The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1896-09-26

treadle and sometimes ne does not.
When the latter happens, he gets tipped
forward and nearly falls Cd. Well. the
bicycle hates it, Of course, and bucks
and dashes o1ten enough in . bee line
for the first lmppost o. curbstone it
sees. anxious b pay out Podgeley for
kicking at it
OF course it is very awkward for the
man who is holding Podgeley up on
these occasions, for the bicycle does not
think Of any ones interests but its own
and involves all concerned in ruin be-
Of Podgeley. Still. it il rather
funny. / don't know what the four
teachers at the Crystal palace did. but
! know that when I tried to teach
fodgeley / found 1t safer to retain Q
bold Of him all the while, because in
that case one knew where one was-al-
though, il one let him fall on the far
side, q barked such and such . skin
and bumped such and such bones against
the framework, while the treadles play
such and such Old Nicholas with ones
epidermis whenever they happened to
catch you One knew. also, that if
Podgeley Vas to be let down on the neal
side he would lie down ON the top Of
you You would try to leap out Of the
way, Of course. % q to allow him to
have the falling all to himself. but the
treadle or the spokes would catch your
foot and yous would be ready for Podge-
ley all right when he came avalanching
down on the top Of you But il you let
60 OF the fellow in hopes that he would
ride . yard or two away and then fall
down like = gentleman without lnvolv-
ing others in the ruin, n knew abso-
lutely nothing Of what would be the
next thing to happen.
He never rode away and fell Of
quietly BY himself like q gentleman
that is quite certain. On the contrary,
be generally pursued you, a. it were,
open nouthed, shrieking to you to get
ont Of the way, but giving you no OPP
portunity to do 90, because wherever
you went he followed Immediately AND
generally brought you to earth about
ten yards away, either in the gutter OF
on the pavement or against the stone
wall. When this happened one suffered.
besides the physical pains inflicted BY
the machine, the odium Of the rider
who would, after helping to extract one
from among the spokes and things, be-
gin to explain to what lengths Of idiocy
and treachery those human beings went
who, under the pretense Of teaching .
friend to ride, took pleasure in putting
every possible obstacle in the way Of
his learning. in order to see him tumble
about and then laugh at him. It was
useless to urge that ones bleeding shins
and racking bones ought to prove that
what had happened had not been pur-
posely brought about Podgeley thought
otherwise, and said ridiculous and nm.
gentlemanly things Podgeley il . gen
tleman al right on terra irma. It il
only when he is perched upon the Sad
die Of = bicycle that all his refinement
and good feeling 60 BY the board.
It was soon after his II shillings'
worth Of lessons at the palace that Podge-
ley came to me and suggested that I
should squire him in = trial ride down
town." We live in the suburbs, and we
have = High street Of our own. There
is q fried fish shop in it, and sometimes
it il . very "high'' street indeed. It
was into this busy thoroughfaxe that
Podgeley desired to burst in the pride Of
his newly acquired character Of trained
cyclist.
wait : bit, Podgeley. "Isaid. Are
you sure you can rider"
"Of course ! can" said be.
who taught your" I aaked
He said be had had four lessons at
the Crystal palace. I inquired whether
his four teachers were getting better.
What do you meanl'' said Podgeley.
what four teachers?"
"One man didn't teach you all four
times Podgeley, I'll bet" said L
Podgeley declared that al men were
not such clumsy idiots - myself. The
same man had given him all four les
sons.
"When's his f~uneral?'' I asked.
Podgeley lit . cigarette.
What about his widow" I pursued
This conversation was doing my shins
. lot Of good, and even my side and my
head felt better too Podgeley asked me
not to try to be funny. / said it was no
effort at nj. Then he repeated his in
quiry whether I would accompany him
down town.
Then I spoke out.
"Podgeley," I said, ''you will never
get to the town, but, ever il you did,
it would be the last thing in the world
that 1 should do to accompany you.
Bring me . suit Of steel armor and l
will walk beside you. In ordinary
clothes / will not come neal you. As