The Plymouth weekly Democrat., 1869-01-07

ldH VCIOClpCuIotS udVc etOlcu d IuaICu
on the coming flying man /; for, while he
is busy adjusting the wings with which he
intends to navigate the clouds, they have
attached wheels to their legs, enabling
them to skim the earth with the speed Of
fast trotting horse. The resuscitation of
velocipedes-a ninety years old invention
lis due to the petits creces and c0cOtts of
Paris At the present moment, however,
they are mania with all classes, and
count, among their more fervent partisans,
princes, dukes, and other titled person
ages, several high functionaries, and even
one staid member Of the French Academy
Every alternate Sunday or so, velocipede
races have taken place in the environs Of
Paris-at St. Cloud, Vincennes, Enghien,
Pantin and elsewhere Mounted, too,
upon these flying horses, amateurs dash
along the crowded thoroughfares of the
capital, while adopts, at the risk of their
lives, drive their velocipedes of two wheels
-one directly in froni Of the other-aloDg
the narrow stone psrapet at the side of
the Seine, and down the hundred-and- -one
steps Of the Trocadero; rising up in their
seats, lying down on their backs, letting
go the hands Of the vehicle, and throwing
both legs over it, while performing these
daring feats. Government employees liv-
ing in the suburbs, ride to their offices
every morning on the new iron horse.
You may see them on their return jour-
ney at night, steering in between the
throng of carriages with lighted lanters
swinging in front of them, and with other
velocipedes, sent out by enterpris-
ing tradesmen, displaying illuminated adj
vertisements before and aft. The COM
positors of Galignanis Messenger, and
other newspapers, are said to go to, and
return from work, on velocipedes; and
several of the collecting clerks of the
Bank Of France have begun to use them.
Provincials stare aghast at these modern
centaurs, dashing in and out of the whirl
OF vehicles, much as the country people of
old did at the apparition of the Thessa-
lOnians mounted on the horses which
they were tie first to tame; while the
cabmen exhibit their hostility by lodging
in front Of the veloci pedists, whenever
they get the chance, and by chatting such
amateurs as are not sufficiently expert to
give them wide berth. Prices of veloci-
pedes, including what Moses of the Mi
nories would style directions for self
measurement, are advertised on the walls,
outside the kiosques of the Boulevards,
and In all the papers. and announcements
of lessons on the art of managing them,
may be met with in almost every journal,
and posted up in all quarters OF Paris.
The public schools, too, are to have pro-
| f5ssors to lecture on the new method Of
| locomotion, and to teach the youth of
France how to manage the willing steed.
Meanwhile, the Prince Imperial has been
| furnished with a "velocpede de luxe"
mounted in rosewood and aluminium
bronze.
o~so g 10 - e. 81
respect to its new toy. The newspapers
call upon the Government to order sup
ply of velocipedes to save the overwnrked
legs of the rural postmer, and Of the mes
sengers attached to the p,crinc.al tele-
graph bureau; and even advise limited
number of these vehicles being furnished
to infantry regiments, to enable OutpOsts
TO recOnnoitre and to communicate rapid
ly with the main body of the army
Some, carried away by their enthusiasm,
ask why a species oflight cavalry, mount
ed on velOcipcdes, should not be insti
tuted. 1t is suggested. too, that lifeboat
crews, on thinly populated coasts, should
be provided with velocipedes, by means of
which more rapid assembling of them in
time of need might be effected; and,
moreover, that gardes ctampetres, and
country doctors and cures, who cannot
afford the expense of horse, should
travel about on the new vehicles, which,
by the way have already penetrated to
the provinces, for seaside loungers,
mounted on them, were to be
seen at all the Norman and Breton
watering places, and ON the shores
of the Mediterranean, coursing
along the coast. Eccentric sportsmen, too,
chase their game with velocipedes artists
use them to go on sketching tours, and
photographers employ them on distant ex-
petitions Guests at country chdtedur or
ganize races with velocipedes among
themselves; and, in the recent election
contest in the department of the Var, ON
its being discovered that the government
had hired all the public vehicles in TOulOn
for the day of the election, the partisans of
the opposition candidate procured a sup
ply of velocipedes, on which the liberal
electors dashed TO the polls. Dramatists
introduce velocipedes into their pieces ;
and at several Partisan theatres they play
prominent part in some of the more
striking scenes. Caricaturists, however,
have turned them most to account, for
every week brings forth some pictorial
skit, in which they occupy the first place.
The toy dealers, too, have not been idle,
for you cannot pass along the Boulevards
without getting your feet entangled in
toy velOcipede, mounting large red Ian
tern-at present a prohibited emblem in
Paris-and with the rider working his
arms and legs up and down, like an ordi.
nary scaramouche, which some enterpris-
ing hawker, the better to display its at
fractions, has set going along the asphalte
pavement.
Ordinary two-wheel velocipedes range
in francs, according to the completeness
of their fittings. Vtiocipedes de lure mount
up almost to any sum. Three-wheelcd
machines are priced at from one hundred
| and sixty to two hundred and fifty francs,
while. smaller sizes, for children, can be
purchased for fifty francs The some
what numerous etceteras, comprise The
requisite instruments in the event them
chine gets out of order on a journey, with
lantern, a grease-box, india-rubber
cushions for the iron bar in front of the
machine, on which the legs are generally
allowed to rest when not IN action, and
an indicator, to mark the distance travelled.
The speed attained by the swifter kind
OF Yelocipedes averages from twelve TO
thirteen miles an hour adopts find no
difficulty whatever In accomplishing fully
fifty miles within five hours, without once
alighting frpm their vehicles. A couple
of amateurs, making a tour through a
part of France, challenged each other
as to which could perform the greatest
distance within four-and-twenty hours.
One gave in after having accomplished
eighty-seven miles the other went