CHAPTER VII

ON THE ICE

$Figure Skating.$--As soon as the skater has gained confidence and can skate in the ordinary way, he should begin to master the art of skating upon the outside edge. Put upon the ice a small stone, piece of wood, or any other object to serve for a centre. From this stand three yards with your right side towards it. Leaning a little in the direction of this centre and pressing your weight upon the outer edge of the blade of the skate, push yourself round and round the centre with your left foot. Then practise going round on the outside edge of your left skate in a similar way. Difficult as these movements will be at first, they become easy like other hard tasks by practice, and they open the way to graceful figure skating.

When the two circles have been mastered it is quite easy to cut a figure $3$ upon the ice. Begin on the outside edge of the right skate as though you meant to go in a circle, but allow your left foot to hang behind your right foot. There it will act as a kind of weight, your body will tend to swing round and you will cut the second part of the $3$ travelling backwards, and upon the inner edge of the skate. The impetus gained in cutting the first part of the figure will carry you to the end. Going in the other direction cut another $[|3]$ with your left foot, and when you can do these you are on the high road to complete success as a skater.

$Sailing on Skates.$--Boys who are so fortunate as to live where there is a large sheet of ice will find much fun in sailing. If you have the money the draper will supply you with calico, or sheeting, or other similar material, two yards wide, and a journey to the joiner will be necessary, as we shall see. A B in Figure 1 is the yard made of wood, one and a half inches thick in the middle, tapering to each end to five-eighths of an inch. At C and D holes are bored for the lashings of the sail. E F is the sprit, and we get its length by measuring the boy who is going to use the sail from his neck to his ankles. This gives the length of the sprit, and the yard should be made twice as long. We have given the longest that the sprit should be. It may be shorter, and then, of course, the yard would be shortened in proportion. The sprit is tapered towards F and a hole is bored at G for lashings. The sprit is connected with the yard by what sailors call a crotch. We have given a representation of it in Fig. 2. The cord is used to lash the sprit to the yard. C D G in Fig. 1 shows the sail. It is cut to allow a broad hem, and may be sewn rapidly with a sewing machine. A strong loop of tape or cord should be sewed at each corner of the sail C D G, and at the head of the sail, that is from C to D, eyelets should be made six inches apart. At each of these the sail is tied to the yard and also at G. A reference to Figures 3, 4 and 5 will show how the sail is used, but practice will be needed and much studying of the effect of wind upon the sail before the art of sailing on skates has been mastered. A wooden rod may be attached to F, Fig. 1. This will aid in the management of the sail, as is shown in Figures 4 and 5.

$Curling.$--Like most other pastimes, curling is best learned when you are young. Your good golfer, who "swipes" clean and clever from the tee, picked up that draw and swing which the able golfer so much prides himself upon, in youth. It is quite true that laddies in Scotland first learn to skate; yet many of the best hands at "the roaring game" have learned to throw a "stane" ere fifteen. You cannot learn young enough at anything, a true sportsman will tell you. That little, bare-legged herd laddie, who sits on the banks of the Ettrick or Yarrow, will laugh at the middle-aged tyro who vainly tries to fling a fly where there is no fish lying. The young yachtsman gets his tiller hand in his first matches in an open boat; the trigger finger of the crack shot is made over his early successes at rooks or rabbits; and the good seat in the saddle on the back of the Shetland pony; but our boys are ready for their _bonspeil_, which means _a good spell_ or game. Before giving a description of an actual game, the writer will endeavour to give some idea of what curling is like. In Germany it has been successfully introduced by Sir Edward Malet, the English ambassador, and there is every reason to believe that in a few years it will take as strong a hold of the English people, as already golf has done.

Pennant, in his Tour of the North (1792), writes of it as follows:--"Of all the sports of these parts, that of curling is the favourite, and one unknown in England. It is an amusement of the winter, and played on the ice, by sliding from one mark to another great stones of from forty to seventy pounds weight, of a hemispherical form, with an iron or wooden handle at the top. The object of the player is to lay his stone as near the mark as possible, to guard that of his partner, which had been well laid before, or to strike his antagonist's."

"The game is played on a carefully-chosen piece of ice called the rink, which should be forty-two yards long, unless special circumstances, such as thaw, and consequently dull ice, require it to be shortened. This piece of ice should be as level, smooth, and free from cracks as possible. There is usually a trifling bias, which however to the skilled curler rather adds interest to the game, as it calls forth additional science in the play."

