

in ant communal 



he right to bur* their children ex- 

 from *umUnc* during the houra when 

 imnftftto. 



the 



wvre 



ipwieu uiv 



of universal suffrage The change in 

 law was dtmmfrffH as a viola; 

 in 1MB Constitution that forbids the 

 LegMaiurr t rk to penetrate into the con- 

 fiMMof dtlatw with a riew to appreciate 

 thair conduct by their adherence to one or 

 other religious (kith or by their profes> 

 MNMftt all. 



The few. ft* finally enacted, provides that the 

 local anthoritie* in each pariah shall determine 

 the number of schools and teachers necessary ; 

 hot BO school can be closed or vacancy left un- 

 filled without the consent of the Minister 

 imrtfriTv Instruction is obligatory in religion 

 and moral*: reading. writing, anil aril Inn. -tic. 

 including weights and measures; the elements 

 of the language of thedi>tri-t. l-'n-m-h. Finn Mi, 

 or German; geography and Belgian history; 

 rule* for the preservation of health ; and draw- 

 ing, singing. and gymnastics. In addition to 

 these branches girls must be taught to sew and 

 boys in rural districts must receive instruction 

 are, The parish clergy must either 

 personally impart the religious instruction that 

 to given in the first or last school hours of each 

 day or superintend it. and the bishop appoint 

 inspectors who visit the schools and supervise 

 the instruction in religion and morals. Parents 

 have ft right to free their children from religious 

 instruction. Clerical and private schools receive 

 list same subvention from the state that is given 

 to the communal schools if they have a sufficient 

 MHBbor of pupils and classm conforming to the 

 ta 



BICYCLES. Prom the earliest ages one of 

 man's greatest desires has been to rival the 



in their progress over the 

 ground or the flight of bird* , tt,,- air. This 

 MSA first in his conquest of the hone, and 

 next in the efforts to fly. which last attempis 

 have brought misery on foolhardy inventors 

 from time immemorial. A machine to go on 

 wheels and be propel! fst was devised 



by Baron Drais early in 'this century, and was 

 called a frm.,, (K* "Annual Cyclopedia" 



*ML page 90). Ten yean ago bicyclists 

 were content to ride on what was called the 

 -Ordinary." a bicycle that had one high front 

 wheel and one little, almont tiny, rear wheel. 

 This permitted one to travel at a wonderful rate 

 compared with anything that had *, far been 

 ehsnul, but it wan fraught with danger. The 

 invention of the "SeMy." a machine that has 

 two wheels of equal or nearly equal size, depend- 

 ing for power on a chain gearing, wan what 

 practically conquered space so far as the \> 

 ridinf world b concerned, and gave even ladies 

 and children an instrument on which many of 



can develop a speed surpassing that of 



thoroughbred horses. There were two factors of 

 almost equal importance in tin- \\--nderful speed 

 records attaint*! bv the n< btoyole that 



has occasioned MOO .> *i.;- -| !!. The 



one thai played almost as imp., riant a part as 

 the chain L Is was the 



inti-oduchon of tin- pneumatic tin-. This was 

 invmird in England half a criitury ago. It 

 was tried there for wagon- a: .-*, but 



wa* a failure. On thft intarodaotioB hen- <>f the 

 pneumatic tin-, tin- popularity <>f the liii-yrh- 

 was established at .n.-c. It has ..m, 



ture of ciiniinon lif< 1 in all civilizwl count rii-s. 

 Not only do all classes of society use it for pleas- 

 id exercise, hut it has been mndr u--ful 

 to dfliwr the mail-, in the army, on the |>li.-e 

 force, for the delivery work of messenger boys, 

 i-ven in such a crowdexl city as New V..rk : and, 

 with the application of power that i- n>\v In-ing 

 tried for the doing away with the working of the 

 pedals by the feet, it is believed that its useful- 

 ness has practically no limit. The riding-acad- 

 emy business in New York has been changed 

 into a bicycle-school business, and the let ting of 

 horses ana light wagons has been as much di- 

 ininMicd ly the ponulariU of the bicycle as the 

 sale of horses in New xork for the h. i 

 lines has been hurt ly the advent of the cable 

 roads. On the other hand, sporting-goods es- 

 tablishments that barely existed ha\ 

 the demand for the bicycle, become important 

 mercantile houses ; and while hundreds of new 

 factories and stores have been started, the im- 

 portance of the trade is perhaps better shown by 

 the entrance into it of some of the largest sew- 

 ing-machine and rifle-manufacturing estahli-h- 

 rnents in the country. There are in America 

 180 large bicycle manufactories, while counting 

 the concerns that turn out only 50 to 100 ma- 

 chines a day the number rises to nearly 300. 



During 1805 these 300 factories turned out 

 500,000 machines of all sorts, from the light and 

 graceful ladies' bicycles to the heaviest ones for 

 large men seeking to reduce their weight. The 

 astonishing thing about these latter bicycles is 

 that now a heavy machine only weighs about 22 

 or 24 pounds, while a few years ago the best 

 racing bicycle made scaled over 60 pounds. A 

 fine racing machine now will not weigh over 16 

 pounds. The cost of bicycles has come down in 

 the last few vears, till the average cost of these 

 500,000 machine- to th.- user is about $75, or a 

 total of $37,500,000. And with all this enor- 

 mous production, the supply is unequal to the 

 demand. Although a bicycle is guaranteed for 

 the first year, like a watch, each purchaser 

 spends, on an average, half as much as his ma- 

 chine coxt him in the first six months on all 

 sorts of improvements, and twice as much more 

 A bicycle i- almost as good a thing 

 for basinets and the promotion of industry in a 

 country as horse-and -carriage keeping. Rubber 

 tires wear out. Spokes get twisted in accidents, 

 new air pumps are wanted, there are always a 

 hundred little nothings for the machine, all of 

 which means so much more money to the maker, 

 for all the makers manufacture the accessories. 

 Then the rider has need of a list of extras long 

 enough to frighten any but a prodigal. It is es- 

 timated that in a factory that can turn out 30,000 

 bicycles a year, over 800 persons, mostly full 



