CHAPTER II

RINKS AND SKATERS

Something has already been said about the swift-growing jungles of

frost-flowers that so speedily cause the lakes in Switzerland to be

utterly useless for all purposes connected with skates. It suddenly

strikes the writer that the inexperienced in these matters will have

concluded that I mean that when once those frost-flowers have formed all

skating is over, and that if they have gone to Switzerland for the

indulgence of this taste, all that is henceforth to be offered them is

the opportunity to admire this frozen vegetation instead of cutting

figures. I therefore hasten to assure them that lake skating in

Switzerland _does not count_; indeed most winter resorts have no lake at

all; and even if they have, skating there is quite the exception and not

the rule. In nine cases out of ten the snow spoils the ice before it

bears, and the frost-flowers spoil the greater part of it, even if the

snow has held off, almost immediately afterwards. Lake-skating, in fact,

is of the nature of a bonus rather than a dividend: to be enjoyed if it

happens, but by no means to be reckoned on.

But at every Swiss resort there are rinks made, which render the skater

independent of natural surfaces of ice, and those, at all well-conducted

places, are “new every morning,” because every evening they are swept

and sprinkled with water, which by the ensuing day has frozen, and

presents a fresh surface to the zealot. In fact, an artificial

skating-rink is as necessary an equipment in the Swiss winter resort as

is the hotel itself. The construction and renovation of these rinks is

most interesting, and ranks among the fine arts, just as does the

architecture of a fine golf-links or the preparation of good wickets.

These rinks are used for two purposes: skating, including bandy or ice

hockey, and curling. I do not count ice-gymkhanas or ice-carnivals,

because anything is good enough for them. You can play the shovel-game

or crawl through barrels among the jungles of frost-flowers. I do not

imply that such entertainment is not exceedingly amusing; I only mean

that the artist in rink-making paints his masterpieces primarily for the

sake of the skater and the curler, not for the Pierrot with his Chinese

lantern, or those who win three-legged races.

The technique of these ice-pictures is in brief as follows:

In the beginning of the creation (from the skater’s point of view) a

piece of ground is carefully and accurately levelled. This, if it is to

be the foundation of a well-and truly-laid rink in the ensuing winter,

should be done early in the spring, because the ground will have then

had time to settle down, and the inequalities which always occur in this

settling can be made good, before the first frosts of the autumn begin,

and the soil gets fixed and frozen. Also, so I am told, the fact that

the ground will then be covered with a growth of weeds and grasses,

causes the foundation of the rink to be of better quality. This is

easily understandable: the base is matted, and is probably more coherent

in texture and less liable to contain holes through which the water may

drain away. Then, when the whole ground has been doctored, _i.e._ when

the small inequalities have been corrected and it is as uniformly level

as can be expected of anything in this shifting world, everybody sits

down and smokes (as is the habit of the Swiss peasant) till the first

good snowfall comes, probably in November or early in December. Then the

merry peasant has to put down his pipe and work begins again.

A row of them (I am describing the most up-to-date method) stand close

together with arms interlocked, in as straight a line as may be, and

trample down all this beautiful fresh snow. Up and down they go, in slow

time, stamping heavily with their great feet, and making out of perhaps

a foot of snow some 3 or 4 inches at the most, of really compact and

hard foundation. It will resemble at the best, as regards evenness, a

lane over which flocks of ponderous sheep have passed; but the

groundwork (this is the main point) will be of hardened snow, though

extremely rough of surface. Then they may all sit down and smoke their

pipes again--all, that is, except the headman and those who pull about,

at his bidding, the yards of hose which at one end terminate in a brass

nozzle, at the other in the water-supply, which should run in the main

at high pressure. This water is then turned on to the compacted snow

which gets soaked with it, and, if a few nights of hard frost follow the

original snowfall, becomes gradually converted into a sort of rough but

glazed and solid ice. Then, if nothing untoward happens, in the shape of

thaw or further snowfall, the next step is taken. But if there is during

these few days a thaw, they have to wait for more snow to fall, and do

their trampling over again; while if there is more snow, the poor

wretches have still to trample and get the foundations firm again. But

if all goes well--and the experienced iceman will delay the original

trampling until the barometer or his weather-sense (preferably the

former) promises cold weather to follow--he makes his second operation.

He will have built a small bank of snow perhaps 3 feet high and

well-spaded down, round his rink, and have sprinkled that as well as his

rink surface, so that it is at any rate glazed with ice and water-tight.

Then, waiting for a bright sunny morning, he floods the whole rink with

perhaps 2 inches of water. The sunniness of the day is most important

for this operation: if he put on this flood on a cold day, or at evening

when a frosty night was imminent, all the water he put on, lying on the

cold frozen surface below, and with the frosty air above it would freeze

solid without cohering to the original frozen foundation. But putting it

on while the sun is hot, the top surface of the foundation is percolated

with the flood, and when the frost of the night follows, the flood binds

with it. One night possibly may not consolidate the flood: if it does

not, he waits till another night completes the work. All the time, it

must be remembered, the rink presents the most depressing appearance:

little bits of frozen snow have floated up to the surface, frost-flowers

perhaps have made their ill-starred appearance, and it still somewhat

resembles a sheep-trampled lane. But then things begin to look better:

and another inch of water is put on, and then another inch, and then

another, each being consolidated before the next is applied, and each

being applied not in the evening, but when the sun will slightly melt

the previous surface. With each of these floodings the ice grows more

desirably smooth, and more immaculately clean, till at the end of

perhaps a fortnight there is something like 18 inches of solid ice over

the ground that was levelled in the spring. At least this thickness is

required if the ice is to last properly, for even in mid-winter the most

sickening series of climatic catastrophes may occur, which, unless there

is good thickness of ice originally built up, may spoil the rink

altogether. For on hot sunny days, though the surface of the ice remains

quite dry, very great evaporation occurs, and the dryness of the air

drinks up the melted ice before it visibly or tangibly becomes water. Or

again, even in the most well-conducted winters, at the most approved

resorts, there may be a complete thaw, and “the pools are filled with

water,” which also evaporates. In both these cases, there is a

consequent loss of ice, and the bullion, so to speak, must be able to

stand the drain upon it. Still worse, there may be a snowfall followed

by a thaw, followed by a frost. The thaw has eaten into the ice; the

frost has caused this rodent mixture to get encrusted again. And then,

if there is not good depth of ice, the most excruciating events tread on

each others’ heels. The ground below the thin ice is warmed with the

penetrating sun, and begins to exude bubbles; the bubbles rise, and

horrible water-blisters, skinned over with ice, appear. The skates crash

through them (“and langwedge which I will not pollewt my pen with

describing,” as Miss Fanny Squeers said) and cut into the half-frozen

ground, which thereupon begins to leak. The most awful mess ... there

are no words for it. Therefore it is necessary, as soon as possible, to

get a good thickness of ice.

But this building-up of the rink requires immense patience and

forethought. Night after night when the building is going on, and the

weather is warm and beastly, the head iceman, if he is really competent,

will sit up through the long tale of dark hours, keeping himself awake

with coffee, and watching the thermometer to see when it registers

sufficient degrees of frost to enable him to put more water on to the

ice. He will wait all through a cloudy night, hoping for the sky to

clear, in order to get a half inch more foundation. It is useless and

worse than useless to apply more water unless there are several degrees

of frost, for this only weakens his original trampled foundation of

snow, and leads to the awful trouble of blisters coming up from the

ground. But if even an hour or two before daybreak the temperature

sinks, and there is a chance of gaining a further thickness of ice, he

will rouse his men, and at any rate spray or sprinkle the whole surface

of the rink, in order to get a little more ice, just a little more.

Night and day, like a mother over a sick child (I am not exaggerating),

a man like Rudolf Baumann, and others not so well known to me, will

watch over their rink, to console, to fill up holes, to add another

fibre of underlying muscle.

But even when a couple of feet of solid ice are built up over the

ground, the trouble of the iceman is not over. Again a snowfall may

come, followed by a thaw, and the removal of this reveals sometimes a

terrible sort of chicken-pox on the ice. If the snowfall is followed by

cold weather, not much harm is done, for the snow is removed by shovels

and barrows, and a sprinkle of water over the whole rink--sprinklings

being made at night, since a sprinkle freezes almost as it falls,

opposed to the slower habits of a flood--shows next day that the rink is

no whit the worse. But if a thaw follows a snowfall, the general laws of

nature are suspended, in order to thwart icemen and skaters.

Theoretically, the surface of the ice below the melting snow will thaw

evenly. Practically, it does nothing of the kind. The surface is

unaffected in one spot, and immediately adjoining it has thawed into a

small round hole about 6 inches in circumference. Why this happens I

cannot say, except that it is part of the general malignity of natural

law; but the effect is apparent enough, and when the thawing snow is

removed, the ice is found to be covered by numberless small holes. Each

one of these has to be filled up by hand, with a freezing mixture of

snow and water, or better of pounded ice and water.... There are rinks

in Switzerland 300 yards long--I leave the consideration of these, in

the matter of labour required, to mathematicians who like dealing with

progressions that approach the infinite.

