The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-19
A FORTUNE IN BICYCLES.
SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS IN
VBSTBDIN THEM SAVANNAH.


VRSTBDIN THEM SAVANNAH.
Savannahians Who Ride Cycles and
Wheelmen-The Ladies' Who Ride.
What the Wheelmen's Club and the
League OF Wheelmen Are Doing.
Have you ever thought Of the amount OF
money that has been expended for bicycles
by Savannahians during the last three
yearsG
The figures are startling, and, were they
not readily confirmed by an examination Of
the accounts Of the dealers. could be quite
properly laughed at as incredible. But no
matter how incredible they may seem on
first thought, they can be accepted as &C.
curate.
Somewhat over two years ago the first
safety" made its appearance here. It was
| an oddly alongside Of its big wheeled breth-
rem, just as much as the latter now seem
strange and out Of place by comparison
with IL. The "safeties" speedily ran their
way into public favor. attaining a greater
| degree OF popularity than could ever have
befsllen those that they have driven from
the field. They had all the good points of
| the old style wheels without their bad ones
They combined swiftness with safety, COM
fort and cheapness. Many timid persons,
who never would have taken to riding six
feet In the air wi it'll possibilities of ''head-
ers" staring them in the face at all times,
found in the safety" a good means OF
daily looomotion as well as of exercise and
pleasure As a result. the last fifteen
months have seen sales aggregating over
$50 of these bicycles With those sold in
the same period of time prior to that there
ar 400 IN nj f1sn IN
nah.
THEY REPRESENT A FORTUNE.
The average cost of each Of these wheels,
with the accessories purchased at different
times by the owners to complete their out
fits, can he safely placed at $3.50. 1t takes
little skill as an arithnetician to discover
that this means total outlay of 500, 900.
Sixty thousand dollars within thirty
months, for practically all OF the large ar
ray OF wheels have been purchased since
jan l, 1890, means $1,000 spent every
month for this form OF recreation in Savan-
nah alone since that date, or $3.50 a week,
or, II you want to get down to even more
appreciatiye 6gurss-ngureS to whose mean
ing there can be no possible blindness
nearly 500 day. As Savannah is not an
exceptional city, just try to think what
this means when the whole country Is taken
into consideration, and you will be enabled
to understand somewhat of the hold this
sport of 90 recent birth has secured on the
American people of both sexes, OF all ages
and of every condition of circumstances.
When you think that for every hour that
has passed in the last thirty months SO rs
has been willingly paid out by Savan-
nahians in order that they may indulge in
the exhilarating sport OF cycling, and that
the same thing, proportionately, is true of
the greater part of the thousands Of cities
and towns and villages scattered all over
the United States, it will not be regarded as
at all incredible to state that this recreation
alone to-day costs the people Of this country
millions OF dollars annually.
DELIGHTS OF THE WELL.
BUTT is certainly money well spent. Some
persons who know nothing Of the delights
that lie in the wheel" and who are more
concerned about the Chinese or the Hotten-
tots than the health aud physical we'll being
OF the people Of their own country, may
consider it waste because the money was
not diverted into the channels of foreign
missions. DR.. Arnold's Muscular Chris
tiansn are growing rapidly In strength Of
numbers as well as of body, and the bicycle
is doing as much as. II not more, than any
othe agency, to swell their ranks.
1.-The safety" Is q sort OF perambulating
gymnasium freshly charged every day with
as much health and happiness as 1t Is posi-
BILE for Its rider to absorb. 1t does what all
TUG uOCbOEo anu I'LL lIo kLobs III CTo6bAOn
by themselves could not do. Ii takes a man
who is almost a nervous wreck from too close
| application to business or some other cause,
and with the tenderest and most success full
! of physicians, nature, as an assistant,
| quickly restores him To his normal condi-
| ton. 1t robs him Of lassitude and infuses a
new vigorous, healthful life into his body
and his soul. 1t makes him ses that he was
mistaken, aud that life may be worth the
living after all.
Other investments may have brought him
back thousands Of dollars. but this has re-
turned that alongside of which money seems
so Insignificant, sound body
and an untroubled mind. Sixty
thousand dollars were never in
which is represented by the 400 bicycles Of
Savannah. Soon the cry may be; Millions
! for bicycles. but not one cent for medicines.
MEN OF YEARS TAKE TO THEM.
| With the increase in the number of wheels
here has come a widening of the circle OF
their influence. At first the young men
monopolized them. Then the children
found it necessary to have them The ladies
next took kindly to them.
There now about thirty lady riders in
Savannah, among them Mrs w. J.Lindsay
Mrs. E. B. Whitehurst, Mrs. A
r. Myres, Mrs. Boroughs, Mrs. J
NJ. Burreu. Mrs. Platt, Mrs. c.
s. Richmond, Miss Hattie Will
Jams, Miss Matte Ward, Miss Jennie Ward
Miss Josie Hodges Miss Mamie Lowell. Miss
Hattie Saussy, Miss Matte Allen. Miss
Bessie Baker, MISS Nellie Wakeman
Miss Daisy Bryan, Miss Jennie
Hoist, Miss Bertha Kayton, Miss Edith
Stillwell, Miss Bertha Shultz, Miss Ide
Boley, Miss Marion Gross, the Misses
| Launey, Miss Butler and Miss W hiteside.
The older and more sedate professional
and business men, not to be outdone, are Il
be counted among the votaries. They have
discovered that brisk run early In the
morning brlghtens them up for the solving
of the business puzzles of the day.
This class of riders is bound to have a
rapid growth now that men OF such stand
ing in the community as S. P. Hamilton, E
l.. Hacket, A NJ and c. W. West, T. Theus
Louis Kayton, w. b. Stillwell, w. J
Lindsay, G. L. Montague, J. NJ
Bryan, l. G. Haas, Jacob Gutman
Henry Levy and others. have taken to thu
wheel with the zest of youth slightly tenn
pered by The caution Of more mature year
that prevents over indulgence. The
professional men, too, are equally fond of q
spin. Rev. w. A. Mccarthy and Rev. E
Pendleton Jones represent the clergy
while among the lawyers are J. R. Saussy
J. r. Saussy Jr., T. d. Rockwell, Henry
McAlpin and w. L. Clay. The dentists arr
represented by DR.. s. A. White. OF ply
siciaus, there appear 20 be none who can b