4 o8 



RECREATION. 



them. " It must be — no — it could not be — 

 ol' man Hollister, at that rate ov speed! " 



When he dismounted, and delivered the 

 mail, there was no room for doubt, and a 

 cheer arose from their brawny throats, 

 while women and children gathered around 

 to gaze — open mouthed — at the unexpect- 

 ed sight. 



' I thank ye, boys, fur what ye've done 

 fur an ol' man," he said. " An' I don't care 

 how many laff an' say ' Here comes a 

 scorcher,' an' ' Whar's my cameray? ' Not 

 a bit, boys " — the quavering voice was 

 growing more tender — " fur as I fly 

 through the woods an' hear the birds a 

 singin', the frogs a croakin', an' think how 

 free I am boys, fur a time, anyway, I real- 

 ize I've jest begun to live. An' may God 

 bless ye all fur makin' an ol' man happy." 



The man was in the kitchen, eating bread 



and coffee; 

 His wife was in her bloomers, trying to 



show off — he 

 Having, in his blindness, given her a wheel, 

 Which now, his only hope was somebody 



would steal. — Exchange. 



BICYCLE FOR WAR PURPOSES. 



Lieut. J. A. Moss, commanding the bi- 

 cycle corps of the 25th infantry, has filed an 

 official report of his trip, from Fort Mis- 

 soula, Mont., to St. Louis, a distance of 

 more than 1,900 miles. In this report he 

 says: 



" Thirty-four days of actual travel, at an 

 average rate of 6.3 miles an hour, were nee-' 

 essary to make the trip. We were delayed 

 4 hours and 7 minutes repairing tires, 13 

 hours repairing bicycles and 372 hours and 

 28 minutes for luncheon and other pur- 

 poses. Except while in the sand hills of 

 Nebraska the health of the command was 

 good, and none of the soldiers was in any 

 way disabled or made sore from riding. 

 The trip through the sand hills, however, 

 was extremely tiresome and trying, and 

 tested our powers of endurance to the ut- 

 most. About three-fourths of the corps 

 were sick from the effects of alkali water. 

 The water in Wyoming and South Dakota 

 was also bad. In these 2 States we were 

 sometimes compelled to travel as far as 30 

 miles without getting water fit to drink. 

 On several occasions we were caught in 

 rain storms, between our relief stations, 

 where it was impossible to buy rations, and 

 were consequently compelled to ride miles 

 with little or nothing to eat. On one oc- 

 casion we rode 42 miles on a cup of weak 

 coffee and a small piece of burnt bread. 



" We had a number of breakages, due to 

 reckless riding. The greater part of the 

 trip was made under the most trying cir- 

 cumstances, through mud, water, rain, 

 sand, over mountains, bad roads, fording 



streams, etc., the whole time living on the 

 regulation field and travel ration, cooked 

 in improvised utensils. The trip has been 

 very satisfactory to me, and has, I think, 

 fully demonstrated the practicability of the 

 bicycle as a means of transportation." 



When a scorcher in future is captured, 

 And to justice, his victims appeal, 



A novel complaint might be worded, 

 Arrested for " roasting " his wheel. 



THINKS THE SOUTH AHEAD. 



" In the matter of building good roads," 

 says the Helena " Independent," " it is said 

 the South is now ahead of the North, and 

 that North Carolina leads the South. Un- 

 der the law of that State, petty misdemean- 

 ants are employed at making public roads, 

 and convicts are employed in the same way. 

 Under the operation of this law the State 

 roads are being changed from mud to mac- 

 adam. Tramps are included as misdemean- 

 ants, and, when caught, they are set to 

 work on the roads. 



" We believe the California road law is 

 better than that of North Carolina. Un- 

 der it the tramp and the unemployed gen- 

 erally are not treated as. criminals, but 

 have the legal right to demand work on 

 the roads, board and lodging, and that a 

 small wage be paid. The North Carolina 

 law does not put the tramp, who is willing 

 to work, in the way of bettering his condi- 

 tion, while the California law does. Un- 

 der the latter, with board and lodging fur- 

 nished, an unemployed man can, with thrift, 

 economy and frugality, on a wage of 35 

 cents a day for 300 days in the year, save 

 up $10,500 in 100 years; and then he can go 

 into business for himself." 



Daisy, Daisy, gave him her answer true, 

 And now he's crazy, riding the avenue; 

 It's proved a happy marriage and instead of 



a baby carriage, 

 The third small seat looks trim and neat 

 On a bicycle built for two. 



— L. A. W. Bulletin. 



WITH WHEEL AND ROD. 



Editor Recreation: I have just returned 

 from a pleasant cycling and trouting trip, 

 in Forest County, Pa. The trout were not 

 plentiful this year, but I caught 155 in the 

 5 weeks I was there. I could have taken 

 more but had no use for them. 



The wheeling was fine, during the dry 

 weather, especially along the river and 

 creek roads. There is good trout fishing 

 in Forest county, in summer, and during 

 the fall and winter white and gray rabbits, 

 ruffed grouse, and squirrels are abundant. 

 There are also a few -wild-cats and foxes. 

 Deer and bear are also quite plentiful. 