Now the shrinkage of the ice already gained goes on all winter long,

owing to the evaporation of the surface, and owing to the cutting edges

of skates, which cover it with a sawdust of frozen stuff that has to be

swept off every evening. This perpetual loss must be made good, or else

the rink would soon vanish altogether, and it is made good by floodings

or sprinklings. A flood of a couple of inches over the whole surface is

of course the easiest way of doing this, but it is far the least

satisfactory. For, as I have said, the flood must be put on while the

sun is still on the ice, to enable it to bind into the ice already

formed, and thus hours of daylight are lost to the skater. Furthermore,

unless a really severe night follows, it will not be all properly

frozen. So the good ice-maker, instead of turning skaters off the ice,

and getting by one flood sufficient thickness to last for three or four

days more, sprinkles instead. This is a far longer and more troublesome

process, for with his hose-pipe with its small nozzle he has to go over

the ice again and again, six or seven times perhaps, or more, in a

single night, if ice is badly wanted. If it is freezing hard, each

sprinkle will solidify almost as soon as it falls, and sometimes he

sprinkles all night long; while if it is far too warm for a flood to

have a chance of solidifying, he will, unless a real thaw is going on,

still find it possible to sprinkle once or twice before morning, even

though there is but a degree or two of frost. Another immense advantage

that sprinkling has over flooding is, that ice thus made, little by

little, in exceedingly thin layers, lasts, for some reason, far longer

than a greater thickness of ice frozen solid in a single night. Why this

should be so, I do not know; but the fact is incontestable. Certainly

also a flood of a couple of inches frozen solid is far more brittle in

itself than ice built up in thin layers, and an awkward toe-strike with

the tip of the skate will cut a great chunk out of flood-ice, whereas it

makes far less impression on sprinkled ice. The sprinkle should be

thrown far and high (as illustrated in Plate XIII), so that it comes

down on to the ice in fine mist-like rain that freezes quickly and

freezes tightly into the ice already there. Of course all these

difficulties are not encountered in a perfectly cold winter. Given a

hard frost every night, it is easy to keep pace with the daily

evaporation. But even in the loftiest winter resorts in this excellent

republic, mid-winter thaws occur.

Such in brief is the making of these rinks that seem such simple affairs

when made, just a level piece of ice with a smooth surface. But the

knowledge, the care, the watchfulness which are necessary to secure

good ice that will last all winter and reasonably resist any thaws and

snowfalls that may occur, are enormous. And the same care that is

lavished on their making must be expended on their keeping. No one with

soil on his gouties or a cigarette even in his mouth should be allowed

on the sacred surface, for even a feathery ash of tobacco if allowed to

lie on the ice will get warmed by the sun and gradually melt its way

into the ice. The sprinkle that night covers it, and it is embedded in

the ice like a fly in amber. Again the sun shines on it, it melts a

little water round it, and forms the nucleus of what will spread into a

blister in the ice. Any dirt in the same way makes similar holes, and

nothing but the clean skate-blade and the necessary and privileged boots

of the icemen should ever be allowed on the rink. How amazed would be

the pioneers of outdoor artificial rinks if they could see the huge and

perfect surfaces now yearly prepared for the hordes of foreign visitors

who flock to Switzerland. Of those pioneers John Addington Symonds was

one, and in his charming essays he recounts how at Davos he and a few

enthusiastic friends took exercise by incessantly working the handle of

a pump that stood in the middle of a level field, until, I think, the

pump froze. Then greatly daring they proceeded to skate over the amazing

ridges and shelves of ice which must certainly have been the result of

this hardy undertaking. Nowadays a reservoir must be built at a

sufficient height above the rink to secure a good pressure of water

for the sprinkling, and patient laudable men sit up all night

watching the thermometer to see if it is safe to offer water to the

delicately-nurtured crystal. But from these fine-art rinks has fine-art

skating been evolved, and if the pioneers of rink-making wondered at

our reservoir, our cohorts of workmen, our huge glassy surfaces, still

more perhaps would the skaters of those days be astonished to see some

champion of the Continental execute his “back loop change loop eight”

laying the loops on top of the other, or observe four gentlemen of the

English swoop down at top speed and on back edges to their centre, flick

out four creamy rockers and glide away again to their appointed

circumference. So much then for the skater’s material needs; we pass on

to consider the use he puts them to.

Now there are two styles of skating (I do not refer to good skating and

bad skating), known respectively as the English and the Continental or

International. In past days, certain exponents of one or the other

school, with the mistaken idea that to belittle another was to magnify

themselves, fell into the stupid error of comparing the two to the

accompaniment of robust vilifications of that style which happened not

to be so fortunate as to number them among its adherents. But it is no

exaggeration to say that the two styles have nothing whatever to do with

one another. It is true that the performer in each case is on skates,

and that the skates progress over ice; but the very skates are

different; so, too, is the whole mode, manner, style, and effect of

performance, and it would be as reasonable for the Rugby football player

to assert that Association is not real football, as for the English

skater to label the International skater an acrobat or contortionist, or

for the International skater to call his detested English brother an

exponent of the ramrod school. Many flowers of speech bloomed in the

gardens of these controversialists, the more exotic and violently

coloured blossoms springing, I think, from

[Illustration: SKATING--ENGLISH STYLE

_From the Drawing by Fleming Williams_]

certain skaters in the International style, who were admirably

industrious at one time in their denunciation of anyone who ventured to

skate in the English style. The present writer, for instance, who, poor

fool, thought he was amusing himself quietly in attempting unambitious

feats in English skating, without interfering with anybody, had an open

letter addressed to him in the _Engadine Post_, pointing out the

vileness and wickedness of his heretic ways; and a precious little book,

that now lies open before me, which did not attract as much attention as

its unconscious humour seems to warrant, informs us that the theories on

which English skating are based are “diametrically opposed to every

principle of nature, science and art, and at variance with the

unrestrained freedom of action and movement which prevails in every

other branch of athletic sport.” Probably the writer felt better after

that, for we have heard nothing of him since; while with regard to the

above-quoted criticism, the only comment that need be made is, that on

the same silly lines it would be reasonable to call lawn-tennis at

variance with unrestrained freedom of action and movement, because it is

not part of the game to slog the ball wildly out of court.

But of late this controversy has somewhat died down, the fact being that

no one with the smallest knowledge of the difficulties and beauties of

skating at all, in whichever of these two styles, ever joined in it,

since, whether in personal preference he was English or Continental, he

had sufficient acquaintance with skating matters to appreciate and

admire the excellence both of his own school and of that to which he

owed no allegiance. He saw also that the two schools had nothing to do

with each other, and instead of jeering at the other, contentedly

practised at the one he happened to prefer. Naturally, most Swiss

resorts tend to one style or the other; but at Davos, the original

cradle of the modern English style, the two schools flourish side by

side, as also they do at Mürren, one of the newly-opened Swiss centres.

There particularly--at Davos there is a separate English rink, mainly

occupied by English skaters--you may see the votaries of the different

schools of this now obsolete controversy cheek by jowl on the ice, and

lying down together, after a fall, like the lion and the lamb. At St.

Moritz, similarly, both styles are bloodlessly practised, though the

International style is the more popular; while Grindelwald is nowadays

exclusively International, after having been exclusively English. So,

too, is Wengen. On the other hand, at Villars, one of the largest

skating resorts in the country, there is scarcely an Internationalist to

be seen, and Château d’Oex, Montana, and Morgins are similarly almost

entirely English in their leanings. But without more enumeration it is

sufficient to say that both schools flourish exceedingly, and will

undoubtedly continue to do so, and nothing that anybody says will

detract from the prosperity of either.

Now skating, in both these styles, is largely a matter of form, and

herein it differs from nearly every other sport. It does not suffice in

skating, whether you are English or Internationalist, to _do_ certain

things, to cut threes, to execute rocking-turns, or loops or

back-brackets. All these things have to be done in the manner prescribed

by the Vedas, so to speak, of your school. Without doubt there is reason

at the base of these methods, for it is clear that if, in a combined

figure, four English skaters were

[Illustration: SKATING--CONTINENTAL STYLE

_From the Drawing by Fleming Williams_]

allowed to fly into their centre on a back edge with their unemployed

leg waving, and there execute a rocker, there would immediately be a

heap of mangled bodies on the ice, a result which is not recognised as

being among the objects of combined skating; and similarly, in the

International style, the graceful poses of arm and leg, which ignorant

English skaters look upon as mere display, are designed to assist the

movement. But in all other games (and this is where skating differs from

them all) the point is to achieve a certain object, and the achievement

of that object, however attained, renders the achiever a notable

performer if he consistently attains it. The golfer, for instance, who

consistently drives a long straight ball, puts his mashie shot near the

hole, and generally putts out, is a magnificent golfer, in whatever

manner or style he executes these tyrannously difficult feats. There are

a hundred and a hundred hundred styles and modes of putting, and they

are all good, provided only they enable the putter to hole his ball. At

cricket, similarly, a man may bowl fast or slow with any sort of break,

and with any sort of action (provided his shirt sleeve is not wantonly

flapping), and he is a good bowler if only he gets wickets cheaply. But

at skating the prescribed thing has to be done in the prescribed manner,

and the prescriptions of the English school are, broadly speaking, all

of them diametrically opposed to the principles of the International

school. In the English style the employed leg (_i.e._ the one which for

the moment is being skated on) must be straight; in the International

style it must be bent. In the English style the unemployed leg must be

close to the other, and hang beside it, loosely and easily; in the

International, wherever the exigencies of the movement demand that it

should be, it must at any rate never be there. In English the arms must

not be spread and swung abroad to assist the movement, but must be

carried inactively by the side, whereas in International, as long as the

skate moves the arms must be engaged on their assigned activity. In both

schools, in fact, every movement must be executed in a given way, but in

no case is there the smallest resemblance between those ways, though

both should result in clean edges and clean turns executed at defined

places.

