The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-09
WOMEN ANDCYCLE DRESS
SOME PERTINENT SUGGESTIONS TO
FAIR WHEEL RIDERS.
Make work a Revolution in Costume
"A Comedians Experience
with the steel steed.

a writer IN the keystone mas summed DIP
the relations of the woman and the wheel
in a pretty sensible manner and has also
given some valuable advice about the ques-
ton of dress, which has always been one
of uncertainty and doubt in the minds of
w-heelwomen or prospective wheelwomen.
A part of the article, as it appeared, is
given here:
The historian of the future, when he
comes to chronicle the progress of the
nlneteenth-century woman, will hold his
pen at rest for a moment as he contem-
plates the social phenomena in evidence
IN the years 1895 to 1900. These five years
will witness to him a very remarkable and
Significant change in the traditional status
OF woman in respect of all the 'mannish'
pleasures from. which polite prejudices had
persistently debarred her. While her long
struggle for the suffrage and other polit-
teal privileges has been practically bar
rem of results, she has been entirely sue
cessful in establishing her prerogatfves in
another direction. she may not vote, but
she may be healthy and have a good time
wanted in evidence, but her foot has found
a place. The strong-minded woman must
piae a-Wee. put the strong-legged IS happy
the new ~dispensation is the bicycles
WOMEN AND THE WHEEL.
The relations of woman to the bicycle has
not wholly ~outgrown controversy; nor, for
that matter, has the last word been said
as to the unmixed blessing of square-toed
shoes, or the expediency of disciplining the
cook-lady, or the ultimate advantages Of
single blessedness. Doubtless, in ten years
from now, when all the world is awheel,
there will still be found excellent and sim
cere folk to whom the whole subject of BIZ
cycling is bette noir, and the association
OF woman with the wheel an inexpressibly
r~epuenaat idea; but all such prejudice is
the result of half-knoWledge, Of unwilling
ness to consider the question with a dis
passionate and inquiring mind, or of en-
tire ignorance of the practical results of
cycling upon the physical, mental and
moral health of the d~evotee, as we'll as her
happiness which grows out of the sense of
the fitness of things. The occasional de-
nunclation of the pastime as unwomanly
VIII fortunately be lost in the general APP
proVal that a new and wholesome recrea-
ton has been found, whose pursuit adds
JOY and vigor to the dowry of the race. All
or the against the propriety of
Woman's riding a WHEEL are by the
fact that she rides the wheel, and enjoys it,
and is benefited by it in abundant degree.
Ihe woman cycliSt is no longer a white
blackbird. Tunicked and gathered Rosalinds
nave ceased to excite more remark than
complaint of the narrowness of woman's
sphere has been remedied-she has fattened
the sphere to a circle, has mounted it
and ridden off, with a clear-eyed, vivifed
face which tells that this disorder of her
soul has been definitely cured.
The bicycle came into the experience of
womankind at a fitting time; for never
was the burden of work that is laid on ali
sisterhood heavier, whether it be to do
good, to earn bread or to squander leisure,
No outdoor pastime can be more independ-
emily pursued than bicycling; and as an
hour on the wheel means sixty minutes of
Iresh ar ana wholesome exercise, and at
least eight miles of change of scene, it
may well be put down to the credit side of
the days reckoning with flesh and spirit.
And the pleasure and the good lie within
the reach OF many TO whom a horse is only
a wistful dream; for, once purchased this
steed of steel needs only to be stabbed in
a hallway and fed on air and oil. Once on
us pack one can escape the work-a-day
Worn-the world that we persist in having
too much with us in the getting and spend
ing efforts that lay waste the powers. For
II is a fact, as any cyclist will testify, that
II is impossible to take ones trouble with
them awheel. Care never sits on this crup-
per; and the whole pharmacopia has no
such remedy tor the blues.
QUESTION OF DRESS.
When one comes to analyze the obiec-
tons to the collocation of woman and the
wheel, I think the vitality of argument lies
in the question of dress. The exigencies
OF wheeling seemed to require such q brutal
of costume that women hesitated
long before engaging in the fascinating ex-
erclse; and when a heroic little New York
woman, the wife of an eminent physician
and a leader in the best society of the
metropolis, appeared for the first time on
the Riverside drive in a costume approved
by the polite circle in Paris, Observers
stood aShast at the spectacle of a woman
thus apparently bereft of her senses and
most OF her legitimate dress. Her
justification came speedily; for as she
Tode well, she looked well, and her cos
tune reconciled grace, comfort, and the
temporary fitness of things. The long skirt.
WiIe 1t has not hindered women from
cunning TO the topmost branches of the
hlgher education, may prove fatal in down
mn coasting; and the SKIRT, unless frankly
shortened or discarded, must be fashioned
so as to minimize the danger of entangle-
ment with the flying wheel. Experiment
is still busy with the problem. The sin
cerlty or correct intention is unquestioned,
for the absence of self Consciousness has
characterized the woman cyclist from the
outset. Wheeling does not lend itself TO
display, and in criticism the costume must
not be referred to the standards of the
drawing room or the promenade. but to the
e~Xigencies of the wheel-the riders posi-
ton to the mechanical demands of the mo-
ton; accordingly the cyclist is to be
thought of only as mounted and in flight.
belonging not 10 a picture, but to a moving
panorama. Whatever may be the outcome
of present experiment by leading tailors
and the world over. we NAV
be sure. in the evolution of bicycle cos
tune. of the survival of the ittest and the
early silencing of the forebodings of Mrs.
Grundy.
In the meantime let woman avail herself
of 'the goods the gods provide serenely
conscious of her feminine rights to a share
in a rational pleasure and legitimate exer-
else, and with right appreciation of the
since the advent of the bicycle and the evil
dence of feminine courage which mount
eth with OCCASION"