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LIBRARY
UNItftRSITV OF

CALIFORNIA

SAN DIEGO

A WHEEL WITHIN A

WHEEL

A WHEEL WITHIN AWHEEL

HOW
I

LEARNED TO
BICYCLE

RIDE THE

WITH SOME REFLECTIONS BY THE

WAY

BY

FRANCES

E.

WILLARD

Illustrates

FLEMING NEW YORK

H.

REVELL COMPANY
CHICAGO
1895

TORONTO

Copyright, 1895,

Bv FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY.

GRATEFULLY DEDICATED

TO

LADY HENRY SOMERSET,

WHO GAVE ME "GLADYS,"
THAT HARBINGER OF HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE

Miss WlLLARD

.Frontispiece

A LACK

OF BALANCE

facing page 21
29
"

EASTNOR CASTLE
" So EASY

WHEN You KNOW How

AS

36

"

IT'S

DOGGED

DOES

IT "
"

44
57 72

" LET "

Go BUT STAND BY
LAST "
.
,

AT

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

PRELIMINARY

[ROM my

earliest recollections,

and

up had been an active and

worker
in the world.

to the ripe age of fifty-three, I

diligent
;

This sounds absurd

but having almost no toys except such as I could manufacture, my first plays were but
the outdoor

work

of active

men and women

on a small

scale.

Born with an inveterate

opposition to staying in the house, I very

early learned to use a carpenter's kit

and a

gardener's tools,

and followed

in

my

mimic

way
plow

the occupations of the poulterer

and the

farmer, working
of

my little
9

field

with a wooden
felling saplings

my own

making, and

10

with an ax rigged up from the old iron of the

wagon- shop.
the
artificial

Living

in the country, far

from

restraints
girls

which most
ties that

and conventions by are hedged from the activi-

endowed with the companionship

would develop a good physique, and of a mother

sweet
will, I

who
wild

let

me have my own

"

ran the

"

until

my

sixteenth birthday,
skirts

when

hampering long
their

my

were brought, with accompanying corset and high heels hair was clubbed up with pins, and I re;

member

writing in

my

journal, in the
colt

first

heartbreak of a young
its

human

taken from
I

pleasant pasture, "Altogether,

recognize

that

my

occupation
that time

is

gone."
I

From

on

always realized and

was obedient

to the limitations thus imposed,

I felt their

though in my heart of hearts wisdom even more than their

un-

injustice.

My

work then changed from

my

beloved and

breezy outdoor world to the indoor realm of study, teaching, writing, speaking, and went

on almost without a break or pain

until

my

HOW
fifty-third year,

LEARNED TO RIDE

II

when

the loss of

my

mother

accentuated the strain of this long period in

which mental and physical life were out of balance, and I fell into a mild form of what
is

called nerve-wear

by the

patient and ner-

vous prostration by the lookers-on. Thus ruthlessly thrown out of the usual lines of
reaction on

my

environment, and sighing for

new worlds

to conquer, I determined that I

bicycle.

would learn the

English naval officer had said to me, " You women have after learning it himself,

An

no idea

of the

new realm

of happiness

which

Already I knew well enough that tens of thousands who could never afford to own, feed, and stable
a horse, had by
this bright invention
is

the bicycle has opened to us men."

enjoyed

the swiftness of motion which

perhaps the

most fascinating feature of material life, the charm of a wide outlook upon the natural
world,

and that sense

of

mastery which

is

probably the greatest attraction in horsebackriding.

But the steed that never

tires,

and

is

12

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

"
in

"

mettlesome
is full

the fullest

sense of the

and capers, and to hold his head steady and make him prance to suit you is no small accomplishment. I had often
word,
of tricks

mentioned

temperance writings that the bicycle was perhaps our strongest ally
in
in

my

winning young
it

men away from

afforded

public-

houses, because
far

them a pleasure

more enduring, and an exhilaration as much more delightful as the natural is than

the unnatural.

From my

observation of

my

own

brother and hundreds of young

pupils,
is

men

who have been my

do
evil

have always

held that a boy's heart

not set in him to

any more than a

girl's,

and that the

reason our

young men

fall

into evil

ways

is

largely because

we have

not had the wit and

wisdom

to provide

them with amusements

suited to their joyous youth,

by means

of

which they could invest their superabundant animal spirits in ways that should harm no
one and help themselves to the best develop-

ment and the

cleanliest

ways

of living.

So

HOW

LEARNED TO RIDE
reformer
I

13
felt

as a temperance

always

strong attraction toward the bicycle, because

it is

the vehicle of so

much harmless
required in

pleasure,
it

and because the

obliges those

skill

handling

who mount to keep clear heads and steady hands. Nor could I see a reason in the world why a woman should not ride
the silent steed so swift and blithesome.
I

knew

perfectly well that when,

some ten or

fifteen years ago,

Miss Bertha von Hillern, a

young German

artist in

America, took

it

into

her head to give exhibitions of her

riding the bicycle she
to

skill in

be a sort of

was thought by some semi-monster; and liberal as

in

our people are

their
I

views of what a
should certainly

woman may
have
felt

undertake,

compromised,

at that

remote and
ride,

benighted period, by going to see her

not because there was any harm
solely because of what
in
it,

but

we

call

"

phrase
it

the speech of people."

homely But behold!

in

ride the tricycle

was long ago conceded that women might indeed, one had been pre-

14

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

me by my
friend Colonel Pope, of

sented to

Boston, a famous manufacturer of these swift

roadsters, as far

back as 1886; and

had

swung around the garden-paths upon its saddle a few minutes every evening when work
was over
at

my

Rest Cottage home.

had

even hoped to give an impetus among conservative

women

to this

new

line of physical

development and outdoor happiness; but that is quite another story and will come in
later.

Suffice
it

it

for the present that

it

did

me

good, as

doth the upright

in heart, to

notice recently that the Princesses Louise

and
;

Beatrice both ride the tricycle at Balmoral

I

for

know

that with the great mass of feminine

will

humanity this precedent weight and where the

the bicycle shall ere
of outdoors.

have exceeding
prophesies

tricycle

long preach the gospel

For we are
public opinion.

all

unconsciously the slaves of

the

When
no

hansom

first

came

on London

streets

to her social state

having regard and standing would have

woman

dreamed

of entering

one of these pavement

HOW
as her escort.

LEARNED TO RIDE

15

gondoias unless accompanied by a gentleman

But

in

course of time a few

the
later

women,

of

stronger individuality than

average, ventured to go unattended;

on, use wore off the glamour of the traditions

which said that

women must

not go alone,

and now none but an imbecile would hold

herself to

any such observance.

around the world by a young woregarded a quarter of

trip

man would have been

but

a century ago as equivalent to social outlawry

;

now young women

of the highest

character and talent are employed by leading " on time," journals to whip around the world

and one has done so

in seventy-three, an-

other in seventy-four days, while the

young

women

recently sent out

will

newspaper

by an Edinburgh no doubt considerably con-

tract these figures.

As
is

have mentioned, Fraulein von Hillern

the

first

woman,

so far as I

know, who ever

rode a bicycle, and for this she was considered to be one of those persons

who

classified

nowhere, and

who

could not do so except to

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

the injury of the feminine guild with which " were connected before

they
out

they

stepped

"
;

but now, in France, for a

is

woman

to

ride a bicycle

not only

"

good form," but

the current craze

among
talking
is

the aristocracy.

Since Balaam's beast there has been but

little

authentic

done by the four-

footed; but that

no reason why the twowheeled should not speak its mind, and the
first

utterance

have to chronicle

in the softly

flowing vocables of

my

bicycle
it

is

to the foloff

lowing purport.

heard

as

we

trundled

down
of
it

the Priory incline at the suburban

"
:

home
;

Lady Henry Somerset,

said

Reigate, England
fail

Behold,

do not

you

am

not

a skittish beastie, but a sober, well-conducted

roadster.
drive,
I

did not ask you to

mount

or

but since you have done so you must

now learn the laws of balance and exploitation.