It is not my intention to give here a manual of English skating,

beginning with instruction to beginners and ending with timorous hints

to experts, but any book on Winter Sports would necessarily be

incomplete unless it babbled to some considerable extent about skating,

which, without doubt, is the sport in pursuit of which the large

majority of English folk visit the High Alps in winter. From whatever

cause, this slippery art exercises a unique spell over the able-bodied

and athletic section of Anglo-Saxon mankind. It may be that this is

partly accounted for by the comparative rarity of the occasions on which

we can skate, owing to our Gulf-Stream-beridden and generally

pestilential climate, and it is sufficient that some puddle-place in a

village green should be half-frozen to cause the majority, not only of

youth but of sedate men and women, to hurry down to the spot, and there

slide about on both feet with staggerings and frequent falls and the

ever-present possibility of occasional immersions. But the rarity of

even half-frozen puddles in England does not wholly account for the

transcendent spell: there is something in the quality of motion which

is started by a stroke of the tense muscles, and then continues of its

own accord, without effort or friction, until the impetus is exhausted,

that appeals to our unwinged race, who must otherwise keep putting foot

before foot to get anywhere. The sensation itself is exquisite, and the

sensation is rendered more precious by the fact that from the days when

the tyro slides cautiously forward on both feet, to the days when,

having become a master in his art, he executes back-counters at the

centre in a combined figure, there is always a slight uncertainty as to

what is going to happen next. The tyro rejoicing in the unaccustomed

method of progress is conscious of a pleasing terror as to whether he

will not fall flat down, and glows with callow raptures all the time

that he does not; while the finest skater who ever lived, will never be

quite sure that he will flick out his back-counter cleanly and

unswervingly. We can all walk pretty perfectly--at least, there is no

pleasing terror that we may be going to fall down--but none of us at our

respective levels as artists in skating can skate pretty perfectly. We

can only skate moderately well, considering how well we can skate. And

the joy of it! The unreasoning, delirious joy of the beginner who for

the first time feels his outside edge bite the ice, and, no less, the

secret elation of the finest performers in the world, when they execute

their back-counter close to the centre, at high speed, and without the

semblance of flatness in the edge! And even if any of us was so

proficient as to perform such a feat with absolute certainty, there is

no doubt whatever that we should find some further feat that would put

us back into the dignified ranks of stragglers again. And the same

holds good with regard to International skating: at least if there is

any among those delightful artists who will execute the Hugel star first

on one foot and then on the other without a pleasing anxiety gnawing at

his heart, I should very much like to know his name and black his boots

for him.

To go more into detail with regard to the manner and style of these

antipodal twins, we will take first the twin known as English skating.

This falls into two broad classes, namely, single skating and that which

is the cream and essence of English skating, combined skating. A further

development of combined skating, namely, combined hand-in-hand skating,

has not long ago been undergoing a successful evolution, under the

auspices chiefly of Miss Cannan, Lord Doneraile and Mr. N. G. Thompson.

Without doubt it holds many charming possibilities, and very likely

there is a great future before it, but owing to right of primogeniture

we will first consider the two elder branches. In both the technique, so

to speak, is the same. The object is to skate fast on large bold edges,

to make turns of all sorts and changes of edge cleanly and without

effort, and to skate all these turns and edges in a particular and

prescribed manner.

The first consideration, therefore, is the manner. The stroke must be

taken, _i.e._ impetus must be set up, not with a push of our skate-toe

into the ice, but from the inside edge of the skate blade. The reason is

obvious, for if a skater thrusts his sharp skate-toe into the ice he

will make a hole in it, and damage the ice. That is sufficient: I think

there are probably four or five other reasons, which in a general and

unspecialised treatise like this need not be gone into.

The skater having got his impetus by leaning against the inside edge of

one skate, launches himself on the other. Now there are two edges to a

skate, namely, the inside and the outside. There is also the flat base

of the skate. Both theoretically and practically, he never uses the flat

of the skate in his actual progress. When he turns, whether the turn is

a three-turn or a rocker, or a counter or a bracket, he comes up to the

flat for a moment, but instantly leaves it again. He progresses on one

edge, the inside, or on the other edge, the outside. And while he

progresses, he must progress in the prescribed manner. And the

prescription is this:

I. _His head must be turned in the direction of his progress, whether he

is progressing forwards or backwards._ Again common-sense is at the base

of this rule. For if his head is turned in the direction of his

progress, he is looking, unless unfortunately blind, where he is going.

This avoids trouble to himself, if there are holes in the ice, and

trouble to other people if there are other people on the ice.

II. _He must be standing erect with his shoulders and body sideways to

the direction of his curve, not facing square down it._ In other words,

he must, among other things, be travelling not further forward than on

the middle of his skate, otherwise he will not be standing erect, but

leaning forward. This attitude is that which is referred to, in the

humorous book I have already quoted, as characteristic of the ramrod

school. But the author, in his blissful ignorance of skating matters, is

not aware that it is impossible to execute a long smooth circumference

of curve if you progress on the forepart of your skate. If you are on

the forepart of the skate, you must be leaning forward, and no one of

known anatomy can lean forward and execute a long smooth edge. The

balance is unsteady, and the edge wobbles. Commonsense, then, again

endorses this rule. In order to be steady on a long edge, your balance

must be of the established order. You must be upright, and travelling

without muscular effort to retain your position. This is only attained

by travelling on the middle or the aft part of the skate. For nobody can

stand still on their toes. But standing on the middle part of the foot

or with the weight on the heel it is perfectly easy to do so. But when

this humorous author (whom I drag out of his obscurity for the last

time) calls this the ramrod school, he proves himself ignorant of the

first principles of English skating, or perhaps has only observed

himself in some mirror at Prince’s Club attempting to assume the correct

attitude himself. As a matter of fact, the proper attitude of the skater

in the English style is exactly that of a man who is well made and

master of his limbs standing still with the weight chiefly on one foot.

While skating, it is true, the weight is entirely on one foot, and the

performer is moving, and not standing still. But the pose necessary to

smooth and swift progression is exactly that. It no more resembles a

ramrod, when decently done, as every good English skater does it, than

it resembles a coal-scuttle or a pince-nez, or what you will.

III. _The unemployed leg_, i.e. _the leg of the foot which is not

skating, must hang close to the employed leg_. Again the reason is

obvious. If four persons came into their centre with a waving

unemployed leg, they would hit each other. Also, if the unemployed leg

is put out behind, the skater must lean forward in order to counteract

its weight. He will then tend to skate on the forepart of his skate. In

a series of long edges this attitude is impossible to maintain except by

effort. Nobody could skate for a quarter of an hour in combined skating,

accurately and largely on such a principle.

IV. _The arms must hang by the side, and be carried loosely easily,

close to the body._ Again the explanation is obvious. There is no need

for their flying abroad, since a long edge is most easily accomplished

with the limbs and body in rest after the stroke, and these long smooth

edges are part and parcel of English skating: it is founded on them.

English skating postulates so perfect a balance, travelling on the

middle of the skates, that it chooses (this is the reason for the rule)

not to let that balance be assisted by the added or subtracted weight of

a correcting arm. It says (this is what it comes to) that you must be so

firm on your travelling root, so to speak, of balance, that you dispense

with all adjustments of weight. The weight has to be practically

perfectly adjusted. There must be no adjustments adventitiously

obtained.

Now these four rules are at the base of English skating. If you happen

to play a game, you conform to the rules, and you do not argue, for

instance, when you are playing cricket, whether you should be given out,

when quite clearly you have been caught at the wicket. If you are at all

sensible, or in any way like cricket, you pocket your duck’s egg and

retire. Superb strokes may be made at cricket, which nevertheless are

fatal to the striker. Superb attitudes, similarly, may be made in the

International style, which are quite completely wrong. They may be

supremely statuesque, but they are not skating. The case is exactly the

same with the English style. Certain canons have been laid down, all of

which seem to be necessary to the attainment of excellence. It is no

doubt possible to skate charming “threes to a centre” doing everything

quite wrong from beginning to end. But if you choose to adopt a style,

you must conform to the rules of that style. Similarly, it is quite

possible to skate the same “threes to a centre” in the International

style, which shall leave the same mark on the ice (though the skating of

them broke every possible rule) as the most finished performer could

leave there. But who would not applaud the International judge who

ruthlessly ploughed such a candidate? He has not kept the rules, which

in contradistinction to other games prescribe not only what the object

in view is, but the manner in which the performance is to take place.

