The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-20
ABSURD! CRY THE WOMEN.
BICYCLISTS REPLY TO THE TRADE
OF n CHICAGO PREACHER.

spring OF 1895. They must now roVlso tner
opinions, for never has pedal-pushing had such
q boom as to-day. Last season was q great one
in the bicycle world. but this one IL q record
breaker.
The wheelwomen have had q perfect week for
wheeling. June has certainly redeemed her
reputation during the past week and has been
her own sweet, s~unshiny self. The change camo
last Sunday when thousands and tens OF
thousands Of mon, women, and children wheeled
themselves over city pavoments or country roads
from morning until night without 80 much as
one little curdled cloud to mar their happiness.
Monday was the same kind of day and 90 was
Tuesday. except that by this time the dust had
begun to assert itself once more. A little cloud
came along on Wednesday, however. and
squelched this disagrceablo feature Of wheeling
by doing the work of IN intelligent street sprink-
Ter and no more; DO on Thursday there was abb
~solutely nothing to DO asked for that could make
riding easier or more agreeable. And 80 It has
gone on ever since. To-day promises to DO one
that will call out q throng that will make the
Rev. Thomas B. Gregory. the Chicago clergy
man who has come out with q TRADE against the
bicycle. search the big dictionary to hnd e-
plosives enough to express his opinions.
MI. Gregory's outburst made q stir in Chicago,
and It has also kicked up q little dust among
| them were discussing the matter in one Of the
academies the other day at the hour when the
".weli,'" said . short skirted flyer. II always
had an ri idea no th foss Gsif in It. w Sood an or S bad 6as
| lind that they have the hvess mummy extant
there. Can you imagine any humnSn being In
'n ait ys sap! q be ss pos si6SIe& eSimed tho crowd.
"And he stii lives, when lynch law is SO fash
ionable out that way r said u merry-faced little
"Who is he r. asked a woman who always
thing touching wheels. wheelers, and wheeling.
He is the Rev; Thomas b; Gregory. pastor OF
the Universalist Church Of tho nede s OF taat
sermon in which he bitterly and numerically
denounced the bicycle and tho practice Of riding
II. Just let me read you an abstract from his
sermon" she went on. making a wild dash for
her pockets. with the assistance of two other
out %ut a CLIPPING Which showed much handling.
Listen" she commanded. and Immediately
every car was strained to catch every word al
'n "T TSsI bicycle is a menace to the mind. 1t an.
initiates the reading habit: The reading room;
to be, are deserted. 1t Is q menace to health. 1t
provokes heart disease. kidney affections, con.
sumption, and all sorts OF nervous disorders 1t
is q menace to tho domestic virtues. 1t breaks
up and destroys the home. The children are
for themselves while father and mother go spin
ming. It Is q menace. to morality. II makes
on the beautiful reserve which the Almighty
has placed around her she stands on dangerous
ground: There Is no telling what a Woman T Tha
bicycle opens the way for everlasting ruin to q
multitude OF young men and women who might
otherwise escape. 1t Ii o menace to religion.
and middle aged. The SABBATH bells cali in
Sse orow dt,S with With souls that are losing their
sense of reverence. When there Is no vision
the people ~perish-and the vision isfast dying
"0u. in the East there is q palm. qpeonlike,
sSeee E t b si sfsf bud. AT and III e , lsIy b sSR IS 81 cut asi ou Ri the
tree dies. The Sabbath. with It's worship Of
God. Is the bud In the tree Of human existence
the bicycle is cutting out that bud. But would
not seem over pessinistic. The wheel mania is
reaction are equal, and by and by the insanity
must pass away. Experience is our only teacher.
we We will learn that Of ali the foes Of our Christian
civilization the bicycle is the most uncompro-
missing and the most deadly"
Now. what do you all think OF that = she
burst out as she concluded.
THE poor osrE IMAM ,d is G5szS Z vl hastily .k; said 4 = f. :
has wheels of the wrong kind"
why. certainly he has" added a beamins
that there has been a great falling of in the use
wheeling became so much a part of our every
day life, and therefore tho bicycle may be said TO
recreation, bcnentinE mankind physically. men
tally and morally" D., -, ,,u...,, 81.
why. girls, the bicycle has bropgh our family
into tenderer, closer relations than we've ever
had before. / live with my married son and
somehow my daughter.in.law and I never under
stood each other until we all took to wheeling
30 happy. My son. his wife. their Ave children
and / ride every afternoon and we spend every
gns s goanss tMa' call II It has eliminated dA1 The ::
TrmIs INLAY iRSat Il wd dF1d make SsE ts sneI q sn ma1
see the best side OF his wife's mother II they
both rode. As for the morality OF it, I'm sure
we get much nearer to the Creator In His own
~a.A H. ~ o thar NEn enItlI IA
q close. hot church, listening TO such dry bones
as most ministers give us 10 pick.
riders. And he said that children were left al
home or turned into the streets to look out fol-
5 then ssnTs Whale What b bst does and k mSsn sbS S9 s r. MoTE.
children ride wheels to-day than ever before
and they ride With their II P par irsao A i. n tSSs 1hs
to designing high.grade bicycles for children. A
shsts Is a nSi0 Is 70 able bbtipp % % 20 "o on the III road with
his father or mother. big brother Of
shfild : saa tho AP parent thS very ' RSsr to t esss oth he,
long after they would otherwise have driftod
ss d@ 6s. ! n s% yet tst ssae a i ions r ias Gi IN ths So @ahls
with his boys and girls and boen a child witt
Them 9nee more: That iI more bi% Inspiring 70 IN p
ohIId.s real nature better than the SrAndsss ser
reading habit" said a college graduate; "A
true as i live i never Fthu 30 muCn III my w al
have since / took to wheeling three years ago
The exercise stimulates mental activity, ane
makes one want to read. and you certainly 70
tain what you have read far more easily after I
spin, which brings about q healthy fatigue. w,
kept q record during the last year / was In col
lego. and tho average scholarship Of the girl
who rode bicycles was far above that OF thos'
who did not, and they kept up with everything
going, on in the world far better. don't know
testify that the public does more reading TO-DAY
than ever before, The person who says that
desire for knowledge Is either an i%gnoramius OF
a bigot. l think the Chicago preacher Is n her
etio OF the worst type. Ho stands on the Uni
y~ersallst platform. while he is really a Calvin
istic Presbyterian
1.-THE whole thing seems to me to be bosh,
put In a brunette In gray. The thing thu
makes me boil In his TRADE 10 that he says thu
bicycle makes women immodest, A wheel make
people neither good nor bad, modest nor immod
ost. Modesty or want OF II depends on the, wo
man and moi on her form OF exercise. Nothing
can make a woman immodest II she 10 not so In
clined, and IL her immodcsty crops out awhee
You may be sure that 1t would have done so /
the silent steed had never boon Invented"
HDidn't he say something about the wheo