The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-06-16
THE BICYCLE.
Rev. Thomas B. Gregory Called 1t a
Menace to Christianity.
SOM E VIGOROUS REJOINDERS TO
HIS STAT EMENTS.

They Are Roundly Denounced by Clergy
men, Physicians and othefs-Mr. Greg
| ory's Ideas On Health and Morality
Find no Supporters.
| Rev.. Thomas B. Gregory, a Universe
list clergyman, formerly of Biddeford,
and now of Chicago, in recent sermon
made sweeping condemnation of the BIZ
cycle, saying:
| "The bicycle is a menace to the mind.
| 1t annihilates the reading habit. The
reading rooms and libraries, as compared
with what they used to be, are deserted.
| 1t is a menace to health. 1t provokes
heart disease, kidney affections, consump-
is menace to the domestic virtues. 1t
breaks up and destroys the home. The
children are turned into the street or left
at home to look out for themselves, while
father and mother go spinning. 1t is a
menace to morality 1t makes women
immodest. And when woman throws
off the beautiful reserve which the al
mighty has placed around her she stands
on dangerous ground. There is no tel
ling what woman will do after she has
lost her womanliness. The bicycle opens
the way for everlasting ruin to a multi
tude OF young men and women who
might otherwise escape. 1t is a menace
to religion. The churches are being
emptied of the young and middle aged.
The Sabbath bells call in vain. While
they are ringing the boulevards are
crowded with souls that are losing their
sense Of reverence. When there is no
vision the people perish-and the vision is
fast dying away. Out in the east there is
palm, queen-like, among the trees. At
the very top of this palm there is tiny
bud, and if that bud is cut out the tree
dies. The Sabbath, with it's worship of
God, is the bud in the tree of human ex-
istence, without which mans life is a
dead thing-and the bicycle is cutting
out that bud. But would not seem over
pessimistic. The wheel mania is craze
that cannot last forever. Action and re-
action are equal, and by and by the in
sanity must pass away. Experience is
our only teacher, but experience does teach
and sooner or later we will learn that,
of all the foes of our Christian civiliza-
tion, the bicycle is the most uncompro-
missing and the most deadly
The Rev. Mr.. Gregorys attack on the
wheel has been promptly answered, and
by some in terms not complimentary to
the preacher. The sermon was first
printed in the Chicago Times Herald,
and last Sunday that paper printed col
lection of answers which filled page and
more. These rejoinders came from clergy
men, physicians, and men and women
prominent in other walks of life. Here
is what two of the clergymen say:
Rev. Nathan J. Mooney, Chancellor
Holy Name Cathedral: II consider Mr.
Gregory's statement a sweeping one, and
do not believe it a minister's province
to pass upon such matters. AS to the
statement that it empties churches of
their congregations, l can say that the
effect has not been noticeable at the Ca
thedral. If one doubts it, let him come
and stand on the corner of State and SUI
perior streets Sunday morning from to
IL o'clock, and he will see some seven or
eight thousand people enter the doors of
the church.. So far as health and morali-
ty are concerned / do not believe the BIZ
cycle has very much to do with either
The first depends on the physician. If a
man or woman who desires to ride a
wheel consults some good doctor and as
certains just how much exercise their con-
stitution will permit them to take, can
not see that cycling can be otherwise than
beneficial. The same thing applies to all
forms of athletic sports and amusements
If INDUCED in with moderation, the
effect is for good, but anything carried to
excess will result disastrously. The ply
stefan, not the minister, is the best judge
of that point. l dc not believe the bicycle
has any very great degree of influence for
or against the public morals. Morality
depends on the people themselves, not on
their form of amusement. Almost any
sport or pastime can be given an immoral
tendency if abused, and I suppose the
COZ hinrr &c fYr11o of 1ra1 HI a.
not ride wheel myself but l cannot see
any good reason why anyone whose
strength will permit the exercise should
not indulge in cycling"
Rev. j. P. ..Brushingham Fulton St.
M. E. Church: "The bicycle is neither
an unmi1ed good nor an unmixed evil.
There is no physical, intellectual or moral
evil in the bicycle per se 1t is not the
use of the wheel, but the abuse, which
| does the harm. Moderate wheeling is a
physical tonic and health producing force.
! The bicycle is the average mans carriage
and the poor mans means of vacation.
| Sunday parades and Sunday racing take
| the time for rest, study and worship, and
| the result is toward mental and spiritual
dissipation. There is an advantage in
bicycle recreation because it counteracts
the tendency toward narcotics and alco-
holic drinks. Statistics show a great fall
|
lants In many cases indoor dissipation
is turned into healthful outdoor recrea-
ton. Bicycle riding will not make a bad
person good nor good person bad. Let
it be said, concerning church members
who agree to maintain their church SER
vices and then ab4ndon them all day
Sunday (when they are in good health) J,
such persons should be censured, not for
bicycle riding, but for disloyalty and
falseness to their deliberate promises.
see no more harm in riding bicycle to
church on Sunday than in riding upon a
street car o or IN aad carnage ar fa,. Inc sae
is concerned on Sunday afternoon II
it is right for a rich man to ride in his
carriage, it is right for clerk to ride
upon his wheel. Our Fulton Street
Church, instead of opposing the wheel by
wholesale denunciation, has prepared
stalls for wheels during church hours
An efficient committee takes charge Of
these wheels and checks Them
| A