Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-24
RARE WINTER SPORT
Coasting is Surely One of the Greatest
Joys of Youth.
BOYS WHO TAKE DESPERATE RISKS
And the Wonder is That Accidents
Are So Rare.
MANY LIVELY INCIDENTS

"D'ye know, don't believe boys have
any interior mechanism; it's my opinion
that they're solid all through like bfllets
of wood: for, say. if they had internal
works how could they do that without
killing themselves? 1 did it myself when /
was youngster, of course, and here am
pretty healthy old fogy-but 1 don't I'M
derstand it, nevertheless"
The puzzled middle-aged man was stand
ing at the top of the 18th street hill last
Saturday afternoon watching the boys go
through that deSperate-looking coasting
performance known among Juveniles as
er-well, it's surely a good old-fashioned
term, and every adult reader of this doubt
less once knew and employed it: belly
Dustin" If there's any species of youthful
fun that looks-to the grown-up spectators
more like taking chances on a sudden
transit to another and a better world it is
belly-bustin'. A whole years product of
the worlds mints would not tempt the
average man, were he ever daring, to
take try at that game, and most men
feel shivery when they reflect upon the
whole live-long days they put in at it as
youngsters. Belly-bustin' seems to the
grown man like flying in the face of chance
-defying gracious fortune. Strong men
close their eyes and wait for the clang of
the emergency wagon bell when they see
small boy making the initial moves in the
game Of belly-bustin'. They can't recon-
Gle themselves to the belief that the boy
can do 1t and live. They know that they
did 1t themselves, but they consider that
they must have been under the benign eye
of some particular Providence to have got
through it unwrecked. unrended and I'M
smashed. For, consider:
How 1t Is Done.
The boy who is about to belly-bust picks
up his sled on the level ground at the crest
of the hill. He holds the sled vertically in
front of him. He gives a terrific whoop,
and then he starts to run. still holding the
sled vertically in front of him. He runs
with the speed of a quarter-horse until he
gets to the edge of the slippery hill. Then,
suddenly bending forward, he drops the
sled in front of him. still clutching it at its
sides, and when the runners strike the icy
path the tremendous impact seems to spell
d-e-n-o-l-i-t-i-o-n. But the noise produced
by the blow with which the runners strike
the down course Is as nothing combared
with the tremendous. dull, gruesome, shock
ing sound that makes grown-up people put
their hands to their ears when the boy
himself. after the sled is under full steam.
lands front downwards, on the top thereof.
And through it all the boy whoops joyously.
When the man who has closed his eyes and
stopped his ears looks up, confidently ex-
pecting to look upon the mere diSmantled
wreck of a boy. the belly-bustin' boy is half
way down the hill. shouting like any fire.
watered Apache in a pure excess of fiendiSh
joy. Clearly, it must be that boys are I'M
provided with internal arrangements-else.
the middle-aged man said, it seems in
credible that they could belly-bust and go
on living.
Too Reckless for Him.
"Coasting is bully good fun-to watch,
that is to say remarked the same middle
aged man, who put in all of Saturday after
noon last watching the young folks at the
sport. But when all is said and DONE son,
this is pretty good old world. and l want
to continue on staying on top of it as long
I'm allowed to in the course of nature.
don't know but what / might have Joined
the Rough Riders year before last if /
hadn't been too fat and middle-aged. I've
had hankering for years to go up in a
balloon, and I'd do it in minute if some
tall a high-dive the next middle-aged
man. I've taken a chance and attended
New Year reception at the Executive Man
sion. I've spent a whole day in Baltimore.
Several times l have told my wife that her
skirt didn't hang well in the back. I've done
a lot of desperate, hair-raising things. L
suppose I'll do some of EN- again. But
when it comes to coasting. son, my hand
goes into the discard and l pass out. I've
got cold feet when it comes to a matter of
coasting.
Obstacles in the Way.
The belly-bustin' alone was not the cause
of these reflections by the portly middle
aged man. 1t was some of the visible pos
SibilitieS of coasting after the horrffying
belly-bustin thud over and the sled
der was off on his course. Now, wagons
have got to move along the streets snow
or no snow, coasting or no coasting. Wagons
are part of the game of daily urban life,
and they've got the right of way. The
wagons went right on passing at the bot
tom of the hills. So did the cars at the
hslSa of .Aft Co.
to keep on the move, too. if franchises are
to be saved from annulment. But neither
cars nor wagons made any difference to the
coasters. When the boys and girls started
at the tops of the hills they might Just as
well have said to each other: We'll here
goes, for general results; We'll get started
anyhow We don't know where were going
to land, and we don't bother-what's the
difference? Any old place is good enough TO
land We're off, at any rate-hi-yi: here we
go!-and it's the most inconSequential prop
osition on earth whether We butt through a
car or brewery wagon-the main thing
being, you see, that-whoopee. wowee! were
off,
They might just as well, as remarked say
these things unto each other when they
get away from the tops of the hills. but
they don't. They venture out upon the I'M
known like so many rosy-cheeked Andrees
and when they miraculously arrive at the
levels far below and come to a gradual, |
gliding stop. they offer up no TIE Deums
up to the tops of the hills and do 1t again |
The danger is a part of the game. In youth |
or ED there is fascination in soupcon of
danger. Probably 1t is as we'll so. Were the |
boys and girls of this era to hold aloof from |
coasting on account of the obvious danger |
connected Herewith. the old fogies would |
doubtless be the first to point out the lack |
of nerve distinguishing the upgrowing gen.
Grafton. The young one who crawfishes |
when it comes to joining in with his or her |
in juvenile sports wherein |
a dash of danger adds zest to the game is |
liable to develop into a characterless man |
or woman.
A Qufck-Witted Youth.
Moreover. the coasting small boy of to- |
day seems to be marvelously skillful in |
lodging accidents; and as boys do the bulk |
Of the guiding when their friends are coast
ing along with them. good deal of the |
hanger is really eliminated from the sport |
The growing boy appears to have a great |
1nack of Instantly making selection be-
tween two evils On Saturday afternoon |
asst little shaver of a boy, not much |
above ten years old, took the front of a |
ong sled at the top of the 18th street hill |
and deposited two little girls behind him
The sled started down the steep hill at ice
yacht speed. The boy kept the sled to the
middle of the track with the dexterity- of
L.. sl@E 1~l,s