OB, The Turn Out. 



183 



IRON HORSES: CYCLES. 



LTHOTJGH the bicycle is not immediately 

 connected with the horse and its belong- 

 ings, still it is an institution of the road, 

 and a popular machine alike with horse- 

 men and athletes, and will continue to 

 be so with the general public as a means 

 of locomotion, both for long and short 

 journeys. 



Therefore, the ''Rule of the Road" 

 becomes a more important item, and the 

 writer is advised that it will not be out 



of place to devote a Chapter to the consideration of the 



Bicycle, and its associate, the Tricycle. 



We believe the origin of the bicycle has been attributed 

 to parties who were only improvers or perfecters of the rude 

 and imperfect machines in use for many years past as mere 

 toys. 



But, like many other useful inventions, the bicycle owes 

 its origin to a very humble individual, one Gavin Dabzell, 

 a cooper, of Lanarkshire, in Scotland, who, in the year 1836, 

 constructed the first bicycle that ever proved successful for 

 business and pleasure. 



Dabzell, to his profession of cooper, added that of tea 

 dealer, and used to travel from village to village selling tea. 

 Of course, his first machine was a rough production com- 

 pared with the beautifully finished and perfected machines 

 of the present daj\ 



But, although his was a clumsy and awkward specimen, 

 Dabzell managed to travel with considerable speed, and it is 

 remembered that on one occasion he actually beat the mail 

 coach, which was bound to keep up a speed of 10 miles an 

 hour, and he ran round it three times during the journey, to 



