Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-11-27
The Bicycle i'm England,

Ii was not very long ago that a young man
was descending steep hill In the neighborho ID
OF London, and came to grief before he reached
the bottom. Either he ran away with the BIZ
cycle or the bicycle ran away with him; at all
events, he lost control and rode violently down
the steep place. only to find himself pulled up
at the bottom by policeman for furious and
reckless driving. Then notable decision was
announced by the judge. WHO had to deter
called a carriage or not. II 1t was not car
Rage, then 1t could not be properly proceeded
against under the statute which forblds car
riages to be driven at reckless pace. The ar
gument Of the rider Was, that really you could
not call thing consisting OF two wheels only,
with little bit of q saddle. a carriage, while
on the other side 1t was urged that anything
was carriage that had wheels and seat, and
that was used for carrying people. A subtle
dilemma this, like the great dispute in "Aiice
In Wonderland" about The "CheSh;re Cat IN
the tree w. which was always grinningaln tact,
that the King OF Hearts waxed angry, and Or
dered his execuGioner to behead that cat;
while the execute ner replied that he could MT
behead creature that had no body; to which
the king answered that anything that had a
head could be beheaded, and he was MT to talk
nonsense Mr.. Justice Lush soon settled the
analogous bicycle case, and now it stands re-
corded in all our law books that velocipede is
a carriage, land nothing but it," as Mr.. Weller
remarked, and must be ridden or driven az a
reasonable pace, so as not to en1anger th lives
OF her majesty's subjects. AS regards the
present condition OF vel0cipeding In England,
several new inventions have lately come out
for making the amusement safer. Elderly
gentlemen-yeS, and ladies, too, elderly or not
can step up into comfortable seat, something
like an arm chair lean back, work their feet up
and down as IL they were at sewing ma
chine and glide along the ground easily and
safely. This is the modern tricycle.. Nothing,
however, cutie comes up to the two-Wheeled
phantom, the dainty and delicate tracer, " on
one of which Mir. Cortis an amateur rider, has
Just accomplished the astonishing feat Of ten
miles in less than thirty mtnutes-rather
faster than twenty miles an hour: For COM
bined ease and speed OF locomotion
nothing can beat the old bicycle with
its many modern impro vement', except railway
train It Is perfectly easy nova young man
from the merry Midlands has just done ito
mount at Birmingham, ride through charming
English scenery to Dover, take steamer and
mount again on the opposite coast, visit all the
scenes Of the Franco German war, Sedan,
Metz, Strasburg and roll home again through
PariS-arriv1ng at his English habitat after
fortnights holiday OF good; all,round exercise
and keen enjoyment. Bicycles have TO GER
tain extent taken the place OF coaches; they
frequent ali our great main roads and gladden.
the hearts OF innkeepers who look out for the
tinkIino bells which herald the advent of a
sclubu OF wandering velocipedIst, just as they
anticipated of yore the gladstone footing OF the
horn that bespoke the approach OF the Enter
prfse, the Highfyer, or some other well known
convey ance OF the old coaching days.-LOndOn
telegraph.