When you're being chased by wolves down a frozen river, have skates and a kite handy and see for yourself what a difference they make.  From St. Nicholas magazine, 1910.

"A Séance on the Ice": an illustration from The Children's Fairy History of England by Forbes Edward Winslow (1889).  The caption reads: "What!  Mesmerise you on the ice!  Well, I never!  Did any one ever hear of such a thing?  Oh, you all want it, do you?  Well, I will try.  You need not take off your skates.  I will mesmerise you skating, and we will be here, and there, and everywhere, at the same time.  Just come close round me and look at me; don't speak, simply watch my hands. * * * * * * *"

"And the quiet lake shall feel / The torpid touch of his glazing breath, and ring to the skater's heel."  From Winter Pictures by Poet and Artist, engraved by Edward Whymper, 1881.

A proposed ice skating safety costume (inflatable), from the Jan. 10, 1891 issue of Punch.