The leader., 1897-09-08
THE BICYCLE WAS suLky
That Was the Excuse of n Bex,rpe
for Her slow Progress I'm utatu

That was the Excuse of n Bextrper
for Her slow Progress I'm Riding.
The lady disentangled herself from
the wheel and looked at IL mournfuuv
reprachfully. despairingly. The pa.
tent instructor stood meekly by. hold
ing the machine, awaiting her pleasure
what can be the matter?" the ladv
asked.
Its certainly mighty curious" the
instructor replied, shaking his head.
I'm sure don't ride half so we'll a.
[ did at the last lesson" proceeded the.
lady.
That's So" admitted the candid in
structor.
"Nor quarter so well as at the one
before that"
mo, NM"
AT my second lesson rode half wav
across the room without your holding
the wheel"
| "You surely did,"
"And at the fourth lesson / almost
made mount by myself"
81 seen you do it," and the instructor
tapped his fingers on the saddle by way
OF emphasis.
"And now," pursued the lady, in an in
dignant tone, Il can't ride two feet
without falling off,"
The instructor lifted the bicycle up
SO that it rested on the front wheel
and kicked the pedal around, but said
nothing.
What can be the reason?" persisted
the lady.
The instructor felt the tire of the rear
wheel, but remained silent.
do you suppose it could be the fault
of the wheel?" asked the lady.
"Hay?" exclaimed the instructor, his
surprise overcoming his politeness.
II don't mean it that way" the lady
said, hastily, with blush. "Of course,
it's really my fault, in way, because
L. and not the wheel, am learning to
ride. But don't you think that the
wheel may be misbehaving and that
that may have something to do with
it?"
do you mean that it's out of order?'
asked the instructor, beginning to poke
around among the joints and sprockets
NO." said the lady; "only just sulk-
ing"
Il never heard of a bicycle sulking,"
replied the instructor, unsympathet-
ically.
Didn't you?" returned the lady, with
growing enthusiasm. well, then, per.
haps I've discovered something new.
You know that a sewing machine gets
sulky sometimes? No? Oh, of course
not, if you've never used one. Well, it
does. Sometimes it simply won't work
right. Perhaps the weather affects it.
Then it will take jump and run along
beautifully for days and days. 1t is
simply mischief Now the first day /
rode this bicycle l got along beautiful
~ on it, and wasn't bit afraid, and the
second lesson was the same. Then it
began to be sulky, and | began to be
afraid of it, and I've been getting more
afraid of it ever since. Now, how do
you account for that, if it isn't the fault
of the bicycle in getting sulky and
frightening meT'
"You got frightened because you
tumbled off," said the instructor, in a
mGtter-of-fact way.
| yes, sald tne lauy, ana why diu
tumble off? Because the bicycle was
sulky and began playing tricks on me.
Otherwise l ought to be making prog
ress instead of falling back, as am do
ing. So, don't you see, that it really is
the bicycles fault and not mine that
am doing so badly?'
"Well, perhaps So" said the instruc-
tor, resignedly.
THE wheel has had a rest" said the
lady. perhaps it will be feeling bet
ter now. l win try it again. But keep
q good hold of it,"
And then she made another attempt
TO master the art of riding alone.-N. Y.