screwed into the crossbars, and it has the}

the teeth of a comb.‘ and we sped along 
-advantage of being much easier to “hang .

something like horizontally again.

 <llECKLES_S YOUNG CANADA.

 

  
   
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
  
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
   
  
 
 
 
   
  
 

.   ..-,1-’-‘-_.*::-;..:--at--.,:--,,'
‘:fi:r.:;::«.4‘’‘i$z-:1=xe-~-+m«.=». -.

I h A How rr   LIFE AND LIMB! oN
A ,1 WINTER_'SP0RT.V'1‘.HAT TAKES oNn's

in. PAULIl\lE;JOHl\lSON Dnsciuerzs rrs

‘ I‘ "5 , ”‘:5the?, horror of’ pliysicai.  ext

* daringly reckless as far as sport is con-

ties, woe to his reputation as a tobogganist.

TI-IE ATOBOGGAN SLIDE.

   

e 1

  assert: AWAY.

 

-, A

'l

, . PI_.BlASURES ~.A.N'D DANGERS.

. HAT is that constit-'
uent of youth inher-
ent with us all that
yields to this‘witchery
of recklessness, that
loves a»dash.o_f danger
in our pleasure mak-.-
' 1.118? We see it inthe

1, ; childwhoswants Ito

     or-uéirer

‘   he use. .it-

’ V “ “ié told’ ‘DY "n_ ' se‘ fh”é.'t‘”'
“‘they.= are bad", ‘and

- will bite baby;" it
bubbles out in the’
school boy, who
skates so near to _the
big yawning airhole
"in the ice that the
brittle substance
splits beneath his feet

. and he strides off just
in time to save him-
self from a horrible
death, or at the least, a perilous ducking
while he assures his comrades he “wasn't
s(:.art,” and tries the experiment again
just because’ * the dangerous sport adds
such intoxication to the otherwise unin-
teresting, because undeniable security of
his pastime and play hour. We see it
inasthe man, whose friend coaxes him to
drop -that hazardous friendship with his

old-time love, who is another man's wife ,

now. Only to the aged whose life lies be-
hind them does danger lose its spicy flavor,
but to youth, and health, and warm young
blood, oh! the irresistible . fascination of
risk, and venture. To hold one’s breath
on the pinnacle of uncertainty, to feel one’s

on to,'i‘as it gives slightly at every "jump"
and never jars the hands. ‘
The cost of atoboggan runs from $3 up-
ward, but a very neat one built of Indiana
black hickory, with a thick, handsome
cushion laced firmly in place, may be had
for $7 or thereabouts. ~
One_ can soon: become an expert at running
the craft. You have but to pack your pas-
sengers, forward, all sitting “Turk fash-
ion," and as close as sardines, leaving a
foot’s spaceat the stern, upon which you
drop one knee as you start the load, grip
the side ropes with both hands, kneel high
enough to admit of your chin just skimming
the shoulder of the person directly in front
of you, and “let her go”——using your free
foot as a rudder, of which the slightest
touch on the.track will bend your craft
into obedience, but your foot, must be ab-
solutely free, swinging and mvoccasined. 01‘
command of your load is lost. ’
,Ofvcourse“h_if you are a lady, the fewer
skirts‘: wornthe better, and unless you are
as fearless‘ and sturdy limbed as La. Can-
adienne, you would be wiser to reservemore»
‘spa.-ce-=-to I ’ rsel£.,.if you intend tosteer
"than the rneager above mentioned ‘foot.
But. you soon get accustomed to a short
allowance of room, for some way or other
there always seems to be space enough
for just one more on a toboggan, and then
you dash down_ on the few inches left you
and away you go, caring little for the snow
spluttering and whirling about your ears,
as you plow through drifts, and scale the
“bump” with‘a flying leap, for most of the
sliding in Ontario is done on snow, which,
though spicy enough in itself, is not near-
ly the fun which one can get out of it in
the Lower Province, where they turn a
hose on at the top of the shute until the
entire track is veneered with a thin stream
of water which congeals in ice almost in-
stantly in an atmosphere that often drops
to thirty degrees below zero, and over this
crystal track I have bounded more than once
at the rate of a mile in thirty seconds.
Like all other winter sports, tobogganing
is seen to perfection in Montreal. The
slides are owned and managed by the re-
spective snow 'hoe clubs, and each en-
deavors to rival each in speed, accommoda-
tion and hospitality. At carnival time the
slides are a sight worth crossing the conti-

Dulses-‘bound with excitement, then freeze

nent to see. One fete I attended, the Mon-

v—<.. .*r—w.

 
     
 

6 

E;  1,5.  ..,.._ H
inotion. 
This; .indeed,. is the essence» of life and
pleasure and existence. This indeed, is the
essence of-—to_bogganing. . ,. ‘
Young Canada is wonderfully vigorous,

cerned, but of all the wild, heedless pas-
times in his long catalogue of phi/'8iC3»1_eX"
ercise, tobogganing is undoubtedly the
most hazardous. .

