Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1891-11-28

riding of bicycles by women has
attracted considerable attention, but |
to tie student Of social movements II |
Ii not strange that bishop Coke should |
object The real oddity is that scarcely
anybody else, apparently, has OBJ
jected.
That young girls from the best fam
| lilies should within IA short time have be-
taken themsel 'es to whirling through
the public thuroughfares, like so many
boys. il certainly a new departure
from all old fashioned canons of femi-
nine decorum. at least as startling as
many that have brought down all
sorts OF thunderbolts from pulpit and
press. Had 1t been prerequisite that
an amendment to the United states
constitution. or even statute OF q
state Legislature should be obtained,
the girls would doubtless have had TO
wait many a weary year.
1t In not long since another church
dignitary, Dr. Morgan Dix. objected to
the entrance of girls into universities
because II was not proper for young
women g be exposed To the gaze of
young men many of whom were less
bent upon learning than upon amuse-
ment,
However little she may realize 1t,
every girl who rides her steel horse is
vivid illust alton of one of the great
est waves of progress of this century,
the advancement of women in freedom
and opportunity. Here. as well as ev-
erywhcre else, she is a little belated IN
claiming her rights. only a little, for II
is but twenty one years since the bi-
cycle. as we know II, was invented
while the safety styles which ladies
affect. are yer, re .ent improvements.
so the steam engine and many an
! other mechanical invention have
he ped the progress of woman. Ii II
: hardly ha century sin Ida Pfeiftei
brt anne famous as the one woman wh'
7 had gone round the world But now
! when plenty of them pass "a summer II
I Alaska, ard winter in Algiers, an'
so on through the letters of the alpha
bit. il il hard for the old saws To pre-
J, vail which asserted that home tmean
, ing generally housel was woman S oni.
sphere.
A wise physician once said that th'
opinion that Il good woman should sta,
closely at home had killed more womel
y than any other one cause. In the day
: of our grandmo.hers the suggestion Q
= regular gymnastic training or athletic
,, for girls would have been receive
:. with horror. 1t was hardly proper fo
- woman To have any knowledge
the construction of her physical syi
tenn.
IL is q curious historical fact that III
first women lecturers upon physiolog
In were womens rights women, an
~ viewed by the majority of peop
th as dangerous Il female modest,
70 while the Ladies' Physiologici
e- Institute in Boston was
he first much dIsapproved of by I'll
clergy. SO long, too. as old-fashions
ch stays flaced up sometimes by III
i'll aid of equally old-fashioned bed-post
ed remained in vogue. neither physiolop
ed nor athletics stood much chance wit
ry women.
a But the often derided dress reforme
a has had her way, To great exten
lid Bathing dresses, gymnaStic and tenn
IRE suits which would have frightened |
TO an eighteenth century dame into ol
J a of her fayorite fainting fits have reco
int ciled the public taste To the fact tn
ril women, after all, are women, n
he angels: nor footless birds of pIradis
aw II IL true those who ride horse ba
still cling en- sidewise, deferring to o
EAR prejudice ut an additional risk of the
led ne ks. But the long floating ridii
the habit $50 graceful. has gone. Co
ate mon sense and the dress reformer ha
IFS again triumphed Perhaps by
bu- time the pub ic has become fully Z
les. custoined 10 bicycles upon which 81
ara do not sit sidewise woman may
nee allowed Ia ride horse as nature e
nd, IDENTIFY intended Meanwhile the gi
we'd have mounted their bicycles Bl'
mi you, my children, what endless Wis