The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1896-08-25


ride together, carrying with them
wherever they go the spirit Of the
family circle. No other single social
result Of bicycling il comparable to
this. Fathers are made the com
pauions of their sons as they seldom
or never were before, and the bene-
fetal influence upon the character
and habits OF the latter, exerted, as
it often is, at the formative period
OF the boys lives, cannot be over
estimated. Like tennis and golf,
the bicy Gle supplies form of popu-
lar exercise which is open to the
members of both sexes equally,
Husband and wife are able to enjoy
this together, and the result is new
bond Of union which brings back,
after years of married life, the close
eompanionship OF its earlier days.
The whole family is in fact made
one as it perhaps never was before,
the parents renewing their youth
and joining with their children in
common pleasure which is also a
well.spring of health to all of them.
Concerning the healthfulness of
the exercise there is no longer seri-
Gus question. A great deal of sem
sational rubbish, much of it char
acteristically vile, has been put forth
in the recent past by quacks upon
this subject, but little of it is heard
now INDUCED in with intelligence
and moderation, with due regard to
the physical condition of each
participant, bicycle riding is I'M
questionably one OF the most health
full forms of physical exercise ever
invented AS an eminent medical
authority has put it, mot in two
hundred years has there been any
one thing that has so benifitted the
human race" This is the Judge
ment of all authorities who have
studied the subject carefully with
reference to its general effects, and
not with reference to isolated and
exceptional cases. Physicians are
recommending it more and more to
their patients, almost without re-
gard to the limit of age, and are
coming to the conclusion that it is
practically sovereign remedy for
rheumatism, indigestion, dyspepsia,
and other ills which are too fire.
quently merely the result of life
time of little or no outdoor exercise
1t is no answer to this view Of the
bicycle, as the missionary OF
healthier and stronger human race
to say that excessive use Of it does
harm. Undoubtedly such use of it
is harmful. Riding to make a
century," to cover large number
of miles, riding humpbacked with
all the vital organs cramped and
with the muscles of the body in an
unnatural position, these are the
abuses of healthy exercise, and are
no legitimate part of it. They are
diminishing rather than increasing.
The "scorcher" is much less COM
mon this year than he was last.
Even he is finding out that the gen.
tleman rides upright like a man, not
bent like monkey, and he is de-
sirous of being classed with gentle
men. The great merit of bicycling
is that it gets people out into the
open air and sunshine for their ex-
ercise. 1t sets their hearts and
lungs to working as they have never
really worked before and under
conditions that are the most favor
able possible for their development
and increased strength. When a
bicyclist starts for a ride he seeks,
as the most favorable field, the park
of a city or the open country.
Never before in the history Of man
have the public parks of cities been
so truly the breathing places of the
people as they are now. A hundred
persons use them where one did be-
fore the advent of the bicycle. 1t is
said in many of our smaller cities