The Portland daily press., 1894-03-16
THE DUTCHON SKATES.
The Chief Enjoyment Among the
People of Holland.

ibing Lively-Skating In Slippers-The
Famous Dutch RoII-A Dozen In Line
With Swift Leader.
If you have lived in Holland, in a vii
lage, we will say, you know how the first
FROST seems to quicken everybody. You
have been asleep all through November;
thick heavy mists all day; quiet, quiet,
no sound save the drip from the moisture
laden boughs and the sad fall of leaves
all the world dying. But on sudden ev-
erything is changed. You awake one
morning Outside your window a warren
is singing a song with but two notes. The
sun has come out; the mists have gone; it
rs crisp and cold; the water crackles in the
jug as you pour it out.
Down stairs everything is warm the
maids are singing and attentive. cit froze
last night, Mevrouw," they say.
You know now the frenzy is beginning
The man comes in from the stable. "It
froze last night, Mevrouw." The post
man comes cit froze last night, Me
vrouw, the pot is full now we will have
the cover"
All of which means that the canals are
full, the holders are covered with water,
and now a good, hard frost will make life
worth living.
If you miss the maids, you may know
they are trying the ice on the moat with
pebbles Out on the one village street the
little boys are whistling around the black
smiths shop, where the big boys are hav-
ing their skates sharpened or bargaining
for new ones. By the canal-and what
Dutch village is without its oanals-there
is crowd. IF it were not Holland, you
might think something dreadful was hap
pening, and indeed theirs is, for the skip
per who goes to the market town with his
trekschint every day is being harangued
and scolded because he had some thought
of spelling the ice by pulling his boat
through. sit is closed. Let it stay closed, ="
they cry, and he gives in, whether to public
opinion or his own desire who shall say?
And so it freezes steadily for week,
quietly and smilingly, without wind. the
one and only enemy to skating in Hol-
land. Several boys, in the meantime, too
venturesome, have been lugged out OF the
canal and kicked and cuffed for spelling
the ice. And then one morning it is fro
zen solid, and all the Hollanders are hap
Ply.
In the summer, for the peasant, it has
been nothing but grind, with the excep-
ton of few days kirmess, which leaves
an aching head and empty pocket. Now
there is pleasure without paying. You
may go to the uttermost parts of the
earth or Holland, which is the same to
them. for nothing, and so there are happy
iunketings on the ice, distant friends and
relatives to be visited-else never seem
and engagements to be kept which were
made the winter before.
The whole country is a network OF Ca
nails. and they serve three purposes-no,
four-as means of communication, one
canal leading into another; as drains to
keep the land dry and habitabls; in place
of walks or fences or hedges, and, the
fourth purpose, to skate upon.
Herein lies the fascination of skating in
Holland-you can go somewhere, any
where, everywhere. And incredible is the
speed and endurance of the Dutch on
skates = although Donoghue did beat
them Donoghue, like Ohmns, is genius
all Dutchmen cannot win the diamond
sculls-but doubt if in long distances
any American can outspeed the Holland
er. We skate better-that is to say, we
do things on our skates Dutchman would
never dream of doing, but for long dis
tances the Dutch would outlast us.
Near the village 1t is like a scene from
a comic opera. Girls and boys, men and
women, all gay and boisterous, all in
maze of delightful color-gold and silver,
lace covered head dresses-surmounted
alas, too often by hideous modern bonne5s
bright skirts, gaudy aprons and colored
cloaks among the women. The men more
somber, but none the less picturesque.
Most of the men are in slippers. If you
are new to the sight, you will look with
amazement-rsd velvet and black, en-
broideries and carpet cut slippers-slipper
everywhere. You wonder if they are go
ing to skate in this footgear. Watch them
and you will see that they re. You will
see theIw bind on, some with straps and
some with strings, skates SO long and low
that they must have descended from the
Finnish snow. Skates-and all so loose
you wonder how they can skate on them.
They are on their feet now, trying them,
and as you watch you see the real Dutch
roll.
Neer by lot of young people are wran-
Cling over long pole, like barber's pole
and as gayly painted, with knob on one
end of IT, They are trying to decide which
is the strongest. They are all the strong
est, apparently but finally the owner of the
pole Is electeQ ledOef. he lakes Iuc poie
under his right arm, his left hand firmly
grasping the knob Behind him 10 or Is
peoplc-men and women-are ranged, all
graspirg 40 pole in the same manner,
with strong man in the middle and an
other on the end.
The end man gives the signal, "Ready,
away!'' And away it is, with one great
curve to the right from one side of the
canal to the other. Then for little while
you hear the leader 'rechts, links" and
watch the line of swaying bodies gliding
farther and farther down the canal until
it becomes merely gray wriggle,
AS we have said the only enemy to
skating in Holland is the wind, which al
most always blows. Going with the wind
is of course delightful, but it is the return
ing in the teeth of it,that is unpleasant
1t is in skating against the wind that
the long poles are especially useful. The
leader of course takes the wind and bears
the buffet, while those behind get little
or none, and the combined impetus sends
them on almost without effort.
1t would not do to tell the speed the
Dutch say they attain with these poles,
bus it is very great. If you take long
trip with lot of good skaters, you will