The record-union., 1897-12-01
RUSSIAN WINTER SPORTS.
How the Boys and Girls Of Russia
Amuse Themselves.

In the December st. NlchOlaS lHele
| is an article on Some Russian Games
| by p. Kitty Kondacheff. The authof
says:
| Now / will tell you of two favorite
amusements, not games, indulged IN by
! both boys and girls in winter time. Ihe
! first is this: Three or four horses are
harnessed to a big sleigh. large enough
| for several persons, and to the nina
part of this sleigh small sled, called
salazky, and resembling your American
| toboggan. is hitched. a second is tied
| TO the first, and when the young peo-
| pie nave all taken their seats on these
salazkys-generally crowding them ter
ribly-away they go!
In the country, when the roads are
good. the track just wide enough for
large sized sleigh to pass, with soft,
white snow walls on either hand, and
three fresh. strong horses to pull, the
fun is great, especially where the road
turns, OF course the driver does not
go any slower at the sharp corners
because he has youthful crew hang
ing on behind. On the contrary, ne
just cracks his whip and lets the horses
fly. with the natural result. The small
sledges behind going off in a half circle
upset with an accompaniment of shouts
and laughter, pitching the youngsters
into the snow.
1t used to be the custom formerly,
during the carnival merrymakings, to
set out with six or eight horses. going
first to some naighbor who would hitch
on a diminutive sleigh; thence to some
other friend who would do likewise;
and so on, until sometimes as many as
fifteen could be seen skimming over the
roads IN Indian file. This, however, has
been given up now, it being rather
perilous experiment-as a fall out of
real sleigh can never prove as harmless
as the topping over of a salazky. But
il was great fun, nevertheless.
The second pastime is more local, be-
longing chiefly to Southern. or Little
| Russia 1t is called Noidalka, and re-
sembles somewhat a merry -go-round,
only it is a thousand times better fun.
When Jack Frost Cor. to give him his
/ Russian name and title, "Moros Kras
ninos') has taken the lake pond or
river we'll in hand, covering it with
solid sheet of ice more than yard
thick, a stake is fixed firmly in. and on
this stake an old wagon wheel is placed
as on its axle. Two thin poles. some
twenty-five feet long or more, are then
tied by one end TO the wheel and at
the other end of each pole a salaZky is
I firmly attached.
A wide circle is cleared of all snow,
and then some of the party, thrusting
strong poles in between the spokes of
the wheel, run around it, giving it
rotary movement. and making the sa
| lazkys spin along at tremendous rate.
| The fun consists in letting ones self
drop, or rather slip, off when in full
career and glide away over the ice.
Anyway, it is quite impossible to keep
ones hold for more than a few rounds;
and l remember, years ago, doing my
utmost to remain on, nearly lying fiat
on the sled, and clutching on to it for
dear life-all in vain. If you do not
ing your time and place for the final
slide, at a given moment, nolens volens,
/ you have to let go your hold You are
| fOrcibly torn from the salazky by
strength far superior to your own, and
| are made to slide away in a tangent
away from the noidalka. along the
smooth ice, to a great distance: some
| times on your side, often sprawling on
| your back or sitting in dignified pos
! ture until you reach the limits Of the
cleared space and the snow wall beyond,
/ whpn-up you fly, like a rocket, all dig
| nifty thrown to the winds. heels in the
| air, head foremost into the snow-as
] though you were taking a header.