The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-05-25

1t is mistake to think that the wheel.
men want the earth--all they want is
good roads around the earth.
The eternal fitness Of things! A bicy-
Gle club somewhere has adopted the
horse chestnut as an emblem.
The bicycle face" 10 all right,
If further comment IL permissible,
It's rudy, healthy and bright.
And sometimes pretty and kissable.
e Chairman Gideon says 1T. that class sss
as they were made. He does not think
them professional, nor yet is he willing
to class them as class A amateur
Walter Sanger 10 being very generally
traduced by a few incompetent critics
Sanger has always been able to retain his
temper and his popularity, as well as
his success, so we may not look Tor
reversal Of those principles in this case.
While at Millard's hotel. Kansas City,
recently, Count Turasaki, the private
secretary of Field Marshal Yamagatn of
Japan, was interviewed in regard to the
Japanese selling bicycles for $12 or SIS.
He said: "All of this talk that you hear
about the Japanese selling bicycles at
S12 or SIS each, or at any price at all, is
big mistake.
place we don't produce bit OF the India
it would cost more for us to get 1t than
1t does in this country. And then all
of our high-grade steel has to be i'm
ported. There isn't a wheel made in our
whole country, and all of the bicycles
that we have come from London. sup
pose the American wheels are just as
good or better. but somehow the London
merchants always get in to sell them
the cheapest
II never saw any bicycles such as you
use, the kind where both wheels are
of the same size, until I came to this
CnJlnfrV last woalr b-VTha A1nArtf,l ~
Wheelman.
1t is always interesting to hear the
mossbacks of cycling tell about the early
days of the pastime. r. A. Fairfield
Of Saco, Me-, is the oldest bicycle agent
in the country. He has travelled much
and has no end Of funny experiences.
1t is seldom that he talks Of himself,
however, but recently, upon being press
ed to do-so, he spoke Of his beginning
in the pastime and trade. The first BIZ
cycle ever ridden in Biddeford." said
he. carried me. 1t was a duplex Ex-
Celsior, built in England, ana imported
by the Pope company, the first Ameri-
can firm to handle bicycles. 1t will be
eighteen years on the 9Th Of June since
I bought my wheel / saw an adver-
tisement of the Popes in Boston paper
sent for a circular and got interested.
l used to ride velocipedes in the days of
that craze, in 1859. was then boy
and spent all the money could get to
pay for the use of a wheel at a cent r.
minute. After studying the circular I
decided to go to Boston and try q Duplex.
Will Pitman, the oldest teacher Of BIZ
cycle riding in the country, put me on
one at the rink and I rode off, and. save
for a few tumbles, had no trouble, though
1t was quite different riding the old
wheels from what 1t is riding the mod
ern wheels. I paid $104 for my wheel
and took 1t home with me. The first
day I rode it was when Barnum's was
in town. The streets were crowded, and
as 1 came along I struck the stone curb
ing around a reservoir cover and took
a header. The crowd thought was
part of the show and laughed and cheer
ed at what they supposed was intended
to be a funny act. had the thirtieth
wheel sold in this country and am No.
5 in membership in the League Of Amer
lean wheelmen. I doubt if there are
a half dozen in this country that have
ridden a bicycle as long rs have. When
I began riding had a forty-eight inch
wheel. I didn't grow any afterward,
but the last wheel rode was fifty-four
inches in diameter. My legs had
stretched six inches. My wheel was a
great curiosity at first. While riding
near Newf1eld a woman rushed out of
q farm house with two pairs of scissors
in her hand and asked me to sharpen
them. She thought my wheel was a
scissors grinder"