The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1897-05-22
A Wheel Story.
BY o. X. SCHIMANSK Y.

| attempt 10 teacn her TO ride.
''She was 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 visage back of the trees
in the far west, and asked me in an en-
tfancing apologize way if wouldn't assist
her in her bicycle practice, 'as Brother
John has 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 sster-well, did not dare.
Miss Jones had been the possessor of a
bicycle about three days. and as we wended
our way side by side to her home to get
the steed of steel she informed me that she
was doing Just lovely And she also
ventured the remark that she actually be-
lieved she could ride alone, only she got so
terribly frightened.
"When we arrived at Miss Jones home
Hie eAcuSeu heIstll LOT u lew moments,
saying she wished to don an appropriate
costume, and when she emerged from the
house little later clad in neat-ftting
garb OF the bloomer type and leading a
diamond-frame machine why, it simply
took my breath away. Oh, but she looked
clipper, chic and debonair, and my heart
was at once smitten with her. though
always had peculiarly sympathetic feeling
for her She certainly was the most beau
tiful and sweet morsel of femininity it had
been my pleasure to gaze upon. There
was no doubt about this, this lesson would
he extremely interesting. There would be
no skirts to get entangled in the wheels
and chain and to bother her in her awk-
ward manipulations of the same, and the
! time spent in teaching her to properly
manage her steed would surely be Just so
long time of unalloyed pleasure.
Miss Jones and ] walked to street
| seldom travelled after shutdown and the
walk over the intervening thoroughfares
was an exceedingly short one. We arrived
at our destination. The first thing was to
show her how to mount and this was Il
sumner. had assisted many young ladies
in their efforts to master the bicycle hut all
of them rode drop frame machines and they
all wore skirts. This case was far different.
| However, got on and off the wheel, usin.
| tbn to,, e.,
her in detail every succeeding movement.
! Then MIS- Jones tried it. First | firmly
grasped 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 a lunge for
on the hard road. | was underneath the
wheel made up the second layer 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
| tiISS' 4iiSS 'bilIH 'IIh lbl Stl VII llt HCtn
at all but sat there half sobbing, half
laughing, and she hoped | was not injured,
that she was so sorry, etc. With an almost
hercuean effort | rolled from my position
under the wheel and its fair, but heavy
burden, and after pulling myself together,
gave Miss Jones my hand and helped her
| liar Foot | ipnlirnJ if sIn
but she rejocngly informed me that she
came out unscathed and was ready for an
other trial
II was not much injured no-but
whatever thoughts | had had of spending
an enjoyable evening were rudely dispelled
from my mind. No, was not injured,
but | could almost swear that one of the
pei ais of that machine had cut out few
square inches of my shin bone and
imagined could feel it dangling about my
ankle. | was also aware of the fact that
there were several non-repairable pune.
lures in my trousers and that my anatomy
was bruised and sore in many places than
| Soui' III " puSC
''To tell the truth | was not at all
anxious to continue the demoralizing les
son, as | was sure that this experience
would be the death of me but | wouldn't
for an instant think of telling my fair
companion that 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 it
would be impossible to use it, hut outside
of few scratches it came out of the tum-
BILE as did it's owner-not in the least
damaged.
"Well, we tried the mounting business
over again, and this time | was prepared
for the shock and she did land on the
saddle most beautifully. After ! had bal.
anced the seemingly uncomfortable wheel
and told her to get ready for the start off,
she could ride fairly well now that she was
IN and IL I would inst tax a hold upder tbe