The Bicycling World, Vol 1, No 25
Articles in this issue
- A column of short editorial observations covering upcoming races at Providence, the growing number of cyclists on Massachusetts roads, and humorous verse lampooning a local poet who had composed bicycle-themed rhymes.
- An anecdote about courting couples in carriages who take offense at passing bicyclists, presented as a lighthearted commentary on the social frictions caused by the bicycle as a road vehicle.
- A patriotic verse celebrating the arrival of the bicycle in America, calling on young Americans to embrace cycling for health, speed, and pleasure.
- A four-line verse signed F. W. W., by 'one of the Five', musing over an English churchyard where legs once regnant on bicyclic wire may lie.
- Editorial commentary addressing the journal's prospectus, L.A.W. consuls, and the ongoing debate over the rule distinguishing amateur from professional cyclists.
- A brief note on training horses to tolerate bicycles on shared roads, reflecting the tension between equestrian and cycling traffic of the era.
- A rambling Philadelphia letter recounting local wheelmen's summer wanderings to the Delaware Water Gap and the Jersey shore, and a Sunday club run through Harrisonville and Woodbury, New Jersey, in which 'Trim' charms the local girls and a Jerseyman threatens to report the riders.
- Club news round-up: the Amherst, Arrow (Richmond, Ind.), Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Crescent, Essex, Hermes and Manhattan bicycle clubs report elections, new uniforms, Baltimore's sesqui-centennial meet in Druid Hill Park, and Brooklyn wheelmen winning use of Prospect Park's west drive.
- The Middlesex Bi. C. announces a moonlight parade through the smooth streets of Malden on 19 October, inviting Boston-area wheelmen to join with their colored lanterns; the route runs through Pleasant, Cedar, Salem and Main streets to the Everett line and back.
- The Crescent Bicycle Club invites all clubs to a non-political torchlight parade on 28 October, starting from Trinity Square, Boston, and looping via Commonwealth Avenue, Beacon Street and Columbus Avenue; the choice of torch is left to each club.
- The official communication from Jno. Y. Culver, Chief Engineer and Superintendent of Brooklyn Parks, to Wm. M. Wright, permitting bicycle riders to use the West Drive through Prospect Park while boys under fifteen and novices keep to the less-frequented walks.
- Race reports including the Manhattan Polo Association's 'Grand Bicycle Tournament' on the New York Polo Grounds (Wrigley, Stearns and Timpson among the winners, prizes presented by August Belmont), the Michigan five-mile championship at Lansing won by Eddy of Flint, and meetings at Dover, Pittsburgh, Staten Island, Montreal, Oakland and Utica.
- The Paris correspondent 'Devill' reviews French racing in 1879-80, naming Charles and Jules Terront, Hart of Saumur and de Civry, with race meetings at Angers, Bordeaux, Calais, Rennes, Grenoble and La Reole, and notes the founding of the French cycling journal Le Sport Velocipedique.
- A letter from Jo. Pennell of Germantown clarifying that the proposed amendment to Section 25 of the L.A.W. constitution was backed unanimously by officers of the Germantown, Philadelphia, Centaur and Pegasus clubs, not by the Germantown club alone.
- Notes from New York, including a sixty-mile Sunday run by Messrs. Walker, Johnston, Timpson and Roy from 59th Street to the Andre monument beyond Tarrytown and back, the longest one-day party run yet made from the city.
- The archery department's editorial reviews the English season, prolonged by the new Grand Northern meeting at York, compares the best scores of Mr. Palairet and Mrs. Butt with last year's, notes the death of Horace Ford at Bath, and describes the Ancient Yorkshire Arrow Society's 207th anniversary shoot at Ripon.
- Full report and target-by-target scores of the Grand Northern Archery Society's meeting held 1-3 September on the Yorkshire Gentleman's Cricket Ground at York, with Mrs. Legh and Mr. Rimington heading the double rounds and remarks on the English practice of offering money prizes.
- Account of the Grand Western Archery Society's twentieth annual meeting at Sherborne Park, the seat of Mr. C. D. Wingfield Digby, where fifty-three ladies and thirty-two gentlemen competed and Mr. Palairet's 203-943 double York round led the season's scores.
- The new association's first tournament at Hazelwood, near Pittsburgh, with six full club teams; the Sherwood club won the team contest over Edgewood, J. B. Robinson headed the gentlemen's scores, Miss Burgwin the ladies', and the writer bemoans the unbeatable 'man from Kittanning'.
- A pointed critique, signed 'One of the Growlers', of the Eastern Archery Association's Wellesley meeting: poor arrangements for spectators' comfort, no ice-water or chairs, crowding at the firing line, and a 'perfectly horrid' scramble-on-the-grass distribution of prizes.
- W. P. Lacey, secretary of the Crescent Bowmen of Charlotte, Michigan, reports their first-ever defeat in the return match shot 10 September against the Oakland Bow Club of California, with full scores for Cook, Bush, Havens and Coffin against the Crescents.
- Scores of the 1 October match at Newark, N.J., between four-lady, four-gentleman teams of the Toxophilites of Newark and the New York Archery Club, the home side winning 1,918 to 1,777 on Columbia and American rounds.
- First two of a three-match series between the Highland Park Archers and the Wabash Merry Bowmen, 96 arrows at 60 yards on home ranges; Highland Park won the first by 6-126 and Wabash, led by Will H. Thompson's 95-525, took the second by 9-119.
- A New York letter signed 'Manhattan' reporting three new members of the New York Archery Club (including Mr. S. E. French and Mr. Arthur Brentano), plans for the fall prize tournament, advice on moderate daily practice, and the dissolution of the Manhattan Archers.
- A note from Eaton, Ohio, claiming the highest team score on record: the Merrie Bowmen of St. Claire scored 1,828 against 1,550 for the College Hill Club of Cincinnati at the single American round, teams of four.
- The Mittineague club is entertained at the parsonage by Rev. J. E. Hurlbut on 9 October; a shoot settles the season's prizes, won by President Dr. E. F. Cross and Miss Zella Spencer, and winter meetings are planned.
- Notices of the third edition of Henry Sturmey's 'Indispensable Bicyclist's Handbook', the new fortnightly journal The Wheel edited by Fred Jenkins and M. Lazare of the Manhattan Bi. C., and J. G. Dalton's forthcoming book of cycling verse parodies, 'Lyra Bicyclica: Forty Poets on the Wheel'.
- A letter from Albert A. Pope, president of the Pope Mfg. Co., under the Manufacture department, answering Mr. Hansman's L.A.W.-meeting remarks by explaining the company's purchase of all bicycle patents, its thirteen won infringement suits including the injunction against McKee & Harrington, and its $10 royalty on imported machines.
- Corresponding Secretary Albert S. Parsons publishes the names proposed for League of American Wheelmen membership, including candidates from the Menotomy, Framingham, Worcester, Manhattan, Hermes (Providence), Chicago, Cincinnati and Keystone clubs.
- Personal items: Mr. C. Otto Manny leaves Wm. M. Wright's and The Wheel, Charles F. Shillaber is elected to Portsmouth's Common Council, Herman H. Koop, Jr. plans a Bremen-to-Hamburg tour, and Frank W. Weston of the Boston Bi. C. is spotted riding a Harvard in a new English serge costume.