The times., 1898-06-13
CYCLING CHIT CHAT.

A notable sign of the times is seen in
the constantly increasing provision for
the storage of bicycles. Every enterpris-
ing shopkeeper maintains a rack; many
churches have their wheel stables; the
modern Office building has a place set
apart for the machines OF its occupants !;
architects specify the wheel room" on
plans for both city and country houses;
certain enterprising railroads engage to
care for commuters mounts, all of which
indicates that while the involved oppor-
tunity for pleasure IN cycling is greater
than ever, the bicycle is beginning to be
chiefly esteemed because of its usefulness.
Advocates of bevel gearing lay great
stress upon their claim that the chainless
is always ready for use, while the older
type of machine, because of the necessity
of cleaning. lubricating or tightening the
chain at frequent intervals, is seldom in
perfect running order.
Bad pedaling means wasted strength
and such waste means that the rider is
not getting his due out OF cycling.
In 1895 the question of what a woman
should wear awheel might have been
summed up in the trite expression,
everything goes Skirts, long or short,
boomers. knickerbockers, all went"
But public favor finally centered upon the
short skirt and ii is well.
Teddy" Edwards arrived at Spring.
field. Mass, from Boston Wednesday
evening, after having completed 159 con-
secutive centuries. He was in excellent
health and spirits and started out on his
daily run Thursday morning, accompanied
by a crowd of local enthusiasts. His plans
were to reach Albany Friday evening and
proceed westward after making that city
his headquarters for a few days.
The book issued to the trade by Hart
ford tire concern is really of general as
the rubber product from forest to fac
tory is graphically told, chiefly by means
of a series of carefully executed half
tones which picture the AmaZonian for
ests and the various forms of life there
in, the tapping of the rubber trees, the
native curing of the product and the
different stages of its transportation to
the grinding mill. Each illustration IS
supplemented by a few words of descrip-
ton. This book thoroughly demonstrates
the fact that the use of pictures or pic
torial symbols in writing, while Of ancient
origin, is still of practical adaptation to
strictly modern purposes.
TEDDY" Edwards gave way to extreme
merriment at Springfield a day or two
ago when shown an article which APP
peared in a New York paper last Iyednes-
day conveying the information that he
had told the chairman of the racing board
that he had several wheels supplied by "a
maker tires and cyclometers without
number and that he was paid at the rate
Of S1G.0e0 a year for his riding. Edwards
is a good deal Of a joker and admitted that
at times, in spirit of fun, he had given
inquisitiYe people some pretty startling
figures when asked about his earnings.
but never with the idea that such state
ments would be taken seriously. In re-
sponse TO the racing boards interroga-
ton he cheerfuHy admitted that he prop
erly belonged in the professional class
and therefore made no reply to questions
pertaining TO his earnings or the details
of his arrangements with his employers or
others who had offered him tires by the
carload, cyclometers by the gross, sad
dies by the dozen, and so on. In reply TO
the query as to what wheel he rode last
year he tokingiy filled out the blank with
the names Of all the wheels he remem-
bered having mounted in 1897. The list
was long one and included the product
of nearly every well-known maker in the
country. Edwards thought 1t huge Joke
that such statements as these should
have been found available for use in a
special telegram sent from Boston to one
of the great metropolitan daiIies.
The f1imsily built bicycle serves one good
purpose in that it's use one year is pretty
sure to create customer for a better
machine the next year.