I

did not invent these laws, but

have been

built

conformably to them,

and you must

unchanging regulations of gravity, general and specific, as illustrated in

suit yourself to the

HOW
me.
will

LEARNED TO RIDE

Strange as the paradox

may

seem, you
it

do

this best

by not trying to do

at

all.

You must make up what you

call

are pleased to

your mind

make

it

up

speedily, or

you

will 'be cast in

blame
things

to

me

yonder mud-puddle, and no and no thanks to yourself. Two

to

must occupy your thinking powers

:

the exclusion of every other thing goal; and, second, the

to reach
becile
it.

first,

the

momentum
down

requisite

Do

not look

like

an im-

upon the steering-wheel in front of

that would be about as wise as for a

you

nauseated voyager to keep his optical instru-

ments fixed upon the

the curse of
life

rolling waves.

It is

that nearly every one looks

But the microscope will never set you free; you must glue your eyes to the Look up and telescope for ever and a day.
down.
off

and on and out; get forehead and foot

into line, the latter acting as a rhythmic spur

in the flanks of

your equilibriated equine so shall you win, and that right speedily. " It was divinely said that the kingdom of
;

l8

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

is

God
sense
this
:

within you.

Some make
it

a mysticism

of this declaration, but

;

is

hard

for the lesson

you

will learn

common from me is
must

every kingdom over which

we

reign

formed within us on what the psychic the astral plane,' but what I as a people
be
first

call

'

bicycle look

upon as the common parade-

ground

of individual thought."

THE PROCESS
Courtiers wittily say that horseback riding
is

the only thing in which a prince

is

apt to

excel, for the

flatters

reason that the horse never

if

and would as soon throw him as

Therefore
it is

he

were a groom.

only by

actu-

ally mastering the art of riding that a prince

can hold his place with the noblest of the

four-footed animals.

Happily there is now another locomotive contrivance which is no flatterer, and which
peasant and prince must master,
this at
all,
if

they do

by the democratic route

Well
will it

of honest

hard work.

be

for rulers

when

HOW
them
jects
:

LEARNED TO RIDE

19

the tough old Yorkshire proverb applies to

as strictly as to the lowest of their sub-

"It's

dogged as does
"
Fire
is

it."

We

all

know

the old saying,

a good servant, but

equally true of the
nay, a hair
it

a bad master."
bicycle
:

This
it

is

if

you give
ell

an inch

will take an

nay, an evolution

and you a

contusion, or, like enough, a perforated kneecap.

Not a

single friend encouraged

me

to learn

the bicycle except an active-minded young

school-teacher, Miss Luther, of

my

home-

town, Evanston,

who came

several times with

I also

her wheel and gave a few

lessons in

me

lessons.

took

a stuffy, semi-subterranean

gallery in Chicago.
at

But

at fifty-three I

was
for

more disadvantage than most people,

I

not only had

the impedimenta that result

from the unnatural style of dress, but I also suffered from the sedentary habits of a lifetime.

And

then that small world (which

is

our

real one) of those

who

loved

me

best,
re-

and who considered themselves largely

20

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

sponsible for

my

every-day methods of

life,

did not encourage me, but in their affectionate solicitude

and with abundant reason

"

thought
"spoil

should
future."

break
It

my

bones
said,

"

and

my

must be

how-

ever, to

their everlasting praise, that they

opposed no objection when they s.aw that my will was firmly set to do this thing; on
the contrary, they put

me

in

the

way

of

carrying out

my

purpose, and lent to

my

laborious lessons the light of their counte-

nances reconciled.

Actions speak so
I

much

louder than words that

here set before you

bicycler's first

what may be called a feminine at least it was mine. position

and

Given a safety-bicycle pneumatic tires all the rest of it which renders the pneuthe
shall

matic safety the only safe Bucephalus

gearing carefully wired in so that

we

not be entangled.
first

"Woe

is

me!" was my
enough
is

exclamation,

naturally

inter-

preted by

my

outriders

"Whoa

me," and

A LACK OF BALANCE.

HOW
they but
"

LEARNED TO RIDE
indeed,

21
else

"

whoaed

"

we

did

little

check up."

(Just here let

me

a low machine, but

interpolate " "

fly
it,

Learn on

high

when once

you have mastered

as

you have much

more power over the wheels and can get up

better speed with a less expenditure of force

when you when you

are

above the instrument than

it.

are at the back of

And

re-

member
wheek)

this is as true of the

world as of the

The order
this:
First,

of evolution

was something

like
all

three

young Englishmen,
accomplished
I

strong-armed

and

bicyclers,

held the machine in place while

timidly into the saddle.

climbed

Second, two wellin all the

disposed

young women put

power
off-

they

had, until

they grew red in the face,

setting each other's pressure on the cross-bar

and thus maintaining the equipoise to which I was unequal. Third, one walked beside
me, steadying the ark as best she could by

22

A WHEEL W1THM A WHEEL

holding the center of the deadly cross-bar, to

go whose handles meant chaos and colAfter this I was able to hold my own lapse.
let
if I

had the moral support of

it

my kind

trainers,

and

passed into a proverb

short

emphatic word of
at every

among them, the command I gave

"
:

them

few turns of the wheel

Still
sit,

Let

go, but stand by."

\\fos

later

everything

learned

how

to

how

to pedal,

to turn,

how

to dismount; but alas!

I

how how to

vault into the saddle

found not; that was

the coveted power that lingered long and

would not

yield

itself.

in

That which caused the many failures I had learning the bicycle had caused me failures
;

in life

namely, a certain fearful looking for

realization of the

of

judgment; a too vivid

uncertainty of everything about

me

an un-

derlying doubt
all

however (and this is that saved me), matched and overcome by

at once,
it.

the determination not to give in to

The

best gains that

we make come

to us

after an interval of rest

which follows stren-

HOW
uous endeavor.

LEARNED TO RIDE
Having, as
I

23

hoped, masI

tered the rudiments of bicycling,

to

went away
even
I

Germany and

for a fortnight did not

see the

winsome wheel.

Returning,

had

the horse brought round, and

mounted with
by one
I

no
of

little

trepidation, being assisted

my

faithful guides;

but behold!

found
I

that in advancing, turning, and descending

was much more

last

at

home than when

new

had

exercised that

intelligence in the

muscles which had been the result of repetitions resolutely attempted

and practised

long.
in
is

Another thing I found is that we carry the mind a picture of the road; and if it

humpy by

reason of pebbles, even

if

we

steer

clear of them, we can by no means skim along as happily as when its smoothness facilitates

the pleasing impression on the retina

indeed,

the whole science and practice of the bicycle

is
is

"in your eye" and in your will; the rest mere manipulation. As I have said, in many curious particulars
is

the bicycle

like the world.

When

it

had

24

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

thrown me painfully once (which was the

extent of

my

downfalls during the entire pro-

cess of learning,

resuming

my

and did not prevent me from place on the back of the treach-

erous creature a few minutes afterward), and

more

especially

when

it

threw one of

my
it

dearest friends, hurting her knee so that

was painful for a month, then for a time Gladys had gladsome ways for me no longer,
but seemed the embodiment of misfortune

and dread.

Even

so the world has often

seemed
dency
;

in
its

hours of darkness and desponiron mechanism,

its pitiless

grind,

its swift, silent,

on-rolling gait have oppressed

to pathos,

if

not to melancholy.
of

Good

health

and plenty

oxygenated

air

have promptly

restored the equilibrium.

fine spirit, to finest issues

But how many a touched, has been

mill until

worn and shredded by the world's

in desperation
it

flung

itself

away.

We

can

easily carp at those

race-course

who quit the crowded " without so much as saying By

;

your leave

"

but "

let

him

that thinketh he

HOW

LEARNED TO RIDE
lest

2$

standeth take heed

he

fall."

We

owe

it

to nature, to nurture, to our environments,

and, most of
too,

all,

to our faith in

God, that we,

hearts less

do not

cry, like so

many gentle

brave and sturdy, "Anywhere, anywhere, out

of the world."

