The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-16

lihlS bright and Interesting article
was written for Our Woman's Paper by
Mrs ii. y. Knapp. but owing to her
absence from the city 1t was received
too late for insertion.I
The genius of the Nineteenth century
appears to have crowned the long list
OF marvellous inventions for the aid and
JOY of mankind by the production of
the bicycle. What the tired and over
taxed men and women of the age need
Is not aids to labor. but inducements
to play. Our national expression was
becoming fixed, eager anxious and
worried. Have we not all marked it In
hurrying along the city streets with
the same look upon our faces, an
anxiety that we may not be able to
grasp the flying feet of time which are
always just too far before US. Surely
since the steam engine came to bear the
burdens of the world along the iron
girdle that belts the earth, nothing so
revolutioni2ing has been created by
the brain of man. What a magic there
Is In wheels the very emblem of pro-
gress. The song of the wooden spinn-
ing wheel was replaced by the hum OF
the sewing machine: but after all has
not the greater invention only increas sed
the labor and burden of women by in
ducing greater wants? Many of the
wheels of progress have hitherto been
stationary and fixed. but the magic
wheels of the bicycle are unlimited In
their sphere. whrling over the broad
earth free as the lying birds or slow
sailing clouds. Perhaps because ours
Is the age of utility we have given the
bicycle so warm a welcome. "All work
and no play makes Jack a dull boy"
Sit down ON Il bench in Central Park
and watch the afternoon procession
along the drive way. The bcyclers
glide swiftly among the crowds of
vehicles. steady of hand. alert Of eye,
with happy half-eXultant expressions
born of swift motion and that sense
of freedom which surely Is the highest
joy of being. We have heard much OF
''the bicycle expression" as being one
of the strain and stress. ! must confess
to have seen little of il; or have we
passed the early stage" OF all inven-
tions this alone gives woman an equal
ity with man. 1t serves her as willing
ly and well as 1t does him. She may not
be physically able to ride 1t 50 fast and
so far as he, but when one views the
male "scorcher' with head bent. back
like bow, and knees working like the
monkey -on-astick WHICH charmed our
childish sense of the ludricious, we
hardly regret that weaker muscles and
possibly a finer sense of aesthetics
makes the bicycle in woman's hands
a gentle and modest machine. 1t may
be urged that there is also the reverse
Of the medal that the bicycle Is not al
ways docile and obedient tool in our
hands Who has not fought and bled
and perchance nearly died in the ap
parently desperate attempt to conquer
this rushing pair of wheels? Alas!
when shall we learn II Is ourselves we
need to conquer? our native awkward
ness. our resistance to natural laws,
When that Is done, simply adjust our
selves to the bicycle and how easy 1t
all becomes. A firm push on the pc dals
light grasp on the handles quick
eye to see and ready obedience of ac-
ton, and the steed of steel and wood
becomes not only a docil slave but Il
part Of ones self. sixth sense, as It
were. How life broadens and widens
and deepens under the delightful mo-
tion In the open air and under the free
sky with all the wide earth around. 1t
is all yours. just to wheel over and en-
joy. The anxiety and cares and wor-
ries that filled the vision and drew the
sap from life shrink, fade. and II they
do not vanish. do at least assume their
just proportions as the strength and
spirit II the bicycle had taught wo-
men no more than the fact that hey
may find other exercise than that of
walking from pantry to sink or carry
ing the baby about the nursery 1t
would, as business men say, pay for
itself" But it does far more. 1t cul-
tivates love of nature, that book of
the Creator. 1t teaches the use of the
faculties. exercises the judgment and
inculcates the hume MITES If "a touch
of nature makes the whole world kin"
so does the love Of wheel As YOU spin
along the highway every one you meet
upon wheel has an interest for YOU
and in you. 1t Is q bond of union. a
magic brotherhood. Ungindiness, ma =
lice, uncharitableness. can never ride a
wheel, they lose the balance and topple
in the dust. Never has the broadest Re-
public formulated so democratic an in
stitution as this universal leveler. Here
prince and peasant. grand dame and
maid, meet simply as fellow beings, to
struggle and fall or mount and ride on
individual merit alone.
Scranton has always been in social
sports a conservative city, hence we
waited, as some Of us did in regard to
adopting our city steam heat, to see
how 1T worked 1t is true the Scran-
ton Bicycle club was among the earle st
cycle clubs of the country and has al
ways been an active body, but II Is
only this year that the bicycle has be-