St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-12
GIRLS ARE EVER GIRLS.
Valuable Maxim Extorted From
Two Wheeling Lasses.

There were two bicycle girls in St.
Paul Saturday. There might have been
others. There probably WERE But
these two were especially notable. One
was a creature of the gladstone morn.
The other, like certain ships, passed in
the night
The first led her wheel forth on Kent
street, near Portland avenue, just be-
fore noon. She was a plump maiden,
with dimpled chin, red shirt-waist
and a blue skirt. 1t appeared later
that her stockings were seal brown.
She had new wheel, and was learn
ing to ride. She succeeded easily in
seating herself in the saddle. She
started off with much confidence. But
after going a few yards she would
gradually topple over. Then she put
out her right foot and allowed small
patent leather toe to scrape a zig-zag
line On the dusty wood pavement. She
let her heel down with great reluctance,
Tor her dress was not too long, and
some one might be looking. At the
risk OF immediate disaster she would
turn her head about and scan the
horizon like one of Clarke Russells
heroes. No one in sight. That is, only
a grey-haired grandma reading the
U b e on a veranda, and a. nurse
girl propelling a baby carriage. So.
biting her lower lip and frowning
seriously, she let the heel down yerv
slowly
Inc wheel must have been a wicked
chicago affair, manufactured excu,-
slVely for bloomer birIs, for it allowed
the Kent street. maid to descend per-
sonally, yet insisted on retaining the
hem of her blue skirt. When solidly
planted upon her heel the learner
looked down pensively at the unex-
pected hiatus between her skirt and
the ground. She removed her other
loot from the pedal, shook herself.
reached down, and gave her skirt a
sharp pull, as if to develop it's elastic
qualities. Then she would again seat
herself, and again the horrid blue skirt
would get mixed up with the abandoned
pedal whenever she removed her right
loot to prevent a fall. The third time
the spectators included a Glob re-
porter. But he is not a large person.
and has been often mistaken for a. di-
Vinfty student. The experimenting
maiden cast at the reporter an in
different glance, as if to say, "Well,
he won't see me if he looks, and he
won't tell if he sees' This was A
deserved compliment, for the young
man has never yet spoken of the in
cident. She TRANQUILITY resumed prac-
tice. She always used her right foot
Could the left ankle have possibly been
larger? Hopping along on one foot,
she turned the corner out of sight of
the newspaper man, who began to
think that he had been gazing at u
handsome girl in a suit of seal brown.
Twelve hours later was seen the
other girl. She was on Jackson street,
between Fifth and Sixth. 1t was very
dark, and the rain was falling in tor,
rents. AT a Tam O'Shanter pace came
down the street a. man and woman OF,
separate wheels. The man seemed
present merely as a matter of form.
He was far in the rear, and was taking
his pace from the girl in front. She
was unlike her Kent street sister. She
knew all about cycling, and she wasn'r
a tiny bit afraid. No, not even of her
own ankles. For she wore long silk
stockings and neat but unobtrusive
boomers. She, too, might have seer
the reporter, but she was not needing
spectators. The pencil man was JUST
about to throb with wholesome civic
pride in a community which produced
such a splendid example of the new
woman that she took evident pleas
ure in riding her wheel i'll boomers,
in a driving rainstorm, and in the
middle of the night, when there was
q sharp rattle at the corner, and the
The New Girl had run into the turn OF
the street car tracks and taken a
header Then above the beating
rain, g. broken yet gentle voice arose,
80 dear, Charlie, I'm killed. L just
know L am. Come and pick me UP,
won't you? I-I-I-want-to-go
home" AS Charlie jumped off his
wheel, the reporter was seized with
the happy thought that most girls
are like other girls, after all.