The times., 1897-05-09

the wheel, which on the cover he calls
1.-The Bards and the Bicycle" and OH the
title page "Lyra cyclus." points two
peculiar truths. In the first place, that t
was inevitable that an instrument OF so
general use iii daily liie shoald creep into
literature. and secondly, how much very
good poetry is printed in the newspapers
which is really worthy preserving in
the library.
The ''Lyra Cyclus" are not original
with Mr.. Redmond He might have quoted
Montaigne on his title page: II have
gathered a posie OF other mems flowers,
aud nothing but the thread that binds
them is mine own" The poems have been
gathered from ne ewspapers and magazines,
with authors as numerous as the poems
themselves. But Mr. Redmond displays a
ready wit both in the selection of matter
for his symposium of the bardS and III u
preface toll OF the marrow of good things.
He says he did not intend an obvious pun
in observing that the bicycle is most de-
cidedly revolutionary agent. In sundry
regards the consequences of its advent
have been dmaZng, and he points them
out. Viewed from a purely material stand
point, it has wrought wondrous transfoT-
nation in the daily walk and conversa-
tion of the man and woman of the period.
In fact, they no longer walk but ride,
and as for their conversation it may be
saiG that ii is mostly cIrcuInscribed
within the circumference of the wheel.
Certain lines of productive industry it has
made: Some it has marred; others I has
modified. 1t has changed one-half OF the
civilized world from a sedentary set of
bipeds to an aggregation enamored OF
outdoor life, and rejoicing in those eX-
hilarating activities OF which the wheel is
the parent and the promoter Although a
''thng of beauty of itself, to say nothing
OF being SO frequently the silent, If not al
ways obedient, steed and servant of
beauty superlative, yet few would have
predicted only little while ago, that
the domain of literature itself would
be incidentally enlarged and adorned
through tile coming OF the wheel Never
theless. so tits A new school of poesy has
arisen to celebrate the tribulations and
trlumphs of the bicycling world. THE
Bards of the Bicycle" have invaded He'll
con in force, and have drunk deep from
the waters-of the sacred rin.
Most cycling poetry is fresh and brisk,
natural, gay and wholesome. 1t has the
flavor OF outdoors and the vigor of health.
What il lacks is the real elements OF poetry.
Subtlety, sentiment and Imagery Itmakes
good cursory reading, and the present eX
hihit is valuable as an index OF tue first
emanations of what is bound TO develop
into an important branch of literature. AT
present il is nearly all al level with dog
geral, though some few of the poems in
ballad form have more elevated tone to
them.
Perhaps it was the compiler's conscious
ness that the best contribution TO his col
lection is Harriet Prescott Spofford IS BIZ
cycle Song that prompted him 10 Ilace
1t first:
Light upon the pedal,
Firm upon the seat.
Fortunes wheel in fetteTs
Firm beneath our feet.
Leave the clouds behind us,
Split the wind We meet,
Swift, oh, swift and silent,
Rolling down the street,
When the dark comes, twinkling
Like fireflies in the wheat,
Bells before us tinkling
Fairly and feat.
BY the gate Of gardens,
Where the dusk is sweet,
Slide like appantons
Through the startled street.
Spcarmen in the desert
Maybe fly as fleet,
Northern lights in heaven
Sparkles on the sleeti
Swift, oh, swift and silent,
Just before we greet
The outer edge Of nothing
Turn rolling up the street!
An ingenious Thymester on the Chicago
Tribune had adapted the Mother Goose
melodies to the bicycle. Thus the strange
case OF the hight jumping COW and the dish
which e,oped with the spoon is thus para
phrazed
Hy-diddle-diddle,
The bicycle riddle,
The strangest part of the deal;
Just keep your accounts,
And add the amounts;
The ''sundries'' cost more than the wheel. |
And the epicurean equation struck by |
Mr.. and Mrs. spratt is thus applied to their |
new condition:
Jack Spratt's
Trousers would flap: ~
His wife she made hers tight,
And so between the two, you see,
They kept the average right.
The familiar conjugal infeiicity of Peter, /
the pumpkin eater, is happily solved in this
way:
Peter, Peter, pumpkin cater,
Had a Wife and couldn't keep her,
Took an axe and smashed her bike,
So she had to stay at home at night.
Another writer gives us this paragraph
Of Tom Hood:
Take her up tenderly,
Lift her with care;
Fashioned so slenderiy,
Young and so fair!
One more unforch-
ate-pardon our weep
Trying to scorch,
And she's all in heap.
Edmond Redmond, RochesteT,N Y.
The Up-to-date Cyclopedia is the name of |
a new octave, ,whichis to become a monthly.
IL is unique in many of its features and
stnkingly interesting 1t contains what one
might reasonably look for in any first-class
cyclopedia which is really up-to-date; but
the promise of the publishers is that vir
tually nothing found in it's pages will be
found in any other cyclopedia These
two statements are q key to it's plan, and.i
are significant of its value No large |
cyclopeilia is or can be really utt-to-date |