Munsey's Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 3

Munsey's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 11, December 1908 This issue features two major non-fiction pieces. "The Most Picturesque of Winter Sports," by Herbert H. Peirce (U.S. Minister to Norway), provides detailed description of Norwegian ski culture. Peirce traces the sport's history, technical specifications of ski construction (wood runners six to eight feet long), and discusses regional variations across Scandinavia. The article's centerpiece covers competitive ski jumping: contestants launch from a snow-packed slope and are judged on both distance and style. Peirce describes witnessing a 121-foot jump and cites the Norwegian record of 138 feet down-slope. He also details the famous "coast" slide descending from Frognersiter to Christiania on winter Sundays. "Two Nonagenarian Peers," by Henry J. Markland, profiles two elderly British aristocrats. The fourth Baron Gwydyr, ninety-eight, witnessed George IV's coronation in 1820 and served thirty-three years as secretary to the lord great chamberlain. The article includes an anecdote of Sir Walter Scott gaining passage through the Scots Guards at the coronation ceremony. The second subject is the Earl of Wemyss and March, who entered his ninety-first year.