Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-08-03
LEARNING TIE BICYCLE.
Junius Henri Browne Gives Bit of His
 Practical Experience.

body at home and abroad who uOeS not rlde on a bicycle seems determined to learn to ride, tho subject can hardly fail to be, in the widest sense, popular. Volumes on vol umcs have been written on the theme in the last year or two Nearly every news paper and periodical has more or less of it. Nevertheless it continues to be interesting, especially to those who have just learned, who are learning or who intend to learn.
 My own personal experience with the wheel has been entirely different from what have understood others experience to be. And then I have gathered many facts from talking with cyclists and fre- duentors of "academios' that I did not know before ald that others may not know.
 can scarcely remember when the bicy c!c has not appealed to inc as a delightful form of exercise ard racreation. felt sure should enjoy it, but l ma;!o no attempt to acIuire the necessary practice. l was assured that 1t was easy, but 1 felt that it would not be easy for me, who never havo had the least mechanical skill of any sort. havo heard my father and paternal grand father say that as boys they could not make kite for themselves; that they could do almost nothing useful with their hands. And I am convinced that this peculiar in capacity has been transmitted to mo. In word, the thing appeared to be too much trouble. So years passed. Cycling became contagious. Persons of all grades ages, colorS conditions, Destrode the wheel and spun over space as they chose.
 At last even was infected. In tho i'm mediate vicinity of my home in New York I never looked out of the window or mi hat T shoals of children, lads, girls, men, wom- en, young, middle aged, old, whirling by as if they were part of their machines. And how they seemed to revel in it! It must, thought, be glorious fun. I still had doubts of myself, notwithstanding that I heard that anybody could learn :; that nobody who had tried had ever given it up.
 My skepticism remained. Hope forms a very small part of my composition, partic- ularly of what wish would happen. As to what am in any way indifferent, am hopeful enough. l am generally hopeful for others, but Respondent concerning my self. It may be the egotism of distrust the conceit of self undertaking. Call it what you may, it is an existent, unmis- takable property of mind. I knew how very anxious I must be to master the wheel from my inability to realize that I should be able to do it. If had not cared about it, should have regarded it, as the mass of people do, as requiring only few lessons.
 determined to make persistent effort to learn bicycling. I carefully abstained from saying that I could learn, but I promised myself that would learn, if I should live. 1 intended to devote myself to it as if it were an enormous task, a la Dor of months, of years, instead of, as com monly happens, a labor of few days. consulted a number of cyclists who had become such within year and inquired about the character of the leading "acad- emies," conscious that I should need su- perior teaching. You see how very serious ly I considered what the many hold to be . mere tride and what really is such. The result of my inquiries was that, by excel lent advice, selected one of the poorest of all tho 30 'academies' in the city of New York. Much depends, as I discovered, on ones selection. Many of the instructors are rough, illitcrate lads who know how to ride themselves, but are incompetent to teach anybody else, and into the hands of one of the worst of these I chanced to fall. They are not, I understand, paid by the week, but receive 12 cents for each lesson they give, for which tho pupil is charged 50 cents, or $2 for tivo lessons.
 took five lessons (the average pupil is generally said to learn to ride in five les sons) and then know less about the wheel than did before 1 had ever mounted one. 1 ascribed this to the unintelligence of my instructor, though it may have been owing to my own stupidity, for am aware that am abnormally stupid about cycling. At least did try, however, and tried hard, and the harder I tried the less learned. That indeed was the trouble suspect. l put my mind into it rather than my body. l reasoned entirely too much about it. I lacked faith in myself and in my wheel. do not believe, however, that should have got control of machine in 50 lessons from such an instructor. I cer- tainly was not afraid of it or of falling, as men are often accused of being, for 1 fell frequently, and sometimes quito hard, during my initiate-so hard as to arouse soliCitudc in my not very sensitive teacher. But was not hurt in tho least.
 l have always exhibited remarkable alac rity in falling without physical injury and still retain this exemption from acei dcnt l have fallen out of trees, swings, from balconies roofs, horses, cliffs, em bankments, into open cellars, yawning pits, all sorts of excavations, numbcrleSs times for years and years, long after the usual suppleness is lost, and have never
 
 fractured most of my bones and skull long before reaching manhood, and still an whole. 1 don't attempt to account for it. | I am merely conscious of the fact. Why | should hurt myself by tumble from q 1 bicycle, pray?
 After the five profitlcss lessons I decided | to seek another academy, and looked in to half dozen critically, choosing ont | that seemed satisfactory and was warmly recommended. It deserved to be. It ha; | made cyclists out of some very obstinate cases and may have done so even out o me. On the seventh lesson I was actually | able to go round the hall number o l times alone. l was amazed at my prof l ciency. had not expected to do that fol l weeks. l was almost as surprised as if | had suddenly learned to fly. The sensa l tior was ravishing. further improved il l two moro lessons, though I still occasion | ally shot off at a tangent and did not fee at home on wheel. l was assured that with little moro practice I could go oI l the road, and am bound to credit the as sertion. 1 have since come to the White mountains, bringing wheel with me and have begun practice on tho uneven sandy roads with animating prospects. expect to be seen dashing over the Boule yard on my return to town in Octobel without reminding any one of my excess i've clumsiness in adapting myself to thu | wheel
 have learned authoritatiyely that sona' men and women need a5, 30, 40, even 5t lessons and that others despair of learning altogether. That the majority of people re Quire but five or six lessons is only th' encouragement of instructors. But an convinced that any man may be a cyclis if he will persevere. I am a case in point JuNIUs HENRI BROWNE