Gradually, item

by

item,

learned the lo-

cation of every screw and spring, spoke and

and every beam and bearing that went to make up Gladys. This was not the lesson
tire,

many days and weeks, and it had to be learned before we could get on well together. To my mind the infelicities
of a day, but of
of

which we see so much

in life

grow out

of

lack of time

and patience thus

to stand

to study

and

adjust the natures that have agreed in the

sight of
to the

God and man

They
in
will

by one another

last.

not take the pains, they

have not enough specific gravity, to balance

themselves
deed,
I

their

new environment.

Inin the

found a whole philosophy of life wooing and the winning of my bicycle.

Just as a strong and skilful

swimmer

takes

26

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

the waves, so the bicycler must learn to take

such waves of mental impression as the passing of a gigantic hay- wagon, the sudden obtrusion of black cattle with wide-branching

horns,

the

rattling

pace

of

high-stepping

steeds, or even the swift transit of a railwaytrain.

At

first

she will be upset by the ap-

parition of the smallest poodle,

and not

until

she has attained a wide experience will she

hold herself steady in presence of the

critical

eyes of a coach-and-four.

But

all this is

part of that equilibration of thought and action

by which we conquer the universe

concluded that
will rather
all failure

in

conquering ourselves.
I finally

was from

a wobbling
I felt

than a wobbling wheel.

is

that indeed the will

its

the wheel of the

mind
learned
gether.

perpetual
the

motion

having been
stars

when

morning

sang

to-

When

the wheel of the

mind went
merrily
;

well then the rubber wheel

hummed

but specters of the mind there are as well as

of the wheel.

In the aggregate of percep-

HOW
tion concerning

LEARNED TO RIDE

2J

which we have reflected and

from which we have deduced our generalizations

upon the world without,

within, above,

many ghastly and fantastical images that they must obtrude themselves
there are so
at certain intervals, like filmy bits of glass
in

the turn of the kaleidoscope.

every accident of
in

which

Probably had heard or read

my

half-century tinged the uncertainty

correlation of forces passed over

that

by the

when we began to bend of the broad Priory round the terminus And who shall say by what original walk.
into the tremor that I felt

energy the mind forced

itself at

once from

the contemplation of disaster and thrust into

the very

movement

of the foot

on the pedal
I

a concept of vigor, safety, and success?

began to

feel

that myself plus the bicycle

equaled myself plus the world, upon whose

spinning-wheel
fall

we must

all

learn to ride, or

into the sluiceways of oblivion

and despair.
a measure

That which made

me

succeed with the bicycle

was precisely what had gained

me

28

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

life
it

of success in
spirit that led

was the hardihood

of

will that

held

me to begin, the persistence of me to my task, and the patience

when
I

that

was

willing to begin again

failed.

the last

stroke

had

And

so

found high

moral uses
it

in the bicycle

and can commend

as a teacher without pulpit or creed.

He

who

succeeds, or, to be

more exact

in

hand-

ing over

my
will

experience, she

who

succeeds in

gaining the mastery of such an animal as

Gladys,

gain the mastery of

life,

and by

exactly the
istics.

same methods and character-

One

of the first things I learned

was that

unless a forward impetus were given within

well-defined intervals,
gutter, rider
self

away we went

into the

and

steed.

And
all

I said to
:

my-

"
:

It is the

same with

reforms

some-

times they seem to lag, then they barely

balance, then they begin to oscillate as
if

they would lose the track and tumble to one

side; but
all

they need

is

new impetus

at

the right

moment on

the right angle, and

HOIV

LEARNED TO RIDE
as merrily as
all."
if

29
they had

away they go again

never threatened to stop at

On
long,

the Castle terrace

we went through

narrow curve

in

a turret to seek a
it I

broader esplanade.
felt

As we approached
a
little

wrought up

in

my mind,

uncertain

in

my

motions; and

for that reason,

on a

small scale,

my

quick imagination put before

me

pictures of a "standing from

under" on

the part of the machine and damaging bruises

against the pitiless walls.

But with a

little

unobtrusive guiding by one

than
I

who knew

better
of the

how

to

do

it

we soon came out

dim passage on to the broad, bright terrace we sought, and in an. instant my fears were
as

much
it

left

behind as

if I

had not had them.

nay,
I

So

will be, I think, I

hope
are,

believe

when, children that we

we tremble on
away
;

the brink and fear to launch

shall

but

we

find

that death

is

only a bend in the

river of life that sets the current

heavenward.

One
Castle

afternoon, on the terrace at Eastnor

the most delightful bicycle gallery

30

A WHEEL WHHIN A WHEEL

I fell

have found anywhere

a

to talking with

young companion about New-Year resoluIt

tions.

was

just before Christmas,

but the

sky was of that moist blue that England only

knows, and the earth almost steamy

in the

mild sunshine, while the soft outline of the

famous Malvern

Hills

was

restful as the little

lake just at our feet, where swans were sail-

ing or anchoring according to their fancy. One of us said " I have already chosen
:

my

motto

for

1894, and

it

is

this,

from a

teacher

who

so often said to her pupils,

when

meeting them in corridor or recitation- room, I have heard something nice about you,'
'

that

it

Now

passed into a proverb in the school. have determined that my mental atti-

tude toward everybody shall be the same that

these words indicate.
tical

The meaning
'

is

idenfire-

with that of the inscription on the

place in

my

den at home
I

Let something

good be

said.'

a literary friend

remember mentioning to that this was what I had

chosen, and so far was he from perceiving

HOW
my
'

LEARNED TO RIDE

31

intention that he sarcastically remarked,

afraid that people will say

Are you then

'

dull things

unless

you

set this rule before

it is

them ?

But

my

thought then was as

now, that we should apply in our discussions of people and things the rule laid down by
'

Coleridge, namely,

Look

for the

good

in

everything that you behold and every person, but

do not decline to see the defects

'

if

they are there, and to refer to them.'

"That

is

an excellent motto," brightly re"

plied the other,

but

if

we

followed

it

life

would not be nearly so amusing as it is now. I have several friends whose rule is never to
say any harm of anybody, and to
this cripples their

my

mind

development, for the tenis

dency
"

of such a

method

to dull one's

pow-

ers of discrimination."

But," said the

first

"
speaker,

would not

medium

course be better?

such a one, This

for instance, as

my

motto suggests.

would not involve keeping silence about the faults of persons and things, but would de-

32

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

velop that cheerful atmosphere which helps

to

smooth the rough edges of same time does not destroy the
tell

life,

and

at the

critical faculty,

because you are to

the truth and the whole

truth concerning those around you, whereas

the

common custom
and
little

is

to speak
all

much

of de-

fects

or not at

of merits."
it is

"Yes," was the

reply,

"but

not half

so entertaining to speak of virtues as of faults,

especially in this country
cize
;

if

you don't
all,

criti-

you can hardly talk at

call
'

because the

English dwell a great deal on what

we

in

America
"

the selvage side

'

of things."

Have you,
Yes
and
I

peculiarity after ten years of observation?

then, noticed this as a national "

"

have often heard

it

remarked,
the

not only by our people here."

"
of of
it

own countrymen, but by

"What do you think explains it?" Well, I am inclined to apply the

theory

M. Taine, the great French critic, to most the circumstances of life, and I should say
was the climate;
its

uncertainty,

its

con-

HOW
stant

LEARNED TO RIDE

33

changes, the heaviness of the atmo-

sphere, the

amount

of fog, the real stress

and

strain to live that results

from trying physical

conditions added to the razor-sharp edge of

business and social competition and the close

contact that comes of packing forty millions

of people of
island

pronounced individuality on an

no bigger than the State of Georgia. To my mind the wonder is that they behave
so well!"