"When the rink is chosen, a little mark is made at each end. This is called the 'tee,' and near that point stands, in his turn, each player, whose object is to hurl or slide his stones to the opposite end by a swinging motion of the arm. Each opponent also endeavours to place his stones nearer the tee than those of his opponents."

So far for Pennant's description of curling in the olden time. The old style, thanks to the Edinburgh men, who play on Duddingston Loch, has long gone out. Seventy pound stones would no longer be tolerated by any body of sportsmen affiliated under the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. In the olden times it seems, in some parts of Scotland, notably in the south-west, to have been a game of strength rather than of skill, and the man who threw his huge block the farthest, and struck his opponent's stone from the tee, or "cock," was considered to be the superior player. The stones are not now much more than half this weight, and so highly are the soles polished that they slip along keen ice so much faster with slight exertion on the part of the player, that they pass the tee or mark altogether, and go clean off the rink. The rinks or sides have been chosen--four players, one of whom acts as skip or director. He is generally the ablest and most experienced curler, and equal to the responsible duty of guarding the winning shot, if in his favour, or securing it if against him, with his last stone. The rink, which is also the name of the diagram of the game, is drawn off according to the rules of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, and carefully swept clear of all snow or hoar frost. The skip takes up his station at the tee, which is the innermost of a set of circles, known as the "hoose," no stone outside of the outer one counting in the actual score. Sweeping scores are drawn for the guidance of the players; one down the centre, which practically is a sort of hockey arrangement, as you must stick to your own side of the rink.

Sweeping commences half-down, that is, at the centre of the forty-two yards between tee and tee, and can be carried on by the players' side up to the tee, when, if it still has a little impetus, the opposing skip will sweep it out of the house altogether. When this happens after a stone has been brought on when apparently lagging, it is generally greeted with what in Parliamentary phrase would be called "Opposition cheers and laughter." In this a skip may show very superior judgment, and order his men to desist from sweeping. At his words "up hands," brooms must be raised immediately. In front of the house or counting circle is the hog score. If stones are not thrown with sufficient force to be taken over this with the assistance of the sweepers they are shoved off the ice as dead. This is sometimes galling to a young player who, when it happens, as it does repeatedly happen on soft ice, is practically put out of the game. But the "crampits" have been adjusted. These are foot-boards, grated so that they hold firmly to the ice. On these both feet must be placed when the stone is delivered. The skip gives his directions to his first player to place him a stone on the near edge of the outer ring. Why not exactly at the tee? Because if there it would form a rest for the stone of his opponent and be forced out. Our young player, who is wielding a beautifully polished pair of Ailsa Craigs, with a sweep or two of the ice does exactly what is wanted. His opponent is asked to play to the face of this stone. This he does, hurling it out and laying his own almost in its place. The next stone of the leading player fails to catch it, and goes away to the rear, dead. The fourth stone played effectually covers or guards the winner. The next pair of players give up their brooms to the leaders, and take up their position at the crampits. A gentle draw past guard and winning stone is counselled; and this is well executed, the brooms taking the stone to the very edge of the tee or centre circle. The next player fails to remove this, and being slow guards his opponent's stone.

This is a piece of good fortune for the other side, who now have a second shot drawn by a very skilful player. The third pair of players cannot well get home and try to wick, and _curl in_ (from the latter expression we have _curling_). This is done by putting with a turn of the wrist a certain bias or screw, by means of the handle when the stone is being delivered. The position of the game is not changed when the skips lay aside their brooms. There is a little more than half of the winning shot visible through a port or channel. Through this the skip, against whom the shot counts, threads his stone gently and easily and rubs the winner out. His opponent has no chance now, unless he rattles out the nearest guards. This he tries to do, but his opponent guards again, this time just across the hog score. A gentle draw, with an inner twist, might succeed. It is bravely attempted, but it is short a foot, and the leading skip claims one shot--victory for a well contested end. And so the game will last for twenty more heads, the winning rink being that which has the majority of shots. It is a happy, healthy game, not so well-known in England as it ought to be. In Germany some enthusiasts have introduced it, and from the military-like character in which it is carried out, guarding and storming and knocking out occupants of the fortress, it is likely there to come greatly into favour. It is to be hoped that we may oft see the pond where, in the language of an old Scottish curling poet--

"Drawn are the rinks where lines and curves combine, The tee, the house, hog score and central line; The cramps are laid, the champions ready stand, With eye intent and trusty broom in hand."

Those who decide to include this game in their activities should put themselves into touch with the Royal Caledonian Curling Club through its honorary Secretary, A. Davidson Smith, Esq., at the headquarters of the club, York Place, Edinburgh. They will then be able to obtain the rules for the proper playing of this delightful game.