But this manner, we venture to point out, has not been laid down in an

arbitrary way: it is the manner, both in International skating and in

English alike, in which the feats demanded can alone be properly

performed.

Now if the skater will take the trouble to conform to the four rules

given above, he will find that even at the outset of his career there is

great fun in store for him. Should he conform to them completely, when

the complication of turns is added, he will quite certainly find that

there is a championship, if he cares for that, in store for him also.

The rules were not negligently made; indeed they were never made at all,

but are simply the condensed experience of the best skaters, the methods

by which the fittest survived. And the fittest did, and always will do,

that which is recorded in these rules, and the ensuing complications,

even the most complicated of them, are comparatively easy to those who

can maintain the proper travelling position. But nobody who cannot hold

a long firm edge, for which the proper travelling position is essential,

need ever trouble his dreams with the notion of becoming a good skater.

And no one’s edges approach perfection, if he cannot traverse, on

backward and forward edges, outside and inside alike, a distance of at

least a hundred yards, given that the ice is reasonably good, without

stirring from the attitude he has taken up after his stroke. A really

fine skater will traverse much more, and be still as a rock throughout

his travel; but no good skater will be so unsteady that he will not

easily traverse that. In his actual skating he will, probably, never be

called upon to make so lengthy an edge, but its accomplishment should

present no difficulty to him, if he aspires to be a fair performer. Even

as the pianist, when performing, is not called upon to play simple

scales with both hands, so the skater will not be called upon, in his

combined figure, to skate for a hundred yards on one edge. But both

pianist and skater ought to find no difficulty at all in executing these

simple feats.

The beginner is advised to get a fair mastery of all the edges before he

begins to attack the fortress of the turns. He should be able to

progress steadily and smoothly both on the outside edge and the inside

edge forward, and to make some progress also on the back edges, namely,

outside back and inside back. This last is far the most difficult of the

edges, and it will be a long time before he is able to take fast bold

strokes on it. But he should have some acquaintance with it before he

attempts to make the turns that necessitate its employment, and be able

to hold it in the correct position. He can then set about turns and

changes of edge, which all imply correct travelling.

Now there are four groups of turns, common both to the English and

International styles, each group of which contains four turns to be

executed on each foot. Altogether, therefore, there are sixteen turns to

be learned which employ each foot singly. These with the four edges,

executed in the prescribed manner, form the material of the art. These

turns are common both to English and International skating,

I. The first group is known as simple turns, and consists of turns (or

changes of direction, from backwards to forwards or forwards to

backwards) from:

(i) Outside forward to inside back.

(ii) Inside forward to outside back.

(iii) Outside back to inside forward.

(iv) Inside back to outside forward.

They are all of the same shape with regard to the marks they leave on

the ice, and from their shape are known as “three” turns, or “threes.”

Thus:

[Illustration]

The arrow shows the direction of progress: the turn is the cusp in the

middle between the two curves. Thus if the first edge is outside

forward, the second is inside back: if the first is inside forward the

second is outside back: if the first is outside back the second is

inside forward: if the first is inside back the second is outside

forward.

II. The second group of turns is known as rocking turns, or more

generally as “rockers.” Like the “three” turns, they are all of the same

shape, thus:

[Illustration]

and are four in number, namely:

(i) Outside forward to outside back.

(ii) Inside forward to inside back.

(iii) Outside back to outside forward.

(iv) Inside back to inside forward.

Now, in both these groups the body revolves or rotates at the moment of

making the turn in the direction indicated by the dotted lines; it

revolves, that is to say, _outside_ the direction of the first curve.

But it is possible for the body to revolve in the opposite direction,

that is to say, _inside_ the direction of its first curve. This makes

possible the third and fourth groups of turns.

III. This group, which is known as brackets, from the mark left on the

ice, corresponds to Group I, and the edges employed in it are the same,

namely, outside forward to inside back, &c. But in this group the body

revolves on the _inside_ of the direction of the first curve, and the

mark on the ice, consequently, is as follows, the dotted line again

indicating the revolution of the body:

[Illustration]

IV. The fourth group is known as counter-rocking turns, or more

generally as counters. It corresponds with Group II, for the marks on

the ice are approximately the same, and the edges employed are outside

forward to outside back, &c. But here again the revolution of the body,

as in the brackets, takes inside the direction of the first curve, thus:

[Illustration]

These sixteen turns, or changes of direction while skating on one foot,

comprise all the varieties of so doing that seem theoretically possible,

since they include every forward edge to every back edge and every back

edge to every forward edge, skated with rotation of the body both

outside and inside the direction of the first curve, and until somebody

discovers a third edge to a skate, or a third direction of rotating the

body, it is not possible that they will be added to.

But changes of direction may be made by the employment, not of one but

of both feet, and though these might be more properly described as

strokes rather than turns, there are two groups of them which enter

largely into English skating. These are known as mohawks and choctaws.

I. Mohawks consist of either forward edge combined with the

corresponding back edge taken up by the other foot. Thus if the right

foot starts as an outside forward, the left, to complete the mohawk, is

put down on the outside back edge, thus:

[Illustration]

Here the rotation is made, as in the brackets and counters, on the

_inside_ of the direction of the first curve, and the figure is known as

the outside forward mohawk. Similarly, the mohawk can be skated on the

inside edges, _i.e._ the right foot starts with an inside forward, and

the left completes with an inside back. Here the rotation, as in the

threes and rockers, takes place on the outside of the direction of the

first curve.

II. Choctaws also employ both feet, but the second curve of a choctaw is

on the opposing edge to the first curve. An outside forward choctaw thus

consists of an outside forward on one foot completed by an inside back

on the other, thus:

[Illustration]

In this, as in the corresponding mohawk, and the brackets and counters,

the rotation of the body takes place _inside_ the direction of the first

curve. Similarly, the inside forward choctaw consists of an inside

forward on one foot and an outside back on the other. Here, following

the corresponding mohawk, the rotation of the body takes place outside

the first curve.

Theoretically, of course, there are corresponding mohawks and choctaws

starting from the back edges, _i.e._ outside back to outside forward,

&c., but though these strokes are constantly used, both in single and

combined skating, they are never dignified by this sounding title of

“back mohawk” or “back choctaw,” merely because the manœuvre is so

simple and common a one, that it needs no name at all, and if, for

instance, in combined skating, the caller (who directs what shall be

done) has his skaters on a back edge, and desires that the next stroke,

let us say, shall be an inside forward edge, he calls “inside forward”

merely.

Finally, in giving this catalogue of material out of which all English

skating is built, there remain only the changes of edge, made on one

foot, to enumerate. They, as must naturally be the case, are four in

number:

(i) Outside forward to inside forward.

(ii) Inside forward to outside forward.

(iii) Outside back to inside back.

(iv) Inside back to outside back.

With regard to the cross-mohawks and cross-choctaws--in case the skater

ever “hears tell” of them--he need not worry himself even to remember

their existence, since, most rightly, they have been blotted out of the

book of English skating, owing to their clumsiness and the fact that to

skate any of them violates some canon of the essential form of English

skating. Apart from them, the whole material of English skating has now

been stated, namely, the four edges, the sixteen turns, the two mohawks,

the two choctaws, and the four changes of edge.

But when we consider that the first-class skater must be able to skate

at high speed on any edge, make any turn at a fixed point, and leave

that fixed point (having made his turn and edge in compliance with the

proper form for English skating, without scrape or wavering) still on a

firm and large-circumferenced curve, that he must be able to combine any

mohawk and choctaw with any of the sixteen turns, and any of the sixteen

turns with any change of edge, and that in combined skating he is

frequently called upon to do all these permutations of edge and turn, at

a fixed point, and in time with his partner, while two other partners

are performing the same evolution in time with each other, it begins to

become obvious that there is considerable variety to be obtained out of

these manœuvres. But the consideration of combined skating, which is the

cream and quintessence of English skating, must be considered last; at

present we will see what the single skater may be called upon to do, if

he wishes to attain to acknowledged excellence in his sport.

Now the National Skating Association of Great Britain encourages both

the English and International styles, and for each there have been

instituted certain graduated tests, not competitive but standard, of

three orders. The third or lowest test in the English style is broadly

designed to encourage skaters, the second to discourage them again

(_i.e._ begin to make them feel the difficulty of the whole affair, just

when they thought by passing their third test they had broken the back

of their difficulties), and the first or highest to give them healthy

occupation for a few winters, and fit them for becoming really

first-class skaters. All of these tests must be passed before at least

two qualified judges, appointed by the N.S.A., and they are as

follows:--

THIRD-CLASS TEST

(_a_) A forward outside three on each foot, the length of each

curve being 15 feet at least. The figure need not be skated to a

centre.

