The Portland daily press., 1898-04-16
(New York Sun.

New York SUM-
She had coasted down steep hill which
turned two sharp corners. She had an
escort, but he was young man with dis
erection and brake, and while he would
do good deal to save her, he couldn't
see the pleasure in perishing with her. So
when she whirled round the first corner
he resigned himself to losing her, and
wondered how he would take the body
home. The thought came to him that
the situation would be less complicated
If she should be dead than If she should
be seriously wounded, but he put that
idea aside hastily, and hoped that she
wouldn't suffer much before he could get
aid.
When he cautiously turned the second
corner he saw the victim sitting on
stump beside the road and tapping the
ground with her foot.
"Come by freight" she asked scornful-
ly. Her protector dismounted and looked
her over
"You aren't hurt?'' he said anxiously.
"Of course not. What could hurt me?''
"You really oughtn't do that scrt of
thing, you know" he protested. 'No-
body has any business ooasting that sort
of hill
81 hope you don't think that bad
hill"
Ile did, and he registered mental oath
that the next time he should take girl
wheeling she wouldn't be able to ride
better than he, but he smiled feebly, and
then the girl relented
81 guess it is a nasty hill,'' she said
sweetly. but I'm never afraid of coast
ing. They say the best way to teach
boy to swim is to throw him into deep
water and let him scramble for life. If
he finds he can take care of himself then
he'll never be afraid again. l learned to
coast something afte- that fashion. |
don't believe / could ever have screwed
up courage 10 try it deliberately the way
you men do. -
The.young man looked less exasperated,
and pre-empted part Of the stump.
How did it happen?" he asked. Her
hand was nice soft little one, and he
concluded it made little difference if a
girl did ride we'll. There were other
things to be considered. On the whole
he thought he wouldn't change girls for
his next ride.
''We were up at Mongolia, she said,
"and had been riding all summer, but
I used brake and back pedalled down
hill, and If the place was a bad one. got
off and walked. People said l didn't
have proper pride about wheeling, but l
wasn't taking any risks, and the very
thought of coasting made my blood run
cold. One day we started for Annisquam,
and about half way there we struck an
!, awful hill. 1t was frightfully steep and
long, and was full Of gravel. Then there
were springs in the woods SO that little
streams ran across the road diagonally,
and had washed out deep hollows. At
the bottom, the road turned sharp cor
ner in sand. and ran down almost to the
beach, but it finally divided, one path
going onto the beach, and the other
turning along the shore.
81 thought at first that I'd get off but
Tom went ahead. Toms my brother"
she explained. Then some difficulties
with regard to staying on the stump were
arranged, and she went on with her
story
"Several swell carriages were coming
up the hill, and | didn't want to look
like 'fraid cat, so pedalled ahead and
started down.. tried to use my brake,
but the wretched thing wouldn't work,
} and by the time / found that out had
| struck the first washout. My wheel gave
a jump-you know how-my feet flew off
the pedals. flew off the seat, hut came
down on the saddle, and away we went.
My, how we did hy l didn't know what
| W w WILL Ivy loeb, ~ JuSG GtloQ 10 curl
them up out OF harms way and gripped
the handle bars and wondered who would
feel worst about my death. What? Oh,
but you see you didn't know me then,
SO you wouldn't have known what you
were losing.
"The people leaned out of the carriages
to watch me go by, and / heard one old
gentleman say, Crazy fool She deserves
: - but | was too far away by that time
to hear the rest of it. l suppose he
thought was doing my little stunt for
fun: Tom was ahead of me, and l
couldn't. turn out for anything, SO
ingl' He said, Jerusalem, and
scrambled to the side of the road, looking
as scared as felt He thought was do
ing It all on purpose, too.
, My wheel made flying leaps over eve
ry little stream, and l stayed on, but
knew about that sand at the bottom of
the MIL, ana thought could see my fin
ish. 1t took something more than sand
TO stop me IN my mad career. l flew
around the corner and on down the road,
but didn't have sense enough to turn
the second corner
The vince! tore along down the path,
over the pebbles and stones and into the
water. When we met the surf we went
down.. was surprised at that 1t
seemed TO me nothing but the end of the
world would stop that wheel. l grabbed
the bicycle and waded out. By that time
} Tom was on ths beach waiting for me-
"Wasn' IT he relieved?" asked the young
man tenderly.
She looked indignant.
, "RelievedP He howled! He said when
he took girl bicycling he was prepared
to save her RI from ON some kinds of death, but
resoue. He couldn't afford to shrink his
, bicycle togs.
"Now when Pm going riding with n
. man, Tom always advises him to wear
his bathing suit. Brothers think thew re-
SO funny. There's one thing, about that
afraid to coast. 1 decided I wasn't born
to be killed that way. and since that ride
any hill looks to me like level road.''
LIEUT.. TOTTEN TO THE FRONT.
(From Harper's Weekly
| Thesa are pood times for DrofessiopaI