inner. The
most important point to learn is to keep the skees always parallel with
each other; this is somewhat difficult at first. Never raise your feet
or skees above the ground; make them glide on the snow; push one foot
forward, then the other, just as when you walk."

Then he got on his skees, and said: "Now, look at me and see how I go."
I saw him gliding on the snow, pushing first one foot then the other,
the two skees running parallel with each other; and when one had a
tendency to go inside or outside, he corrected the deviation at once by
a slight movement of his leg and foot. I noticed afterward that with
many persons the ankle was very flexible, owing to their going so much
on skees.

After going some distance he returned to me, and we started slowly
together. I pushed first one foot then the other forward, and tried to
do exactly what he had told me to do; but before I knew it the end of
one skee overlapped the other and stopped my advance at once.
Fortunately I was going slowly, otherwise I should have landed on the
snow. "The overlapping of one skee over the other is quite common with a
beginner," said my teacher to me.

Putting my skees in position again, we started. This time one of my
skees left me. Several times the two left me, and I found myself seated
on the snow every time. I made slow progress that day. At the end of the
lesson Joseff said, "Do not be discouraged, Paulus, you will soon learn
the knack. I will now show you how fast a man can go on skees. Look at
me." Then he started; he seemed simply to fly over the snow, and before
many minutes he was far away, almost out of sight. He was going at the
rate of at least twenty miles an hour.

I said to myself: "O Paul, when will you go as fast as Joseff!" I was
filled with ambition. I wanted to learn as fast as I could, and I
thought I would take lessons every day.

When he returned the perspiration was dripping from his face, though the
cold was 39 degrees below zero.

I spent several hours every day on the lake, learning and practising,
and when Joseff had time he would come with me; and after three days I
was able to manage the skees tolerably well. I kept them in line and
they did not slip out from my feet any more. I could go several thousand
yards without stopping and with no mishaps.

After I could do this, Joseff said to me: "Paulus, you know now how to
go well on skees upon level land; now you must learn how to go down hill
with t