Skating Then And Now

The opening of the skating iseason this winter revealed a enrióos fact. Very ëw of ti girls of a certain age, those Just blossoming into yonng womanhood, knew how to akate, and there was a like deficiency in the boys of the same set. Brothers and sisters a few years advanced were perfectly at home on the ice. This is easily acconnted for. If the warm winters of a few years past were to continue ice skating wonld soon become a lost rt Another factor in the case was the recent prevalence of roller skating, which crowded the older and better sport out of f ashion. The Spri ngfield boys and girl3 of fifty year3 ago found good skating at their very doors. Frost's pond was just off Main street, back of the present site of Brigham's stores and the Second bank, and when the meadows were flooded, as was oftenthe case, the youngsters could skate from State street clear up to Carew by climbing an occasional pair of bars. In those days the crack fancy skater of the town was Emory Whipple, the now veteran jeweler. There were none of the ingenióos skates which every boy has now. The runner or shoe either had a groove along the bottom or consisted of two parallel pieces of steel. The present narrow edge was unknown; the toe ended in a fantastic curl, and the heel was held to the boot heel by a spike. The skate was sccurely bound to the foot with many windings of a strap. Getting one's skates on was not the