The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 25, 1906, Page 11

seeking st are * treated Snake D desert z ing Der ustion ng to ng being to a_strange neisanl thie nything =o D Led and wondered undcrtone of groans Surel re little wheels, littie sets e as are used for moving ture in dwellings, the Mttie casters, that are fasiened e en as the to the s 2 ables .and desks and v chairs. It is these littie whee make the strange mb send’ the beings on ng, g dashes with which €Y. Y along annihilating distance dert Wonderf ¥ an thizs welrd ceremony, this th se beings of all ages and I note the great and I even clutching at each doomed to glide in an eternal t expiation or adoration.t t drives und and round and round? < d they stop If they would? ey if they could? would have been gs would have taken, my chair, in that the form Is wilderness chairs had I been a visitor from not being a visitor from Mars—I am, even as you are, “‘wise to the game,” and 1 know perfectly well that these, my ordinarily sane, sound and practical fel- solemn rite, some mystic ' cere- mony, as the Person or their nd frantic g throng be, these madly d round—urged ever spend our money skaters. 1 watched leave our mone) reveling I \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\{\\\\ il \ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ AN JHHER. FlesT LEwe oON— with of whom are the merchants’ latest I say, a visitor ven't seen the Beginners hung over the male beings he first degree Why Now Roller This with that mild nurs the tator and young, more s’ chiefly rou: wheels freedom the s roller skating that.the question is popped at you, I'm sure, : can answer that other profound used to break the answer it oyster? t is Is as great a mystery as skating is surely not a sport. round and round in a circumscribed, in- no more lke ice skating, and possibilities and surprises and tingling exhilaration, than ry concoction called cam- bric tea is like the beverage that cheers. It surely is not an athletic exercise, for it combines the maximum of speed with xcept, course, in the initiatory stages, where the reverse is true. It surely and of exertion is not a soclal pastime, geems to even the most unprejudiced spec- a solitary speechless ecstacy for two. It may encourage scgl communion, but certainly does not seem to be a pro- moter of conversation, for 1 have seen in the rinks the most susceptible go round and round, doing the l)y'ch roll, cutting figure fights and other didoes, with their hands Jow beings. some of whom are the bank-.in their pockets and their eves rolled to pleasure, or for safe- mer- clerks with, are merely roller maddest Mare, as I remain on the side. stick- chair in from 2t wilderne: and it takes both hands to sist the temptation of that and initlated iato 00l and peeked female novitiates s cf the preliminary for it at best beaux, old round and THE SMALL BQY ALWANS INT THE WAY . Wy we %, < the raftere, and ncver a glance for the s what roller skating 100KS gdistractingly pretty giris cutting past and I haven't seen the weird- them And to match them, P've seen the dis- tractingly pretty girls, past mistresses of the art of flirtation. glide and ;- and sway ard glide a whole atternoon cr even- ing away in a moon-eved abandonment to the motion that can only be cqualed by the Insidious whiffs of oplum or the sor- ceries of hasheesh. That's it! If roller skating isn't a sport nor an ex- ercise, nor yet 2 dlversion, it is an intoxi- cant, and that is why the whole world has taken to it—perhaps. _ That is why the papa and the grandpapa of the small boy who makes a perilous dash down hill with ene roller skate un- der the elbow of his trousles are, going round and round and round in the roller skating rink, or taking surreptitious les- sons in secluded halls at a dollar per, pre- paratory to the round-and-round debut. That is why the mamma and. the auntie and the big sister—yes, and the physical cultured grandmamma—of the little girl who divides her pair of roller skates with her chum and becomes a sidewalk menace to slow-moving, short-sighted pedestrians, have all taken to the Beginners’ Pens and of ‘the dangerous fascinations of uniformed instructors, who fascinate—no, I mean in- struct at a dollar per hour. There's no use denying it, the roller skating craze is rampant, and everybody a is either skating or learning to skate, while rinks and schools for skating are cropping out upon the city’'s surface like chickenpox on a schoolboy. Somebody has . called it a revival of rolier skating, but it isn’t, any more than this year’s prairie fire is a revival'of the prairfe fire of ten years ago. It is just a fresh outbreak. but a deal more virulent than it was before, attacking all ranks.; o o TN . g e ages, and conditions, specter of persons. Indeed, society leaders and belles and beaux, society matrons and society in- fants have fallen victim to it as readily as the pretty girls in the candy stores and the husky youths who come up out of the foundries with their sweaters and never-show-dirt shirts to wrestle with its intricacies in the Beginners' Pen. With my own wondering eyes I saw leading lights from the law as8oclation, grave medicos, and astute financiers winding thelr way in and out among