The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-08-31
Mr.. REED AND THE BICYCLE.
The ex-Speaker Mounts His Wheel on the
Sands of the Grand Beach.
(Biddeford journal. }

Grand Beach, Me-, Aug. "A. "A poem
in white, is what Names big congress
man, Thomas Brackett Reed, Nigh IT.
tingly be called when he is dressed in his
snow white swea ter, all ready for ride
on his glittering wheel.
The wheel arrived last week and is a
beauty 1t weighs but IS pounds and
was designed and made especially for Mr.
Reed The machine is constructed OF the
best material obtainable in the market
and was made unusually strong as the
Presidential Possibility, after all MS
banting, even now tips the scales of 269
pounds.
| The next question was what to wear
while riding the bike, and at last after
bordering Mr.. Reed purchased white
sweater. 1t is as white as the driven
snow and it took enough material to
make bicycle suit, boomers and all for
some of the winsome IN aids here who ride
a wheel.
And it suits Tom to I. and now he
would not part with it for any amount OF
money.
| But he steers clear of camera fiends and
with hissharp eye can see one on the beach
mile away.
Mr. Reed declares that it is much more
difficult to ride a wheel than a bucking
broncho. First you are on the wheel ana
in tumble you are flat on your back.
Just how you get there is a mystery, but
with apparently little effort you do SO.
The beach is an ideal place to learn to
ride machine, for if you take tumble
it hurts you but very little.
A cousin of Mr. Reeds who is summer
ing here, acts as instructor, and as the
salt air is very invigorating, he stands up
we'll under the ordeal.
The first of the week, while taking a
lesson, tho big man came within an ace
of INDUCING in bath in the brlny deep
At Grand Beach there is a gradual iucl1ne
from the sea wall to the waters edge.
Mr.. Reed was learning to ride and was
quite near the water. He was doing re-
markably we'll and the instructor released
his hold on and told him to go
it alone. No sooner had he done SO than
the contrary wheel started for the break
ers at 2 80 clip with its rider powerless
to stop it, Never before had Mr.. Reed
ridden SO far without falling off and to
the onlookers it seemed as though he
would certainly go into the surf. He
shouted for assistance and his cousin res
cued him just as the wheel was on the
edge of the Atlantic,
Mr.. Reed usually takes his lessons
early in the morning before the summer
colony is astir, as he does not care to have
too many people watch him as he plunges
about in the sand There are, however,
a number of people who are out at an
early hour to watch the fun and they
hugely enjoy it.
| The ZIP. p" is making excellent prog
rss and if the wheels hold together and
he breaks no bones, the probabilities are
that he will have mastered the art by the
middle OF the week.
There are many, riders here, among them
MIR Reeds handsome daughter, Miss Kit
tie Reed, who is just sixteen
She is ID splendid rider and wearsa neat
costume of gray with tan CATERS.
Another favorite pastime of Mr.. Reed
is bathing. He takes bath in the dark
blue sea each day. Poets or painters
would not rave about his bathing suit for
it is one that would not attract much
attention anywhere. 1t is made of blue
flannel and with the exception of the
number of yards of cloth it ate UP. it is
very commonplace. Although not much
of q swimmer, the ex-Speaker can splash
around in the water with as much agility
as youngster. The waves appear to take
special delight in filing his eyes and nose
with water.
Since coming to this place, Mr.. Reed
has developed into full fledged camera
fiend, himself, and has taken pictures of
every picturesque nook in this secluded
resort.
Mr.. Reeds life here begins early in the
morning He is up with the lark and
before the sun is very high in the
heavens, is strolling through the pine
woods and on the beach.
!, He always carries his bulPs-eye camera
and if he sees anything in the scenery
that strikes him as unusually charming, he
! presses the button.
1t has been some years since he took
such long vacation and he was com
pletely tired out when he came here. The
clear air and the jaunts in the woods, the
bathing and the bike, have worked won
ders and he now acts and looks like an
other man.