Once, when

and

said that I

grew somewhat discouraged had made no progress for a

teacher told
:

day or two,
just so

my

me

that

it

was

there were growand stationary days, and she had ing days always noticed that just after one of these

when

she learned

last dull,

depressing,

and dubious

intervals

she seemed to get an uplift and went ahead

better than ever.
ing.
in
It

was

like

a spurt in row-

This seems to be the law of progress

moves along a rather than a perpendicular; we seem

everything
;

we do

it

spiral

to be
it

actually going out of the way,

and yet

34

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

we were
really

turns out that

all

moving upward
trainer

the time.

One

day,

when my most expert

little

twisted the truth a

that she might enof

courage me,

was reminded

an anecdote.

In this practical age an illustration of the

workings of truthfulness
child

will

often help a
of exhortation

more than any amount

in

concerning the theory thereof.

For

instance,

that level-headed part of the a father " " United States known as out West found
that his
telling

boy was falling into the habit of what was not true so he said to him
little
;

at the lunch-table,

"Johnnie, I will come around with a horse and carriage at four

o'clock to take

you and

mama

for a drive this

afternoon."

The boy was

by

in

high

spirits,
;

and watched

for his father at the gate

until six o'clock,

but

the hours passed

when

that worthy appeared walking up the street

in

the most unconcerned

full

manner

and when

Johnnie,

of

indignation

and astonish-

ment, asked him

why he

did not

come

as

he

HOW

LEARNED TO RIDE

35

had promised, the father said, " Oh, I just took it into my head that
tell

my
I

boy,

would

you a

lie

have begun

about the matter, just as you telling lies to me." The boy be-

gan to cry with mingled disappointment and shame to think his father would do a thing
like that
tle
;

whereupon the father took the

"
:

lit-

fellow on his knee and said

This has

all

been done to show you what mischief comes from telling what is not true. It spoils everybody's good time. If you cannot believe what
I

say and

cannot believe what you say, and

nobody can believe what anybody says, then the world cannot go on at all it would have
;

to stop as the

old eight- day clock did the

all late

other day, making us

is

to dinner.

It in

only because, as a rule,

we

can believe

one another's word that we are able to have homes, do business, and enjoy
life.

Who-

ever goes straight on telling the truth helps

more by

that than he could in

any other one

up the world into a beautiful and happy place and every time anybody

way

to build

36
tells

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

what
is

not true he helps to weaken

else,

everybody's confidence in everybody

and to

spoil the
all

good

time, not of himself

alone, but of

those about him."

MY TEACHERS
I

studied
care.

my

various kind teachers with

so helpful that but for

much

One was

my
in

protest she would fairly have carried

me

her arms, and the bicycle to boot, the whole This was because she had not a

distance.
scintilla of

knowledge concerning the machine,

and she did not wish

me

to

come

to grief

through any lack on her

part.
;

Another was too timorous

ter of her face, swiftly

the very twitto her

communicated

arm and imparted

convulsed
for

to the

quaking cross-bar,
;

me

with an inward fear

I

therefore,

her sake and mine,

in

speedily counted her

out from the faculty

my

bicycle college.

Another (and she, like most of my teachers, was a Londoner) was herself so capable, not to

"SO HASY

WHHN YOU KNOW HOW."

HOW
my best

LEARNED TO RIDE

37

say adventurous, and withal so solicitous for

good, that she elicited

my admiration
me on

by her ingenious mixture

and holding

of cheering

me

back; the latter, however,

predominated, for she never relinquished her

strong grasp on the cross-bar.
fine,

She was a

brave character, somewhat inclined to a

life

pessimistic view of

because of severe ex-

perience at home, which, coming to her at a

pitifully early period,

when

brain and fancy

were most impressionable, wrought an inone justice to a nature large and generous
which under happier
skies

would have

blos-

somed out
hood.
I

into a perfect flower of

woman-

My offhand
in genial
fly,"

thinkings aloud, to which

have always been greatly given, especially

when

on the
his

company, she seemed to "catch as a reporter impales an idea on

pencil-point.

We

had no end of what

in

we

thought to be good talk of things

heaven and earth and the waters under the

earth; of the mystery that
lies

so

closely
all

round

this

cradle of a world,

and

the

38

A WHEEL WITHM A WHEEL

ways
up
its

varied and ingenious

cycle, so slow to give

of

which the

bi-

secret to a care-

worn and
was
just

inelastic pupil half a

century old,

then our whimsical

and favorite

symbol.

We

rejoiced together greatly in perceiving

the impetus that this uncompromising but

fascinating

and inimitably capable machine

would give to that blessed " woman ques" for tion to which we were both devoted
;

we had earned our own

and
she, although

bread

many

a year,

my
had

junior,

more than twenty years had accumulated an amount of

experience well-nigh as great, because she

lived in the world's heart, or the world's

carbuncle (just as one chooses to regard what

has been called

of humanity).

in literary

phrase the capital

We

velopment be wonderfully advanced by that universal

introduction
of

of humanity's mother-half

saw that the physical dewould

the

bicycle

sure

to

come
it

about within the next few years, because

is

for the interest of great

commercial monop-

HOW
olies that this

LEARNED TO RIDE
so, since if

39

should be

women

patronize the wheel the

number

of buyers will

be twice as

large.

If

women
If

ride they must,

when

riding, dress

more

rationally than they

have been wont to do.

they do this

many

prejudices as to what they

may be

allowed to

Reason will gain upon and ere long the comfortable, senprecedent, sible, and artistic wardrobe of the rider will
wear
will

melt away.

make

the conventional style of

woman's

dress

absurd to the eye and unendurable to the understanding.

rapidly
is

reform often advances most

by

indirection.

An
;

worth a ton of theory

ounce of practice and the graceful

bi-

and becoming costume of woman on the

cycle will
aside the theories,
structed,

convince the world that has brushed

no matter how well con-

and the arguments, no matter how

with bands hanging on her hips,

logical, of dress- reformers.

woman

and dress snug about the waist and chokingly tight at the throat, with heavily trimmed
skirts

dragging down the back and numerous

40

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

and

folds heating the lower part of the spine,

with tight shoes, ought to be in agony.

She

ought

to be as miserable as a stalwart
in the

man

would be

same

plight.

And

the fact

that she can coolly and complacently assert

that her clothing
is

perfectly easy, and that

she does not want anything more comfortable

or convenient,
that she
is
is

the most conclusive proof

altogether abnormal bodily, and

so in mind.
satisfaction the great

not a

little

We

saw with

advan-

tage in good fellowship and mutual under-

standing between

men and women who

its

take

the road together, sharing

hardships and

rejoicing in the poetry of motion through

landscapes breathing nature's inexhaustible

charm and skyscapes lifting the heart from what is to what shall be hereafter. We discoursed on the advantage to masculine character of comradeship with
as skilled

women who were

the manipulation

and ingenious

in

of the swift steed as they themselves.

We

contended that whatever diminishes the sense

HOW
of superiority in
ly,

LEARNED TO RIDE

4!

brotherly,

men makes them more manand pleasant to have about we

;

felt

sure that the bluff, the swagger, the braof

vado

young England
which

in his teens

would not

outlive the complete mastery of the outdoor

arts in

his sister

is

now

successfully

engaged.

The

old fables, myths,

and

follies

associated with the idea of

woman's incomand
rein,

petence to handle bat

and

oar, bridle

and

at last the cross-bar of the bicycle, are

passing into contempt in presence of the nimbleness, agility,

and
felt

skill

of
if

"

that boy's sis-

ter"

indeed,

we

that

she continued to

improve

after the fashion of the last

will

decade
it

her physical achievements

will

be such that

become the pride

of

many

a ruddy youth

to be

known

as

"

that girl's brother."

