The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-11-20
THE UNTAMED WHEEL.
Junfus Henri Browne Finds II HTaIig-
nant Thing Before It Is Mastered.

New YORK, Nov. 16-When any 0ne
Of us not a bicyclist-if there be SO
anomalous a creature in this period Of
universal wheeling-sees hundreds of
mounted persons spinning past him
daily, it must appear to him that cy-
cling is spontaneous. 1t does not occur
to him that many of the riders have be-
come proficient only after weeks of eff
fort and any number of discourage
ments It had always seemed as if it
would be very hard for one to learn, and
that it proved SO I recited in an article
published last summer. But my expert
ence in trying to overcome the wheel
among the White mountains during the
past season 1 have not detailed. 1t is so
grotesque, so ridiculous, that many to
whom cycling came naturally may be
entertained and others to whom it comes
hard may be induced to perseVere by
reading Of it.
In the neighborhood where I was
there are scarcely two square feet Of soil
on the same level. When went there,
] had taken some lessons in an academy
in town, enabling me to make the cir
cult of the hall several times in success
sion. The place was most unpromising
for novice and I had taken an old
heavy decrepit wheel there conscious
that should have rough work and that
it might serve me, an inapt neophyte,
nearly as well as a better machine.
Mounting with assistance the crazy
bicycle I could not move the pedals
whit. The uneven surface held the
wheel fast. I could scarcely believe that
] had propelled it, few weeks previ-
Gus, on a smooth floor which, perceiv-
ed, was altogether different. Then l was
pushed along and held up, as at the very
beginning. Almost as soon as the hold
was released over I went, and tho ma
chine on top of me. The attempt was
made repeatedly, with the same result.
10 have seen my awkwardness, my in
adaptibilty, one would have sworn that
I had never laid eyes, much less put
body, on a wheel. l began to doubt that
I had ever taken lesson. My actually
going round alone in hall must have
been a dream. 1 tried and tried and
tried in the country. I tumbled and
tumbled and tumbled. I could only go,
like dumb watch, when was carried
But I determined to persevere so long
as the bicycle and myself should hold
should break, [ would get it mended. If
my bones should be fractured, would
have them set and continue ny clumsy
practice. Nothing save tho dislocation
of my neck should interfere with my
obstinate purpose.
After some days of uninterrupted
failure I resolved to depend wholly on
myself. 1 was inexpressibly chagrined
and mortified at my slow progress. I
called myself an ass, a dolt, double
distilled idiot. I firmly believed myself
to be the one American out Of the Co.
600, 000 or more of the republics popu-
latiOn that could not learn to ride. Lib
eral allowance should have been made,
l suppose, for the hilly, rough, sandy,
unequal SOL and the fact that I was a
simple tyro wholly apart from the cir
cumstance that cycling was plainly not
my vocation. 1 grew morbid, disorder
ed, monomaniacal. I saw the world
through the spokes of the wheel. 1 re-
garded the springs of human action as
closely connected with the handle bars.
. If had ever been vain, hopeful, ego
tistic, confident, l was no longer so. I
was reduced, [ fancied, to the lowest
terms of abject self depreciation. I
thought, breathed, throbbed, talked BIZ
cycle. The bicycle pursued, worried, tor
tured me. l lost my appetite, my ca
pacity for sleep, never particularly good.
/ ran down in flesh below what I had
weighed for 20 years. Still my physical
health, which has never been affected,
was excellent, whatever might be said
of my mental health. My wrath at my
GOLF Go0IinOH 1,xyH to he
satirical, sarcastic, at my own expense.
perpetrated hundred mordant jokes
an hour on my laundering, nonbicycling
self. But, as the person satirized did
not seem to mind it, l speedily gave it
up.
The old machine played various tricks
on me. 1t was very malicious too. 1t
took advantage of my lack of skill and
experience. The chain would slip off,
the tire would slip off, likewise; the
handles would get twisted the pedals
would get bent by sharp collisions with
the earth. was thrown in every variety
of manner-forward, l,clward, side
wise One time, the handle bars would
strike me; at another, the pedals; at
another, the forward wheel. I would
fall, sometimes, every minute or two. I
was bruised (not really hurt) from hip
to heel. Ny legs and thighs were cover
ed with yellow, blue, purple and black
spots, as I found on preparing for the
morning bath. l looked as if [ had been
tattooed by a highly accomplished Poly
nesian artist.
Ihave discovered that the bicycle, like
a wild beast or brutal human being, is
a malignant thing until it has been
properly tanned. While it worried me,
tortured me, struck me, bruised me, ap-
peared to scott at my annoyance and dis
comiture, it was simply untamed
When I can mount it, guide it, control
| it, it is the same machine, but subdued,
domesticated, made subservient to mans
will and pleasure. The general public
! l-1,o1r,c tho rr.bon1 Il, liz +n,,,nd nc-,ont