Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-16

contests at "blackman" and tag" Then the school boys have q
nondescript game which is neither hockey nor the 'shinnny oil n
country town lots.
There is something in whacking at ar old battered can to watch
it sail over the ice that appeals to a boys ardent instincts. This
nameless game has n o particular finish and no scoring, but theresa
skating is in favor with many of the young women of Omaha.
too. They ire to be seen o the fine days skating with Just as much
leisure grace as the jostling crowds will permit
The most popular, because the most accessible of the skating
places in Omaha, is the lake at Hanscom park. From the vantage
of the hillops about the little pond appears much like a carnival
ground as the throng OF skaters surge about in many colored streams
and blotches from the massing of gay sweaters and caps.
The available skating places OF the season have been limited this
season owing to the persistent fall of snow following the formation
OF the ice. Carter lake, which in seasons past has offered the best
skating Of the locality. has been impossible territory this year be-
cause of the snow crust
the enterprise of the street railway company, which reaps many a
nickel from the carrying of the skaters.
On one chill, blustery day last week a lone ice boat spread Its
wings for a little spin across Carter lake. This boat Is the last of
a fleet of the ice craft that used to skim the lake at lightning speed
in performances of wonderful daring.
Ice boating is the most dangerous but fascinating of winter
sports. The speed is but limited by the wind. Broad sails, with
hundreds of feet of pulling surface, mounted on light steeLshod run
ners, develop a velocity just a little faster than the wind itself
The possibilities of the ice boat for producing thrills is unlimited.
To ride an Ice boat before a winter gale is to travel at a speed that
at times may exceed that II IN express train. There Is just a narrow
seat to hold onto and there are sudden turns to be made in the bullet
like flight over the ice. To the experienced ice yachtman n air hole
or a bit of open water fifteen or twenty feet wide is not al obstacle.
The speed is sufficient to shoot the boat across to the firm ice on
the other side. Of course, sometimes 1t don't-and then. Sometimes
the front runners of the craft cross the gap and take the surface on
the opposite side, but let the rear runners on the speeding craft drop
below the edge of the ice. Then comes a shock. From sixty miles
an hour to a dead stop is enough to put the passengers of the ice boat
all over the lake, but that's part of the fun.
The Entertainments of the ice harvesters and the dangers OF the
sport have operated as a Encouragement, and the fleet of racers at
Carter lake have been abandoned. The same reasons have initiated
against sail skating, which is we'll near as dangerous and quite as
exciting.
Equipped with a big triangular sail mounted on sturdy frame
the skater can execute maneuvers on the ice that wonderfully o.
semble the swooping flight Of the swallow. 1t is a sport for a strong,
sure skater. AS with the ice boat, the skater can veer and tack like
a vessel, making a reasonable speed against the wind.
Clothed with a covering of packed snow, every incining road
way and hillside offers the opportunity for sport to the coasters. Out
in the districts where the crowded traffic is not an interference the
sleds re busy. A bully lot of exercise the coasters get.
1t is a long walk up the slanting course to the top. A rest at
the starting point, then a plunge off with a suddenness like flying
through space, swiftly at first, dying slowly in the long slide out ON
the level end of the course, then trudging back again, dragging the
sled; that is the endless circuit of the coasters.
Perhaps the graphic description improvsed by an old Indian is
the best way to express it. This redskin had for the first time seen
wonderment and delight The speed made a great hit with this
thoughtful brave. An attempt to explain his sensations to his fell
lows found his vocabulary uncomfortably deficient. Cropping about
for some way to say it, he at last exploded:
Swish, sw1sh-wak a mile"
That was the whole story-down the hill and up again.
When a bobsled loaded with eighteen lusty boys gets into the
grip of Ike Newton's law Of gravitaton on a slippery hillside It ia
bound to develop speed like a sixtyhorse power motor car on Farnam
streets down grade, which is generally admitted 20 be going some.
The steersman of the bobsled has a strenuous job. He is the
guardian of the safety of his passengers and the strain of a long slide
over an uncertain course puts a bicycle face on the man in front
A few inches off the beaten tracks and the treacherous sled will turn
turtle, which means that the JOY riders will pile into an unEracsful
tangle. with the possibility Of some broken bonesy