As we
to

discoursed of "

life,

death, and the

judgment

come, of

man's inhumanity to man," as well

as to beasts, birds,

and creeping

things,

we

frequently recurred to a phrase that has be-

come

habitual with

me

in these later years

when other worlds seem anchored

close along-

42

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

and when the telephone, the phonoand the microphone begin to show us graph,
side this,

that every breath carries in itself not only the

power, but the

tion
"
:

scientific certainty of registrais

Well, one thing

in the ether."

certain

we

shall

meet

it

companions in the tribulation of learning the bicycle, and the grace of its mastery, was a tall, bright-faced, vigorousof

One

my

minded young Celt who is devoted to every good word and work and has had much experience with the
"

submerged tenth,"

living

among them and among

cycle,
set out to

trying to build character

I

those waste places of humanity.

teach this young

woman

the bi-

and while she took her lesson

is

which,

as she

young,

elastic,

was vastly
of

less difficult
:

and long-limbed, than mine we talked

many

things

American women, and why

class,

they do not walk; the English lower

and why they are

Irish
;

less

vigorous than the

the English girl of the slums, and

less self-respecting

why

she

is

than an

Irish girl in

HOW

LEARNED TO RIDE

43
things

the same station.

for

"There

are

many

which we cannot account," said

;

my young

friend

whereupon, with the self-elected men-

torship of

my

half-century, I oracularly ob-

served

"
:

Cosmos has not a consequence

;

without a cause

it is

the business of reason

if

to seek for causes, and,

it

cannot make
itself

sure of them, to construct for

as to

theories

what they are or will turn out to be when found. But the trouble is, when we
have framed our theory, we come to look

upon
hand.
insist

it

as our child, that

we have brought
is

into the world, nurtured,

and trained up by
that

The

curse of

life

men

will

on holding their theories as true and imposing them on others; this gives rise to
creeds, customs, constitutions, royalties, gov-

ernments.

Happy

is

he

who knows

that he

knows

nothing, or next to nothing,

and holds
in his

his opinions like

a bouquet of flowers
its

hand, that sheds

fragrance everywhere,

and which he

is

willing to
fairer

moment

for

one

exchange at any and more sweet, in-

44

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

them on
like

stead of strapping
steel

an armor

oi

and thrusting with

teacher was

his lance those

who

do not accept

his notions."

My

last

as

ought to be the

case on the principle of climax

my best.

think she might have given

to folks that bring

many

a pointer

up children, and I realized that no matter how one may think himself
accomplished,

when he

sets out to learn a

entered a
child

new language, science, or the bicycle he has new realm as truly as if he were a
" newly born into the world, and Ex-

cept ye

become

as

little

children

"
is

the law

by which he is governed. Whether he will or not he must first creep, then walk, then
and the wisest guide he can have is the one who most studiously helps him to help
run
;

himself.
all

This was a truism that

had heard

my life long, but never did a realizing sense of it settle down upon my spirit so thoroughly
as

when

learned the bicycle.

It is

not the

teacher

who

holds
is

you

in

place

by main

strength that

going to help you win that

"IT'S DOGGHI) AS

DOHS

IT."

HOW
but

LEARNED TO RIDE

45
call

elusive, reluctant, inevitable prize

cess,
it is

we

suc-

the one who, while studiously

keeping
fore.

in the

background, steers you to the

12

So No.

had the wit and wisdom to

retire to the

rear of the saucy steed, that I

might form the habit of seeing no sign of aid or comfort from any source except my own
reaction

on the treadles according to law;

yet cunningly contrived, by laying a skilled

hand upon the saddle without

tion,

my

observa-

knowledge, or consent, to aid me in my She diminished the weight thus balancing.

set to

my

account as rapidly as
skill

my own
this

in-

creasing courage and

sible.
I

rendered

pos-

have always observed

and not without

a certain pleasure, remembering

my

brother's

hardihood

that

wherever a

woman

goes

some man has reached the place before her; and it did not dim the verdure of my laurels
or the fullness of

my

content

when

had

mastered Gladys to ascertain, from a

sent

letter

me by

the wife of a

man

sixty-four

46

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

who had just learned, that I was 2" instead of "No. I," thus obliging "No. me to rectify the frontier of chronology as I
years of age

had constructed
of the bicycle;

it

in relation to the

conquest
I

for I vainly

thought that

had fought the antics of Gladys as a sentry on duty away out on the extreme frontier of
time.

But

at last (which

means

in

two months or

thereabouts, at ten or twenty minutes' practice off

and on

daily) I reached the goal,

and

could mount the bicycle without the slightest

foreign interference or even the moral sup-

port of a sympathetic onlooker.

this I realized that the totality of

In doing

what

had

learned entered into the action.

increment of power that

Every added had gained in balweight accordso on, was

to

ancing, pedaling, steering, taking advantage

of the surfaces, adjusting

my

ing to
set to

my own peculiarities, and my account when I began

manage
all

the bulky steed that behaves worst of

when a novice

seeks the saddle and strikes

HOW
out alone.
life

LEARNED TO RIDE
I felt, it

47
all

Just so,

had been

my
and

and

will be, doubtless, in all

all.

worlds and

with us

The

totality of native forces

acquired

discipline

and expert knowledge

crisis

stands us in good stead for each

that

we have

to meet.

There

is

a momentum, a

cumulative power on which

every new circumstance,

we can count

in

as a capitalist counts
It is

upon

his credit at the bank.

it is

not only a

divine declaration,
of being, that

one of the basic laws

"

all

things

work together
"

for

good them

to

them that love God

that

is,

to

that are in love with

God and he who

;

loves a law of

God and makes

by
that

himself obe-

dient to that law has

much

loved

God, only he does not always have the wit

to

know

it.

The one who has

the best teacher.
in college

learned latest and yet

has really learned the mastery of the bicycle

is

Many
say that

a time
it

have

heard boys

was not the

famed mathematician who could teach them

anything
he knew too much, he was too

48
far

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

ahead for them to hear
his voice,
;

he was

impatient of their halting steps

but the tutor

who had

left

college only the year before,

his

and

remembering stupidity, had still that fellow-feeling that made him wondrous kind.

own

failures

and

As has been
of learning to
of the

stated,
;

my last epoch consisted

that
is

mount

the flans asinorum

whole mathematical undertaking, for mathematical it is to a nicety. You have to

balance your system

more
;

carefully

than

you ever did your accounts

not the smallest

fraction can be out of the way, or

away you

go, the treacherous steed forming one half of

an equation and yourself with a bruised knee

forming the other.

You must add

a stroke

at just the right angle to

mount, subtract one

to descend, divide
seat,

them equally to hold your and multiply all these movements in

ratio
all

definite

and true proportion by the

roots, or

swiftest of

you

will

become
foot

the

most minus

of quantities.

You must

up

your accounts with the strictest regularity;

HOW

LEARNED TO RIDE

49

there can be no partial payments in a business

enterprise like this.

Although

could

now mount and

descend,
all

turn corners and get over the ground

myself,
I still felt

by

a lack of complete faith in

Gladys, although she had never harmed

me
is

but once, and then

letting

it

was

my own

fault in

go the gleaming cross-bar, which

Let
"

equivalent to dropping the bridle of a spirited

steed.
it

be carefully remembered by
"

every

beginning

she forgets, she must forever keep her

hold," else her horse
is

bicycler that, whatever "

main

not bitted and will

shy to a dead certainty.

As we grew better acquainted I thought how perfectly analogous were our relations to those of friends who became slowly seasoned
one to the other they have endured the
:

vicis-

situdes of every kind of climate, of the chang-

ing seasons; they have

known

the heavy,

water-logged conditions of spring, the shrink-

age of summer's trying heat, the happy me-

dium

of

autumn, and the contracting cold that

50

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

;

winter brings

wood, and attuned, that go to exactly apportioned

they are

like the bits of

make up a

Stradivarius violin.

They can

count upon one another and not disagree, because the stress of life has molded them to

harmony.

They

are like the well-worn robe,

is

the easy shoe.

There

no short road to
;

this

adjustment, so
will

much

to be desired

not any

win

it

short of "patient continuance in

well-doing."
I

noticed that the great law which

"

believe

to be potential throughout the universe

:

made

no exception here According to thy faith " be it unto thee was the only law of success.

