The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1897-04-16
A WHEEL STORY.
DY d. n. SCHIMANSkY.

She was a sweet sister, was this
maiden, sweet sister of John Jones,
when she came TO me one evening Just
as old Sol was hiding his fire-red Sisage
back of the trees in the far west, and
asked me in an enhancing, apologetic
way if | wouldn't assist her in her BIZ
cycle practice, AS Brother John has a
pressing engagement, and can't be with
me, and, anyway, he SAYS you know
more about bicycling than he does
Say, just then | could have hugged
John Jones, and his sister. too. for that
matter, but John was not there. and as
for his Sister-well. did not dare
Miss Jones had been the possessor Of
bicycle about three days, and as we
wended our way side by side TO her
home to get the steed of steel she in
formed me that she was doing lust
lovely And she also ventured the re
mark that she actually believed she
could ride alone, only she got so terribly
frightened
When we arrived n Miss Jones home
she excused herself for few minutes.
saying she wished TO don an appropriate
costume, and when she emerged from
the house a little later. clad in a neat
hitting Sarb of the bloOmer type AMI
leading diamond-frarne machine why.
IT simply took nv breath away Oh.
but she looked chipper chic and de
bonalr. and my heart WAS at once smit-
ten with her. though always had a pc
culiarly sympathetic feeling for her
She certainly was the most beautiful
and sweet morsel of femininitV IL had
been INV pleasure to gaze upon. Their.
WS'S no doubt about this. this lesson
would he extremely interesting There
would be no skirts to get entanClei IN
the wheels and chain and 10 bother her
IN her awkward manipulations of th,
same, and the time spent in teaching
her TO properly manage the Steed would
surely be Just so long a time of un-
allowed pleasure.
Miss Jones and I walked to a street
seldom travelled after sundoUn and the
walk over the intervening thorough
fares was an exceedingly short one. We
arrived AT our destination. The first
thing was To show her how to mount
and this was a sumner. | had assisted
many young Indies i'm their efforts To-
master the bicYcle but all of them rode
drop frame machines and they all wore
skirts This case was far different.
However. | got on and off the wheel.
using the step, 'man-faShion' and ex-
planned to her in detail every succeed
ing movement. Then Miss Jones tried
II. FIRST | firmly graSpcd the handle
bar with one hand. holding the frame
IN front of the saddle with the other
Miss Jones reached over my arm. took
hold of the grips. put her right foot on
the step. made lunge for th,. saddle
and kerflop, we both landed cn the
hard road. | WAS underneath. the
wheel made up the second Iaver of the
pile, while Miss Jones sat. not too
gently, on top of the whole | thought
one of the handle bars had punctured
my side and that was Swallowing =
heterogeneous mass of bicycle spokes
good solid clay and rubber tires. Miss
Jones did not get off the heap at all but
sat there half sobbinC, half laughing
and said she hoped I was not injured.
that she was so sorry. etc. With an
almost hfrculanean effort | rolled from
my position under the wheel and its
fair, but heavy burden. and after pull
ing myself together. gave Miss Jones
my hand and helped her to her feet. |
inquired if she were hurt but she re-
5oic;ngfy Informed me that she came
out unscathed and was ready for an
other trial.
Il was not much injured-no-but
whatever thoughts l had had of spend
ing an enjoyable evening were rudeIv
dIspelled from my mind. No. | was not
injured, but | could almost swear that
one of the pedals of that machine had
cut out a few square inches of nv SHIN
bone and l imagined | could feel il
nh
aware of the fact that there were several
non-repairable punctureS in nv trous-
ers and that my anatomy was bruised
and sore in more places than / could
enumerate in three-page article
''To tell the truth | was not at all
anxious to continue the demoralizing
lesson, as | was sure that this expert
ence would be the death of me but |
wouldn't for an instant think of tell
ing my fair companion that l had to
give up.
No. she should be the first to say it
was time to postpone the practice until
another day. l was in hopes the wheel
was in such condition, after the hard
fall, that 1T would be impossible to use
it, but outside of few scratches. ii
came out of the tumble as did its owner
not IN the least damaged
We'll, we tried the mounting blIsi-
ness over again. and this time | was
prepared for the shock and she did land
on the saddle most beautifully. After
/ had balanced the seemingly uncou-
trollable wheel and told her to get ready
for the start off. she said to ms. that she
could ride fairly well now that she was
on and If L would just take hold under
the back of the saddle and follow her in
that way she thought she could pedal
forward very well. / did as she told
me and after giving the wheel slight
push she moved off. Yes she went il
alone ali right. All / had to do was to
follow her. At first she went SLOWLY.
at what you would call a dog-trot. then
she increased her speed. And still all
i had to DO was TO follow herr
''As we were looming mcrriIv onward.
she on the bicycle and | on foot she
asked me if | didn't think this most
eNhilerating sport. OF course. said IL
was. Then she said she en- loved il so
much that she would continue on this
same course until she became tired.
when she would dismount. and after a
rest we would return homeward.
well, | trotted and trotted and trot-
ted after that wheel, and | thought she
never would Ston. She went and went
and went, and 1 believe if / had not
limited to her that i sometimes became
fatigued, she would have been going
yet But she did finally stop, and in
sheer exhaustion L fell to the roadside
and when 1 had time to- recover my
breath and look about us l found We
were away out in the country, aa