The morning times., 1895-09-01


well and cease to have that mortal fear Of
instant death that stares you in the face
as beginner there may be pleasure in
it. or that stage 1 am not competent To
speak at present.
1 have passed through almost every
other stage however, and will most gladl
welcome change. Why then you ash
should a person feeling this way persist
in learning 20 master the wheel. Why?
An, that is the riddle OF the sphynx, the
burning question OF the hour, which no one
seems able to answer.
It is the fad OF the hour, and therefore
as long as it lasts must be worked for all
it Is worth. At present it is at fever heat
and not TO ride the wheel is 70 mark ones
self an oddity. One does not care to do
that, and therefore in the face OF the most
| appalling discouragements the effort to
| learn is persisted in.
CRY OF THE AGE
No one with any real stamina and grit in
! them likes to feel that they have been mas
tered. The cry Of the age is TO overcome,
to surmount all obstacles, to rise superior
| to circumstances Failure is for yester-
| day-success is the watchword OF to-day.
even if it should happen TO be that annihila-
| ton sets Ia tomorrow. Tk.t, at least, is tse
! creed OF the New Woman, aud Of the New
Man as well.
| 1t is not the pap" stage, that in which
| one has to be supported bodily In order to
! keep their seat on the bicycle, that the sense
! Of danger is most keen. It is the bread and
milk stage, after the esuppozting arm or hand
/ has been Withdrawn and the beginner is
| told to go it alone.
| Then come heights aud depths OF feeling
! which under ordinary circumstances are
/ entirely elimi mated from your mental
makeup. It is positively surprising the ra-
/ pidity with which thought chases through
/ the brain, with which the fluctuations OF
| hope, Joy, and fear ruuraces or madly Canter
/ side by side.
| Fear is however, the dark horse on which
| ii would be always safest to bet in such cir
! cumstances. 1t invariably comes out wei
/ in the lead. When the wheels begin to go
| round for the first time after you have
absolute and uncontrolled possession OF the
handle bar, you feel as if the earth were
indeed revolving on its axis.
Only with the geographical difference
that you feel yourself to be the axis and
that awful wheel, the earth and the fuIIness
thereof. You have sensations then, if you
have never had them before.
II you happen 10 take header, as you IN
, doubtedly will, since it is the merest ques-
ton Of time, you wiIhave more sensations.
| You Will not only see stars and planetary
glories, but you viii feel as though Time
had rolled back and you were in attendance
upon the oratorio OF Creation" when
the morning stars sang together"
TRY IT AGAIN.
You get righted, once more you sit erect
on the wheel; once more your hands grasp
the handle bar, there is a push from the
back, your attendant moves aside, and
you 60 spinning along. For an instant,
one brief estate instant, you feel ike a
| bird skimming through the air, YOU are
fairly flying along, buOyed up by an
unseen agency. The next, no angle worms
could crawl closer to the ground, no cent?
pede have apparently more feet TO spread
ii all directions at the same time.
The entire gamut Of feelings is run far
quicker than by the ordinary methods Of
thought That is the old, out Of date method.
The bicycle has instituted new order of
things, that makes time-hOuOred theories
as to the rapidity Of thought take back
seat and completely retire from business.
There are many new things in the ma
ture OF surprises TO be experienced in learn
ing to master the wheel. Thought comes
in lightning flashes. There are mental
kodak views OF scenery that photograph
themselves upon the inner consciousness as
one goes flying along in those brief spurts
of wheeling that come to the beginner.
Then theeye, and too often the mouth aud
ear as well, takes in quite as instanta-
neously the asphalt the nImitable spaces
Of concrete, that make our city in some
respects a JOY and delight.
Whatever else comes, there Is always
that question of the asphalt to be Cunsjd-
cred as resting place for the rider
and the wheel. First and last the ques-
tion of the roadbed is a most important
one to be taken into consideration, whether
voluntarily or otherwise.
POWERS OF RESISTANCE.
One OF the thoughts that is apt 10 come
to you as You recover yourself and sit uI
or jump up, according tn the celebrity wiz
which you have been fiuured in the frs
place, is has anyone with a turn FOR mathe
mates and q CaICula JiES, statistical sor
of mind ever computed the power OF resist
| enceO eOfhuman fleslundersuc circumstance
as must inevitably follow an attempt a
bicycling.
The very worst, most discourag ing
feature of it all, worse even than the aero
batic properties of the wheel is the wubbles
This I must assert in all truth and homo
is the normal condition of the wheel wheI
it is operated by beginners. The wobble
is as much to be guarded against as an at
tack OF measles or chicken-pox. LiSs
those epidemics it is all pervading Will
it lasts and far more exhausting. Lik
those epidemics there is but one cure
Time alone, coupled with the most per
Sistent endeavor of which human natur
IS capable.
II any one tells you they have poSitivel!
had no trouble whatever in learning it il
not SO Don't even trouble to harbor the
assertion for a flash of thought. II is ut
terly and entirely false.
The one, sole, reassuring thought tina
viii serve to enltshten the otherwise Egyp
tan gloom of your early efforts is tha
each person who has succeeded in learning
has had to go through precisely the SAM
blood-curdnng experiences that are nov
falling 10 your share.
The time when you feel that you want
shotgun is when you and the wheel are hav
ing an especially bad attack of the wot
hles and some smiling friend heaves j
sight to tell you that what you want
simply 10 sit straight in the saddle Sue
superfluous idiouc advicei
ADVICE OF FRIENDS.
As though anyone would do otherwls
II they possibly could accomplish the
ordeal of sitting straight for two con
secutive moments at time Hardly ha'
Ill. frinnh nrIn1rtnd thn ,-ncn hui n ~ q