The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-02-15
DELIGHTFUL sLEIGHING.
Every sleigh In the City Pressed Ints
Service.


When an ideal day like yesterday arrives,
and the snow on the streets is fit for sleigh
ing. the thoroughfares of Greenville are
ALWAYS crowded with sleighs. Yesterday
was no exception. From early morning
until late at night the merry jingle of sleigh
bells swelled on the clear air and plainly told
of the good time that the sleighing parties
were enjoying.
A better sleighing surface than the streets
of Greenville presented could not be desired.
The snow on the new County road, Ocean
and Garfield avenues and Old Bergen road,
packed to a solid mass by heavy trucks, the
surface Yves almost as hard as ice. Even the
rust covered runners which could be found
on many sleighs glided over the snow read
lily, and the sleighs which had polished run
ners slid along in a name that made the
horses happy, as well as the occupants.
The livery stable keepers in Greenville
and Bergen who had sleighs to rent, no mat
whether they were of highly polished ash
and fitted with fur robes and cushioned plush
seats or the plain, rough hemlock, clumsy
sleds, such as used by farmers, were the
most popular men by a majority. AT seven
O'Clock in the evening a sleigh could not be
secured at at any of the livery stables, no
matter how much was offered. The sleighs
had been engaged long before the shade of
night began to fall and the young man who
did not decide to take his best girl out for a
ride until evening was disappointed, while
the girl was nearly heartbroken. The day
was fine, but the evening was ideal, and the
disappointed damsels viii probably lave to
wait a long time before another like oppor-
tunity presents itself.
The livery stable keepers were as happy as
the celebrated "clam at high tide" The
price for the hire of sleighs climbed up as
quickly and rapidly as the mercury on a
July day. Fancy prices were asked and
given, and both parties to the contract were
more than satisfied.
The business men who were fortunate
enough to possess, delivery sleighs, took them
from their hiding places, covered the rough
and uneven floors with a layer of straw,
hitched the sturdy d~eliverywagon horse to
the shafts and, after crowding their families,
friends and relatives aboard, sped along
merrily and enjoyed the ride as much, if not
more, than their more wealthy brethren,
who were displaying elaborate turnouts and
fine horsefesh.
"A number of social and other clubs char
tered sleighs and made things lively by pro-
viding the st~out-lunged members with fish
horns. The members who were thus honored
PLAYED, or rather ssblew," their parts to per-
lection and earned for themselves the curses
of the residents on the line of the trip who
retired to bed early in the evening. The
small boy" of course, figured in the pleas
ures of the evening. Although he could not
afford the luxury of a ride in a sleigh drawn
by horses he could 'shitch on" to it with a
small sled, and he did. At many points
along the road the drivers of the sleighs
were greeted with the exclamation: Hey,
boss, let's hitch onf' and in almost every
case the request was refused, but the small
boy SCOT there just the same" and many of
the drivers were unconsciously dragging
smaller sleds behind their rigs.
The majority of the sleighing parties went
to Bergen Point via Avenue D, and not a
few crossed the ferry and visited different
points in Staten Island,
Not a single accident occurred in the
Greenville section to mar the season of
pleasure.