1892 



(ir.RANINUS IN HKE (.;U LTLIRK. 



SJT 



\vas(t>S(if the picsi'ut lime is in permitting our 

 roads to bt'iii suoli sininicfui coiHiitioii as Micy 

 anMiiiriiiff a ureat pan of llic ycai'. Ordinary 

 country roails. Iiowcvn', answer very well foi- 

 thi' w iiccl wlicn it is not inudiiy. I have my- 

 self made 45'.j miles in a day! without any 

 fatigue worth mentioning. Ernest, as you 

 know, easily niaki-s (K) or 75: and exports, un- 

 der favoralilo (.'iriMimsianees, make not only KX) 

 miles, hut •.'()() and even moic liave Ix'cn made 

 in spei'ial eases. The w heel will enal)le us to 

 save money in many \\ ays. On |)age (ITC) I told 

 you ahout my nice litlh' field of liuckwheat that 

 did not got sown until .luly liOlh. It was cut in 

 just (M) days from the time of sowing. When 

 the crop was very fairly cured, and n^ady to 

 thrash. 1 noticed the barometer was falling 

 rapidly, indicating a storm. It was Saturday 

 afternoon. Four miles away, somcl)ody told 

 me, they were thrashing buckwheat that very 

 day. I5y the aid of my wheel I was on the spot 

 in twenty or thirty minutes. They told me 

 that, if my load of buckwheat could be run up 

 by the machine by two o'clock, they would 

 thrash it for mc and I conld take it right back 

 home. The buckwheat, grain, and straw, were 

 driven into the tool-sliiHl just before the rain 

 commenced falling, and I secured at tlie rate of 

 over ">() bushels of nice grain pen- acre. The 

 next day after the rain, Ihe ground was har- 

 rowed up with the cut-away harrow, and rye 

 took the place of the buckwheat. Somebody 

 has called this a fast age. Well, the wheel will 

 help us to make it a fast age, and U ^vlll help 

 us to secure our property speedily from storms 

 and other vicissitudes. 



Outdoor riding and outdoor buggy-riding and 

 horseback-riding have been recommended for 

 ages for the health: and very much has been 

 accomplished in this way. Outdoor air is un- 

 questionably far ahead of any system of venti- 

 lation for rooms warmed by artificial heat: and 

 horseback-riding has given much better results 

 than buggy-riding becau.se of the thorough 

 shaking up and the exercise to a certain extent 

 given to the rider. But horseback-riding is not 

 for a moment to be cotn pared to riding a wheel. 

 To get the best results from outdoor air. the 

 rider needs to take the pUice of the horse, and 

 furnish the motive power. Vou may say that 

 many patients are unalile to stand such vUdent 

 exercise. But it need not be violent. On a 

 smooth level road it is much easier than walk- 

 ing — that is, if you ride slowly. Of course, there 

 is a constant temptation to ride fast when you 

 can do so; but for some strange reason that I 

 can hardly explain, I have never yet heard of 

 anybody who suffered because he rode too fast 

 or too far. He may have been pretty well used 

 up for the tihie being: but sleep, food, and 

 drink, restore one so quickly that it .seems 

 almost too good to be true. I have been told 

 there is only one disease for which the wheel 

 is not to be advised, and that is heart di.sease. 



And now a word in regard to the moral results 

 that may be expected. The following, which 

 we clip from the B'lcydbig World of Oct. 7, has 

 been going the rounds: 



Says the Chrialinn Socctorjy, of Hartford : "Tlie 

 great enemy of a proper nbservance of the SabVjatli 

 Is not the saloon, great :is tliat is: it is tlie bicycle. 

 It Is our opinion, that the bicycle causes more 

 young men to nefrlect church and Sunday-school 

 than almost any thing else." 



