St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-07-24
GIRLS IN A SADDLE.
The Double Wheel Of the
Cycle Not Meant for Man
Alone.
bs.
We Girls Grew Envious and
Decided to Try 1t for i
Once.
sa1 y
Some First Experience That
Doesn't Look Well in :.
Print. 10
5lS
The Joys of Cycling When
Once the Art Has Been n
Won. ifr

1t was, 10 HE, q WONDERFUL I6dC Ol
engineering skill when l first saw a
man on a high wheel bicycle. l pond
cred long on the superiority of masculine
equilibrium and for the billioneth
and one time in my life wished the
Fates had been kinder and sent me
trousers instead of skirts. My brother
and other girls brothers would sail past
like winged Mercuries on the silent
steeds, utterly oblivious-no, l don't
mean that-supremely conscious that
man was for the wheel and woman be-
longed to the infantry. We rebelled.
Secret conclaves were held and it was
decided that we wouldn't take back
seat, which in wheel parlance means
posing ones self Oh that in6uitesimal
mounting step, with the ball of the foot
as the center of gravitation, putting
your arms around the young mans
shoulders and declaring when you dis
mount that you had lovely ride. OF
course you didn't. The only lovely part
was for the young man, and it isn't
to be wondered that it took
such long time and men
were so reluctant in manufacturing la
dies wheels. Well, we wanted a NOON
light night and it came. / verify believe
the moon had rubbed up her tin plate
for the occasion. There never was a
brighter night. Objects shone, to our
Watchful eyes, in light twice as bright
as the MONDAY sun. How that wheel
glittered as we took my brothers. out of
the shed. And we
Almost Repented
our daring to usurp the solitude OF this
throne. Every spoke had the rejecting
power of a double incandescent, and
the way the thing sQueaked! l don't
believe it had been oiled since the first
output in the year l. 1t was as heavy,
too, as the car of the Juggernaut: but
we finally got it into the alley, and then
Nell slipped of her wrapper and ap-
peaTed-not in equestrienne tights, be-
cause it was before the invention of that
blessing, but clad in knee pant suit of
her younger brother. And she looked
every inch boy with her hair
scraped up under the jaunty
commodore cap. l never have seen a
woman on wheel to this day without
thinking how much better she would
look dressed in her younger brothers
suit than in skirt which is sure to pull
up and show an amount of ankle, mad
Missile elsewhere.
w OIdCCu tuC WHICH, up dSdlllSL tuc
high board fence, which Nell climbed,
with an agility rivaling the small boys
in this untrameled condition. She
reached the saddle with somewhat less
skill and considerably less assurance in
the whisper which we used lest those
awful boys should discover US uSurp-
ing their high horse.
l pushed and pulled, but the thing
wouldn't go. The spirit was willing
but the flesh was very weak, and the
wheel very strong and heavy. Finally,
astrong push, strong puSh-lt trem-
bled, it rose, it rolled. Yes, the wheel
rolled. 1t rolled right over in the
way no wheel was ever expected
to; at least we didn't expect
it to go. l was crushed beneath It's
weight, but more crushed by the cha
grin of defeat. Nell was on top, not
bit hurt by her sudden descent to mother
earth, but considerably more of the
earth, earthly. She was up in a minute,
fired with anger, and vowing she would
conquer that horrid thing. The sepuI-
chrai whisper was forgotten, but we
Set Our Teeth,
righted the machine, and she gave a
spring into the saddle. In some unac-
countable way the saddle changed its
position in space, and Nell took a
header. Considerably worse for wear.
with tangled veil of hair about her
shoulders, she rose in majesty, and de-
clared that if she ever left terra :irma
again for so uncertain seat as Kirk
patrick saddle, might she be transformed
into a monkey. From that day she pre-
serves rigid silence when the relative
merits of boomers and tie-backs are
discussed, and | strongly suspect dress
reform would have received hearty
advocate if the Fates had been kinder
that night.
The wheel sat up there in all its I'M
disturbed glory and we looked at 1t.
Masculine superiority undisguised,"
remarked bitterly, and if my hearing
had not been made dull through anger
l am sure L would have heard sup
pressed giggle from among the shadows
across the way. Not to be conquered, |
slipped off my dress skirts sand in abbre-
waited double skirts assembled the
Wheel, climbing up ON the spokes; and
l certainly believe if l hadn't done
that l would have been all right, for
you know what is said about the one
who doesn't go into the gate of the
Sheep fold, but climbeth up another
way. The front wheel offered a con-
venient toboggan slide, and when l
struck it was something of less resist
aEce than the water at White Bear.
Somewhat bruised and mangled by the
fall, L got up and gave the machine
KICK right from the ball-and-socket
joint, This appeased my wrath, and l
was about to try, try again" when
angels sE Gi and ministers of grace defend US
-rlDald. Jeering, mocking laughter
rang out from the willows opposite, and
from out the shadows emerged-my
mean brother. who had overheard Neil
and me planning. Girls can keep
secret, but boys have no business 10
sneak around and eavesdrop. We didn't
wheel any more that night. G.sI
My next attempt was at bicycle
school. 1t wasn't much fun, and there
was very little experience. Everything
the teacher told me to do l felt
Deep in NV Soul
was wrong. To turn the wheel in TO.
ward an object when l was going into
it any way seemed the height of absurd
ity, and to lean with the wheel when
turning corners was thing not to be
considered. l had studied physics, and
knew something about gravitation. So
it took me longer than it should have,
and the only consoling remark the
teacher would make was that was
doing perhaps little better than the
average. Despair might nave OVertaken
me but that the instructor was charm
ing and told me stories about his long
trips. l learned later that his wife
sometimes accompanied him on these
trips.
The tug Of war began when left the
riding school and began upon the road.
Going straight ahead was easy after you
had once mounted; but the mounting!
The left foot never did find the pedal
until you had wobbled so much that the
wheel was started in the opposite direc-
ton. And gliding around corners was
easy in the rink, for the wheel seemed
to run in a groove; but on a sidewalk,
where you had just so muAh room, you
usually were not in it. 1t is supposed
to be the broad way which leads to de-
struction, but this time it was the mar
row one. One morning I counted the
black and blue spots, and when 1
reached nineteen with some yet not on
the list. d! decided ignorance was bliss.
With all tho diff1nultx, bod obo,,ld