When

I felt

sure that

should do

my

pedal-

ing with judicial accuracy, and did not permit

myself to dread the swift motion round a

bend

when

formed

in

my
in

mind the image

"
Priory Rise
"
;

of a successful ascent of the

when

fully

purposed

my

mind that

should not run into the hedge on the one side

or the iron fence on the other, these pro-

phecies were fulfilled with practical certainty.

HOW
I fell

LEARNED TO RIDE

into the habit of varying

my

experience

by placing before myself the image so germane to the work in which I am engaged of
an inebriate in action, and accompanied this mental panorama by an orchestral effect of

my own

producing
like

and stagger

They reel to and fro, drunken man;" but could

:

"

never go through this three consecutive times

without lurching

off

the saddle.

But when

put before me, as distinctly as

my

powers of

concentration would permit, the image of

my

mother holding steadily above me a pair of balances, and looking at me with that quizzical expectant glance I knew so well, and saying
:

"Do

it?

Of course

you'll

do

it;
it

what

else

should you

do?"

found that

was palpsit

ably helpful in enabling

me

to

"

straight

and hold

my own

"

on

my

uncertain steed.

She always maintained, in the long talks we had concerning immortality, that the law I mention was conclusive, and was wont to close
our conversations on that subject
(in

which

held the interrogative position) with

some

52

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

this

such remark as

"
:

If

Professor
is

thinks

he

is

not immortal he probably

I

not;

if

think

am
it

may be
'

sure
'

I shall

be, for

is it

not written in the law,

faith

According

to thy

be

unto thee

"

Gradually

I realized
;

a consoling degree of

mastery over Gladys

apparent to

but nothing was more

me

than that

we were
I

not yet

thoroughly acquainted

we had

not sum-

mered and wintered

together.

had not
full

learned her kinks, and she was as

of

them

as the

most

spirited

mare that sweeps

Al-

the course on a Kentucky race-track.

though I have seen a race but once (and that was in the Champs Elysees, Paris, a quarter of
a century ago),
in the fact that
I

am

yet so

much

interested

it is

a Flora Temple, a GoldS.,

smith Maid, a

Maud

a Sunol, a California

Maid
I

that often stands

fain

first

on the record, that

would

have named
;

my shying steed after

gift

one

of these

but as she was a

this

from Lady
in

Henry Somerset
as a

seemed invidious

me

Yankee woman, and

so I called her

HOW

LEARNED TO RIDE

53

Gladys, having in view the bright spirit of the

donor, the exhilarating motion of the machine,

and the gladdening effect of its acquaintance and use on my health and disposition.

As I have

said, I

found from

first

to last that

the process of acquisition exactly coincided

with that which had given

me

everything

possessed of physical, mental, or moral success

that

is,

skill,

knowledge, character.

was learning the bicycle precisely

the a-b-c.
to

as I learned

When

set myself, as a stint,

in

mount and descend

regular succession

anywhere from twenty to fifty times, it was on the principle that we do a thing more
easily the

second time than the

first,

the third

time than the second, and so on in a rapidly

increasing ratio, until
it is

done without any

This was precisely

conscious effort whatever. the

tell

my mother trained me to the truth, and my music-teacher taught me

way
in

which

that mastership of the piano keyboard which

I

have

lost

by

disuse.

Falling from grace

may mean

falling

from a habit formed

how

54

^ WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

This opens a boundless
field

do we know?

of ethical speculation

which

would gladly
steel steed

have followed, but just then the gave a lurch as

"
knitting
if

to say,

"Tend

to

your

the favorite expression of a

Rocky

Mountain stage-driver when tourists taxed him with questions while he was turning
round a bend two thousand
valley.

feet

above the

And now comes the question "What do the

doctors say?"
nies:

Here

follow several testimo-

"
is

The question now

of great interest to girls

in

regard to the healthfulness of the wheel.

are prophesying dire results from this

Many

fascinating exercise,

and fond parents are

be a delight to
is,

refusing to allow their daughters to ride be-

cause they are

girls.

It will

girls to learn that

itself,

the fact of their sex

in

not a bar to riding a wheel.

If

the

girl

is

normally constituted and

if

is

dressed

hygienically, and and not overtax

she will use judgment

herself in learning to ride,

HOW
and
in

LEARNED TO RIDE

55

measuring the length of rides after she has learned, she is in no more danger from
riding a wheel than
if is

the

young man.

But

she persists in riding in a tight dress, and

uses no judgment in deciding the

exercise she
is

amount
it

of

capable of safely taking,

will

be quite possible for her to injure

then
it

herself,

and
to to

is

she,

and not the wheel, that

are

is

blame.

Many physicians
as well as of

now coming

regard the 'wheel' as beneficial to the health

of

women

men."
"
:

Dr. Seneca Egbert says

bicycling
at
is

As

an exercise
all,

superior to most,
It

if

not

others

our command.
air
;

takes one into the out-

door

it is

entirely

under control

can be
is

made
active
side

gentle or vigorous as one desires;

;

and not passive takes the rider outof himself and the thoughts and cares
work; develops his will, his atcourage and independence, and
is

of his daily

tention, his

makes pleasant what

some.
equally distributed

otherwise most irkis

Moreover, the exercise

well and

over almost the whole

56

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

all

body, and, as Parker says, when

cles are

the mus-

exercised no muscle

is

likely to

be

over-exercised."

He

advocates cycling as a remedy for dys-

pepsia,

torpid liver, incipient consumption, nervous exhaustion, rheumatism, and melancholia.

In regard to the exercise for

"
:

women

he says

It

gets

them out

of doors, gives

them a form

of exercise adapted to their

needs, that they

may

enjoy

in

company with

others or alone, and one that goes to the root

of their nervous troubles."

He

instances

two

cases, of girls fourteen

and eighteen years of age, where a decided

increase in height could be fairly attributed to
cycling.

The question
is

is

often asked

if

riding a wheel

not the same as running a sewing-machine.

at
all.

Let the same doctor answer: "Not

Women,

at least, sit erect

on a wheel, and

consequently the thighs never

right angle with the trunk,
stasis of

make even
is

and there

no

blood in the lower limbs and geni-

LET GO

BUT STAND BY

HOW
talia.

LEARNED TO RIDE
itself

57

Moreover, the work

makes the

rider breathe in oceans of fresh air; while

the

woman

at the sewing-machine works in-

doors, stoops over her work, contracting the

chest and almost

completely checking the

flow of blood to and from the lower half of

her body, where at the same time she

creasing the

is in-

demand

for

it,

finally

aggravat-

ing the whole trouble

by

the pressure of the

lower edge of the corset against the abdo-

men, so that the customary congestions and displacements have good cause for their existence."

"
is

The

great desideratum in

all

recreations
free to ab-

pure
"

air,

plenty of
(Dr.

it,

and lungs
B. Sperry.) "

sorb

it."

Lyman
and

Let go, but stand by

this is the

golden
;

rule for parent

pastor, teacher and friend

the only rule that at once respects the individuality of another

and yet adds one's own,

so far as

may

be, to another's
life.

momentum

in

the struggle of

How

difficult it is for

the trainer to judge

58
exactly

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

how much
force to exercise in help-

ing to steer the wheel and start the wheeler

along the macadamized highway!

the point of view

In

this

makes

all

the difference.
first

The

trainer

is tall,

the rider short; the

can poise on the off-treadle while one foot

on the ground, but the last must learn to balance while one foot is in the air. For
is

one of these perfectly to comprehend the

other's relation to the vehicle
is

practically

impossible
tain this

the degree to which he

may

at-

depends upon the amount of imagination to the square inch with which he has
been
its

fitted

out.

The

opacity of the mind,

inability to project itself into the

realm of
to exset

another's personality, goes a long

plain the friction of
life.

way

If

we would

down

other people's errors to this rather than

to malice prepense

we should
life

not only get

more good out

toward our

of

and

feel

more kindly
recti-

fellows,

but doubtless the

tude of our intellects would increase, and the

justice of our judgments.

