The Skater's Paradise

1895

Holland the Country Where All the World Skates When There Is Ice.

Holland is the paradise of skaters. In that odd country, "where up trains run on the down line and the cows are tied to the ceiling by their tails," a great many things go by contraries, and skating is one of them. The weary waiting for a black frost to solidify the waters of deep lakes and treacherous ponds, which in England tantalizes the possessor of "Acmes," prevents his sleeping o' nights and drives skatemakers to suicide, is to the Dutchman an unknown mortification.

Skating is indeed almost the only violent exercise for which the Dutchman has any liking, and in the winter he holds high carnival on the ice. The number of skating clubs between northern Brabant and Groningen is infinite, but it is the provinces north of the Zuyder Zee — Friesland and Groningen — that the best skaters are to be found. These are the classical training grounds of the Dutch ice artists.

When there is likelihood of a frost, the only thing necessary to secure a good "surface" is to open the sluices used for irrigation and inundate the great flat meadows. The operation is superintended by representatives of the skating clubs in the neighborhood. A place of some 6,000 or 8,000 feet in circumference is staked out around a given point, the water is allowed to float in until it is of a convenient depth, and the sluices are then closed. Directly when the ice is sufficiently thick a number of workmen are told to keep it clear of snow, should any fall, and to sweep it carefully at frequent intervals.

Then begin a succession of skating competitions. These competitions are got up by the local skating club. Sometimes they are international, but clubs and individuals are constantly competing among themselves. The prizes offered on these occasions are often of a considerable money value, and the funds for providing them are supplied by the small sum charged for admission to the skating ground and the entrance fees paid by the competitors.

The competitions are usually of three classes — swiftness, elegance and the clearing of obstacles. The latter is amazingly difficult, even to experts. Yet there are in Holland a large number of skaters who can with ease and grace clear, in full career, the straw covered spaces intended to represent natural obstacles upon the ice. — London Standard.