Healthful but Not Social.
By Milton Bradley
THE bicycle has doubtless become one of the greatest promoters of healthy outdoor exercise among our young men, as well as some of the older ones—but there is necessarily nothing social in it; in fact it is the most selfish conception possible. Think of a family man buying a bicycle and starting off to ride while the wife and children are left at home on the veranda to admire the grace and ease with which their lord and master wheels off to get exhilarating whiffs of fresh country air. The economical young man mounts his wheel on a fine afternoon and whirls off to the residence of his lady love, leans his steed against the front fence and spends the summer evening on the piazza, while the young lady is no doubt thinking of her possibly old-fashioned, but more fortunate companion who has gone out on the road behind a good trotter, to breathe the refreshing evening air. The one wheel is far more economical in every way and its enthusiastic, if not fanatical admirers no doubt get much good from it, but in an article on social recreations they cannot hope for high praise for their favorite machine; it certainly is not a family invention. When Mr. Edison will invent a motor which may be hung beneath the seat of a social tricycle, with a small seat behind for the children, and by which the whole load may whirl off to the country without the danger of a runaway at the first railroad crossing, or the necessity for grooming and feeding on the return, then the family may sing the praises of the 'cycle.'—Milton Bradley, in Good Housekeeping.