St Nicholas [serial] . ght1 possible that the amusement may have existed in1 :he Low Countries, and have been brought intoScotland by the people of Flanders who immigratedluring the reign of James I. If skating has been sung by Goethe and Klop-[tock, curling has been no less honored. Most of The game is played with large stones, which arevery similar in shape to a flat onion,—that is, theyare in the form of spheres that have been so com-pressed that their breadth is nearly twice theirthickness. The sole of the stone—its undersurface—is polished as smoothly as possible; anda handle, shaped like
St Nicholas [serial] . ght1 possible that the amusement may have existed in1 :he Low Countries, and have been brought intoScotland by the people of Flanders who immigratedluring the reign of James I. If skating has been sung by Goethe and Klop-[tock, curling has been no less honored. Most of The game is played with large stones, which arevery similar in shape to a flat onion,—that is, theyare in the form of spheres that have been so com-pressed that their breadth is nearly twice theirthickness. The sole of the stone—its undersurface—is polished as smoothly as possible; anda handle, shaped like the letter L turned uponits side, is inserted in the top. Such stones arechosen as are least liable to split, and their weightsare graded according to the strength of the ordinary average weight is from thirty to fiftypounds. About fifteen or twenty pounds wouldbe heavy enough for stones to be used by boys. The rink is a smooth place marked off upon theice, about thirty yards long, and ten feet itsIn Scottish poets have eulogized it, the most emi-i it men of the nation have praised it and playedjit, and even the great Burns speaks of it in Tarn Samsons Elegy : When Winter muffles up his cloak,And binds die mire up like a rock;When to the lochs the curlers (lock WT gleesomc speed,Wha will they station at the cock?— Tarn Samsons dead! He was the king o a the core,To guard, or draw, or wick a bore;Or up the rink like Jehu roar In time o need;But now he lays on Deaths hog-score,— Tarn Samson s dead ! At each end of the rink a small mark or hole ischipped out. which is most commonly called thetee, although it has other names in some partsof Scotland. Two circles arc drawn around eachtee, with the latter as their common center. Theinner one may be made about four feet in diame-ter, and the outer one six feet. These circles arecalled brottghs, and their object is to assist the eyein judging the distances between the stones, whenplayed, and the te
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
