Evening star., 1898-12-10
A"HEEL IN SIBERIA.
ihe village Boys Had Never Before
Seen Il Bicycle.

From ST. Nicholas
During a bicycle journey throupb siborfa
one summer L had occasion to travel sew
e1al hundred miles along what is caIIed tho
Great Siberian Highway. You will see hv
siancing at the map that this road con-
meets the Siberian capital Irkutsk with
European Russia. The distance is some
three thousand miles, and along its course
nave been butt nearly all the towns and
villages OF old Siberia
through these towns and villages | made
my daily runs and usually with a clamor-
ing multitude of shouting boys and yeIDjng
doss as my escort; for a bicycle was as vet
novelty in that part of the world, and In
some OF the more remote districts even a
thlng unknown. / remember, on entering
certain village just at dusk, when the
streets were quite deserted, l came sud-
denly upon two village boys walking in the
street. They did not see me until | flashed
abruptly past them. They threw up their
hanus In beWilderment and shrieked out
Cnort eediott! (The devils comingD and
fled in terror to their homes I rode on tn
the regular post station, ordered a frugal
supper and prepared to pass the night In
the travellers ROOM"
In the meantime. the news of the ..dev
IFS" arrival had spread like wiId6re
through the village. and the post yard was
soon swarming with village boys pesterinr
the station master to let them have peep
at the marvellous devils carriage" With
the "deviPs' permission, the carriage was
finally taken out to exhibit to the wonder
ing crowd. When l had finished my meal
| stole out unnoticed to observe the group of
eager urchins gathered round the object of
their curiosity. One of their number more
presumptuous than the rest had taken
hold OF the wheel, and was eDdeavoring to
enlishten his young congregation on bicycle
philosophy in general, and this wheel in
particular. The handle bars, he knew,
were TO catch hold Of and the seat was to
sit on. but he did not exactly know how ii
was propelled.
An inquisitve chap raised the question of
bdlancing-how the bicycle could stand up
without being held. This question was i'm
mediately seconded by the rest of the as
sembly, and put the seif-elected teacher on
his mettle. He asserted at once that that
feat was easy enough to perform: but the
more he tried to show them how, the more
he realized It's difficulty, until finally the
bicycle got tangled up with his legs and
both went sprawling on the ground This
was the signal for shout of derisive
laughter from the crowd: but the little fell
low was not to be defeated so ignomin-
iously. He picked himself up. rubbed his
head for a moment and meditated Finally
happy thought struck him. "Oh, l know
how 1t ISL he exclaimed, as he picked up
the bicycle You see, when 1t falls over
this way he puts down this prop (pointing
to the right pedaD, land when it falls that
way he puts down the other. Then the
self-appointed lecturer upon bicycles looked
proudly around for approval.
why. OF course" they all murmured.
and In d tone of self-reproof that they had
not thought of 1t before
And so the little village wiseacre at once
maintained his reputation and Impressed
upon his associates how stupid they were
not to have solved the problem for them
selves.