(_b_) The four edges, outside forward, inside forward, outside

back, inside back, on each foot alternately for as long as the

judges shall require, the length of each curve being 15 feet at

least on the forward edges and 10 feet at on the back edges.

(_c_) A forward outside 8, the diameter of each circle being at least 8 feet at least, to

be skated three times without pause.

Here, it will be seen, is the beginning, the ground-work of English

skating. The easiest turn has to be skated, the four edges have to be

skated; also the easiest “8” has to be skated, in order to familiarise

the beginner with the idea of leaving a point on one stroke and

continuing to travel on that stroke (with turns to punctuate it, as he

will see later) until he arrives back at that point again. The point in

question is marked for him on the ice with an orange or a ball. And

whether in single skating or in combined, it is called the centre.

Simple as this third test is, it has to be skated in proper English

form, which the learner should begin to acquire from the first moment he

takes a serious stroke on the ice. For it is vastly easier to acquire

good form at the beginning of his education, than to acquire bad habits

which must subsequently be got rid of.

SECOND-CLASS TEST

(_a_) A set of combined figures skated with another skater, who

will be selected by the judges, introducing the following calls in

such order and with such repetitions as the judges may direct:--

1. Forward three meet.

2. Once back--and forward meet.

3. Once back--and forward three meet.

4. Twice back off meet--and forward three meet.

5. Twice back meet--and back--and forward three meet.

(_b_) The judges shall call three “unseen” figures of quite simple

character, in order to test the candidate’s knowledge of calls and

power of placing figures upon the ice. These shall be skated alone.

(_c_) The following edges on each foot alternately for as long as

the judges shall require, namely:--

1. Inside back, each curve being 20 ft. at least.

2. Cross outside back, each curve being 12 ft. at least.

(_d_) The following figures skated on each foot, namely:--

1. Forward inside three, the length of each curve being 40 ft. at least {R

{L

2. Forward outside three “ “ “ 50 ft. “ {R

{L

(_e_) The following figures skated to a centre on alternate feet

without pause, three times on each foot, namely:--

1. Forward inside three, the length of each curve being 15 ft. at least.

2. Forward outside three “ “ “ 15 “

3. Forward inside two threes “ “ “ 10 “

4. Forward outside two threes “ “ “ 10 “

5. Back outside two threes “ “ “ 10 “

(_f_) The following figures skated on each foot, namely:--

1. Forward inside “Q,” the length of each curve being 30 ft. at least {R

{L

2. Forward outside “Q” “ “ “ 30 ft. “ {R

{L

3. Back inside “Q” “ “ “ 25 ft “ {R

{L

4. Back outside “Q” “ “ “ 20 ft. “ {R

{L

Here, it will be seen, the test begins with a combined figure. The whole

subject of combined figures will be treated of separately, and for the

present we need only remark that this is a very simple one. Then follow

the inside back edge, which, as I have said, is the most difficult of

the edges, skated larger than before, in curves of 20 feet, and the

cross-stroke on the outside back. This means that the stroke is taken

with the feet crossing, the one that is taking the stroke being crossed

behind the other. As a matter of fact, this stroke, which at one time

played a considerable part in English skating, since in combined figures

all strokes from outside back to outside back were bound to be taken

from the crossing position, is now not obligatory. But it is a pretty

stroke in itself, and necessitates the skate being placed on the ice on

the edge. Then follow the two forward turns, skated rather large, in

order to begin to familiarise the learner with the feeling of turns

taken at a high speed. This necessitates clean skating of the turn

itself, since if a turn is skated fast, and not clean, it is quite

possible that the skater may fall, and he will in any case make a blur

instead of a sharp cut turn. Also these turns teach him to hold his

edges out after the turn, the tendency being to let the body rotate,

whereby the curve curls in, and the skater soon finds himself in a

position that it is impossible to maintain. But if he skates his turn,

and then can hold an edge for 50 feet _away_ from it afterwards, he may

congratulate himself on the fact that he is beginning to skate his edges

big and in the proper style. For these cannot, practically speaking, be

held out, unless the rules for position are being conformed with. Then

follow four simple figures of the class known as 8’s, of which the

simplest is that required in the third-class test, namely, an outside

forward 8. All 8’s, as their name denotes, are of the same general

shape, _i.e._ the shape implied by their name, but between the edges

that trace the shape of the 8, the skater is now required to put in

certain turns. He starts, for instance, on an outside forward edge, when

half round his circle makes a three turn, and comes back to his centre

on the inside back edge. Or he starts on an inside forward edge as in

the third 8, and has to make two turns before he arrives at his centre

again, which he reaches as an inside forward edge. Or, more searchingly,

he has to start his 8 on an outside back edge, and make two turns and

aim at his centre again on an outside back edge.

The remainder of this test is taken up with the figures known as Q’s. In

these the skater is required to start, at some speed, on any edge

forward or back, and after travelling on it for varying distances, as

laid down, to change his edge (from outside to inside, or inside to

outside) and after holding that edge for the prescribed distance make

the three appropriate to that edge. The Q’s are very largely used in

combined skating, the change of edge being coupled not only to “three”

turns, but to rockers, counters and brackets. Here the name “Q” is

becoming obsolete, and indeed has become so in combined skating, the

figure being called “forward change three” or “inside back change

three,” &c.

Now, as I have said, while the third test is supposed to encourage the

skater, the second is supposed to discourage him. What is meant is that

he has now run up against the really crucial difficulties in English

skating, of which perhaps the greatest of all is to stand still, as the

Irishman might say, while moving rapidly. As will be already seen in

this test, he is required to do this for somewhat extensive travel: in

his outside forward turn, for instance, he has to proceed for at least

fifty feet on his forward edge before making his turn, and the same

distance on his back edge after making his turn. And though this present

disquisition is intended to be a statement of English skating and not a

book of instruction, the writer cannot bear to let this one opportunity

slip of giving just one hint. It is perfectly impossible to travel

steadily for distances like these--and the skater will have to learn to

go much further yet on his edges--if he is travelling on the forepart of

his skate. All forward turns, by the slight check they give to the speed

(I am not now talking of those ideal skaters who actually get speed out

of a turn), tend to put the skater further forward on his skate. He must

therefore approach all forward turns on the back part of his skate, so

that by this tendency to rock forward he will make the turn itself on

about the middle of the skate. Never for a moment, if he can help it,

must he get on the toe of his skate, and if ever he does, he must regain

position again by leaning fearlessly back. And in this second test, he

will find that the difficulty of travelling well back on his skate is at

first appalling. But having learned that, and learned it thoroughly, he

will probably not come across any subsequent requirement which appears

to him so clearly impossible.

FIRST-CLASS TEST

SECTION A

This section consists of the combined figures in Parts I and II. The

judges may also give such simple calls as they think fit, to enable the

candidate to recover his position, to alternate the feet, &c.

The figures shall be skated with another skater, to be selected by the

judges, but if there are only two judges, neither of them shall skate.

Each call must be skated at least twice, beginning once with the right

foot and once with the left.

Subject to these conditions the calls shall be skated in such order and

with such repetitions as the judges may, while the set is in progress,

direct.

In calls introducing “twice back” the candidate must recede at least 35

feet from the centre.

To pass this section the candidate must satisfy all the judges in the

manner in which he skates each set considered as a whole, and also in

the manner in which he skates each individual call.

The judges may pass a candidate in Part I, notwithstanding a reasonable

number of errors on his part in the course of the set, provided that he

ultimately skates all the calls to their satisfaction; and in Part II,

notwithstanding errors, provided that the candidate has shown competent

skill in skating unseen calls.

_Part I_

1. Twice back--and forward three--and forward inside three, off meet.

2. Twice back--and forward three threes--and back meet--and back two

threes--and forward two threes, meet.

3. Twice back--and forward three about, change, meet.

4. Twice back, about--and back off meet.

5. Twice back--and back inside centre three, change--and forward meet.

6. Twice back three, centre three, off meet.

7. Twice back centre change, three, meet.

8. Once back--and forward--and forward inside two threes centre change

meet.

9. Twice back--and forward two threes, pass, meet.

10. Twice back two threes, off pass, meet.

11. Inside twice back--and forward inside two threes, meet.

12. Forward change, three, change, three, circle--and forward three,

change, circle--and forward about change, three, off meet.

_Part II_

In addition to the above, the judges shall call a further set of not

more than six or less than four “unseen” figures of moderate difficulty,

in order to test the candidate’s knowledge of calls and power of correct

placing. This unseen set must include rockers, counters, and brackets,

and shall be skated by the candidate alone.

SECTION B

No candidate shall be judged in Part II of this Section until he has

passed in Part I.

The judges may allow a candidate any number of attempts at a given

figure which they consider reasonable.

_Part I_

The turns, mohawks, and choctaws of this part must be placed close to

and on the near side of an orange or other fixed point on the ice. They

must all be skated on each foot to the satisfaction of the judges.

The curve before and after the turn or change of foot must be 40 feet

long at least.

{ Outside back.

Threes { Inside back.

{ Outside forward.

Rockers } { Inside forward.

