Evening star., 1938-12-04
Sleighriding
Is Risky
Sport
Finding Safe Place
To Coast Now Is
Difficult Job
BY PHILIP H. LOVE,
Junior Page Editor.

1nlS Is d dangerous ABe-tSpcClally
for children.
Twenty years ago, for example, the
hazards of winter were compara-
lively simple. Every neighborhood
had its sleighriding hill and nearly
every neighborhood its icepond. You
might plow into q snowdrift on your
sled, or fall through the Ice on the
pond, but those were the worst things
that ordinarily could be expected TO
happen to you. .
The sleighriding hill in our neigh
borhood was long and steep, and
sleds could zip along 1t for several
blocks. There was no danger of
winding up under the wheels of an
automobile, bus or truck, because
there weren't many motor vehicles
in those days, and most Of those that
were in use were forced into tempo
rary retirement by the first heavy
snowfall. Street cars also were a
negligible hazard, because we knew
where their tracks ran, and could
chart our course accordingly.
And sleighriding-you may call 1t
shedding, but it was sleighriding to
us-was pretty much a family sport
then, largely because there was little
else to do on a cold, snowy winter
night. In the afternoon, after school
was out, the boys and girls had the
hill pretty much to themselves; but
IN the evening, after supper dinner
to you. maybe, whGe families would
flock to the hill. Sometimes theyId
coast separately; sometimes they'd
hitch several sleds together to form
q sort Of train; sometimes, too, there
would be somebody In the crowd who
had a sled long enough to carry a
dozen or more people.
Hands and ears and noses would
get cold, and boots and shoes would
contrive, in some manner, to fill
themselves with snow, but there was
always the bonfire at the top of the
hill. Everybody would crowd around
the cracking frames between rides,
roasting themselves in front while
freezing in back, and vice versa. And
the fun would continue until so late
that Junior would have all he could
do to get to school on time the next
morning, and his father would come
to the breakfast table so grouchy
that he wouldn't dare ask for the
nickel he needed to buy a writing
| tablet.
As for the icepond-it, too. had its
bonfire, in which somebody was
always roasting potatoes. And BOYS
and girls who couldn't be induced to
look at potato at home would ex-
claim with delight over balls of char
coal with little more than . dab OF
"spud' in the center.
|
But what we started out to wri
was something about how much mo
hazardous winter sports are now
days than they were when we We
growing up. Automobiles, trucks al
buses have transformed sleighidi,
from a simple and comparative
safe sport into a rather complicat
and highly dangerous adventu.
You can't Just pull your sled to Il;
top OF the nearest hill and Goa
down. You have to find hill thu
has been especially set aside fo"
sleighriding, and even then you mus
be constantly on the alert for vehicles
that may cross your route.
The dangers Of modern sleighrid-
Ing were brought to our mind by tic
following note. received from Joseph
A. Lee, l3, Of GIG Forty fifth place
NE:
"One night. two other boys and I
were on one sled. When we saw
car, I couldn't stop; so I just closed
my eyes. and when I opened them,
we were under parked car. What
happened, do not know. We got
up and just had few bruises. Oh,
boy-were we. lucky!"
Yes, Joseph and his friends were
lucky-but they can't hope to be all
the time, and neither can any other
boy or girl who is not continuously
on the lookout for danger while
sleighriding on city streets. Nearly
every snowfall results in death or
serious injury to sleighriders, and
the hazards are increasing rather
than diminishing. Here are a few
simple rules which. if strictly OBJ
served. will help you to avoid serious
accidents:
!. Never sleighride on a hill on
which there is any traffic.
2. II possible. do your sleigh
riding in field or on a vacant
lot; at any rate. be sure the route
you have chosen does not cross in
tersections at which you are likely
to encounter traffic.
3. 1t is safer to upset your sled
and roll in the snow than to shoot
IN front of an automobile, truck or
bus.
4. Don't hitch your sled onto
automobiles or trucks.
Junior jottings: John McGraw,
II. Of Germantown, Nd, reports
the organization of Citizenship
Club In his class at Damascus
School. "Our teacher, Miss Null
link. said she thought we could
try being courteous" he says :.
And here are two more letters from
Germantown. One, from George
Bryant, l6, tells how he and friend
were chased by bull. when
he (the bulD came our way" George
writes, I'VE ran as fast as our legs
would carry us. I was SO scared
that I didn't look behind me until
was almost home" The other
note. from Georges sister, Jane, II,
| reports q somewhat similar exneri.
ence with a spiteful turkey COB
bier" The turkey, Jane says, "ran
me around until I got tired and
discouraged" David Sheftell
$500 Fifth street NV, q Petworth
School pupil, collects pictures of
hres and hremen-and would like
to be = fireman" when he grows I'D
-. His brother. Alex, 13, collects
pictures, books, pamphlets and
pennants from West Point and
Annapolis"-meaning the United
States Military and Naval Acade-