The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-02-19
AS THE NORwEGIASs DO.
by ROYAL HUBBEI1L.

tiuiiuou my Hieuu lpioNh III HOW BUT
prise.
He had lately come to the land OF
fur coats, snow shoes and ice palaces,
| and therefore saw much in our every
day life TO astonish him. Often as we
walked along the streets he would
grasp my arm and point out things
that were as old as the bluffs to me.
| "Oh, they are only pair OF Norwe-
gian skis You will see plenty OF them
after the first big snowfall"
well, | should remark that that
fellow has plenty OF them already"
said Brown, CHANGING culiously along
lating their length, which was about
ten feet Doesn't he glide along
easily?p he continued, watching the
descent of Thor as he seemed to
travel without the least effort on his
part.
"ob, yes; they are bred to it. You
may often see little children using
skis with apparent ease"
| 1T must be fun unused Brown.
| did you ever try pair?'
| Not |, indeedh
"Well, then, let's do so. I didn't
come from Indiana TO Minnesota for
nothing. I'm going to do as the Nor
wegians do"
but" reconstructed /, ''the shoes
cost considerable, and might be dan
| gerous to our old bones"
"Oh, hang the cost! I'm hero for
fun, you know. And as for the danger
why, look at that little tot there
moving along as gracefully as a bird.
Besides, i used to be good skater"
WELL said ], obviously, ''if you
will, suppose you must; your blood
be upon your own headln
| 'Nonsensei just tell me where / can
got the skis, and I'll show YOU"
| informed him, and presently he
came stalking home with two pair of
immense snow-shoes on his shoulder,
and determined look in his eye
His enthusiasm had quite overcome
my prejudices against the things; and
so, when night had come to hide any
little mistakes we might make, we re-
| paired TO the moonlit orchard In the
rear of my house, where there was
hill on which we could practice.
| How shall you occupy yours" ask
ed;
"'rhe man told me 'yust put mine
foot In the strap and leave 'em loose. :
But guess I haven't skated thus far
through life to be fooled by a Nor
weGian. Pm going to tie 'em on tight,
you know" he answered, chuckling at
HE own foresight.
| nut opJeUtcui peTlltpS lile man
was right; he ought to know"
'Boshl You can follow his advice,
but | shall use common sense"
''All right; I'll take the Norwegian
way, then"
BY this time Brown had reached the
top of the hill, and had tied on his I'M
wieldy footwear.
"Well. here goes," he cried, and
stood upon them,
And he did 60 indeed.
"Whoop!' he shouted, as he whizzed
down the steepest place. Get out of
the way"
/ thought this rather prudent adj
vice; for the manner in which those
skis and his arms were spreading
around limited at the need of larger
State than Minnesota.
In about second and a half my
friend had acquired speed that
would have made cyclone blush with
envy, and each quarter second in
creased his terrific momentum. As he
neared me | read in his face what he
breath enough to say it: However
shall guide these thingsin
Fall! FALL Let yourself fallln l
shouted. For saw that he was being
carried toward my young apple trees
and knew he could never collide with
them at that rate without barking
them, and perhaps himself also.
FallY Not he! In that one second of
despair | saw an expression OF diSdain
an inch thick spread over his grim
Yisage; and knew then that his proud
spirit would much rather suffer death
than defeat.
As he neared the trees | closed my
eyes. He glided past my Siberian
crab, and not hearing anything l took
courage and opened one orb Then,
as saw him bearing down upon two
other fayorites, | closed 1t again But
| neglected to stop my ears, and the
next instant there was u crash as OF
the falling OF a forest giant.
dared not novet for l feared my
friend was indeed killed, until heard
a niuiiled-a very much muflled voice,
SAYING
''Say! help fellow out can't you"
| | hurried down to where Brown had
his head buried in the snow up to the
third button on his coat. He was fiat
OH his face, with the heels ef his shoes
lovingly entwined in tho branches OF
one of my prime trees:
| When my wood-be Norwegian was
liberated, he immediately picked up
his shoes and started hlllward.
Good heavens, man! You don't
! }
your neck again"
Oh, the look OF determination that
that martyr frowned on me as he re-
torted-
"Dld you ever know Hoosier TO
give up an undertaking with LlIe first
attempt2 OF course I'm going to try
again!n
Seeing that argument was useless,
begged him to take different course
and steer clear OF my trees. lie did
SO, and made a most beautiful run.
feel confident that some Norwegian
evil genius must have assisted chance
! to perform the miracle. He came
stalking up the grade, flushed with the
success OF his second attempt, and
vowing that ten feet Of skis and two
feet oil the "beautiful" were Just the
combined elements forahim.
| why, / couldn't keep away from
them ii l wisheal | feel sure that des-
tiny intended me to become cham
pion on the beautiesin And he clapped
the shoes together to emphasize his
outburst.
l felt SO far encouraged by his mete-