Reminiscent and Personal 23 



or we are helpless on our bicycles. The 

 walker is free. He has no horse, either 

 of flesh or steel, to lodge, feed, oil, or brag 

 about, and, be it boulevard, path, or field, 

 he gets along just as well. Objectors to 

 the walk always say, " But you can get on 

 so much faster on a bicycle." Of course 

 you can. So you can on the cars. The 

 professional pedestrian trotting about a tan- 

 bark ring makes six hundred miles in a 

 week ; but is that walking ? No ; you must 

 walk with your eyes no less than with your 

 feet. To get there is less important than 

 to get what lies along the way. Some 

 walks of a mile mean more than others of 

 a hundred. As to the person who rides on 

 his "wheel" with handles down, head down, 

 back bent, legs kicking frantically, shed- 

 ding perspiration, exhaling anxiety, and 

 viewing only a cyclometer and gravel, why 

 doesn't he buy a treadmill and work it at 

 home ? I am no enemy of the bicycle ; I 

 am as fond of mine as I am of my horse 

 (I haven't any horse); but I believe it 

 should be used as a pleasure and a bene- 

 fit, not as a penance or a menace. 



