Excerpt from How to Become a Skater: Containing Full Instructions for Excelling at Figure and Speed Skating; Illustrated The use of skates in some one form or another has been popular for almost a thousand years. They had their origin in Continental Europe and were later introduced into England. The Old-time Norse, Swedes and Dutch were pioneers in the art of propelling one's self over ice on improvised runners, and they have left latter - day humanity a legacy that has Increased to wondrous value. Like that Of many other pastimes, the exact origin of skating it is impossible to ascertain, and consequently those who would speak of its early state must generalize to a considerable extent. In the Edda or Elder Edda, a collec tion of Icelandic literature gathered by Saemund the Wise, sup posedly in 1056-1133, skating is mentioned. This is probably the earliest known source from which record of the facinating pas time can be obtained. The god Uller is represented as being remarkable for his beauty, arrows and skates. Friedrich Klop stock, the celebrated German poet and author, in speaking of skating two hundred years ago, said that man, like the Homeric gods, strides with winged feet over the sea transmuted into solid ground. _goethe, Herder and other German poets have also sung its praises. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.