Something about Skating.

ANUARY has now come in earnest, my young friends, and with it the cold weather, ice, snow, and skating, and sliding, and snow-balling, and all the other good old English sports and pastimes. As Peter Parley always likes to be in season, he takes this opportunity of saying

a few words about skating.

It is an agreeable sight to behold, in cold countries, the men and women going to and from church or market on their skates, with, perhaps, loads on their shoulders. In the cold and rugged districts of Norway and Iceland, Sweden and Lapland, the ground is so covered with enormous masses of snow, that ice-skating (such as we practise it) is but little resorted to, but snow-skates are often employed. But in Holland there is a sufficient quantity of smooth ice, and a sufficient absence of snow, to enable the inhabitants to enjoy a considerable amount of skating every winter. Women join in it as well as men, and frequently skate to market with their baskets on their

heads. It is said that, in 1809, two young women at Groningen were the first in a skating match, going thirty-eight miles in two hours,

It is not known at what period skating was first produced in England, but there are indications of its existence in the thirteenth century; for Fitzstephen, in his "History of London," says, that it was at that time customary, when the ice was sufficiently strong, for the young citizens of London to fasten the leg bones of animals under the soles of their feet, by tying them round their ancles, and then taking a pole, shod with iron, into their hands, they pushed themselves forward by striking it against the ice, and moved with a celerity equal, as Fitzstephen states, to a bird flying through the air, or an arrow from a cross-bow. This statement we must, of course, sober down a little. He then proceeds to say: "At times, two of them, thus furnished, agree to start opposite one to another, at a great distance. They meet, elevate their poles, attack and strike each other, when one or both of them fall, and not without bodily hurt; and even after they fall they are carried a great distance from each other by the rapidity of their motion, and whatever part of the head comes upon the ice, it is sure to be laid bare." This must evidently have been a violent kind of sport, and bore but a small relation to modern skating.

Fitzstephen describes another kind of diversion on the ice in these words: "Others make a seat of ice as large as a millstone, and having placed one of their companions on it, they draw him along, when it sometimes happens that, moving on slippery places, they all fall down headlong." Ibral mentions that, in his time, it was customary to use sledges, which, being extended from the centre by

means of a strong rope, those who are seated on them are moved round with great rapidity, and form a large circle.

The use of the modern skate is supposed to have been brought from Holland, and for many years skating has been exercised with much elegance in England and Scotland. Formerly, the Skating Club in Edinburgh was considered to display the most elegant specimens of skating in the country; but since the establishment of another club in London, it is probable that the southern metropolis equals the northern in this matter.

Those who wish to become proficient in skating should begin at an early period of life, and should first endeavour to throw off all fear. They will soon acquire a facility of moving on the inside edges of their skates; when they have done this, they must endeavour to acquire the movement on the outside, which is nothing more than throwing themselves upon the outer edge of the skate, and making the balance of the body tend towards that side, which will necessarily enable them to form a semicircle. In this, much assistance will be derived from placing a bag of lead shot in the pocket next to the foot employed in making the outside stroke, which will produce an artificial poise of the body, at first very useful. At the commencement of the outside stroke, the knee of the employed leg should be a little bent, and gradually brought to a rectilineal position, when the stroke is completed. When the practitioner becomes expert in forming the semicircle with both feet, he is then to join them together, and proceed progressively and alternately with both feet, which will carry him forward with a graceful movement. Care should be taken to use very little manual exertion, for the impelling motion should proceed from the mechanical impulse of the body, thrown into such a

position as to regulate the stroke. At taking the outside stroke, the body ought to be thrown forward, the unemployed leg kept on a direct line with the body, the face and eyes directly looking forward, while the unemployed foot ought to be stretched towards the ice, and the toes in a direct line with the lcg. In the time of making the curve the body must be gradually and almost imperceptibly raised, and the unemployed leg brought in the same manner forward, so that at finishing the curve the body will bend a small degree backward, and the unemployed foot will be about two inches before the other, ready to embrace the ice, and form a corresponding curve. The muscular motion of the whole body must correspond with the movement of the skate, and should be regulated so as to be almost imperceptible to the spectators.

Concerning the choice and use of skates, the wood should be slightly hollowed, so as to adapt it to the ball of the foot; and as the heel of the boot must be thick enough to admit the key or screw, it is desirable to lower that part of the wood of the skate corresponding to the heel, for the more of the foot there is in contact with the skate, the more firmly will the latter be attached. As the tread of the skate should correspond as nearly possible with that of the foot, the wood of the skate should be of the same length as the boot or shoe. The irons should be of good steel, well secured in the wood, and they should pass beyond the screw or peg at the heel nearly as far as the wood itself, but the bows of the iron should not project much beyond the wood in front; for if they did so, the whole foot, more especially the hinder part, would be raised considerably from the ice, when the front or bow of the skate is brought to bare upon it; and as the skater depends upon this part for the power of the stroke, it is evident

that must be greatly diminished by the general distance of the foot from the ice. If the skate be too long, the ancle becomes fatigued; if too short, the support will be unsteady. The iron of the skate, which is usually about three quarters of an inch deep, and one quarter thick, is sometimes grooved at the bottom, and at other times plain. The intention of the former kind is to assist those whose light weight is insufficient to enable a plain skate to take a firm hold of the ice: but for persons of moderate weight it is better to use skates with a plain edge; for a flushed or grooved edge cuts too easily into the ice, and is also liable to get clogged up with loose ice or snow.

It must be borne in mind that the proper use of the skate depends much on the skate iron, for it is with this that the skater is enabled to execute the fine figures which are sometimes seen, and without care he only stands a chance of coming down all fours. The first attempt of the learner should be to stand forward on the ice on his skates-then to walk with them-then to shuffle on in a sort of sliding gait and then to form a circle inwards, that is, to turn the right foot towards the left, and the left towards the right.

The best method of setting to the outside case is to form the ancle inwards, say with the right foot, and with considerable force. In the course of this, place the foot down in front of the right, and lean powerfully on the outside of the left heel. A little practice or confidence in his balance will enable the student to lift his right foot and hang it behind, while he proceeds to cut outside with the left foot. Let him then stop, and begin the inward circle with the left foot and slip down the outer edge of the right heel in the same way.

The young skater has now learned to balance himself, and can venture to strike out at once to the right on the heel of the right

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