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Show City Bpys'Havc Fun ' v In Country Fashion Youngsters In New York Enjoy the Sport of " Coasting " Down the Hills In Central Park Every Variety o) Sled Is Pressed Into Use. That country boys have not a monopoly monop-oly of the delights of the winter season, sea-son, at least so far as the joys of "coasting" are concerned, is proved by the following article from the New York Sun: Since the first snow of the year covered Central park, boys have been moulding snow men of heroic size and naming them for Park Commissioner Wilcox. If he had freed Ireland he couldn't be more popular with the boy with a sled. In other years the children of East Side, West Side and Harlem'- have looked with envious eyes on the forbidden for-bidden hills of the parks. When they took their sleds there the police chased amusements. They go to the park with no Idea of joining in the sport, but some chivalrous youngster offers the hospitality of his sled and they can't resist. A man of 30 stood watching the joyous joy-ous players. He hadn't been on a sled in twenty years, but this hill was just high enough and steep enough to wake the desires of childhood in him. "I wish I had a sled," he said aloud, quite to himself. "I wish you had, too," said a girl who was looking on, also quite to herself. her-self. "I'd borrow it from you for five minutes." "Won't you take mine, miss?" asked a boy of 10, leading up a" gaily painted one with big cast iron base, just the kind to give it an impetus. She hesitated and the boy added: "I'll ride, too. It's big enough for both and I can steer.' When the young man moved on the big girl had made the journey fully ten times and was climbing the hill again. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes showed her exhilaration. In traveling down Donkey hill if the sledsman takes his car to the right he can go up and over a smaller hill, which brings him out on the little arm Df the lake. This discovery was made by a youth who rolled off his cled The Start. them away before usage had made & fair slide on the hillsides. It was feared that the practice would destroy the bed of grass that the sled runners reached in time as the carpet of snow wore away. But Commissioner Willcox decided that the injury that might be done was insignificant compared com-pared with the enjoyment that coasting coast-ing would give to thousands of children, chil-dren, so he opened Central park to them. Some of the hills were kept for boys and some for girls, and some were left for the mutual enjoyment of wnen ne got to tne laite, not caring to make an investigation there. The sled shot out on the ice. Thoughtlessly "the boy rushed out wherS he had feared to go on the sled. The ice gave way and he found himself him-self to his waist in the water. A policeman po-liceman pulled him out and ran him. across the fields toward his home at a good pace so that he-might not be chilled by his bath. After that the police po-lice decreed that the hill should be used by girls only, as they were not likely to be so daring and add a plunge to their downward trip. At each of the openings Into the An Aristocrat. park there is a natural fall of ground and it seemed impossible for a stroller in the park to count the hillsides that are used by the coasters. The styles of sleds were numerous, too. The children of the rich brought heavy, long-bodied, low sleds, particularly made for coasting and shiny with varnish var-nish over many hues of paint. Children Chil-dren not rich enough to have a choice brought the old-fashioned sleds with the bowed runners of wood, shod with iron hoops. It was the very poor children who had some of the fastest carriers. One boy from the East Side built himself a sled which would carry four, if pressed. It had two sets of runners, connected with a board which had enough to give it to serve as a spring. The forward runners could be moved in steering. This sled, weighted with four healthy boys, gained a quick impetus im-petus which told in the distance trav- both girls and boys. The result has been that on every fair day the park has been crowded with the little people, peo-ple, and every hill has had its following. follow-ing. The slide on the south side of 110th street necessarily ends with the curb at Manhattan. But skillful pilots of the sled, who can turn a curve, found that by using the walk on the north side they could wheel into Manhattan avenue and strike an incline carrying them two full blocks northward. This pleasure place has been used so steadily stead-ily that pedestrians are practically excluded. ex-cluded. The special providence which looks after child coasters has been well occupied oc-cupied at this scene. Hundreds of people watching here have held their breath when a youth coming down the 110th street hill with particular speed on a low-built, heavy sled crashed over the curb and escaped from the wheels of an approaching trolley car, or was shot into the street by the jolt of striking the curb. All the slopes of Central park quickly quick-ly took on the glaze of daily usage. According to natural apportionment the very wee children took the small hills and the bigger ones the steeper inclines. The larger boys took to en-! gineering problems and surveyed for hills that had an angle which should carry them part way up lesser inclines, from which the sled might be launched again on the return trip and carry the. passengers part way up the higher one, thus saving the walk. Near Fifth avenue, opposite Sixty-eignth Sixty-eignth street, is a very high hill set apart for both boys and girls. Its only difficulty is that a heavily weighted weight-ed sled is likely to carry right up against the iron rail which guards the path leading to the entrance. For the protection of the children a policeman has been placed at this point to fend them off. At this hill are to be seen probably more children than at any other. Some of tne girls who come with the smaller children and are tempted into the sports are rather large for child Mi The Finish, eled after the sled struck lever or uphill up-hill territory. |