Many a gay young life _has been dashed
out at the foot of the treacherous slide.
many a sturdy limb-* snapped asunder, many
a glowing cheek cut and scarred for a life-.
time, but still the rollicking sport goes on.
each robust gamester strong in the faith
that theirs is the one charmed existence
to which mishap is least likely to occur.
And after all there is little to fear if the
“man at the helm" knows the track and has
confidence in his own steering, but he must
be strong, keen-eyed and absolutely fear-
less, or woe be to the passengers he essays
to pilot down hill on the wingstof the wind;
woe to his craft, and, direst of‘ al.l:>ca.1a.ml-

But, like all true sportsmen, he is keenly
alive to the dangers of careless and tricky
practices. One can always distinguish the
reliable veteran by the painstaking fashion
he has of seeing that the passengers’ coats,
skirts and sashes are all well tucked under
before the start, by his immutable law of-
never ‘~permitting_‘the craft"to escape the
touch of his hand or foot while the pas-
sengers are mounting, and by his despotic
command that they “hang on whatever
ha.ppens”—for fun is ended and foolhardi-
ness begins the instant some swashbuckler
thinks it very clever to. go. down hill back-
wards‘ or standing _up, or to get a crowd
aboard only to- terrify them by letting the
toboggan creep some feet toward the shute
before he tears madly after it, pitches him-
self on the ‘scant space «left him “aft,”
while‘ the craft swerves from side to side
with his blundering antics and an accident
is barely averted. But many a terrible

» —‘ "  «’ . .
,,lIi$,lr ,',3:'§}1E:£_.’1_l;3( ,  _,,,A. A -A. -,

 

treal Club had a slide well-nigh perpendicu-

lar, the decent of which came nearer mak-

ing my hair stand on end than anything I,
ever experienced, for it is constructed by

nature, and, like all her works, transcends

the most cunning artifice of man. Down the

long, ‘steep slopes of Mount Royal, that

lifts its huge bulk behind the curious old

French-Canadian city, the two gleaming
tracks of ice look like silver wires sus-
pended in midair, with a gray, cobwebby
something, winding up alongsidetwhich a
nearer view reveals to be a staircase. This
and a. few yards of particularly abrupt
“shute” are the only artificial adjuncts re-
quired to perfect the most precipitous slide
in Canada. The double tracks are separated
by a ridge of ice, a little above a foot in
hight, so that two toboggans can with
safety race-eachother, from start to finish,
a distance of three-quarters of a mile, at
the end, of which you are quite willing to
dismount, considering the fact that the
atmosphere always tarries at zero or there-
,abouts, and your mad flight through such
air leaves you as nearly frozen solid as
humanity can be and yet live.

, The first trip I took. on this slide was a
revelation to me as far as sport and speed
are concerned. It was ‘..‘-opening night” in
carnival week, and the blaze of light and
color, from summit to base, were dazzling
enough to be blinding, even a mile distant.
At the top of the slide a gigantic cord—wood
bonfire seemed to lick the very heavens with
its flames,supplemented every three minutes
with a burst of red,‘green and orange lime-
lights. At intervals of every twenty feet
along shute, dip and far level track were
stretched lines of Chinese lanterns over-
head, and between these rows of light‘ stood
seemingly frost-proof men, wielding Roman
candles and rockets, and themselves cos-
tumed in .the regulation blanket suit, with
brilliant sashes and stockings and torches
afiame" on their toques.

2
Throngs of merrymakers crowded the

* {forever to his kin,gly....r_ hes,,t...

ing to jump the second dip!"
Hardly had the words reachedmy’ ears
before the toboggan leapt four feet ‘into

verbial pancake, about fifteen feet beyond,
and careened madly, wildly onward, slack-
ing gently and reluctantly a half mile fur.-
ther on. The instant _we stopped _stal_wart

ing down. I had not time to think of that
headlong plunge, of- my frozen brain, of
my hands strained. with their desperate
clutch on the ropes. The big steerer hur-
ried me into a warm, bright booth, where
girls with glowing cheeks and sparkling
eyes were drinking hot, savory beef tea.
They gave me a large’ bowlful, which ‘I
swallowed gladly while they told me a story

trip down the previous day. _ L ,
“I would not have,-.,missed’,thg,g».?r1;1g 

 
  

,p.galrl.n  .,,  H J g m_:‘-E  _
“No, thank you," replied the visitor, “I
would not take that trip again for»_$10,000.’_'
Nor would he, despite all coaxing, “for,"
said he, “I have a wife and children ’i
Baltimore--and they need me.” ‘ .

