The Washington times., 1923-01-07

~
An attempt to catch the spirit of
the keen Joys Of the winter sea
son. Edited ~ 2. g. der. New
York. The Macmillan Company.
or those 81 us sufficiently
youthful to be waiting with
bated breath for the Ice %
appear ia the rejecting pool al
the Lincoln Memorial. this book
possesses wonderful charm, charm
Of the teasing kind FOR It tells Of
those FAR countries where snow
and ice abound, where cheeks red
as apples are the style, where the
breath steams Up into the air and
where the joys Of winter abound.
Ice-notoring and ice-yachting
skating, hockey. curling, snow
shoeing, skiing. tobogganing and
sleighing are the subjects treated
BY many different writer's and
brought together III this one vol
un1e.
And those Of us whose blood Is
running ! BIT more sluggishIy, to
Us there are the joys Of memory
coaxed back BY 4 perusai Cf these
pages, each tinged with the icy
finger of the Frost king.
Motoring and yachting on the
ice is treated rather IA detail.
There are directions FOR making
sixfh.cIass yacht and how TO sail
her. The mysteries .of ice.scoot-
ing. as venturesome souls do on
Great South Bay, outside Of New
York. are exposed Some day we
may attempt scooting on the
ice. that ID.
Skating is completely covered.
from directions as to the shoe 10
be worn to the more intricate
figures marked out upon the Ice
BY experts. And, for diversion,
you are harked back to that after
noon when Mr.. Wrinkle essayed
his luck upon the lee before Mr.
Pickwick. Mr.. Weller, Mr.. Benia-
min Allen, Mr.. Bob Sawyer and
ArabelIa, having consumed "a
substantial lunch. with the agree
able items Of strong beer and.
cherry-brandy z
How hockey il played on the
ice Is well described, with the
American and Canadian rules ex-
planned at length. Curling Is
treated much the same, with 9
wealth OF ancient Hieland terms
apparently part Of the game.
This must be game difficult to
learn, IL those Scottish phrases
are to be considered q part Of II.
There il much to be learned
here. For instance, "The best
city sleighing in the world 4 70
be had in-
You were going to say Montreal
or st. Petersburg, and I assure
you. you would have been in err
ror.
''The prettiest sleighing in the
world is to be seen IN New York
and Paris"
why is this so? Vance Thomp-
son says the reason is plain as q
pike-staff. He says that sleigh
ing becomes common, q mere go
ing from one place to another. in
both Montreal and st. Petersburg
on the other hand, in New York
and Paris. each with q brief
season, sleighing becomes q car
nival. Something in that.
There is an excellent description
of shedding on the Nevsky Pros
pekt in the ancient times when a
Car lived and had his being.
Listen-'tA plain sledge approaches.
The officer who occupies it is
dressed like an ordinary general.
and there are thousands of gem
erals! AS ne drives quietly along,
police and sentries give him the
salute Of the ordinary general; so
do those who recognize him by
his face or his KAYAK orderly. Tt
is the Emperor out for his after
noon exercise. If we meet him
near the gate Of the Anitchkoff
Palace, we may find him sitting
placidly beside us, while our
sledge and other sledges in the
line are stopped for moment to
allow him to enter
All. lack-a-day. much snow has
fallen ana turned into dirty water
on the once famous NevsEy Pros
pekt since a Gar rode alone but
for a KAYAK orderly!
And still Washington's young
sters await anxiously the appear
ance of ice on the reflecting pool
while we sit by our steam radia-
tor enjoying the bracing air of
Norway, of Switzerland, Of Queber.
Such is an interesting book.