Page:Girls of Central High on the Stage.djvu/157

Rh young folk of the neighborhood, much to the despair of some grouty people who had forgotten their own youth, and who either telephoned their complaints to the police, or sprinkled ashes on the slide in the early morning hours.

It was at this time, however, that Mrs. Case, the girls' physical instructor of Central High, took her class in ski running out into the open.

At first the dozen or more girls had practiced an their athletic field, which was now snow-covered, too. It was a particularly odd experience to stand upon narrow boards of ash, some ten feet in length, and then try to shuffle along on them without tipping sideways, or plunging head-first into a drift.

Each ski runner held a pole, with a spike in one end, and this was an aid to balancing, as well as of additional use if one tumbled down. It was no easy task, the girls found, to get up when they had been thrown into a drift.

"My!" commented Bobby Hargrew, "if you cross your feet going down hill on these things, you're likely to dislocate every joint in your body."

"Be sure you do not cross your feet, then," advised Mrs. Case, grimly. "I have shown you all the correct position to stand upon these skis. The professional ski runner does not even use a