The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-06-01
Bicycle Has Done Much for Women.

| teal to the mental
| Bicycle Has Done Much for Women.
The bicycle affords both natural ex-
ercise and an exhilarating pastime. Some
| one has likened it to flying machine
| and certainly it gives. in. it's swift and
| noiseless cleaving of the air. something
of the sensation of flying. The power
of covering great distances by ones own
| unalded muscular strength brings an
| added sense of dominion over nature and
| independence of external aid that is most
congenial and gratifying to the spirit of
man.
Never before has it been possible for
the mass of people of all ages and sexes
rendered possible to them by the bicy-
Gle. 1t is easy to explore the country
! for circuit Of 100 miles in the COM
pass Of a few days at the expense of
food and lodging. What an advantage
this is to the people Of small commui-
buildings, the gardens, the orchards. the
farming methods and appliances, the
manufactures and manifold employments
fand productions of a considerable extent
of country adjacent to their homes.
It is not only the pleasure of riding
ing through the arteries, and the lungs
expanded by deep draughts of life-giving
air, but the spectacle of natures beauty
the enjoyment of the fields of grain and
corn, the solitudes of the woods. and the
opportunities for repose and self-forget-
fulness so hard to attain in the busy ev-
eryday life Of the present, that make the
bicycle 50 dear to the people, says the
Ledger Monthly.
Probably, proportionately, women have
benefited more by the bicycle than men,
The physical Development of the girl of
6 nf %ho ~
versation. The maiden 'divinely tall'' is
much oftener met with than ever before
Something has come over the native. inn
pulses to growth of American women
which has given them greater stature
and finer figure in the last twenty years.
This is not confined to any particular
class of society or any particular locality
There is undoubtedly a wide-extended
cause for this larger growth, greater
height and firmer tread of the American
girl today. 1t is not all due to the ex-
pansion of wealth and education More
is due to the cultivation of out-of-door
sports. 1t is generally conceded that for
the even and moderate exercise of all
the muscles nothing superior to the bicy-
| Gle has yet been devised.
There is no great demand upon any
| ones strength in the ordinary use of
the bicycle. 1t is easier than walking,
| where at every step the weight of the
body must be lifted 1t is easy to avoid
| climbing hills. and it is not necessary
to ride greater distances than are easily
within ones capacity. Even those whose
employments are eXacting can generally
find time, after the days work. to take
this exercise in the open air with advan-
tage. 1t is especially valuable where
such daily employment is confirming and
where the work is with the head rather
than the hands.
1t is important that one should know
how to ride bicycle in order to get the
proper benefit from the use of it. The
saddle should be easy and afford a good
seat, the body should not be bent back
ward, and to avoid this the handlebar
should not be too high: the gearing
should be so arranged as to have the
pedal on the level with the foot when
the foot is extended, and the saddle
should be so placed as to bring the
weight of the body directly over the
pedal when the latter is at the lowest
point. A competent teacher will teach
these positions in a few lessons. A
physicians advice also, in case of a deli
cate person of either sex, is desirable
In the selection of wheel, as in the
selection of anything else, the best is al
ways the cheapest.
There are still mooted points in the
construction and use Of the bicycle re-
naming to be settled before every lover
of this new and delightful exercise and
mode of locomotion will be entirely sat
is6ed, but the progress of the last few
years has been highly encouraging, and
the present models are Il great advance
over the past.-Boston Herald.