To celebrate snow in the Puget Sound area, I'm resurrecting an old story. I dug it up a few years ago following the big snow of 2004. Those of you who are new to TAY, or who are skiing to work this week, may enjoy it.
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 6, 1916:
When Henry Steinkopf Borrowed His Neighbor's Skis Misfortune Followed Fast
[...]
At my front gate, as I foundered into the drifts I met my neighbor, Mr. Storksjol. He was shoveling snow off his sidewalk.
"You been going far?" he asked.
"To the grocery," I answered.
"She been pretty hard walk," said Mr. Storksjol. "Wait, I'll lend you my skis."
I had often seen these skis standing in Mr. Storksjol's home and had frequently joked him about keeping skis in a sunny clime like ours.
I admit, Mr. Editor, that I had never been nearer to riding on skis in my life than when I skimmed in fancy with some mountain hero at the motion picture theaters, but such is my wild, adventurous nature, smother it though I will with a veneer of civilization, that my primitive pulse beat high at the thought of skimming over the crust to bring sustenance to my wife and little ones. In fancy, I saw myself dashing lightly home through the blinding storm, my arms laden with life-giving food, while my wife and babies clustered at our front windows and cheered my return with their plaintive cries. Perhaps, too, some of the neighbors might be watching: if so, what cared I?
Like a flash I said to Mr. Storksjol: "Lead me to 'em," meaning, in my jocular way, that I assented to his proposal.
[...continued at following link...]
