mery go round is the appli-
cation of the sled to the ice. Usually
ice is supposed to be the dominion of
the skater, but in Sweden the sled rivals
the skate. 1t is done by bracing a pole
on the ice to act as the fulcrum to long
arm, to one end of which is attached q
basket-like sleigh, which generally holds
three persons. Half dozen strong fell |
lows push the arm around the pole,
which sends the sleigh flying around the
circle.
The speeding of horses in Sweden
reaches it's height in winter. On riveror
ground straight-away course is mark
ed out.
The sullly sleigh attains it highest de-
velopment in Sweden, There it becomes
but a skeleton of delicate rods, These
support the seat and the shaft curves
over backward ending ON the runner,
With this slight toy behind him the
horse develops wonderful speed, But
when two happen to collide, woe to both.
They go to pieces like the one-horse
shawn Y Journal