Birmingham state herald., 1896-09-13
OUR SOCIAL WORLD.

tAll Items of social interest will be gladly noted in these columns if sent to Mrs. George c. Ball, Nineteenth street, between Tenth and Eleventh avenues. South High
 The crusade recently inaugurated by Mrs. Charlotte Smith against bicycles and bicycle riders has set the world to thinking very seriously about this ques- ton, notwithstanding the absurd posi- ton assumed by Mrs. Smith. That this would-be reformer has made unjust charges against a large proportion of well-bfed, well-behaved young Ameri- cans no one for moment will deny. With the zeal of a bgot Mrs. Charlotte Smith sees nothing but evil in a form of amusement which she condemns and the good she desires to accomplish will amount to very little, because she pre ju- .dlces her own cause by intolerance and . injustice. The firm hold that the bicycle has taken upon all classes is uncontro- vertible evidence of it's usefulness and the power 1t has to furnish healthful and harmless pleasure. There is little or no principle involved in bicycle riding, and the adoption or rejection of the wheel is largely matter of individual taste. There can be no set of, rules laid down to control the tastes of our people, and Mrs Charlotte Smith has entered upon an apparently hopeless task when she attempts to revolutionize the sentiments of the world regarding wheels and wheelers by making her campaign upon moral grounds. AS we are all aware, every form of amusement, however, in- nocent can be made dangerous and hurt full by excesses and by evil-minded man and women. There is no phase of life without it's temptations; no form of di- version that cannot become dissipation. Intemperance is not by any means con- fined to an undue indulgence in drink, it can enter into even our religious life and injure the holiest cause by zeal which persecutes and bigotry which destroys. Webster defines as one form of intemper- ance "a want of moderation OF due straint," and Mrs. Smith in her, crusade against bicycles has become very intem- perate.
 But I fear we have not given much con- sideration to one phase of the athletic craze" now abroad in the land, which has been overlooked by Mrs. Charlotte Smith. It is nothing more nor less than the ten dency it has to make men and women careless and indifferent about matters which were always deemed essential in the past. And these are disregard for dress and carelessness about many things which tend to break down the barriers which conventionality has prop erly raised between men and women. Be 1t said to our credit, very few southern girls or matrons have adopted bloomers in riding the bicycle; we'll regulated public opinion would not tolerate such an innovation for moment. Of course the length of one's skirt must be in &C., cord with one's views of the proprietieS which govern such matters, and which are generally the result of breeding and training But there is creeping into the most careful and exclusive circles of life an indifference to attire on the part of many young men when in the presence of ladies' which seems to be the natural outcome of the .undressed condition while wheeling or exercising of many young gentlemen who are imbued with the ath- letfe fever. Picturesqueness in dress is more or less attractive, but lack of sufficient clothing cannot add to the physical beauty of either men or women. A young Greek god might look we'll in some of the suits worn by some of the athletic youths of America, but certain it is Una tnot many of the aforesaid youths do.s
 This matter was brought particularly to my attention this summer by observ- .n&the change of opinion which is taking place on this subject in the minds of some of the most cultivated young men of so- ciety in another state. I heard on one occasion an accomplished young gentle man tell with evident delight and satis- faction of how comfortable he had been at.a certain home where he had been a member of swell house party. why"
 id he, in relating his experiences, I .,aa thoroughly comfortable down at that house We men went without our coats; we es1olled together. men and women, read together and bathed together. We even went to the table coatless if the brothers of the girls were present, and we spent houfs in the bathing pool trying to keep cooR This accomplished man is one of theymost chivalrous ever knew, yet, by confstantly going to one resort and then to Another where the athletic excitement prevailed, and bathing pools were fre- queAted by men and women at the same tin1e, his old-fashioned ideas had altered, and it seemed to him the natural thing to go without his coat before ladies, to lunch without it and to spend hours in a bat thing pool-a large-size bath tub-with nicE. refined girls! Prudishness is very absurd, and indicates either very weak or avery hypocritical mind; but anything whieh encourages undue familiarity be- twesn men and women is disgusting and reprehensibie, and should have put upon 1t the stamp of public disapproval
 Our natatorium has afforded very much innocent pleasure to Birmingham society, and'it is to be hoped that nothing