For

instance,

it is

HOW
my purpose, so my pursuits
and

LEARNED TO RIDE

59

far as I

understand myself, to

be considerate toward those about me; but

have been almost purely mental,

to perceive

what would seem

just to

one

whose pursuits have been almost purely mechanical would require an act of imagination
of

which

am

wholly incapable.

We

are so

shut

away from one another

that none tells

ideal

those about

him what he considers

treatment on their part toward him.

thinks about
it

He

it all

the same,

mumbles about
it

to himself, mutters about

guild,

to those of his

own

and these mutterings make the

the good

discontent that finally breaks out in reforms

whose tendency
things of this
living.

is

to

distribute

life

more equally among the

will

But nothing

probe to the core

of this the greatest disadvantage

under which

we
sion

labor

that

is,

mutual non-comprehen-

except a basis of society and governwhich would make it easy for each to ment
in another's

put himself
place
is

place because his

so

much

like another's.

We

shall

be

60

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

perhaps, in those days
inevitable; but
less
it

less imaginative,
critics

the

say this

is

will

only

be because
to

we need
is

imagination in order

do that which
us.

just

and kind to every

one about
In

my
off

early

home my

father always set us

that
is,

children to

work by

stints

he mea-

sured

a certain part of the garden to be

weeded, or other work to be done, and when

we had accomplished
were over.
in full force

it

our working-hours

With
I set

this

deeply ingrained habit

stints

myself

with the bicycle.

In the later part of

my

novitiate fifty attempts

difficult of all
I cal-

a day were allotted to that most

achievements, learning to mount, and

culate that five

hundred such
most

efforts

well

put

in will solve that

intricate

problem

of specific gravity.

Now

concerning

falls

set out with the

determination not to have

any.

Though

mentally adventurous
physically cautious
in
;

have always been

a student of physiology
the

my

youth,

knew

reason

why

HOW
brought so
than did

LEARNED TO RIDE
less

61

much

elasticity to

my

task
I

my young

and

agile

trainers.

knew

the penalty of broken bones, for these

a tricycle had cost

me some

years before.

My
me

were kind enough to encourage by saying that if I became an expert in

trainers
I

slow riding

should take the rapid wheel as

a matter of course and thus be really more

accomplished

(in

the long run as well as the

I

So short) than by any other process. had but one real downfall to record
result of

have

as the

three months' practice, and it " illustrates the old saying that pride goeth

my

before destruction, and a haughty spirit be" fore a fall for I was not a little lifted up by
;

having learned to dismount with confidence

and ease

I will

not say with grace, for at

affectation

fifty-three that

would be an
I

so

one bright morning

Priory drive waving

bowled on down the

my

hand

to

my

most

adventurous aide-de-camp, and calling out as I left her behind, " Now you will see

how

nicely I can

do

it

watch!" when be-

62
hold
I
!

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

that timid left foot turned traitor,
solidly

and

came down

on

my

knee, and the

knee on a pebble as relentless as prejudice and as opinionated as ignorance. The nervous shock made

me

well-nigh faint, the bi-

cycle tumbled over on my prone figure, and I wished I had never heard of Gladys or of

any wheel save

"

And
of

Fly swiftly round, ye wheels of time, " bring the welcome day

my
Let

release into the ether.

me remark

reads this
bike
is

any young woman who page that for her to tumble off her
to

inexcusable.

The lightsome

elasticity

of every muscle, the quickness of the eye, the

ought to preserve her from such a catastrophe. I have had no more falls
agility of motion,

have proceeded on a basis of the utmost caution, and

simply because
I

would

not.

aside from that one pitiful performance the

bicycle has cost

me

hardly a single bruise.

HOW

LEARNED TO RIDE

63

AN ETHEREAL EPISODE
They
that
in

know nothing
1886

fear

nothing.
friend,

Away
Miss

back

my

alert

young

Anna Gordon, and my

ingenious

young

niece, Miss Katharine Willard, took to the

tricycle as naturally as

ducks take to water.

The very
spinning

first

time they mounted they went

the long shady street, with
its

down

pleasant elms, in front of Rest Cottage, where

for nearly a generation

mother and

had had

our home.

Even

as the war-horse snuffeth

I

the battle from afar,

wise.

longed to go and do

like-

Remembering

my
in

country bringingrunning, climbing,

up and various exploits

horseback-riding, to say nothing of

my

tame

heifer that I trained for a Bucephalus, I said " If those girls can ride without to myself,

learning so can I!"

I

Taking out

my

watch

timed them as they, at

my

suggestion, set

out to make a record in going round the

square.
sult.

Two

and a half minutes was the

all

re-

then started with

my

forces well

64
in

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

hand, and flew around in two and a quarter

minutes.

Not contented with

this,

but puffed

up with foolish vanity, I declared that I would go around in two minutes; and, encouraged

by
till

their cheers,

away

went without a

fear

the third turning-post was reached,

left

when
at

the

hand played

me
I

false,

and turning

an acute angle, away

chine and
right
all,

into

went sidelong, mathe gutter, falling on my

felt

elbow, which
ice,

like

a glassful of
first

chopped
time in a

and

knew

that for the

life full

of vicissitudes I

had been

really hurt.

she ran

Anna toward me

Gordon's white face as

caused
call out,

me
"

to

wave

my

uninjured hand and

Never mind!"

and with her help I rose and walked into the house, wishing above all things to go straight
to

my own

room and

lie

on

my own

bed,

and thinking as I did so how pathetic is that instinct that makes "the stricken deer go
weep," the harmed hare seek the covert. Two physicians were soon at my side, and

my

mother, then over eighty years of age,

HOW
came
in

LEARNED TO RIDE

65

with

much

controlled agitation and

seated herself beside my bed, taking my hand and saying, " O Frank you were always too
!

adventurous."

Our

family physician was out of town, and

the two gentlemen were well-nigh strangers.

It

was a kind

face, that of the tall, thin

man
if

who looked down upon me

tion,

in

my

humilia-

put his ear against

my

heart to see

there would be any

ether, handled

harm

in administering

my

elbow with a woman's

his
assistant,

gentleness, and then said to

"Now

let

us begin."
well,

And

to

me who had

been always

and knew nothing of such unnatural proceedings, he remarked, "Breathe

into the funnel
full,

natural breaths

that

is

all

you have
I set

to do."

myself to

my

task, as has

been

wont always, and soon

friend,

my

mother and
fanning

my my
me

Anna Gordon, who were

ridiculous,

with big "palm-leaves," became grotesque

and then

(or at least I

remember saying remember that I once rememand

I

66
bered),

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

"

You

are a couple of

enormous

crick-

ets standing

on your hind

legs,

each a spear of dry grass,

if

and you have and you look as

you were paralyzed; and you wave your

call

withered spears of grass, and you

fanning a poor

that

woman who
I

is

suffocating

before your eyes."

labored with them, en-

treated them, and dealt with

plainness

them

in great

so

much

so that

my

mother could

not bear to hear

fashion,

me

talk in such a foolish

and quietly withdrew to her own room, closed the door, and sat down to pos-

sess her so'ul in patience until the operation

should be over.

Then
on the

the scene changed, and as they put

splints pain

those about

me

was involved, and I heard laughing in the most unfeelI

ing manner while

murmured

"
:

She always town

believed in humanity

she always said she

in this

did and would

thirty years,

and she has lived

and they are hurting her they are hurting her dreadfully and if they keep on she will lose her faith in human nature,
;

HOW
and
if

LEARNED TO RIDE
it

67

she should

will

be the greatest calam-

ity that

can happen to a

human

being."

Now

the scene changed once

more

was

and said to the young friends who had come in and stood beside
in the starry heavens,

me

"
:

Here

are stars as thick as apples on a

if

bough, and have one.

you are good you

shall

each

And, Anna, because you are

good, and always have been, you shall be

given a whole solar system to manage just as

you like. The Heavenly Father has no end of them He tosses them out of His hand as
;

a boy does marbles

He

spins

them
after

like

cocoon;

He

has just as
as

many

He

has

given them away

He had

before

He
the

began."

