Smyrna times., 1896-09-30
PEDESTRIANS PLEASURES.
ROmarks In Behalf Of the Old Original
Mode OF Travel

MODE OF Travel.
1t is to be hoped that the good old
custom of pedestrianism will not fall
into disuse. The bicycle rider has, per-
haps, gained more than he has lost, but
ne has lost something, and that by no
means unimpOrtant 1t is great eco
nomlc gain to minimize time and dis
tance to so considerable an extent. The
enjoyment i'll this way Of the air and
exercise and the poetry and exhilaration
OF easy and rapid motion is delightful,
but this sensuOus satisfaction is likely
to be obtained at the expense of mental
stimulus. The bicycle rider cannot tarry
to study the tint or texture of the flow
ers or breathe their fragrance. He can
not listen to the songs of birds or the
music of the brooks. His course is over
the worlds conventional tracks, and,
though nature speaks in countless
tongues, he hardly catches so much as
the echo of any of them. The woodlands
and the byways, where lurk the choicest
manifestations OF beauty, he cannot
visit On his nightly runs he sees only
the shining road before him rejecting
the light of the moon and stars, but he
cannot lift his eyes to the milky way or
view the still more glorious tenantry of
the heavens
1t does not seem a violent hypothesis
that this condition of things must tend
to- weaken those habits of observation
upon which so much that Is great in
art, science and literature depends, and
that this will be deplOrably apparent in
the next generation unless some counter
interest can he developed. 1t is "a serious
question whcthtr White of Selborne.
a Burroughs or a ThOreau could have
been prCUGccd On an exclusive bicycle
basis. Their natural tendencies might
have overcome all obstacles Of environ
ment, but CL>trvatiOn is d plant that
starts carly ~ 4 grows ty what it feeds
upon, ala amid Surroundings and influ-
encos like the present they might not SO
easily have ! Cn iliducted into those de-
hGhtful and cCnPCnial labOrS that have
SO swcctcned the literature of our time.
Ihe bicycle interest has cCn.e to stay
and to groIs' until some more potent at.
traction sail supplant it. But to bal
arce 1t ana I.Cvent social one sidedness
and mental deterioration we need the
extension and multiplication of such
organizations IS the Appalachian club
winch Will sCCn start upon All outing
not to aLnIhilate space, but to become
acquainted with the wealth which occu-
pies 1t and i'll acquiring health and
strength; also to acquire information. II
is something to know the world of men.
but it is infinitely more important to
know intimately the world of nature.
for upon that knowledge rests all that
man ever has accomplished or ever can
accomplish. The fastest scorcher NAV
get to the end of life's journey the soon,
est, tut he will not arrive with as much
baggage as the more moderate and OBJ
servant wayfarer. Boston Transcript.
The Word "DOlIar."
According to one authority, the word
dollar" is a corruption Of the German
word "thaler," the form in Dutch be-
ing 'daalder. " All these different forms
were derived from Joachim's Thai, a
Bohemian town, where the count of
OOAAASA1 IL L. AO4OB COluGu some eX-
cellent pieces in silver of one ounce in
weight. From the name of the town
came Joachim's thaler, applied to the
above named coins as well as that of
Schlicken thaler. Hence, Joachim's
thaler pieces were first contracted into
jOachim's thalers aud then into thalers
These coins gained such reputation
that they became a pattern, so that
others Of the same kind, though made
IN other places, took the name, the word
assuming different spelling through the
low countries, reaching Spain as dol.
lars, and through its provinces trans.
mitted to the western hemisphere, where
1t was applied to coins prior to the
adoption of the federal currency. In
coinage the word dollar is favorite.
being found, under various spellings, in
almost every part of the globe. "