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Introduction
W.T. Adams - Optic, Oliver, 1822-1897
Copyright, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1866, 1887, by the Russell Publishing Company

Page 84

SURF-RIDING.

ONE day all the little Kittredges, who lived at the Sandwich Islands, went down to the beach to bathe in the surf.
Maurice took his surf-board with him.
He had spent a long time in the morning getting the board ready
It was nothing, after all, but a long, narrow board rounded at one end.

Maurice had never tried to ride on a surf-board, but he had seen the natives do it many times, and he felt sure it was great
fun.
He tried to get Maude and Rose to ask him to make them some boards ; but they said they did not want any.

"What are you afraid of ?" asked Maurice.
"It is just as easy as anything."

Page 85

After they were all in the water Maurice waded out quite a long distance.
Then he waited for a big roller to come in, holding his surf-board high in both hands just as he had seen the natives do.
Then he gave a leap on to the end of the board, and down he went under the water, board and all.
But he came up all right, and tried it again.
This time he had better luck.
He was just in time to catch a lovely white wave that came rushing along, and away he went with it up upon the sandy beach.

This was such capital sport that Maurice laughed loud and ln-.
After this he went out again and again, and every time a merry wave would catch him and send him speeding up to the shore.
Once the wave was too quick for him and forced the edge of the board against his chest, pounding him cruelly.
Poor Maurice gave a dreadful gasp and cry.
He thought for a moment he should never get his breath again.

But he struggled to the shore, and in a moment felt as well as ever, and away he went into the waves with his surf-board again.

Maurice says now that his American cousins may say all they have a mind to about coasting.
For his part he can get all the fun he wants on a surf-board.
He says he is going to keep trying till he can stand up on the board and ride in on the crest of a wave, as the natives long ago used to do.

Adams, William T. (ed):
(Oliver Optic)
Our Little Ones.
Griffith and Farran, London,1883, pages 295-296.

googlebooks.com
http://books.google.com/books?id=GSYGAAAAQAAJ&oe=UTF-8

Optic, Oliver:
Oliver Optic's Annual;
Stories, poems, and pictures for little men and women
Estes, Boston,1894, [c1887]

Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/oliveropticsannu00opti

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