Brackets } { Outside back.

Counters } { Inside back.

Mohawks } { Outside forward.

Choctaws } { Inside forward.

_Part II_

To pass in this part, a candidate may select not more than one figure in

each group, and must score forty-five marks at least. A selection once

made by a candidate must not be altered.

No marks shall be scored in respect of any one-footed figure unless it

is skated on each foot, and the number set against each figure

represents the maximum that can be scored for that figure.

A candidate shall not score for any figure on which he shall not have

obtained at least half marks.

_Eights._--In marking these figures, the judges will take into

consideration the general symmetry of the figure, and the approximate

equality of corresponding curves.

In each figure the complete 8 is to be skated three times without pause.

The figures need not be commenced from rest.

In groups D and E the turns and choctaws respectively are to be made on

the near side of the centre.

The following eights are to be skated to a centre on alternate feet:--

_Group A_

Max.

Marks

Outside back two threes 4

Inside back two threes 13

Outside forward bracket 6

Inside forward bracket 4

_Group B_

Outside forward two brackets 6

Inside forward two brackets 10

Outside forward bracket, three 9

Inside forward bracket, three 5

Outside forward three, bracket 4

Inside forward three, bracket 12

_Group C_

Outside back two brackets 14

Inside back two brackets 11

Outside back bracket, three 16

Inside back bracket, three 8

Outside back three, bracket 5

Inside back three, bracket 14

_Group D_

Outside forward rocker 8

Inside forward rocker 4

Outside forward counter 8

Inside forward counter 4

Outside forward centre choctaw and inside forward centre

choctaw, beginning on each foot 4

Outside forward mohawk and inside forward mohawk to

a centre, beginning on each foot 4

_Reverse Q’s_

The turns and changes are to be made on the near side of fixed points

determined by the candidate; the distance between these, and the lengths

of the first and last curves, are to be each not less than 50 feet

beginning on forward edges, 35 feet beginning on back edges.

_Group E_

Max.

Marks.

Outside forward three, change 2

Inside forward three, change 3

Outside forward rocker, change 3

Inside forward rocker, change 3

Outside forward bracket, change 5

Inside forward bracket, change 4

Outside forward counter, change 5

Inside forward counter, change 3

_Group F_

Outside back three, change 5

Inside back three, change 8

Outside back rocker, change 6

Inside back rocker, change 8

_Group G_

Outside back bracket, change 16

Inside back bracket, change 8

Outside back counter, change 16

Inside back counter, change 8

_Group H_

_Grape Vines_

Single, each foot leading 2

Double forward 3

Double backward 3

Pennsylvania 5

Philadelphia 6

Now, again omitting for the moment the subject of combined skating, we

see that in Part II the rest of the groundwork of English skating is

very thoroughly traversed. To pass this final test the skater has to be

able to execute all the threes (the two simple ones are omitted, as they

have already been required in the second test), rockers, brackets,

counters, mohawks, and choctaws at fair speed and on large edges at a

given point on the ice. Having done that to the satisfaction of the

judges, he has then to make his selection from a large number of 8’s,

which include practically most possible 8’s comprising one or two turns,

excepting these simple ones with regard to which he has already

satisfied the judges in his second test. Here he has to score marks,

selecting not more than one 8 of each group, and by the devilish

ingenuity of those who drew up this test, it is impossible for him to

get through unless the majority of the 8’s he selects to skate are

really difficult. He may then add to his marks by executing what are

called reverse Q’s at two given points on the ice. At the first of these

he has to make his turn, whatever it is, and at the second to change his

edge. This requires a considerable degree of accuracy, for in order to

arrive smoothly and still at a fair travelling pace at the second point,

he will find that he has to have a practically perfect control of the

edge, which has not been disturbed by executing a difficult back turn,

let us say, at the first given point. Finally, if he is still in want of

marks, he may earn a few more by a grape-vine. This latter does not

properly belong to English skating, since it is a two-footed figure, and

those responsible for the test might have omitted this group with

advantage.

_The Combined Figure._--Probably no branch of sport--except, perhaps,

flying--has undergone such improvement and revolution within the last

fifteen years as this art of combined skating. Not only are there a

vastly multiplied number of competent and even first-rate combined

skaters, but the skill demanded of a first-rate combined skater, and the

variety of the manœuvres he may be called upon to execute, is

immeasurably greater than a decade and a half ago. I do not mean that

there were not in 1897 a certain number of skaters who might have been

able to execute a difficult set as directed by a caller of to-day, but

these were, in golfing parlance, “plus players,” and the ordinary

“scratch” skater--one, that is, who had passed his First Class

N.S.A.--would have had no more chance of getting through such a set

without throwing everybody out, and himself down, than he would have of

flying. Both the speed and the size of these combined figures has

greatly increased, and the whole of the material of English skating is

employed. And the main reason for this improvement and revolution is due

to the greatly augmented number of English skaters who now go to

Switzerland in the winter, and the multiplication there of really large

rinks.

That this immense improvement has taken place in combined skating is

proved, luckily, not only by the fallacious memory of individuals, but

by printed records. I have before me the Badminton volume on skating

(edition 1902), in which, for instance, we find the following figure

(among many others like it).

“Forward two turns. This movement skated to a centre is very difficult,

and is a great test of good skating, and many men make a practice of

devoting five or ten minutes to skating it every day when they come on

the ice, feeling that if they can skate it, making the curves between

the turns of equal length and making the turns clean without any scrape

and yet coming true to the centre, they are in good form and equal to

skate anything that may be required of them.”

Now no doubt two turns to a centre, as required in the second-class

test, is a very good elementary figure, but it no longer has anything

whatever to do with combined skating, whether it is skated with a

partner or with a second pair, or simultaneously with other skaters.

Speed and size and difficulty (as demanded by the scale on which

combined skaters now move) are necessarily absent from it, and from a

hundred others of these calls which then were the last word in combined

skating. A man who had passed his second-class test would be capable of

doing this, which was then considered a criterion of good combined

skating, whereas the same man could not live for two calls in a combined

figure of moderate difficulty to-day. The whole nature of the business

has changed: turns have to be executed at high speed far away from the

centre, and the curliness and smallness of such skating as is here

implied and necessitated has vanished altogether, giving place to a far

more difficult style and speed.

Nor, again, in this respect, is Part I, in the first-class English test,

up-to-date in requirements of size. Here we read that on a “twice back”

the candidate must recede at least 35 feet from the centre. That no

doubt was laid down because on the artificial rinks available in

England, such a distance took the skaters nearly to the bounds of the

space at his disposal. But any candidate who, on the Swiss rinks, where

nowadays almost all first-class tests are passed, receded but 35 feet

from the centre would have, practically speaking, no chance of getting

through. His lawless judges would inevitably tell him to skate larger.

Still less would he be able to take part in any combined figure-skating

for amusement by skaters who had any pretension to be of the

first-class. With these big surfaces of rink, the whole style and method

has become larger and faster, and therefore more difficult.

A third instance, to prove how greatly the art of combined skating has

progressed, has the ring of pathos about it, and, though only oral, is

trustworthy. A friend of mine, who resides at that excellent English

skating centre, Oxford, told me that in old days he could scarcely get a

combined figure, since the most elementary calls were sufficient to

floor his partners. But not so long ago he told me he could scarcely get

a combined figure, since nobody cared to skate such elementary calls as

he was capable of. But he assures me that he skates just as well now as

he did in the days when there was nobody up to his standard. Perhaps in

twenty years more, no first-class skater will care to engage in such

simple stuff as we now think rather advanced. And dearly will such

present-day skaters who are fortunate enough to be alive then, love to

see the newer and more arduous manœuvres! But since it is impossible to

prophesy about the things we cannot imagine, it must be sufficient to

give the outlines of combined skating as practised by fairly expert

gentlemen to-day.

There are two manners of combined skating, called respectively

pair-skating and simultaneous skating. The first of these (which we will

first consider) is the more difficult, and, so to speak, the more

classical. Theoretically it can be skated by two, four, six, or eight

persons: practically it is skated by four persons, grouped, at the

beginning of things, at right angles to their neighbours, and at a few

yards distant from their centre. One of these, who skates in the first

pair, is known as the caller, and he announces (in a loud mellifluous

voice) what he is about to skate, and what the trembling gentleman

opposite, who is his partner, must also skate. They advance to the

centre, from opposite sides, and begin skating whatever is ordered. The

moment after they have left their centre, speeding out to the

circumference of the huge imaginary circle, of which their orange or

india-rubber ball, from which they have started, is the centre, the

second pair (at right angles to them) proceed to do exactly the same.

The size and pace of the figure, as well as its details, depend entirely

on the caller: as he skates, so must his partner skate, putting down his

edges and turns simultaneously and at like speed to him, and as the

first pair skate, so (with certain modifications) must the second pair

skate.

