1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE.. 



r)()3 



SHALL WOMEN EIDE WHEELS 1 



A. I. KOOT IS ASKED TO «IVE HIS OPINION. 



Mr. Root.-— What is your opinion in regard to 

 women riding wheels? Is there any thing un- 

 lady lilve about it? In some localities many 

 think a woman should not ride a wheel; but I 

 say, if not, why not ? A Whkei.er. 



[My good friend, perhaps you have come to 

 the wrong one to answer your question. Two 

 of my daughters ride wheels, and my son's 

 wife rides one; and Mrs. Root expects to ride 

 as soon as she can learn how. She complains 

 that the weather is too hot in the month of 

 July; and if you want my opinion further, it is 

 this: The advantages of the wheel are so great 

 I do not see how women can be debarred from 

 riding. Our daughters have both been greatly 

 improved in health by riding the wheel. They 

 are independent of horses and buggies, stage 

 coaches, and. to some extent, the railroads. 

 While they are gaining in health they do 

 a dozen little errands for themselves, their 

 mother, or friends. Nobody has to hitch up 

 a horse nor put it away; no expense for oats, 

 hay, etc. I know that some say it is well 

 enough for girls, but that for married women 

 it is not the thing. I frequently meet my 

 daughter-in-law about town, making pur- 

 chases. Sometimes I go with her to the cem- 

 etery, where she puts fresh flowers over her 

 mother's and father's remains. The cemetery 

 is fully a mile away. With the aid of a wheel 

 she goes over eveninas any time when she 

 feels so disposed. When it is necessary she 

 can visit friends on her wheel, even 20 miles 

 away: and if you want my opinion in regard to 

 how it looks. I answer that I never saw her 

 look more like a picture of health, and what a 

 Avoman should be, than when on her wheel. 

 As she is rather heavier than our daughters, 

 she was longer in learning how; and some of 

 her friends feared at first she would never 

 learn to ride; but now she gets off and on her 

 wheel easily, and. perhaps I may say. grace- 

 fully, and is perfectly at home in the manage- 

 ment of it. I do not think she has had a fall 

 since she first commenced while she was learn- 

 ing, and no accident of any kind. 



It seems to me that women rnuKt ride wheels. 

 There is not any need of arguing the matter, 

 for the wheel itself is rapidly settling the ques- 

 tion. If it should transpire that this one thing 

 of wheelriding shall of itself result in banish- 

 ing the foolish fashion of skirts that sweep 

 into all the filth on the sidewalk, then I shall 

 think the wheel has done another good thing 

 in the way of a reform in dress as well as a re- 

 form in health. 



Please pardon me for saying a word more in 

 regard to the benefits of wheelriding to myself. 

 "During this hot July weather I am tempted to 

 think, a good many times, that I am too old to 

 he of much more use in the world: l)ut the 

 wheel cures me of all such notions every time. 

 Yesterday I rode 2'i'^{ miles before dinner. The 

 last 71.2' miles, over a graveled road, I made in 

 T<() minutes. I aro.se in the morning between 

 four and five: had no bi'eakfast but crackers 

 and milk, and my favorite apple-sauce. I did 

 not have any nap before dinner — didn't feel the 

 need of any, and, in fact, was not particularly 

 hungry, even though the dinner wa>< a little 

 after my usual time. In the afternoon I rode 

 nearly as manv miles more, and came home 

 feoling unusually well, not even feeling tired 

 and sleepy before half-past nine. This fore- 

 Tioon T have felt strong, vigorous, and well — 

 more like riding another 30 miles than doing 



any thing else. Instead of feeling the need of 

 any sort of medicine or doctor's stuff, or even 

 stimulants, I have a healthy appetite for plain 

 food atid nothing else; and when thirsty, all I 

 want is pure water, or perhaps, when I feel 

 faint, a gla.ss of milk in place of the water. 



Now, the wheel has produced equally aston- 

 ishing results with thousands of other people, 

 as you may perhaps know, besides saving them 

 money by such a cheap method of travel. AH 

 this being true, can anybody think of saying 

 that women must be debarred flora the use of 

 this new gift that I think came right from the 

 good Father above? The only ob.iection that 

 can be raised is, that some people think it is 

 not ladylike. Oh, yes 1 perhaps I should add 

 that Mrs. Root says it is hard on women's 

 clothing. This may be true where either a 

 man or woman rides, say, 20 miles a day — that 

 is, if they insist on being well dressed according 

 to the prevailing fashion. If fashion should 

 change, however, so that it becomes fashion- 

 able for both men and women to dress espe- 

 cially for, or with the end in view of, facilitat- 

 ing wheelriding, then the last objection will 

 disappear. I do not know what the outcome is 

 going to be. I am waiting and watching, not 

 only hopefully but joyously. 



How can one enter into a strong man's liouse, 

 and spoil his goods, except lie first bind tlie strong 

 man ? and then he will spoil his house. — Matt. 12: 29. 



Perhaps I should say, in the commencement, 

 that the passage above was presented to my 

 attention by our pastor, in a brief little sermon- 

 ette to the children, just before his regular 

 sermon. He told the children that the figure 

 of the house meant each one of us ourselves — 

 not only our bodies, but our dispositions, our 

 characters, our standing in the community — all 

 these represent the house that it is our business 

 to protect. It takes hard work and a good 

 many years to establish a reputation— a good 

 name, as it is usually termed. Now, there are 

 enemies constantly at work to destroy this 

 house of ours— this human habitation. The 

 enemy is Satan. His work is to spoil and tram- 

 ple in the dust; to ruin; to degrade; and'wher- 

 ever he can find a human being who does not 

 keep watch, or act as a sentinel over the house, 

 he will destroy it. The strong man is the soul 

 —the immortal part that never dies. This soul, 

 conscience, or principle, is watching and de- 

 fending, and continually protecting the reputa- 

 tion, the good name, the purity, from the at- 

 tacks of Satan. 



The readers of Gleanings are doubtless all 

 familiar with the way in which the sentinels 

 of a bee- hive protect the stores within from 

 robber-bees. Since the basswood season has 

 closed, and little or no honey is to be found in 

 the fields, every hive is tested and tried. If the 

 entrance is a large one. robbers will be dodging 

 up the whole length of it; and if there are not 

 sentinels enough along its whole length to hold 

 the fort, down goes the work of the industrious 

 little colony and tho commonwealth. Most of 

 you have seen the d<'vastation and ruin that 

 robbers make in just a few hours if the senti- 

 nels become overpowered, or if they become 

 disheartened, or heedless and shiftless. They 

 seldom do the latter, however, while there is a 

 fertile queen in the hive. They seem to know 



