Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1859 — A Lady's First Lesson in Skating. [ARTICLE]

A Lady's First Lesson in Skating.

The Examiner thinks the following “directions’' by the editor of the Poughkeepsie Daily Press (who is evidently a professor, or at least a connoisseur.') may be of interest • and service to ladies'who may be tempted to Cultivate that most delightful, appropriate graceiul and healthful of ail out-door accomplishments for females—skating: “You will make a dash at the ice, and will • instantly find yourself flat on your back, with vour heels in the air, and your backcomb splashed to flinders against the ice. Having got one foot under you, and nearly placed the other in the same position, both I will suddenly start off like a shot, and you will be reduced to the necessity of depositing yourself ‘bump’ on the ice, while your toes will stick tip side by side, staring vou j in the face in a very .comical manner. “You will try again, and in an excess of caution to prevent the skates from sliding • out forward, will cause them to take an opposite direction, and as quick as lightning, you will find yourself flat on your_face. Ad- | vance more cautiously the next time, you venture out again and regain the middle of •the ice, when, as you begin to exult in proficiency, your feet will commence to part company gradually, working out sideways. The agonizing suspense of such a moment ' can Only be appreciated by a person who has •trusted h's weight to two saw-logs in the i water, and with one foot upon each, sags i tht-m gradually recede from each other until he drops helpless into the cold bath beneath. You come down as before, only “a I little more so,’ and instantly become con- | vinced that every bone in your body is bro. ken, and that skating is a humbug. “After our lady pupils have gone through | with this experience, the result of their rashness, if thej- will procure the assistance of ! ~ .rpptleman. and proceed confidently, they will do we lb” >•