Now, the whole material of skating is at the caller’s command. He can

(and does) order threes, brackets, rockers, counters, mohawks, choctaws

and changes of edge to be skated when and how he wishes them. He can

(and does) couple any pair or any three of these movements, to be skated

on one foot or on both, one after the other. He directs, with a word of

power, from the elaborate vocabulary of combined skating, the length of

an edge, and can command it to be held so long that the direction of

progress is reversed, or to be further continued till a complete circle

is made and the original direction of progress resumed again. Then, with

another word, he brings himself and his partner (followed closely by

the second pair) back to their centre again, on the off side or the near

side of it, and orders that they shall start a fresh figure there, or

that they shall make a turn there, or scud by it like four express

trains which just, and only just, arriving from the four parts of the

compass, do not collide with each other, and scatter again to east and

west and north and south. Sometimes he brings them in simultaneously, so

that they converge till they almost touch, and then spread out again.

And if the figure is going decently well, there is no pause, no foot

without its edge and turn assigned to it. This mystic, swift,

interweaving dance lasts perhaps a quarter of an hour of hard,

enraptured skating.

Simultaneous combined has this advantage, that an uneven number of

skaters can take part in it. The caller’s duties are the same, but there

are no pairs of partners. All leave the centre simultaneously, all (it

is hoped) arrive back at it simultaneously. Since there is no crossing

of pairs at the centre, a far larger number of skaters can take part in

it, as they have not to wait for a prior pair to clear, and if

elementary calls only are ordered, upwards of ten or twelve skaters can

join the dance with effect. No one of them, as in pair skating, crosses

the path of another skater: they leave and arrive at the centre on

converging not crossing lines. Thus it is an easier sport than is

crossing pairs, since in the latter case the edges that leave and

approach the centre intersect each other. Vastly enjoyable as it is, it

lacks to the present writer that classical distinction that

characterises pair-skating.

The final item in English skating is hand-in-hand skating in the

combined figure. Here, instead of single skaters combining to perform

in unison, pairs take the place of units. Necessarily the figures

compassable by a man and woman hand in hand are fewer in number, as at

present worked out, than those which can be skated by single skaters,

and the speed at which such figures are skated is less than in the

combined skating of single skaters. Hand-holds have to be changed, and

partners brought into the new position required by turns, &c., by pulls,

or by what in the nomenclature is called “steps”--_i.e._ single strokes

and edges. Already this style has taken the place in the annual

championship of English skating, and without doubt it will grow both in

the number of its practitioners, and in the force and speed of their

movements. It is scientifically based, being evolved from the charming

movements that are possible to hand-in-hand skaters when going free on

the ice, and not bound to consider their opposing partner, or to arrive

in a given manner at a given point. But it resembles, at present, in the

opinion of the writer, the performance of a yearling. It requires the

devotion of a dozen first-class skaters of both sexes to determine its

possibilities. His wish is, that it will get them. His fear is that the

necessarily cramping influence of conjoined hands will prove to debar it

from the speed and largeness of other branches of English skating. He

sincerely hopes that his fears are quite unfounded.

INTERNATIONAL STYLE

It has been already remarked that the two styles, English and

International, have nothing to do with each other, and that the

practitioner of one who is so imbecile as to belittle the other, is no

less crack-brained and idiotic than a Rugby football player who calls

Association a “rotten game.” Personally, I do not skate in the

International style, but to attempt to depreciate the beauties of it

would be to me as unthinkable as it would be to run down polo. To the

spectator, whether of polo or of International skating, the skill and

the splendour of these sports are, unless he is entirely lunatic, beyond

any question at all. But it is as an admirer, pure and simple, that I

venture to embark on a subject with which I have no practical

acquaintance.

Spectacularly there is no doubt that to the ignorant the International

style rightly makes the most powerful appeal. A simple manœuvre, as for

instance a forward three to a centre, looks far more difficult and

hazardous when executed even only moderately well in the International

style than when executed almost perfectly in the English style. In the

one case, to the ignorant, arms and legs are flying: it seems impossible

to maintain a balance, and the attitude itself is charmingly graceful:

whereas in the English style the whole difficulty of the manœuvre, such

as it is, lies in the necessity of making it look easy, and standing

quite still and at rest.

But the difficulty of doing it perfectly in the English style is, as a

matter of fact, far greater than that of doing it properly in the

International style. Of that there is no question whatever. A good

English skater will put down his turns and edges one over the other, in

the accurate fashion so rightly demanded by the International style,

without producing half the effect that a good International skater will

produce. But the English skater has done the more difficult feat. On the

other hand, I do not think that the skater in the English style is ever

called upon to do anything so difficult in his highest test as the

back-loop 8, or perhaps the rocker 8, as required by the first-class

International test. And then I think of a back bracket, executed at good

speed at a certain point, in the correct style. Really I do not know....

Also I do not care. The back-loop 8 of the International skater is

altogether lovely, which is all that matters.

But, as I have said, the two styles have nothing to do with each other,

either as regards tests or as regards the general sport of them. I can

imagine no more glorious athletic feat than that of four first-class

English skaters performing a really difficult combined set properly, a

set that is as far away from the compulsory set of the first-class test

as is the first-class test from the second; nor, on the other hand, can

I imagine a more glorious athletic feat than the free skating of some

champion of the International school. But when Mr. Grenander or Herr

Salchow are so kind as to show me the Hugel star, I no more think of

comparing that with the combined skating of fine performers in the

English style, and others, than I compare it with Mr. Baerlein in the

tennis court or Mr. Jessop slogging his sixes. They have nothing to do

with each other.

As in English skating, I propose to lay before the reader the tests of

the International school, and in contrast to the rule of English form, I

subpend the essential requirements of International excellence, as laid

down by the collective experience of its senators. Proper form is no

less essential in one than in the other, and the same sternness of

requirement is insisted on in both. But the effect is poles apart: in

the International style a fixed freedom of the unemployed limbs is

necessary, in the English a fixed quietness and immobility. Neither is

laid down in an arbitrary manner: it is impossible to perform the

necessary evolutions in first-class skating otherwise than is provided

by the rules. No English skater could, in his prescribed form, execute

the International figures: no International skater in his could do what

is required of his English brother. Here, then, are the essentials of

good form as demanded by the International school:

“Carriage upright but not stiff; the body not bent forwards or

sideways at the waist; all raising or lowering of the body being

effected by bending the knee of the tracing leg with upright back;

the body and limbs generally held sideways to the direction of

progress. The head always upright. Tracing leg flexible with bent

knee. The eyes looking downwards as little as possible. The knee

and toe of the free leg turned outwards as far as possible, the toe

always downwards; the knee only slightly bent. The free leg

swinging freely from the hip and assisting the movement. The arms

held easily, and assisting the movement; the hands neither spread

nor clenched. All action of the body and limbs must be easy and

swinging with the direct object of assisting the movement of the

moment; violent or stiff motions are to be avoided, the figure

should seem to be executed without difficulty.

“The figures must be begun from rest--that is, by a single stroke

with the other foot; and at the intersecting point of two circles.

Every figure must be repeated three times consecutively. No

impetus may be taken from the ice by the foot which is about to

become the tracing foot; and every stroke should be taken from the

edge of the blade, not from the point.”

There are also the following directions for correct tracing, _i.e._ the

marks left by the skate on the ice.

“The essentials of correct tracing are:

“Maintenance of the long and transverse axes (as the long axis of

the figure a line is to be conceived which divides each circle into

two equal parts; a transverse axis cuts the long axis at right

angles between two circles); approximately equal size of all

circles, and of all curves before and after all turns; symmetrical

grouping of the individual parts of the figure about the axes;

curves without wobbles, skated out--that is, returning nearly to

the starting-point. Threes with the turns lying in the long axis;

changes of edge with an easy transition, the change falling in the

long axis.”

In this form, then, and with this accuracy of tracing, the following

figures must be skated for the third test:--

Eight Rfo--Lfo

Eight Rfi--Lfi

Eight Rbo--Lbo

Change {(_a_) Rfoi--Lfio

{(_b_) Lfoi--Rfio

Threes RfoTbi--LfoTbi

R = RIGHT.

L = LEFT.

T = THREE.

f = FORWARDS.

b = BACKWARDS.

o = OUTSIDE.

i = INSIDE.

Into the system of marking--candidates have to get a certain proportion

of marks in each figure--we need not go. It will be sufficient to say

that it is necessary to skate each figure passably, and to earn more

than half marks on the whole.

SECOND-CLASS TEST

This has to be passed before three judges, and is divided into two

parts--(1) Compulsory Figures; (2) Free Skating. The regulations for

them are as follow:--

(1) _Compulsory Figures._--Each figure may be marked up to a maximum of

6 points. The marks given for each figure are multiplied by the factor

of value for that figure. In order to pass, a candidate must obtain a

minimum of 2 marks out of 6 in each figure, and an aggregate of 130 out

of the maximum of 234 marks.

(2) _Free Skating._--The candidate will be required to skate a free

programme of three minutes’ duration.

This will be marked:

(_a_) For the contents of the programme (difficulty and variety) up

to a maximum of 6 marks.

(_b_) For the manner of performance up to a maximum of 6 marks. In

order to pass, a candidate must obtain 7 marks for (_a_) and (_b_)

together.

