The record-union., 1896-04-12

And the young year drops his load
Of ice and snow, and soft winds blow,
1t is Oh-1t is oh, for the road!
1t is Oh for the road, tho the torpid toad
Sits at home and bats his eye;
Down the country lane and back again
With the wings of the winds we fly!
With wings of wind we leave behind
All crowding, cankering care
Our flying feet a new world find,
And the world is passing fair.
Our hearts are ripe with the joy of life
The joy they feel who live;
The sparkling eye and pulse-beat high,
Tell of joy to keep and give.
So. it's Oh. for the road! and light of
Are our hearts and free from care
When the sun comes back from his truant
track
And the world is passing fair.
Marco Morrow, in Womankind.
y
Tales of "mashers" a-wheel are not
often heard of, but here is one which
relates to an incident that took place
last summer on the famous Coney
Island cycle path.
1t was on beautiful August after
noon that the charming "geranium
girls" the name by which two sisters
are known to habitues of the path, were
observed pedaling toward the ocean
with their dignified, gray-haired father
a rod behind, pushing the pedals of his
light roadster as If for wager. The
trio, with the sisters very much in the
lead, swept along like the wind, pass
ing this one and that one just as nicely
as you please.
Very nattily attired in rational cos
tune" the bloomers of which were ap-
parently bit tighter than some that
have been seen, the "geranium girls"
drew more than few side glances from
the young men a-wheeling in the same
direction. Near Howe's, a lone rider
was passed. He had on the very latest
cycling toggery, and evidently prided
himself on his appearance.
No sooner had the handsome, sun
Drowned wheelwomen flashed by than
the lone rider was seen to bend lower
over his wheel and to go faster. Close
behind him, when well in motion. was
the dignified parent, and in brief space
of time the two were abreast. The
younger had a huge grin on his face,
and his right eye winked suspiciously as
he remarked to the elder:
Hot stuff" which is the language of
The father of the "geraniums' was
too indignant and too much out of
breath to reply, and, redoubling his
efforts, tried to keep near his fast-f1ee-
ing daughters. The new accession to
the party, mistaking the paternal solic-
itude, also increased his speed. Appar-
emily he interpreted the scowls of the
elder as indicating a feeling of keen
n 5tc-ov nfrafv of hafn oh 70
pedal faster. At any rate he kept along
side while saying:
Lovely girls, old chap. which
The (which" came just as a sandy
place was reached on a crossing a little
below Howe's, and as the "old chap
gave the intruder look that would
have soured pan of new milk. Not
having a firm grip of his handle-bar,
No. 4 in the party came to sudden
stop. His wheel took an unexpected
turn to the right, the rider shot off to the
left. and before he knew it the trio We're
blocks away. The ''old chap" didn't
even look behind, but from the crowded
verandas at Howes there came a loud,
long shout of mirth.
Champion Zimmerman, having been
asked to give his advice on the rational
costume for wheelwomen, replies as fol-
lows: Il have been asked what / think
of boomers, and reply that they seem to
me to constitute the only rational cos
tune for a woman when on a wheel The
views of some eminent medical gentle
men, with whom / have discussed the
matter, are decidedly pronounced in IA
yor of boomers. 1t Is my opinion that
women should ride the same style of
wheel as men, That cannot be done. OF
course, unless the women wear bloom
ers To my way of thinking the gen
eral adoption of bloomers is a question
of but a very short time. / fail to see
how ii can be otherwise.
MY ideas respecting boomers were
not SO pronounced until l had been to
Paris. The first day / was there / stood
stock still for three hours in one spot on
one of the boulevards. watching the
women go by. There We're thousands of
them, and everyone wearing boomers.
1t was an inspiring spectacle. The cos
tunes were well made and chic, and de-
cidedly attractive. The women who
rode in them had a freedom and grace
of movement which, ii seems to me.
could never have been acquired in any
other costume-certainly not with
skirts. And the boomers are worn in
Paris by those who constitute the most
exclusive social circles. Since my first
visit to Paris l have been a warm advo-
cate of the adoption of boomers in this
country"
The bicycle dance is the creation of
the men and women who make up the
fashionable Michaux Club in New York.
Ii is here that all the women of the
swagger set have learned how to ride.
and now that they have mastered the
ordinary intricacies of the wheel they
are looking for new fields to conquer.
So far the dancing is confined to the
eyolutions of the rollicking Virginia. reel
end eight men and eight women are suf-
ficiently expert to go through 1t without
anything approaching a mishap occur
ring They have already given an ex-
hibition of the dance to their friends.
and now they are arranging for figures
of a more intricate character.
The bicycle reel Is very pretty, and
when the music Is played in fast meas
ures it is much more exciting than the
ordinary reel The dancing cyclers
range themselves in two lines along the