On the return tramp I thought of_ the
Chinaman, who, when asked what he
thought of tobogganing, said: “It’s just
swir-r-r!—-walkee backee milee.” But that
same walk back is what puts the life into
you, that warms every particle of your
body to blood heat, that sends young life
and vigor bounding through your veins in
a way that defies cold and danger, and
intoxicates you into the state of pluck and
fearlessness requisite to repeat the whirl-
wind ride.

Many a time since that carnival night
have I steered my own toboggan, down less
precipitous steeps, perhaps, but none the
less dangerous; many a time on the track-
less old hill up here in Ontario -‘have I
cleared a half-buried tree stump by a cou-
ple of inches and a touch of my moccasined
toe, that has swerved my craft aside in
the nick of time; many a night have I been
one of a gay young crew, packing the snow
together at the foot of the hill just to
make a “big bump” over which our tobog-
gan would leap like a stag, then fly on its
runaway course, and many the cold west-
ern moon that has smiledall night ‘above.
us as we thronged the court of this king
of winter sports.
down-hill without a peculiar homesickness
to see old Mount Royal lifting its royal
crest against the night, and to hear some
chivalrous, dark-eyed French Canadian
asking if “Mademoiselle will only honor
me ard my tobngg.'.nn," and then with regret
I remember that the mighty, rugged slide,
with many of its fellows, has fallen into
disuse the last few seasons, owing to that
variable tyrant Fashion, who has recently
smiled very openly onvtskating and snow-
shoeing. But one never .knows the veerings
of this weathercock, orhow soon the man-
date will be issued that will cause young
Canada to spring to its" feet, hailing with

 

,temporarily exiled fl _
wild, inspirlting‘-77 atmo here that   ‘c

\

     
 

E. PA LINE  I
( Hun SN

 

 
 
   

A recently , copied win, The

ignorant belief in ther‘”dev‘eloprn‘ent .» of” a.
lower form of anim ' life :"frd,n?1”""a.hair; of
one of the vertebrate should’ still flnd",ad-V
vocates. For the utter-absurdity has been
shown so many times that additional com-
ment is hardly called for. ‘ .
The common hair-worm, which gets its
name from the ridiculous notion that it re-
sults from a water-soaked hair, is a para-
sitic animal which passes the earlier stages
of its existence in the bodies of insects,
generally crickets, or grasshoppers. In time
the thread-like creature reaches a length
of ten times that of its diseased supporter.
It escapes from its early home in the in-
sect’s body, after the grasshopper falls into
the pool of water or mud-puddle, and there
lays its eggs and dies. The life history of
the hair-worm has been carefully studied
by reliable observers, and we shouldnot
give credit to the stories of those more anx-
ious to create or continue sensations than
to settle a fact in natural history.
Kalamazoo, Mich. MORRIS GIBBS.

THE N ATAL ~ NIGHT.

 

BY WM. B. cH1sHoLi5t.

 

Stars of the still Judean sky,

That watch-above the holy place:
Behold a brighter star‘ on high

That droops to kiss an Infant's ‘face.

Inn of thesleeping Bethlehem, =1
Behold as*if thy roof-tree, rent,-A ., ; ; 
Let down in one rare diadem
The jewels of the flrmamenti

Airs of the wintry midnight, hush;
Hark to the sound of angel wings!
Ye bearded Magi, swifter rush '
To greet the lowly King of Kings!

That’: Wliut She Did.
The fair /young‘ Chicagoan’s hand had
been sought, and to some extent found, by

spill have T h:‘::l where no one was to

stairs and eneircl.-Al ilm imp-Err-, clrn.ti:crin":r

-.».v.

n, «listinguishecl European nobleman.
 ,.,j.t.‘ '4  ‘:.._,1“, ,’ .\._

“Look out, now, and hang on; we’re.go-« “

the air, struck the track, flat as -the pro- v 

arms .assisted us to scramble out of ‘the
way before the next toboggan came" crash-.

of an American who had takenfihisi first .
a thousand dollai's,‘f_'« e_ renfitrked -to 

ter, .i‘get vvarmefld?-,,.:‘i1)vV; lnopwp‘ and -qve’11_’.c‘:~}A‘r..;;1}v; 

L W-”.'.’_ ". _ ‘

-' The 
isla, 
°flié.1'. 
‘ment'-A -‘E
dent. 0_
to the‘?
casion
the ri 
all Vi 3
by 
The 
the , 7,2;
- tcomogg’
Of‘ 

 
   
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
  
  
 
 

But I never take a dash .

a glad and lusty, shout the ‘freturnaof this ' h
1-ch... and ’--of ‘the , '  -

vti A “

 free  es, ,"i'r'5m7_ he "" ‘Tfv'Yo‘r-It Th“
W V ‘ l_ "snakes evelopedcfrom "4

( airs ‘of hun1a,n‘.”being‘d;dg,‘1_1(1, o;herw‘_§,nl-. g *
mals.‘ It is most. surpI‘i.$'”1.11_'§‘.-t.l1‘agt.igfthe;.old, ‘ "