Then

there

settled

down upon me

most vivid and pervading sense of the love of God that I have ever known. I can give

no adequate conception of it, and what I said, as my comrades repeated it to me, was something after this order
"
:

We

are like blood-drops floating through

68

A WHEEL W1THM A WHEEL

the great heart of our Heavenly Father.

We

are infinitely safe, and cared for as tenderly

as a

baby

in its

mother's arms.

No harm
we
call

can come anywhere near us; what

harm

will turn

out to be the very best and

kindest
selves.

way
is

of leading us to be our best

is

There

no terror

in.

the universe,

for

God
is

always at the center of everything.

He He

love, as

we
in

read in the good book, and

that

has but one wish

;

we should

love

one another

Him we
freeing

live,

and move, and

have our being."

Little

by

little,

my mind of all sorts

of the
I

of queer notions, I

came back out

only experience of the kind that

have ever

known but
;

must say that had

not learned

the great evils that result from using anesthetics I should

have wished to try ether

again, just for the ethical

and

spiritual help

that

came

to me.

It let

me

out into a

new

world, greater, more mellow, more and it did me no harm at all.

godlike,

During the time

my

arm was

in

a sling

HOW
"
sat

LEARNED TO RIDE

69

something not easy to do for I learned to one of active mind and life.
about
write with

"

my

left

hand

for this

was before

the happy

days of the

many

stenographers
all

and

my

hieroglyphics went out to

the

leading temperance

women

of this country.

One morning
knew
for
it

the

bell, distant

and musical,

tolled in the steeple of the university.

We

meant that General Grant was dead, the newspapers and despatches of the
us.

previous evening had prepared

Someand

how

a deep chord in

my

soul vibrated to the

I

tone of the bell

a chord of patriotism

went away to the vine-covered piazza, where I was wont to sit, and in twenty minutes
(which fact
feet)
is

wrote out

my apology for their limping my heart in the following lines.

They had
tion,

at least the merit of sincere devo-

and were telephoned to Chicago, eleven miles away, by Anna Gordon, and appearing
in the daily

Inter-Ocean were read at their

breakfast-tables

morning.

by many other patriots next do not know when anything has

70
given

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

me more

real pleasure

than to be told

that a stalwart soldier belonging to the

Grand

Army

of the Republic read

my

crude but

heartfelt lines aloud to his wife

and daughter,
tear.

and at the close brushed away a manly

GRANT
IS

DEAD.
III.
,

On Hearing
the

the University Bell at Evanston,

Toll for

Death of General Grant at Nine O'clock A.M., July 23,

Toll, bells, from every steeple, Tell the sorrow of the people ;

Moan, sullen guns, and sigh For the greatest who could die.
Grant
is

dead.

Never so firm were set those moveless lips as now, Never so dauntless shone that massive brow
;

The

has passed into the silent tomb. Ring out our grief, sweet bell,
silent

man

The

people's sorrow

tell

For the greatest who could Grant is dead.

die.

" Let us have " Great heart, peace! That peace has come to thee
;

Thy sword for freedom wrought, And now thy soul is free,
While a rescued nation stands

Mourning

its

fallen chief

HOW
Akin

LEARNED TO RIDE
the Northern lands,

71

The Southern with

The hands
of black

in honest grief.

and white

Shall clasp above thy grave, Children of the Republic all,

No
Thou

master and no slave.

Almost

"

all

summer on
"
silent,

this line
it

"
"
;

steadily didst

fight

out

But Death, the

Matched

at last

our silent chief,

And

put to rout his brave defense.

Moan, sullen guns, and sigh For the bravest who could die.
Grant
is

dead.

The huge world

holds to-day

No
As
his

fame so

great, so wide,

whose steady eyes grew dim

side

On Mount McGregor's

Only an hour ago, and yet The whole great world has learned That Grant is dead.

heart of Christ

what joy

Brings earth's

new brotherhood!

All lands as one,

The

Buckner, Grant's bed beside, priest and Protestant in converse kind

Prayers from
all

hearts,

and Grant

Praying

" we

Toll, bells,

might meet in better worlds." from every steeple,

all

Tell the sorrow of the people ; So true in life, so calm and strong,

Bravest of

all, in

death suffering so long

72

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

And
without one complaint!

Moan, sullen guns, and sigh For the greatest who could die
Salute the nation's head.

Our Grant

is

dead.

IN CONCLUSION
If I

am
I

asked to explain
I

why

learned the

bicycle
if

should say

did

it

as an act of grace,

not of actual religion.

The cardinal doctrine

"

laid

down by my

physician was,

Live out of

doors and take congenial exercise;" but from

the day when, at sixteen years of age,
I

was

enwrapped

in the long skirts that

I

every footstep,
felt

impeded have detested walking and

with a certain noble disdain that the conlife

ventions of

had cut

me

off

from what

in

the freedom of

my

prairie

home had been

Driving
is

one of

life's

sweetest joys.
it

not

real exercise;

does not renovate the river

of blood that flows so sluggishly in the veins of those

who from any

cause have lost the

natural adjustment of brain to brawn.

Horse-

back-riding, which does promise vigorous exercise, is

expensive.

The

bicycle meets

all

AT LAST."

HOW
the reach of

LEARNED TO RIDE

73

the conditions and will ere long

all.

come within

Therefore, in obedience to
I

the laws of health,

learned to ride.

I also

wanted
I

to help

women

to a wider world, for

hold that the more interests

women and

men

can have in common, in thought, word,

and deed, the happier will it be for the home. Besides, there was a special value to women in
the conquest of the bicycle

by a woman
so

in

her fifty-third year, and one

who had

many

in the white-ribbon army that her would be widely influential. Then there were three minor reasons

comrades

action

did

ture

from pure natural love of advena love long hampered and impeded, like
it

a brook that runs underground, but in this

enterprise bubbling
of
its

pristine

up again with somewhat freshness and taking its merry

course as of old.

Second, from a love of acquiring this

new
it

implement of power and

underfoot.
.

literally

putting

Last, but not least, because a

I

good many
at

people thought

could not do

it

my

age.

74
It is

A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL

needless to say that a bicycling cosprerequisite.

tume was a

This consisted of

a skirt and blouse of tweed, with belt, rolling

collar,

and loose

cravat, the skirt three inches

hat,

from the ground; a round straw

walking-shoes with gaiters.
It

and

was a simple,

modest

suit, to

which no person of

common

sense could take exception.

As

nearly as

can make out, reducing the

figures,
it

problem to actual

took

me

about

three months, with an average of fifteen minutes' practice daily, to learn,

first,

to pedal

second, to turn;
fourth,

third,

to

dismount; and
this
will

to

mount independently
January 2Oth

most

always be a red-letter bicycle day, because although I had already mounted several times with no

mysterious animal.

hand on the rudder, some good

friend
;

had
but

always stood by to lend moral support

summoning
of
all,

all

my

force,

and, most

forcible

Benjamin Ward Richardson dedeclares to be the two essential elements

what

Sir

cision

and precision

mounted and

started

HO
off

LEARNED TO RIDE
that hour the spell

75

alone.

From

was

broken; Gladys was no more a mystery: I had learned all her kinks, had put a bridle in
her teeth, and touched her smartly with the

whip

of victory.

Consider, ye
:

who

are of a

considerable chronology

in

about thirteen
it

more mildly, in twenty-two hours, or, to put it most mildly of all, in less than a single day as the almanac
hundred
minutes, or, to

put

reckons time
actual

but practically in two days of

practice

roundings of

amid the delightful surthe great outdoors, and inspired

and fragrance of

by the

bird- songs, the color

an English posy-garden, in the company of devoted and pleasant comrades, I had made
myself master of the most remarkable, ingenious,

and inspiring motor ever yet devised

this planet.
:

upon

Moral

Go thou and do

likewise!

SFP

1 8

2noT

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