New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-15
WOMEN Is BICYCL[STS.

No recent developments of institutions Is
more significant than what has been called the
female bicycle craze" 1t outdOes the dress
reform craze and the craze for woman suffrage Ill
wide and sudden popularity as we'll as in effective
results. A year ago, woman riders OF the wheel
were almost unknown, except in magazines, ana
a w.llbred damsel would as soon have thought
of starting out on a twenty-mile spin as of driv-
inc 4 street-car or a beer-truck. Now we have
changed all that In this city, oobblestones and
Belgian blocks have prevented a duplication of
the wheeled legOns that infeSt the smooth asphalt
streets of Paris, the London macadam, and the
broad tboroughfares of Washington and Buffalo.
But in Central Park, in all the suburbs. and
Throughout the rest of the settled part of the
country. flashing spokes and iuttering skirts are
Az common as habted amaZons were once In
Kentucky.
The craze has even penetrated to Minneapolis,
where 200 misses and matrons know all about
wrenches and cranks and oil-cans, and have or
ganized themselves into league One daughter
of the Flour City has achieved the credltable
amateur record Of q miles In IA hours.
young mother glides about with her baby swing
ing in a basket from the handle-bar A college
professor and his wife have left to do" Europe
on wheels, and a lone matron has astonished
seems rather late in the day tor the propriety
of the exercise to be questioned. Whatever women
may think, it is, however, indisputable that mas
culme observers have hardly conquered the sur
prise the first exhibition of the kind engendered
Bishop Coke. Of Western New-York, the other day
lilzened women bicyclists 10 weird sisters
ON broomsticks. Miss Frances Willard offers the
contrary suggestion of Fortuna and her wheel" or
Aurora from the smiling circle Of the hours, y
and this will naturally he preferred by all we'll
regulated champions of the sex.
An impartial critic pertinently observes that
II ladies doubted the decorum of bicycling they
would never have practsed it. This perhaps
ought TO preclude further discussion of that phase
of the exercise, but its gracefulncss may be le-
ultimately considered. As an aid to health, phys-
clans generally recommend it, although its abuse is
so easy as TO point to perilous possibilities. The
contrast between the position Of the horsewoman
and the woman bicyclist, however, leaves no
doubt as to the advantage of the former, in all
but security and ease Of attainment. To match
the mechanical direction Of an iron circle, that
calls only for an easy balance and a firm hand
that has to be dismounted and pushed At every
hill, with the government of highspirited horse
whose every movement makes Il demand on the
mental and moral resources of the rider, is par
ticularly unfortunate The bicycle may be the
safer carrier, and its usefulness within limits is
manifest. But its suppression of the horse as an
object Of feminine dominion would mark lament
able degradation OF sportive ideals
In no way is this more apparent than in the
matter of costume The bicycle seems doomed 10
spread grotesaue fashions in raiment. Among