The marks for compulsory figures and for free skating must be obtained

from each judge. Judges may use half marks and quarter marks.

_Compulsory Figures_

Marks. | Factor. | Total

| |

Eight Rbi--Lbi | 2 |

|

Change {(_a_) Rboi--Lbio | 2 |

{(_b_) Lboi--Rbio | 2 |

| |

Three {(_a_) RfoTbi--LbiTfo | 2 |

{(_b_) LfoTbi--RbiTfo | 2 |

| |

Double Three RboTfiT--LboTfiT | 1 |

| |

Change Three {(_a_) RfoiT--LboiT | 2 |

{(_b_) LfoiT--RboiT | 2 |

| |

Change Three {(_a_) RfioT--LbioT | 3 |

{(_b_) LfioT--RbioT | 3 |

| |

Loop RfoLP--LfoLP | 2 |

Loop RfiLP--LfiLP | 2 |

Loop RboLP--LboLP | 2 |

Loop RbiLP--LbiLP | 2 |

| |

Bracket {(_a_) RfoB--LbiB | 3 |

{(_b_) LfoB--RbiB | 3 |

| |

One-foot Eight {(_a_) Rfoi--Lfio | 2 |

{(_b_) Lfoi--Rfio | 2 |

R = RIGHT.

L = LEFT.

T = THREE.

LP = LOOP.

B = BRACKET.

f = FORWARDS.

b = BACKWARDS.

o = OUTSIDE.

i = INSIDE.

Here is a remarkably varied programme, and one that will obviously give

a good spell of regular work to a candidate who intends to grapple with

it. It contains more of the material for skating than does the

corresponding English second test, in which only the four edges, the

four simple turns, and the four changes of edge are introduced, since

this International second test comprises as well as those, the four

loops, and two out of the four brackets. These loops, which are most

charming and effective figures, have nowadays no place in English

skating, since it is quite impossible to execute any of them, as far as

is at present known, without breaking the rules for English skating,

since the unemployed leg (_i.e._ the one not tracing the figure) must be

used to get the necessary balance and swing. They belong to a great

class of figures like cross-cuts in all their varieties, beaks,

pigs-ears, &c., in which the skater nearly, or actually, stops still for

a moment, and then, by a swing of the body or leg, resumes or reverses

his movement. By this momentary loss and recovery of balance there is

opened out to the skater whole new fields of intricate and delightful

movements, and the patterns that can be traced on the ice are of endless

variety. And here in this second International test the confines of this

territory are entered on by the four loops, which are the simplest of

the “check and recovery” figures. In the loops (the shape of which is

accurately expressed by their names) the skater does not come absolutely

to a standstill, though very nearly, and the swing of the body and leg

is then thrown forward in front of the skate, and this restores to it

its velocity, and pulls it, so to speak, out of its loop. A further

extension of this check and resumption of speed occurs in cross-cuts,

which do not enter into the International tests, but which figure

largely in the performance of good skaters. Here the forward movement of

the skate (or backward movement, if back cross-cuts are being skated) is

entirely checked, the skater comes to a momentary standstill and moves

backwards for a second. Then the forward swing of the body and

unemployed leg gives him back his checked and reversed movement.

Similarly, the bracket 8 is fresh material in this set of compulsory

figures. The shape and nature of the bracket is the same as that in

English skating.

The candidate for the second International test has also to skate a free

programme of three minutes’ duration. This takes the place, so to speak,

of the section in the English test devoted to combined skating, which is

not practised in the International style. This free skating is spoken of

in its place under the first-class test.

FIRST-CLASS TEST

This has to be passed before three judges, and is divided into two

parts--(1) Compulsory Figures; (2) Free Skating. The regulations for

them are as follow:--

(1) _Compulsory Figures._--Each figure may be marked up to a maximum of

6 points. The marks given for each figure are multiplied by the factor

of value for that figure. In order to pass, a candidate must obtain a

minimum of 2 marks out of 6 in each figure, and an aggregate of 190 out

of the maximum of 336 marks.

(2) _Free Skating._--The candidate will be required to skate a free

programme of three minutes’ duration.

This will be marked:

(_a_) For the contents of the programme (difficulty and variety) up

to a maximum of 6 marks.

(_b_) For the manner of performance up to a maximum of 6 marks.

In order to pass, a candidate must obtain 7 marks for (_a_) and (_b_)

together.

The marks for the compulsory figures and the free skating are arrived at

by taking the total marks of the three judges and dividing by three.

Judges may use half marks.

This free skating is a charming item in the system of International

skating, and might, with great advantage, be introduced into the English

branch. It is in itself perfectly fascinating to look at, and from the

technical point of view it is quite admirable as a test of knowledge. A

good programme will contain dozens of turns and changes of edge, all

melting into each other without break or pause. None who have seen the

free skating of a fine performer can ever forget or question the

brilliance and variety of this three-minute free skating. As likely as

not, he will make his entry on to the rink in a spiral edge, and before

it has come to rest at the centre, start off on his coruscating

performance. Rockers, brackets, counters, and turns succeed each other

with bewildering rapidity; and all are performed with the utmost ease

and grace. It seems impossible to tell where the motive-power comes

from, so smooth and effortless is the travelling; you would have said

the skater was wafted by some localised wind, or impelled by some

invisible mechanism. But before he arrives at this part of his test, he

has to skate his compulsory figures, the list of which is subjoined.

_Compulsory Figures_

Marks. |Factor.| Total.

{(_a_) RfoRK--LboRK | 3 |

Rockers {(_b_) LfoRK--RboRK | 3 |

{(_a_) RfiRK--LbiRK | 4 |

{(_b_) LfiRK--RbiRK | 4 |

{(_a_) RfoC--LboC | 2 |

Counters {(_b_) LfoC--RboC | 2 |

{(_a_) RfiC--LbiC | 3 |

{(_b_) Lfic--RbiC | 3 |

| |

Three, {(_a_) RboTfioT--LbiTfoiT | 3 |

Change Three {(_b_) LboTfioT--RbiTfoiT | 3 |

| |

{(_a_) RfoLPfoiLP--LfiLPfioLP | 4 |

Loop, {(_b_) LfoLPfoiLP--RfiLPfioLP | 4 |

Change Loop {(_a_) RboLPboiLP--LbiLPbioLP | 5 |

{(_b_) LboLPboiLP--RbiLPbioLP | 5 |

| |

Bracket, {(_a_) RfoBbioB--LfiBboiB | 4 |

Change Bracket {(_b_) LfoBbioB--RfiBboiB | 4 |

R = RIGHT.

L = LEFT.

RK = ROCKER.

C = COUNTER.

LP = LOOP.

B = BRACKET.

f = FORWARDS.

b = BACKWARDS.

o = OUTSIDE.

i = INSIDE.

Now, here is a list of requirements which, when we think of the accuracy

demanded by the International style in the matter of tracing, will

clearly be too much for any but the very elect. Not only has a figure as

difficult as the back-loop 8 to be skated, but it has to be skated with

accuracy: the loops must lie approximately one on the top of the other,

and the edges that lead into and out of them must be symmetrically laid

down. It is this accuracy which makes the International style so hard of

achievement in its higher branches; to hope to get through this list of

searching figures, it is clear that the balance, the pace, and the power

of the skater must be in perfect control. And all the time the

appearance of insouciant freedom is there, though all the time that

freedom is bound by laws as relentless as those which regulate the

tranquillity of the English style. The feats are so difficult that they

cannot be executed except in a certain way, just as the ball that spins

so carelessly over the tennis net cannot win a short chase off the back

wall unless it has been hit in one way and no other.

A further important branch of International skating is the pair-skating,

which ranges from the simple waltz-step to the most intricate

evolutions. The rhythm and grace of this delightful exhibition is beyond

all words; beyond all words, too, is the training and skill which it

implies. Every bar of the music which accompanies it has its appropriate

movement: it is a perfect song of motion set to the band. But the beauty

and swing of it are things quite indescribable; one might as well hope

to reproduce the dancing of Pavlova in pen and ink as to convey any

sense of it to those who have not seen it. And those who have seen it

would very wisely yawn and pass on if they observed a purple paragraph

on the subject looming ahead. But thistledown is not so light in a warm

west breeze, nor the curves of a swallow’s flight more deliciously

unconjecturable than a well-matched pair in this pastime so perfectly

preconcerted that it looks entirely unrehearsed. On they drift, gliding,

turning, parting to come together again.... Mrs. Gummidge, for the

moment, would cease to think of the old ’un, and inquire the price of

skates--and knee-pads.

[Illustration:

PLATE XI

A WINTER HARVEST]

[Illustration:

PLATE XII

CLEARING THE SNOW FROM THE RINK]

[Illustration:

PLATE XIII

SPRINKLING THE RINK, CHÂTEAU D’OEX]

[Illustration:

PLATE XIV

PUBLIC RINK, DAVOS]

[Illustration:

PLATE XV

SKATING-RINK AT MÜRREN]

[Illustration:

PLATE XVI

SKATING-RINK AT CHÂTEAU D’OEX]