Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-24

| ~ ASlLSyE so much human mis-
| NV cry as i contain can
! ~ Rl be summed up in one
! short sentence like that / am fairly reek-
ing with msery-my ankles, my legs, my
| arms. and my shoulders ache until I'm sure
| I'm growing a bump where my wings
| ought to be. But wings, why speak Of
wings? Do you fancy tere'll be any more
| wings, now angels are going around on
| wheels?
There are 200 women learning to ride BIZ
! cycles at the school where l took my first
| lesson. They ale in the ring by : o'clock
| in the morning and until 10 o'clock at
night. 1 dare say it's like most other
| misery, YOU rather like IT, once you get
/ used to it.
But whether you like it or not, you have
| simply got to ride bicycle to keep up with
! the procession at present. Our summer
! girls came back from Newport, Narragan-
/ sett. LennoX, where-not, this fall with the
! rudiments of cycling in their legs, the love
! of ii in their hearts. ambush! boomers
in their trunks. What's inevitable? Why,
of course, a boom in bicycles and wheels
! in strange places.
4 Diplomat on Wheels.
You can't guess what l saw along our
midway plaisance the other day. A foreign
! minister-a nObleman, with a title a yard
! long-minister plenipotentiary, envoy ex-
! traordinary from a most dignifed, cere-
/ moniouS European power come rolling
down a wheel-presumably his wheel q
I can't fancy man of his rank renting one)
stop at The house where Ambassador Bay
ard was visiting, chain his bike to a tree,
and, with bicycle clamps around his courty
legs. in he went to pay his respects to our
ambassador to England. l marveled at the
| spectacle to a member OF the diplomatic
! corps, who told me this minister now does
! all his calling bicycle.
But that isn't the whole Of cycling in
| high life.
l have seen titled lady, the immediate
| connection of a foreign minister, on a
| safety" l have also seen the handsome
| attache of an embassy, a man you have
| beheld on state occasions in gold lace and
| the fine fripperies of foreign courts-I have
seen this distinguished gentleman mingle
| himself and bicycle with the dust, and a
pretty American who had essayed to teach
| him to ride stand by gieglng at his dscom-
| future.
| The secretary of still another embassy is
| such a devoted knight of the bicycle that
| have known him to represent failure to
cultivate the cycling habit more serious
| solecism than the wearing of a last year S
hat or shirt with collar that buttons on.
| 1t will not be for want of his earnest ap-
| peals to his associates to follow in his
| tracks If you don't see every man of the
| inner fringe of Washington 100 file into
| the Presidents next reception with bicycle
| clamps around his ankles. Moreover, l can
| tell you right now that our manual of court
etiquette is to be revised to regulate the use
| of bicycle clamps in society.
Gents making u brief call will wear
| their clamps in the drawing room For a
| more protracted visit the clamps may be
| removed in the hall
For state functions and all occasions
where full dress is en- reggie, IT is per-
| Missile for gents TO wear silver clamps
| bearing chaste design. The right to wear
| geld ella mps Is reserved for cabinet officers
the diplomatic corps, the President and
| Private Secretary Thurber."
Her First Lesson.
| At the same time there will be boomers
| This is no idle statement, though it was
| not boomers, but tights, equestrienne
| tights, that were visible for three-quarters
of yard above the boot tops of a horsy-
| locking girl who wheeling around the
ring as l entered the bicycle school for my
| first lesson.
l have always swore / would never mount
| bicycle till every other chance in life was
| gone. When woman has lost all hope of
| longer being attractive, it S we'll enough to
secure attention by being conspicuous. IN
| til then-but bicycles are nothing to moral
| ize on They are to wheel on-when Mrs.
| Grundy is leading the way.
Tain t goin' TO hurt YOU miSs-'deed it
amt said William, and l confess this en-
| couraged me. William is man having
| authority. At the present time he Droba-
| bly, has more authority than any other man
in Washington and his responsibilities are
greater. The perfect trust. the beseeching
confidence, the loveliness-yes the lives of
all the fashionable woman cyclists in town
William holds in the hollow of his hand.
He is the muscular colOred man who trains
women on wheels.
The school is conducted in a large open
lot, in the center of which is beaten
track. Along the wall on the sunny side
seats are ranged, where you may rest
waiting your turn.
Sitting along the wall We're four pretty
girls in trim tailor-made gowns and kick
ed their heels together to keep warm.
Their ankles were very pretty and their
short skirts not a bit too short either for
artistic or cycling purposes. A couple Of
splendid Amazons, beneath whose skirts
showed the hem OF riding trowsers, were
pacing up and down.
DR. Mary Walker did," one was say
Eyes" replied the other "but how do
you know she didn't have to get permis-
sion from the police?'
well, what if she did? 1 dare say papa
has sufficient pull to get as much Ger
tainly peticoats We're never meant for
q bicycle, and I'm sure 1 can't see WHY
boomers aren't every bit as modest"
Yet 1 heard William say they arrested
a woman somewhere for wheeling in them
in town."
The FiGuancy of 1t All.
"Oh, boomers are perfectly safe in
Washington" said the horsy girl in tights,
who had dsmounted from her wheel. and
joined the other two. Il went to police
headquarters myself yesterday and found
out"
Then their further talk revealed that
while Washington girls are wearing bloom
ers on their bicycles after dark. they
haven't yet dared to repeat their summer
successes in them by daylight. But really
all this indicates great possibilities for the
bicycle. Fancy donning mannish attire
that you're a little bit afraid Of, mounting
a machine that you are very much afraid
Cf with Q man that you're a little bit in