The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-07-13
CYCLING AS SHE is TAUGHT.


He generally teaches her II appears to
him capital idea, as being likely to afford
unlimited opportunity for tete-a- -tetes, lit.
eral and metaphorical And she receives
T the suggestion with nnfeigned delight,
having already made private attempts to
subdue the Inherent vice Of her steed both
| alone In the back garden and, supported
! by her brother in the quietest side street
| procurable. But in the one case the bi.
| cycle has demolished the adjacent box bor-
ders, furiously attacked the fruit trees and
bitten her shins and ankles, while In the
other Jack has pcrsistently and cruelty let
go her waist at all those crucial moments
when common humanity would have sug-
gested that he should hold on like steam
crone, ellis" proposal comes in time to
save her from despair, and she arranges q
meeting place as far from the haunts Of
men as the Vaccinations of her mother
and the business hours of she" will allow.
Then they proceed 10 business. He puts
the saddle up to its proper height, and she
makes him lower 1t again, because, she
says, 1t reduces the danger and makes her
feel happier Then he holds the machine
with grim frmness and decision meant to
show it has met its master, while she puts
her high heeled shoe on the frame, scrapes
off good bit Of enamel and scrambles into
the saddle. Afterward she catches hold Of
him with both hands and entreats him not
to let the horrid thing move He asks her
mildly but firmly what she thinks she has
come out for and begins to wheel 1t down
the road She holds the handle bar with
one hand and clutches her lover by the
scruff of the neck with the other so that
he silently curses stick up collars In his
secret soul and wonders why it Is no man
can so spooning in his everyday clothes.
By and by she gently but firmly bores
him off the crown Of the road into the gut
ter, until his legs scrape against the curb
Then one of the pedals catches him In the
calf and causes him suddenly to sit down
on the edge of tho footpath with the bicy-
Gle in his lap and the girl In the lap of the
bicycle. After he has explained that it was
all his fault and she has forgiven him they
go or again. Now she is beginning to gain
confidence, and she makes him trot smart
ly beside her for half mile OF so every
now and then lending the whole forces Of
his manly frame to keep her from climb
ing trees or removing such Of her neigh
bors' landmarks as may lie handy in the
shape of walls and gates Then they come
on little slope, and she kicks the bicycle
over in her efforts to ride up. He asks her
If 1t isn't geared too high and she says no;
shc lowered it herself with monkey puz-
zler, or something Of that sort, as soon as
1t arrived and hasn' allowed it to be raised
since And he sighs, but says nothing.
Then she tells him he can take his hand
off the bar and only hold the saddle, and
he does so and says nothing about the
pieces that the saddle springs pinch out of
his fingers. And thereafter comes great
display of skill and courage, and she is en-
boldsned to order him to run beside with
arms outspread like the wings of a guar
dian angel and not to touch her at all. And
this he does until his wind gives out, when
he seats himself on rustic bench BIOS
soming with nursemaids and babies and
sees her wabble away into the dim dis.
tance And then-then she looks aside
(since she cannot look around) and calls
upon his name and knows that he is no
longer there. And she lets go the handles
in panic of terror and the road stands up
md hits her on the head while the bicycle
les down on her and tries to kick her and
oil over her. But he comes up In time to
ave her from its fury, and as he wipes the
lust of her dress he tells her that victory
s hers at last, for she has ridden alons.-
Chicago Times Herald