grocery clerks and butcher boys, col- lege and high school students, giddy, gum-chewing gIrls and otherwise se- date and well-regulated housewives on the fascinating little wheels. And I in no sense a re- saw-—would you belleve it—one ycung clergyman, the very pattern of a young clergyman, pink and white, well groomed and decorously coated in black, who was tasting the ‘incipient pleasures of this innocent intoxicant, learning, in fact, still waving his arms to maintain his balance, “swimmin® roun’ the rink the rude. little boys describe it, throw, actually throw, his clerical arms around an unregenerate black’ sheep gambling man, not to snatch him as a brand from the burn- ing, but to keepo from going down ker- flump -himself. Such a leveéler is roller skating. The crage that it was tWenty years ago was nothing to the craze it is on this second visitation. Then Soclety frowned it down and m§ 3 HEAVER LY * 4, if it skated at all, ty—incog.. it were. It was regarded as a cheap and some- what vulgar amusement surreptitious- But now Soclety, perhaps because it s less - strait-laced and more cheer- fully constituted than it was tw years ago, has taken to it with-—well, to be literal, witii both feet. Any morning. if you will take the “ ORDWELL told me yesterday that he was going.into the laundry business,” said Hig- gins, as he and Perkins were chatting in the elevated smoker c¢n their way home. “Bordwell?" ecjaculated Perkins. “What are you talking about?” ““He claims,” continued Higgins, “that the proprietor of a suburban laundry has splendid opportunities for paying off grudges in an innocent and unmalicious way, but that they must be seized by a real genjus in order to be made the most of.” “But I don't quite understand,” saic Perkins. “Pray elucidate.” “The fellow who runs the mangling ap- paratus patronized by Bordwell,” said Higgins, “drives one of his own wagons, is a sociable chap with every one, gossips with his customers freely and has come to be familiar with their likes and dis- likcs. The women, who see him twice a week, stand for his chatter on aecount of his rare good nature and confide in him to such an extent that there isn't 2 private neighborly opinion that Billy isn't custodian of. ““There’s a tamily in Bordwell's block— I'll call them the Van Sicklens—who have very artistic ideas of their own superior- ity Bordwell says they are a lot of cads, and that they sport an up to date auto- roobile and don’t pay their bills. Their condescension has been maddening. Re- cently a series of snubs administered to several of their plebeian neighbors made the situation almost unbearable. when in an® one iy ‘one of 8 with . g wildfy going down 48 h nning as feet ‘ways. and not bud go- v skating th: o endure the Neginsony’ Pen? el o s and sprawls his to the y for the individua les and soft his rotundity maddest fad with those ch his feet him into wall ot him to wav- gone mad, floor with b in their > slipping of sets of d women— an introduetion, would scorn to put Pavilion > mob one the Monday 9, and ace of this v and exclu- wvenue, in the old pon a time in 1ol for fashion and never- barred; ne contested; > list of eli- and highly of patrons from the Bilue has made for itseif and hand- by turn lusive ofty, well lighted. allroom of the Concord its original pur- pose. T nembers practics of r skilled ructor: » ladies’ night one a week I atte as the smar vellest Quite as are abou in th Market last Yes, even life are two-step—as taking to the rinks sprang up or p in the Mission, listrict, south of you think this rbary Coast! s of the night e waltz and the it—and are Is and going round and ro ind with the rest of the fashionable and otherwise. f can there be of when in this r its skates, What grea Billy, cue. “Some green hand in his establishment made an awful mixup and bits of the Van Sicklen wea rpparel were dis- tributzd throughout t ommunity where they would do the most good. The dilapi- dated condition of most of the articles re- Joiced the hearts the recipients, Bord- well drew a dress shirt and a union suit which he says he would have been ashamed to send to a rummage sale. “Every plece was plainly marked ‘Van S.." so that there was no doubt about it. Several returned their finds directly to the owners, and aggressive lady sug- gested a joint note of sympathy and offér of pecuniary a tance. “It was evidently - mo: the laundryman, came to the res- distressing to the arist and Bordwell avers that the ‘For Rent’ sign now upon the Van Sicklen house is the direct result. He says that Billy's talent is certainly mar- velous, and in spite of the laundryman's protestations he insists that it was a beautifully worked out plan from begin- ning to end. as Billy acknowledges that the Van Sicklens were three months be- hind on his books. “Bordwell says this is not the only proof of Billy's genius. Some wonths ago the two had an argument over prices, and the next week Bordweli's pajamas came home starched as stiff as frozen fish. Billy almost wept tears of contrition over the incident, but Bordwell thinks it was a case of getting back at him just the same. He says there is no end of such opportunities in the laundry business. and the wonder s that more men of hixh abil- ities don't go into 1%”