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Show Scenes on City Ponds During Cold Weather From the Portly Father oTTfWr to the MhchicfMMns Small Boy! All the Skaters Are Sent on Havmg the Best Time Possible, other, a very young Benedict win a meek cast of features, skated loyally along behind his better. half who was seated in a chair holding the baby, the latter going through a first- experience ex-perience on a skating pond with every appearance of satisfaction. Some of the chair's best customers, though, are beginners, who, failing to secure the support of some self-sacrificing friend, cheerfully pay down , twenty-five cents for the sake of having hav-ing something, anything, to cling to at S A RESULT of the recent re-cent cold snap it seem- ed as if all New York, with and without skates, flocked to the pond in Central Park, says the New York Sun. Included among the spectators were all kinds and conditions of people. Babies in arms were there as well as old men who swapped reminiscences remi-niscences with gusto and seemed to enjoy the fun as much as anybody. A noticeable contingent of those who visited the pond without skates Without question the skater who enjoys himself most is the small boy. So far, he has been on hand morning , noon and night and if the absentee roll of the public schools has not been swelled of late, then appearances are not to be trusted. The small boy's specialty Is speed rather than fancy stunts. His forte is to charge through the densest group cf skaters like a cannon ball at the most unexpected moments, thereby calling down maledictions in showers en his head, instead of striving to gain the admiration of the public by the more intricate exhibitions of skill indulged in by his elders. As a means to this praiseworthy end, his skates this year are longer than ever almost as long as his legs in fact and some nervous people are suggesting the advisability of having these very long skates suppressed. "How is the skating to-day, sonny?" vas asked of a youngster of twelve who was busy unstrapping a pair of skates about eighteen inches long. "Fine," he exclaimed, with emphasis, empha-sis, and he grinned when he said it. His record, it seems, for less than "one hour's skating was to lay low aj middle-aged man of athletic build, and two young girls and almost to capsize-a capsize-a chair containing two small children. : A Beginner. consisted of pet dogs. For the most part they behaved with the calmnes3 peculiar to the New York dog under any and all circumstances. Most of them went on the ice. One, a collie, trudged sedately along beside his mistress who, although she wore no skates, made a tour of 'the pond over, and over again and insisted on taking her constitutional in the very thick of the skaters. Another dog, a big English bull, was less complacent. com-placent. His mistress was on skates. But she didn't stay on them very long. As she took the ice airily and gracefully grace-fully bystanders were highly entertained enter-tained to see that in one hand she grasped the leader of the bulldog and in the other the fist of a four-year-old youngster dressed all in white. The chubby legs of the four-year-old did their part valiantly and would have made a pretty good showing too, had it not been that mamma's companion on the other side concluded that the pace was altogether too slow for him, even if he didn't have skates, and so proceeded to haul his mistress along like a ship under full sail. When last seen the trio were making at inn c'i 7 0- -Si l JA : The Baby's First Experience. After the last exploit he was put oft by a policeman. But he was back again the next day. A rumor went the rounds early last week that sKating policemen were to-be to-be a feature of all the parks from this time on, Central Park not excepted. Therefore, many visitors to the lake when the ball went up, were surprised surpris-ed to find all the blue coats in attendance at-tendance walking stolidly around on their feet much as usual. One woman could not hide her disappointment. "I understood," said she, addressing a policeman, "that all you policemen on duty at the lake were to wear skates." "Well, Miss," was the reply "I hava heard nothing about it. I don't think many of us know how to skate " and he looked down dubiously at his tZvs Bomewhat substantial proper- An added source of satisfaction to from in tterf, nMit which L at least' chad the and th ,SmetMng like fairyland home The lighted the Skater8 Sacies sentental ones were in n,"h."rll and 1 vent skating last anotherCOnfi:leCl ne Ln to tinotner on thpir n-r,,. , u Luuir wa- town trm ."andDeforelSTL wWz 'fl, me7 a Jang,inS trolley S rest n tnif 3USt th6n and ir e rest of the sentence. Laay. the Baby and the Tiger. top speed for a pavilion, and as the impatient bulldog passed the cimcum spect collie on the way there he winked his off eye. Almost every chair was in use The lake was dotted with the chairs In one case pater familias, somewhat heavy and portly, was pushing his wife along in one, and at his side skated skat-ed a rosy young daughter. in an. |