The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-02-08
TOPSY MADE IMMORTAL.
Place Whore Boys DO Not Call Sled IL
81 Sled.

Place Whore Boys DO Not Call Il Sled IL
y Sled.
Come out to the hill with me this
evening and you can have bully coast
on my topsy," said boy in Charlotte
town, Prince Edward island, to a New
Yorker who happened to be visitor in
that Canadian city just after the long
winter which prevails on that island had
opened. The boys there have abundant
coasting and skating. Coasting is unil,-
after the lawn mowers have done their
first clipping i'll Central park. After the
first fall of snow the bare ground is
rarely seen again until April, and late in
the month at that.
Coast on your topsy!' the visitor OK
claimed. What in the world is top
syT ~
from the states! Well, that's funny!'
And the boy looked as if he thought the
visitor was guying him.
II certainly don't know what tOpsy
is was the visitors good-natured re-
"Well, a topsy is a Sleigh" the boy OK.
planned. 1T is Il Yankee sleigh, and is
a bully thing to coast with. 1t beats all
other kinds of sleishs out of sight"
,
do you call it topsy?''
Because it is topsy, to be sure
That's all I know about it. We never
call it anything else here"
1t should be stated right here that the
Charottctown boys never speak of a
sled; it is always a sleigh or topsy.
In his Jealous search for information
the New Yorker at length asked one OF
the older people the question that he had
hnx-C,
and this is what he learned. Previous
to the winter of 1854 no boy in Charlotte
town had ever had any other kind of 4
sled than the clumsy affair made by
the Micmac Indians or the Frcnchmen
They were small examples of the bob
sleds used in the numbering districts
The runners were bent pieces Of wood
held together with cross bars fastened
with wooden pins. They were shod with
heavy and clumsy. bnt very good tc
coast with down the steep hills Of tho
town. In the year 1853 Charlottctowl
lad named Duchemin-Ncd Duchemin
was the familiar way in which he is still
spoken of by his former townsmrn. fol
he is now in the United States, spent
several months in Boston. He was i:
bright. go-"hcad young fellow. and knew
Il good thing when he saw it. Conse
QuCHlly OllC VI HIS iCtluloillOllS NdS 4
fine sled, such as he had never seen II
his island home; with long. sharp run
ners and we'll shod, with springy rounC
Steel While he was in Boston Mrs
Harriet Beecher Stoves famous story
Of ''Unclc TOMS Cabin was just upo1
the stage as a play, and the character O
Topsy was the fayorite of young and old
Ned Duchemin was such an admirer o.
Topsy that he had his sled painted je
black with the name '"Topsy" on it:
sides in white letters. Returning t.
Charlottctown he took his sled alon9
with his other acquisitions, and when tho
winter opened he brought it out to tho
amazcmcnt of all the other boys. The!
We're not only amazed, but cnvious whel
they found it could beat the best sleigh!
in town. The fastest slipper of the oil.
style seemed to stand still when Nc(
whizzcd by on his Topsy. Before Ions
every boy in town who could afford i
had one of the Yankee coasters, am
every one of them was topsy. It WASH
4 sleigh; it wasn't sled; it was topsy
And You can't make a Charlottctown boy
nor girl either, recognize it by any othcl
name