The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-12-27
GIRLS THAT SKATE.
THEY BELONG TO, MANY. DIE
FERENT COUNTRIES.
md They Have Peculiarities According
to Their Nationality Tho Canadian
Girl Bold and Fearless Dutch
Are Quick.

what like the little girl who sported
curl right in the middle of her fore
nead. They look either Every, very
good,' or else they approximate quite
closely to ''horrid, says the Montreal
News. It really must be confessed
that the skate as she is now worn by
the New York girl, is not always
success. But there are extenuating Z
circumstances. The New York girl
is, in fact, a composite cosmopolitan, 4
says the New York journal. Her
right foot may skate as her grand
mother, market woman of Holland,
did, while her left foot may take the
stroke of her Scandinavian grand
father. Skating has been one of the
rights of women ever since they used
to strap long bones to their feet and
push themselves over the ice with
pointed stick, and particularly has
been the inalienable privilege of s
Dutch housewife. a..
Skating in Holland, however, is not
of a highly ornate order. This is be-.
cause a prudent woman is not dis
posed to attempt the evolution of
spirals and other figures when she has
basket of fragile eggs upon her arm.
But the Holland girl goes in for speed,
In proof of which statement there is a
story that once upon time two
neighborly souls had difference over
the question of their respective skat-
Ing abilities. Even the Dutch tenn
| per sometimes gets stirred, and the
argument finally waxed exceedingly
warm-far warmer, in fact, than the
weather, which was clutching all the
canals in grip of ice. The two
DANES continued the dispute until a
race was arranged. They were to
skate thirty miles, and to the one COW
ering the distance in the shorter time
a prize was promised of the finest
pair of skates in Amsterdam.
The match came off,, with great
eclat and large attendance. The
winning time was two hours, and if
any girl in New Amsterdam can do
better, let her show her record. Is it
not quite likely that the familiar
phrase, ut beats the Dutch,'' origin
ated in this little episodep M
Now, as has been said, the Dutch
women skate because tits the quickest
means of locomotion between their.
kitchens and the market. The Scan
dinavian women skate because it is
the most rapid way of paying calls,
and the Russian women rarely skate
at all. The rivers in Russia flow so
swiftly that they seldom freeze, and
even in the cities most of the skating
is done by the English and German.
When Russian woman does skate,
however, she can discount every other
nationality in the beauty of her cos
tune. She is not afraid of brilliant
: color effects, and she and her furs are
inseparable. s... --.-4
In England skating is an art, not an
industry. The English girl is as adj
dicted to open air exercise as her
American cousin is to ice cream. She
skates conscientiously, if not always
with marvellous grace, and with her
sisters may be seen by the thousands
on the Serpentine and in Regent park
The Canadian girl improves each
shining hour of ice, but she often has
to have her skating area dug out of
the snow. A Canadian girl is a bold
and fearless skater. She is not so
stiff as an English girl nor so luxuri-
GUS as Russian. She wraps up in
9 the warmest of wooden suits, and pulls
0 festive toboggan cap over her ears.
2 There is a streak of French in her
8 blood, which makes her don bright
r colors and which puts verve and dash
$ into her style.
There is the girl who knows that
she can't skate, and also knows thai
d every one else knows it, but doesn't
t care a continental. She is going tx
? learn. She has no manly arm to lear
r upon, so she embraces large section.
e of atmosphere as she plunges boldl,
~ forward. One cannot help murmur
= ing, 'What are the wild waves say
~ ing?" as one watches the circles he
- arms describe. But, never mind, sh,
p will learn.
.. And, speaking of the manly arm
g there are only two desirable positions
IT with regard to girl on skates. On.
"a is very close to her escort close
A wo1aan's respect for man neve
reaches a higher altitude than it doe
10 when she is perched on pair of woh
= bly, skates She is not only ready t
! fall on his neck, Dt she actually doe
"a it. She falls all over him, in fact
e And the timid dependence with whic
s. the haughtiest girl clings to man
n strong righta arm is ample reward fo
le having that same arm pinched blac
IN and blue in the process.
to The other position is one OF remote
~