The record-union., 1896-06-14

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Maid of Bikeville, ere we part,
Take, o, take-take back your heart!
Or. since you will not, protest
/ do not want it-with the rest.
Hear my vow before you go
Cut the wheel, and I'm your 10.
BY those tresses unconfined,
Wood by each Aegian wind;
BY those bloomers, something scant,
Through which the wind doth also slant;
BY that instep high you show
Cut the wheel, and I'm your 10.
BY that wild look upon your face,
As you ply your scorching pace;
BY all the token signs that tell
You're going fast, without bell,
And that your back begins to bow
Cut the wheel, and I'm your 10.
Maid of Bikeville, I am gone;
But think of me when you're alone.
Though / fly to Istambol,
7 ou might have kept me heart and souli
Should 1 return don't suppose
You'd cut the wheel and wear your
clothes. -SMISER.
1 have often wondered how it is that
all kinds and conditions of people are
able to own a bicycle, writes a New
Yorker. I rejoice in their grand democ-
racy. Helen Gould ordered a dozen
wheels last week for ner summer home
and so have the rest of the fashionable
set. Society turned out in force on Sat
urday and made the bicycle tea at
Claremount grand success. It was for
the aid of the Burnham Industrial
School, and any other name would have
been quite as appropriate for the en-
tertainment, for not more than a dozen
women appeared in wheeling clothes,
and a few men in knickerbockers looked
as if they might have left their cycles
at home and been conveyed there in
bandboxes. The wide veranda on one
side of the building was charmingly ar
ranged with flowers and tropical plants,
donated by a number of fashionable
florists. They were effectually grouped
and formed the most bewildering set
tings for the flower, refreshment and
tea tables, over which well-known
women presided.
From the windows Of the inclosed
piazza, where the tea was given, any
number of bicycles could be seen on the
read, two attracting especial attention
because of the queet little awnings like
umbrellas over the riders, intended to
shield them from the sun and storms.
The churches are falling into line;
Lyman Abbott said the other night:
THE cycle has come TO stay, and l am
glad of it; it is not a fad any more
than the telegraph or telephone; it is a
useful and practical invention, and has
assumed such dignity" You can hear
the sound of the hammer, as you pass
by, in several of the fashionable
churches, and if you take a look you
will see everything being pushed aside
to make room for the little racks which
are to hold the wheels while their own
ers are drinking in some theological
truth, at the same time with the assur-
ance that his bike is safe in a rack
near the vestibule door,
The young people of Westminster
Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn are
enthusiastic wheelmen, and have
started a club among the young people
in the church, and it is one of the best
wheeling organizations in that part of
the city. There is one iron-bound clause
IL the bylaws which prohibits Sunday
club runs. The individual members
can ride as much as they see fit on the
Sabbath, but the club as an organiza-
ton must not turn out. Several other
churches are forming similar clubs.
A few days since I saw two young
ladies, one with a book fastened on her
wheel, and could hear them conjugating
French verbs. And now the ranks of the
club women have been invaded. Thirty
or forty ladies mounted on their bicycles
can be seen on Monday afternoons rid
ing to Central Park. there to study
ar fhfa M
eye is bright, and the roses that had
vanished with their girlhood have come
back, and the thought is uppermost to
an onlooker that American women in
this untrammeled exercise will find
health for themselves and future gem
erations.
Jones wanted a wheel, and he wanted
1t very much. He haunted the down.
town stores until the dealers dreaded
to see him put in an appearance, know
ing full well that it would be the same
old routine of examining every wheel
in the place, asking the price, and after
consuming a couple of hours trying to
get 1t cheaper, depart.
Finally, however, ne found a wheel
among lot of high grade 500 ma
chimes that just suited him, but as usual
he began to beat down the price. The
dealer was obdurate.
But you know we can get a high
grade wheel this year almost any
where for $50 to S75." he protested.
That's all right: here's one I will
sell you for S65. and it's a first-class
wheel"
wouldn't have 1t for a gift. Tell
you what I'll do. I'll give you $50 cash
for this wheel. Is ii a go?'
After much demurring the dealer
finally consented. Jones paid over his
money and proudly led his new pur-
chase out of the store.
How could you make such a dis
opunt?" asked a friend.
"Oh, that's all right. The regular re-
tail price of that wheel is only $50, but
I've been laying for that fellow. Put
that wheel with the high grade ma
chimes and he bit. He's happy and I'm
repaid for the time I've wasted on
him"
Cyclists who ride fast in crowded
streets have had a number of on 'ous
warnings within the last few df A
'scorcher' was killed in Baltimore re-
Gently while racing with a trolley car,
and numerous accidents have occurred