Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1896-07-31


AS for sidewalk riding, it is only al
lowed in sparsely settled places, and
the tendency against it is more and
more marked among wheelmen them
selves.
Probably the most magnificent show
bicycle ride in the world is that from
upper New York through the park,
down the boulevard-or on Sunday the
cable car slot" on Broadway-across
the bridge, through lovely Prospect
park and down the new cycle path 10
Coney Island. On Sundays and holi-
days many thousands make use of this
route, and the proportion of accidents
is small. The first bicycle path from
the park to the island proved it's in
adequacy in single season, and sec
ond has just been opened. Each of
these paths is about Is feet wide, built
of very fine granite chips, perfect in
surface and about 81? miles lorg. a
drunken cyclist is comparatively rare,
and many of the road restaurants sell
only temperance drinks. Ginger ale
with a lemon squeezed into ii is perhaps
the commonest drink of male bicyclists.
The prettiest thing about the cycle path
spectacle is to see how young and old
join in it. Here at last is the ideal out
door exercise in which whole families
can join. In the good roads section of
Jersey it is almost the rule that the base-
ment of a dwelling contains wheel for
every member of the family except the
baby.
Women learn from the bicycle the
control of their nerves. 1t is q fine
sight to sec in 1896 a woman weaving
her wheel in and out among loaded
teams who in 1894 would hardly have
out policeman's arm. When the moth
er of a family can strap a lunch box
to her handle-bar and convoy brood of
young cyclists for day at the sea-
shore or in the woods, there is a de-
cided gain in the average health Of
women.
The girls-not few girls, but nearly
all of them-are getting out of doors;
which is precisely what has been
wanted for the last two generations.
to give the American race fighting
cHancc 10 survive.
The young men profit quite as much.
They are learning, long before they be-
come voters, the power of organization
in enforcing public measures. They are
learning to reason that if by combina-
tion granite ring may be broken, so
may other rings. They are learning to
talk, not less about national politics
necessarily, but more about street paw
ing and street cleaning, the board of al
dcrmen and municipal affairs general
ly. They are learning to take an inter
est in public business and larger towns,
and these affairs, as all critics agree,
arc those most needing attention.
With the extension of good roads the
bicycle will silence the deserted farm"
cry. No one is likely much to mind liv-
ing ~ miles from lemon if he can
/ get on fair turnpike and wheel to his
lemon in an hour, instead of sitting sui
-enly staring at a mud canal, called by
! courtesy road The horseless car
"iage with pneumatic tires will supple
ment the bicycle in this improvement.
There may come day, and soon, when
il good road once built will need no re-
pair of the wear of wheels. The coun-
try boy will surely be more willing to
stay on the farm when he, too, can have
his century runs almost from his own
door and can feel along the interlink-
ing arteries of perfect roads the one
ness of himself with the big world in a
sense that the railroad station half a
dozen miles away can never give.
The United States has reason to
thank Heaven for the bicycle. 1t was
just what we needed. and it came when
our need of it was the greatest.
DAVID wECHsLER.