New-York tribune., 1895-07-28
WOMAN on THE WHEEL.
WHAT THE BICYCLE HAS DONE AND is
DOING FOR HER.
GETTING IN TOUCH WITH BROADER LIFE-A
SPORT WHICH TENDS TO EQuALIZE TIH,
sEXEs-INEvITADLE CHANGES IN DRESS


grandmother to the writer the other day. Great
things have come to women since I was young-a
whole word-but have never ervied them any
thing not even the higher education. as do these
bicycles. should like to ride one
TIE speaker was an eminen,ly feminine specimen
OF the old as compared TO the so-called new
woman consequently the feeling she expressed
abou: the bicycle is perhaps the highest possible
tribute to 1t as n sport for women. Indeed, the
prime virtue OF the bicycle in this respect is that =
attracts such vast number OF women who would
not otherwise consider or attempt an active outdoor
sport To the non-athletic woman 1t has come like
a revelation and this account. II on no other, 1t
deserves the extraordinary popularity 1t has won
with her
The ease with which wheel and the ability to
ride It may be attained is perhaps the chief reason
for this. Many woman to whom tennis, rowing
horseback riding golf and the like were. even had
she the inclination try them. impossible, finds
bicycling more less easily within her reach, ana
hence is led TO take 1t up But there is another and
stronger reason subjectvely for the almost uni
versal fascination that the bicycle has for women,
and that is the independence OF it, on bicycle
woman IL Independent Of many OF the limitations
that ordinarily hamper her. She who does not ride
pcrceves this whether consciously or not ara longs
10 experience the novel sensation; while she who
does ride feels though perhaps unconscious.y TOO,
the exu,aton OF II. She Is free In way at ias'.
No woman ever forgcts the sense OF physical power
and expansion that fills her when sne frs mas tna'
she can ride alone or the still greater triumph OF
steering her way through traffic, overhaulns sweep
ing past pedcstriars-swifty moving men wnom
afoot She could not begin to keep pace with-and
leaving even horses far behind. Tne experience
small II seems. is on important one psychoosl.
cally and though all but the superhcal pleasure OF
/, may pass unremarked by the individual she VINO
has had 1t is never quite the same again. Al
though only in play. were the sense OF pnysl-
cal power and independence has been felt ana such
sensations are epoch making for individuals as
for masses.
PSYCH oIOGICAL GAINS
H. as generally happens. this newborn pride hath
ts fall or a succession Of them, here too is trans
formation for she who has been led to think that
n woman is fragile bit OF porcelain 20 De hahd'en
with Infinite care has learned that she may never
,helcss come down very hard on granite DOCKS o'
take header on macadamizcd road without De-
ing ;hc worse for H. This may not be true IN
every case ana Of course where serious hur' Is
sustained the effect may be. though II ~ ho' uy
any means always the reverse; bui as seher''
hing. after the frs, shock 81 the fall Is over
von,an finds herself the better boder ana Drawer
for II,
.couai,,arce with swea, and dirt may not seem
80 ,n. nice an advantage. nevertheless. 1t is on"
,n., Tho use - the'wheel brings 10 women In Dicy-
! cling az IN nosi other UNDERTAKINGS there are no
iaurels without tho dust Of tho race; consequently
] who would ctl'rNiNf uiifN III NC
/ Gus, from tho mere idea Hnd genuine satisfaction
4, thus got,lns actually dirty. Who has not seen
a dainty lady. VINO would ordinarily be picking her
wav giugcrly plodding sturiily along through san"
or mud Leading her wheel and looking ou' 'areiu"S
for H. REGARDLESS OF herself, or sitting on the 'u'p
,h,t bounds gutter. or fat on the dusty oor'cr o.
country road mopplng her face persplrins' oe-
,,.icct bu, cantert2 with the majority perhaps.
,, is merely scnsuous a prelude to the bath after-
ward whose grateful rcfreshmen' is thus onnanced
nui 10 one u speculative turn the ieehhE may
g. deeper and become a sense OF Soi'AatiE WIN
,olinc man AMI beast, with the aborer on me side-
v,k and the truck horse In the roadway sonS
49, ,o, n food and shelter grimy and hot with
-. ,0or, tha, has esrned them. she knows how
N, man will feel when the meal he is hungry Tor
.teans In his nostrils. she knows how the morse
u!l feel when he plunges his nose deep INTO MS
nail Of water and lets 1t nGcr. luxuriating In the
+ more coolness and wetness Of A. To such woman
the glance O, fcllo~-ieellng that the human o.
these bro,htrs often casts upon her warm face ana
/ dus,v clothes Is a source both OF amusement and
OF profit.
NEARSEss TO NATURE.
Another useful lesson that the bicycle teaches
women IS that IL makes them observant In way
! that they are not usually. Though cxcellng men
in ~. observation Of artificial surroundings as de-
| tails OF dress furniture and the IKE women are
greatly Inferior TO men in the observation OF natu-
-,i surroundlnss out % doors IL tar less familiar
! and far less comprehensive To them than II Is 10
| men The lay OF the land. direction. distance III
| mension and proportion, which man generaI'y
! selzes with Approximate precision az glance "s-
cane n woman entirely. or, II she attempts TO grasp
,bcm convey an Incorrect or inadequate impression
| IN her mind She has not vestlsc OF the craft
TINT men by dint OF renewing Acquaintance w'th u
| In ,he,r youth have kept ever since the primitive
| time when they stood nearer TO nature than they
| 40 to-day Most boys manage to return occasional
.ft,f, yh
/ =, ,hirrs OH, Of doors is acquired. But even In
those days OF final awakening 10 the necessity oi
physlcal training for women. they are sun iei' TX
/ norant and inepi in this particular fe" days
ero n young man. a clerk In big city establish
ment out for his annual two weeks vacation when
took the form OF tramp through the 'a'sh''s' So'
lost on one Of the highest peaks.
81 WAS beginning to feel rather nervous. he said
in telling Of his adventure aferward Tor the WOODS
were very thick and Wild and night was coming on
hut when | stumbled on stream icit all rgh'
again and tramped along mcrrily. for knew had
,, IN follow II and II would bring me down OF
,ha, mountain into a valley where would proba
bly, ind habitatlons
"Whv Of course" TIE woman reading TINS may
orhans exclalm anybody would know that water
runs down hill" Nevertheless not one woman IN Il
,,,l,on II placed In similar position. would have
the presence Oh MIN" W 'o"'' Wv ~ ~ "
upon IT, 49,,
Now all this may seem very remote from p1'y'
cling; II is. however Of a piece with the observa
,on Of outdoor things that bicycling teaches women
- t,s,,nce whil. few even of the women who
drive themselves wont 10 notice details OF tnt
roads over which they pass-inequaties pecnIiarl
ties grades hills. the nature OF the roadbed and
the Ikc--every woman who rides bicycle must no
tice all these things and many more. ON her quick
ness TO see and avoid loose stone p!t OF gias'
or of wire her salvation. so to speak. may depend
Consequently she very soon learns to he observan
to this extent and presently from these lesser de
tails she passes greater ones TIL finally she
too begins 10 feel that familiarity with out-of
doors and the sayoir fairc that make men so a
home there
AN EQUALIZATION OF THE SEXES.
In other ways too. the bicycle IS "A great equal
izer OF the sexes and that II is such Is another very