I am very well awar«! that there is a great 

 deal of Sunday riding. A young friend of mine 

 rode 127 miles in one day. and that without 

 feeling it. so he said; and then added, in a little 

 lower tone, that that day was Sunday. I ftdt, 

 of course, very sad to liear him say it. and I 

 have felt sad to notice, through the BicycliiKj 

 World, accounts of century clubs, or clubs who 



have made a hundi'ed-nule lide in a day, and 

 see the remark that so numy of these rides wt're 

 made on Sunday. It is a well-known fact, tliat 

 livei-y stables do more business on Sunday than 

 on any other ilay in the week. .\nd I presume 

 this is trui' north, south, east, and west. It is 

 wrong, and it ought not to be; and their pat- 

 rons, as a matter of course, are. very few of 

 them. Christian people. Ministers do. perhajis. 

 to some extent, patronize livei'y stables to reach 

 theii' api>ointments: anil in cases of sickness it 

 is uniiuestionably right to go to a livery stable: 

 for even tin- Master himself said, '" It is lawful 

 to do well on the Sabbath." A great part of 

 the world will persist in regarding Sunday as a 

 holiday; and to have a good time, they, of 

 cour.se, want to ride out into the country or at- 

 tend the various gatherings or excursions that 

 of late have been geiting to be so much of a 

 custom to be held on Sunday. Now. right here 

 the wheel comes in. It takes the place, to a 

 certain extent, of horse and buggy. If some- 

 body is in pursuit of enjoyment simply, and his 

 solemotive is to have a good time, without any 

 regard to the Sunday question, he will, of 

 course, learn to ride the wheel. He very soon 

 discovers that, if he wants to have an enjoyable 

 time, nothing else in this world can so add or 

 contribute to the enjoyment as riding on the 

 wheel. If there is to be a VUnner, and you wish to 

 enjoy it, just ride an hour or two before eating. 

 The faster you ride, the more you will enjoy 

 your dinner'. If there is to be sight-seeing, or 

 if you are going to visit a circle of friends or 

 boon companions, nothing that has ever been 

 discovered will make you so bright and good- 

 natured as a good long ride on the wheel. Yes, 

 we may go further: If a minister wants to 

 preach a good sermon, or if a teacher wants to 

 do justice to his clas.ses. nothing else in the 

 wide world will so wake him up and stimulate 

 him to do his very level best, as this new sort of 

 muscular exercise, to be taken in the open aii'. 

 May be the CJirlstinn Secretary did not mean 

 to compare the bicycle, in point of morals, with 

 the saloon: and perhaps the editor had no 

 thought" of saying that the wheel bids fair to 

 be as deraoraliihm in its tendency as the saloon: 

 but, dear Christian friend, just think of that 

 expression as it stands. The saloon no doubt 

 calls men. old and young, from our churches; 

 but. by the way. is it not a mighty step, a 

 mighty stride, for instance, from church-going 

 to saloon-going? It hardly seems as if such a 

 step as that is madefall at once. My experience 

 teaches me that it comes more about in this 

 way: The church-goer begins to find fault with 

 the minister and his preaching; ♦hen he goes to 

 picking at Christians, and claims they are not 

 what they ought to be. Pretty soon he says he 

 can stay at homi; andrread, and get more good 

 than he can by going to church. Then he be- 

 comes tired of staying indoors, and feels that 

 he would like to cultivate the social element. 

 He strays over to the neighbor's, then gets out 

 on to the streets, and Jinally patronizes the sa- 

 loon. Perhaps some of our young nien are de- 

 bating whether they shall attend church, as 

 conscientious and good people direct, or whelh- ■ 

 er they shall go where they can have most fun 

 for the time being. In this case it may be that 

 the church and saloon both hold out induce- 

 ments in- one sense of the word. Suppose, 

 however, this new craze, the wheel, comes in 

 right here. He goes neither to,"the church nor 

 to the saloon. He goes of!' into the country, on 

 a wheel- ride. 1 do not say that this is the 

 thing to do. mind you, for I feel sad to .see any 

 young man go out on his wheel on Sunday be- 

 cause he can not afford to take the time week 

 days. But let us go back to the question. 

 Where would you rather have a boy of yours 



