Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-06

Winter Sports -Br-r-r-r!
Continued from page
Continued from page 4

with eight nice people -four of them pretty
young persons), some of them related to me,
recklesslv ntrusting their lives to my unprac
tised, about of form trembling hand-hands,
| mean: it took both hands, and | could have
used at least four more.
The precipitous course q was going to say
the perpendicular course) took in three cross
streets and wound up at high butte over
looking an ice clogged river. Henceforth and
forever, whenever | think | can use night
mare, shall revert to that experience. At each
cross street, going at the rate of hundred and
ffty-slx miles an hour, l, as steersman, missed
heavy trucks, loaded with scrap iron, or safes,
or structural steel, and each drawn by from
four to six rough shod Percherons about twenty
hands high and with long hair round their
fetocks-at each cross street l missed trucks
like those by the width of Billiken's hand
and when, at the bottom, | pulled up on the
butte overhanging the ice cogged river, which
looked to be about twelve thousand feet below,
| had a margin at the front edges of the run
ners, of almost an eighth of an inch.
My passengers (desperados as all young peo-
pie are) voted me a colossal success as a sled
steers1nan and said could act as their steers
man for the remainder of the afternoon and
evening. They were, in fact enthusiastic
over my pilotry that-the young fellows being
pretty busy sparkling the glrls-they permitted
me to drag the sled, which wasn't much more
than twelve feet long. up to the top of the hill
almost by myself Now. that dragging the sled
back to the top of the hill is the measliest feat
ure of coastlng. even when you re young enough
to weigh in at, say, about ninety-fve pounds
but when, after somewhat sedentary life. you
essay to drag a sled built for eight, and two
hundred and twenty five pounds up an almost
perpendicular incline about four squares long
why
Well l got the sled up there all right that
once, but when they looked round for their
steersman, To- he had vanished. Their steers
man, Selling upon a moment when they hap
pened to be looking the other way, had picked
up his moccasins, in way of speaking, and
streaked, pantlngly, for the shelter he had SO
reluctantly left an hour SO before.
For the remainder of the declining afternoon
the steersman did his coasting coasting, ex-
cept by natural born coasters and children
ought to be done, vfS.. by proxy. He enjoyed
the coasting keenly, gazing at it out of warm,
glowy room, with a large glass dish of apples on
the table and the cat blinking dreamily before
the leaping, swapping fire. Thus environed, he
found the coasting spectacle interesting and
charming: the rosy cheeks of the maidens, you
know, and those bright colored knitted caps
with the long overhangng tassels they were
wearing, and the merry, merry lahfter OF the
gay, chllled-to-the-bone coasters, and the puffy
horrible struggles of the imposed-upon coasters
who were delegated to drag the sleds back up
the hill, and the subtle, beautifully finished
acting of all of 'em in trying to make believe
that they were having stupendously glorious
time a-coasting!
Believe me, there are few sports SO diverting
SO satisfying, SO well being y agreeable, as
watching other sufferers coasting, when you
yourself have the proper investiture of warmth
and coziness!