HISTORY OF PASADENA. 



It was ' ' business. " So I procured a bicycle — and then the ' ' wild west ' ' 

 circus commenced. But I conquered the thing in due time, and the follow- 

 ing article from the Daily Star of May 12, 1894, I quote both for the humor 

 of it and because it is a part of the ' ' history of the History ' ' : 



" The Star reporter who has been watching Dr. Reid's sexagenarian ex- 

 periments with a fiery, untamed bicycle says "it's ago," at last ; and he 

 won't tell of the hundred or more throws the new rider got — nor of the 

 trees, fences and gutters that might have brought an action for assault and 

 battery ; nor how he ran into a horse and buggy with three ladies in it, when 

 nobody could tell whether the horse, the ladies or the flopped-over doctor were 

 most frightened; nor how he ran into Arnold's milk wagon and scared 

 the milk into curd cheese. Final success wipes out all the little erraticisms 

 of cranky inexperience, even for a man over sixty years old ; and as a con- 

 clusion of the whole matter, our reporter captured the following humorous 

 document recently read before the Fortnightly Club : 



SPINNING WHEEI.S. 



BY DR. H. A. REID. 



[I was in some doubt as to whether this poem s^hould eo to the Historical Society, the Science Aspo- 

 ciation, or the Bicycle Club, but I finally concluded that the Throe p Po yte-chnist> would probably classify 

 it as an evolutional sport in Biocyclology— sub-class Pedo economics. This would account for the ZJaz/y 

 Star's recent squib about my bicycle experiments ; hence I present it here.] 



Our grandmas had their spinning wheels 

 And made them spin like fun, 



With treadle going up and down 

 To make the spindle run. 



But this was in "ye olden time," 



Before the factories came 

 With patent spinning jacks to beat 



The women's fast-work fame. 



Each spin-wheel then was stored away 



In dingy garret room, 

 To wait some new fad of the world 



Which might unseal its doom. 



And it has come; for now our girls 

 Go spinning through the street 



With wheels that run as Grandma's did, 

 By treadles for the feet. 



On two wheels now instead of one 



The spinning whirl is done ; 

 Their grandmas did it for day's work ; 



They do it just for fun. 



And likewise, even gray old men 

 Have caught up this new prank ; 



From grandma's spin-wheel made a " bike," 

 And learned to pump the crank. 



Our grandma's spinned at home, the yarn 

 From their deft fingers twirled : 



But now the biker boys and girls 

 Go spinning round the world. 



The problem next is, how to save 

 The waste force thus evolved ? — 



Put wind-up springs upon the wheels, 

 And lo, the problem's solved. 



For when you've springs enough wound up, 



Gear them in gangs, and run 

 A motor street car at less cost 



Than ever yet t'was done. 



Or start a plant to generate 



Electric light and heat 

 To serve for evening lamps at home, 



And cook your bread and meat. 



This scheme will prove our spinning wheels 



In true worth not unlike 

 The wheels our grandmas used to tread, 



And so commend the " bike." 



I found the bicycle wonderfully helpful in ray work, and also of some 

 benefit to my health b}^ the exhilarating exercise it gave me. 



On January 24, 1895, Mrs. Reid had the misfortune to get her arm 

 broken. This of course was unavoidably a great hindrance and drawback 

 to our history work — stopping it entirely for a while, and embarrassing it in 

 some measure all the rest of the time. However, we lost no time lamenting, 

 but went on with the task as best we could, to its final conclusion. 



