The Holbrook news., 1912-05-10

1 comes apparent to the budding ski.
 CT as soon as he has got to the stage
 of being able to get up when he falls,
 and henceforth he scorns the chaff.
 good humor, spills and collisions
 which make up the luger's day. It
 may be remarked that the budding skier aforesaid is the only winter
 sportsman who ever attempts or as-
 pires to be dignified or scornful You
 can have capital time on a luge.
 even if you have only two square inches to sit on. and if your feet, held fast by your partner in front, are be- ing used as rudders. At first it seems
 strange to the novice that the proprie- ties are in nowise involved If a lady, invited by an absolute stranger to Ego down" with him, promptly accedes to his request by clasping him round the waist and putting her feet on his lap. In this, as in other things, practice makes perfect. After week or two you begin to see that lugeing, instead of being merely a sensation, Is an art, not too easy to learn. The correct taking of a bank, and indeed any real ly good steering, is, one is led to be- lieve. the work of years. The direc- tion of a bobsleigh is admittedly a serious matter, but on one's first visit one may be content to be one of the crew, when one has only to shout and lean. The excitement of bobsleighing reaches it's height when it Is prac- tised on a pitch dark evening under the direction of a steersman in whom one has no confidence.
 About the ice sports a this years novice has little or no experience The bad weather, which in other ways has affected the less expert very lit tie, has certainly bothered the skat- CTS The rink, when it is not shut al- together, is treacherous. rough and full of holes. It is below the notice of the good skater, and too awesome for the tyro. There are few of this years novices who are not bound to confess that they never went on the ice and never saw ice-hockey or curl ing On the other hand, they have gained more knowledge than they wanted of indoor amusements, or, rather, of the lack of them. Indoor life Is replete with every comfort, but IL lb lOIluudLC lA41t lAO VI HUI O4 lAO hotel makes one too lazy to notice that there is nothing whatever to do. When the cause of your staying in- doors is the weather, at least you have society; but when 1t is because of an accident, you simply feel marooned.
 And what about the Alps all this time? Truly the disregard of the beauties and grandeur of the scenery is one of the strongest features of the winter sportsman. As long as the Iuge track Is like ice and the snow is not too soft or too hard or too sticky for skiing, as long as the sun is bright and the wind not strong. the old stager recks nothing of the beauty of things Indeed, he would rather not see the mountains, for 1t is a sign of bad weather. On the first day of his visit he conscientiously identifies the various peaks ty means of guide-book; but once he is the pos sessor of skis and a luge. he never gives them another thought Ladies are no better, unless they have taste for sketching.
 It is pitiful that the first thing that strikes one about the Alps in winter is their resemblance to the common colored picture postcard. Their shapes and colors are crude and hard. The pines, if they are not bowed down with snow, are exactly that almost acid green; the sky is a vivid and un- real blue, and the mountains them selves are just as strangely white and glittering. The colors of the gorgeous sunset are reflected on the peaks in exquisite but not delicate or tender hues. and there is one particular glow of light magenta that is purely fire work One beauty, which catches the eye at once, is the bold contrast of the sky and snow with the brown leaves still clinging to the beeches. The effect is to make the leaves glow almost like flame.