BICYCLING. 



ARRESTED. 



JESSIE FORSYTH CLINE. 



"Stop thief! Stop thief!" 

 I softly cried, 

 As Mabel I espied 

 Fast spinning on her wheel. 



" What, 1 ! A thief !" 



She asked with pride, 

 And stopped her flying ride; 

 " Then pray, what do I steal ?" 



"My heart ! My heart!" 



I tender sighed, 

 " To find it I have tried, 

 Can you its place reveal ?" 



" A fair exchange," 



She low replied, 

 " All robbery denied." 



Then left me, on her wheel. 



WHEELING CURED THEM. 



E. M. 



Within the memory of our mothers 

 it was the invariable rule that every 

 woman should wear her hair drawn 

 in long, ugly waves over h er ears, a fashion 

 trying to the prettiest face, becoming to 

 none. One day, some defiant little 

 woman ventured to lift the droop of her 

 shining tresses a trifle and display the 

 tips of her dainty ears. Her fiiends 

 were aghast. Good men and women 

 condemned such a bold and immodest 

 style, and even the young women of her 

 own circle looked upon this daring inno- 

 vation with suspicion and distrust. The 

 young woman had the courage of her 

 beauty and convictions and was undis- 

 mayed. The other young women saw 

 that she was not smitten with a curse be- 

 cause of her boldness. Perhaps, on the 

 contrary, the young men found the pink 

 tips of those pretty ears mightily inter- 

 esting. Gradually she drew followers 

 about her and slowly the waves of hair 

 receded from the ears of women, as the 

 tide of popular disapproval ebbed low, 

 until at last it was revealed to the eyes 

 of all the world that a wise Creator had 

 endowed every woman w r ith a pair of 

 ears, more or less comely, perhaps, but 



certainly useful and as fully entitled to 

 appear in public as similar organs of 

 men. 



How ridiculous it all appears to us 

 now ; yet it was simply the ever- recur- 

 ring battle of the radicals and the con- 

 servatives. No step of human progress 

 is made without it, and while we laugh 

 at the absurd prejudices of our progeni- 

 tors we also smile at those of our con- 

 temporaries who are waging a similar 

 war to-day against women who ride 

 bicycles. 



It is so preposterous to raise the 

 question of immodesty in regard to this 

 delightful recreation, that I will leave its 

 discussion to those who have more time 

 than common sense. The benefit or 

 harm which may result to the health of 

 women who engage in wheeling is a 

 question which may, perhaps, merit more 

 serious consideration. 



Some people aver that wheeling is not a 

 wholesome exercise for women. Some 

 few reputable physicians have even 

 asserted that the weaker sex is too weak 

 to ride wheels; that they are constitution- 

 ally unfitted for so vigorous a method of 

 locomotion. No doubt some women are, 

 but that all are so, I venture to deny 

 most emphatically. 



That in some cases it may be highly 

 beneficial, is demonstrated by the experi- 

 ence of Mrs. Elliott Langley, of Linden, 

 N. J. About two years ago her lungs 

 began to be seriously affected and she 

 was threatened with consumption. She 

 soon grew so weak that a walk of a few 

 blocks exhausted her and one of a mile 

 prostrated her. Her physician advised 

 her to try wheeling. It seemed unrea- 

 sonable to recommend such exercise to 

 one having so little strength. The doc- 

 tor was urgent, and she procured a wheel. 

 She became interested in learning to ride, 

 and soon began to display her skill by 

 spinning over the smooth and beautiful 

 roads near her home. To the surprise 

 of herself and every one who knew her 

 she was able to increase the length of 

 her excursions rapidly, from day to day. 

 In the course of a few months it was no 

 unusual thing for her to wheel gaily over 

 to Plainfield and back in a day, a dis- 



