Puck X-Mas Number

Two women skate briskly across the ice, towing a small sleigh in which Puck rides holding up a decorated tree. The leading skater wears a black jacket over a red skirt trimmed with white fur; her companion is in pale blue-green, ribbons streaming from their hands. Frank Hutchins builds the motion on a long diagonal, skirts and streamers swept back with the speed. PUCK sits large at the top; X-MAS NUMBER fills a gold oval at the right above 1894. The washed yellow background leaves the figures room to move. Hutchins died young, in his late twenties, and Puck covers like this are much of what survives of him. The sprite as cargo, hauled along by fashionable women, is the magazine's favorite winter gag.