Evening star., 1898-11-05
IN FRANCE ON WHEELS.
some Pleasures and Difficulties OF
BiISing i'm That Country.

4 %
| hiking i'm That Country.
| From the Pail Mall Gazette
! Of course, nearly all the cyclists that one
sees in France, like nearly all the people In
| the hotels, are English. We have got so
| used to the phenomenon that We scarcely
| Eotice it, but sometimes ii occurs to one to
| reflect what would be the average Briton' $
| feelings If he arrived say at Clifton Hamp-
| den and found the Barley Now occupied by
| several parties of French men and women
critcising all who were not French at the
top of their voices, and ordering the walters
| about as If the place belonged to them One
| also reflects that il is extraordinarily nice
OF any nation to keep the roads in such
PERFECTION rs they attain. for example in
Normandy. entirely fer the convenience Of
passing aliens. However here and there
| a stray example of the native cyclist is to
| be seen, and his customs and costums in
| spire amazement, especially. perhaps. the
costume.
l. French roads are broad long white and
glaring. the sun of France is hot. yet every
man attires himself by preference in
| black Jersey. This may be done from mo-
uVes OF economy, but the result is that
while the British cyclist varies from dusty
to grubby, his French rival never fails in
grubbiness, fnd often attains to positive
dirtiness. The knck erbockers worn are
| calculated to enhance this impression They
bag shapelessly down to the middle OF the
calf In the stockings the irrepressible
passion for tartans which affects all
French people, breaks out I'm checks Of the
most startling pattern Occasionally a re-
crudescence of the same exhibits itself on
the back of the jersey.
A further note of color is sometimes in
trCduced by {. large loose garter worn like
an Africans anklet. little way above the
top of the boot. The headgear varies but
that most affected is large berat, worn
harging over one ear, which makes the
whole appearance recall yividly NJ. Ros-
trand's Cadets De Gascogne" As the cy-
clists slouch in toward the tables in troops
one is irresistibly reminded of Gyrano's dis
orderly companions. There is. however, no
rash, daring. no gasConade, about yoar Gal
lie rider. Few machines in France have
brakes, which at first sight gives one a high
opinion of their riders temerity: but after
some days i began to notice that a French
man on a hill was always walking-whether
down or up. Certainly they have cause to
be frightened, for the most ordinary slopes
are studded with placards - ''Dascente
RSpde," 'Tournant DangereuX" and the
like. Coasting is a luxury left entirely to
the foreigner. and, to do the authorities
justice. no steps are taken to enforce the
laws which limit the rate of riding to eight
miles an hour.
But. if the French cyclist is a gentle and
downtrodden person. the "automobilist' is
a different character. Whether laws exist
to regulate his pace or not, no one seems to
know; but the commonest rate of locomo-
ton ranges from fifteen to twenty miles an
hour. 1t is true, they blow horn with lit
tie intermission and warn the unhappy cy-
clist or foot passenger TO climb up the near
est bank. But the horn is in itself q
danger which scares horses and paralyzes
in some instances the human nerves. The
gentlemen who make use of these convey
anceS distinguish themselves by the yacht
ing cap, was done on the occasion of a
celebrated parade in London. The associ-
alton of ideas is not obvious till you have
been on board one of the machines, when
the Vibra tiOn the SiCEepina smell nf oil md
kindred phenomena suggests beyond any
possibility of mistake the saloon of a
steamer. But apart from these public nuis-
anCes, which are comparatively rare in
country places. the Briton cannot do better
than go to France for his cycling; the best
roads in the world are maintained there fol
the use of himself and his companions. He
has scared every one else off them.