The Bicycling World, Vol 4, No 26
Articles in this issue
- Answers to correspondents from Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Canandaigua, San Francisco and elsewhere, plus a query from "Sixty" asking for the best English and American records for riding without hands, which the editor declines as such feats are tricks not kept on official records; an accompanying squib quotes the Boston Sunday Courier's suggestion that the city buy bicycles for common councilmen instead of paying $139 a night in hack hire.
- Reviews the May issue of St. Nicholas magazine for young readers, praising articles on Andrea del Sarto and Correggio, northern myths, and Celia Thaxter's retelling of King Midas; also notices the May number of Our Little Ones, a nursery magazine published by Russell Publishing Company, Boston, as bright and sparkling with verses, prose, and pictures.
- The editor defends publishing an anonymous letter criticising bicycle supply shortages without comment and explains why a manufacturer's rebuttal was rejected as a business advertisement rather than general correspondence; separately commends the Staten Island Athletic Club's policy of awarding prizes as orders on sporting goods houses rather than medals, suggesting it as a model for preserving amateur status among wheelmen.
- Reports on the formation and annual meetings of seven bicycle clubs: the newly organised Marietta Bicycle Club of Georgia and Eurus Bicycle Club of Gardner, MA; annual officer elections at the Omaha Bicycle Club and Aylmer Bicycle Club of Ontario; and the establishment of the Connecticut Bicycle Club in Hartford, the Meteor Bicycle Club in Detroit, and the Mt. Pleasant Bicycle Club at Sing Sing, NY, with officers, uniforms, and meeting notes for each.
- Opens with a fixtures list of coming race meetings, then covers Louisville (William Francke winning a 20-mile race in 1h 14m 30s), John S. Prince's indoor races in Boston (professional 10-mile won by Prince over Rollinson; five-mile amateur won by Corey; Mlle. Louise Armaindo beating Ida Blackwell over five miles), the Chelsea Bicycle Club hill-climbing contest on Mt. Bellingham won by George Bosson, English professional championships at Wolverhampton and Leicester (Howell, F. Wood), and Elsa Von Blumen's benefit race against the trotting horse Seth T. Bane in Detroit.
- Reprints Philadelphia Ledger and Inquirer cuttings on the Fairmount Park Commission's reconsideration of free bicycle riding in the park, including Superintendent Gen. Thayer's and Capt. Chasteau's reports urging restrictions on grounds of frightening horses, together with wheelmen's letters rebutting the attack point by point.
- A Washington correspondent describes a joint run with a dozen members of the Maryland Club of Baltimore through Soldiers' Home Park and reports Rex Smith of the Capital Club's fancy-riding exhibition at the Rink, including one-wheel riding and a seesaw trick; San Francisco notes cover the local club's first run of the season to San Mateo under Capt. Butler and newly granted privileges to ride at the Presidio under conditions set by Major-General McDowell.
- Summarises Dr. B.W. Richardson's published views on tricycling and health, reprinted from the Liverpool Mercury, in which he concludes that tricycling is safe for nearly all classes, particularly beneficial for the corpulent as it relieves weight from the extremities, and does not cause hernia; he recommends it especially for busy middle-aged men seeking relief from mental toil, while cautioning against violent exercise and advising against it for those suffering from giddiness or excessive nervousness.
- A miscellany column announcing that Vol. V of the Bicycling World begins the following week, noting Corey's absorption by the Massachusetts Bicycle Club, the Chelsea Club's successful trials of a new cement-free rubber tyre by Mr. Fowler, J.S. Dean's injury preventing him from riding in the Germantown races, a correction that Commissioner Baldwin's Fairmount Park accident was caused by a runaway horse rather than a bicycle, and Fred Jenkins's retirement from editorial connection with The Wheel.
- Lists new L.A.W. membership applications from the Nashville Bicycle Club (seven members) and the Hermes Bicycle Club of Chicago (ten members), plus unattached applicants from Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; includes a letter from Rev. S.H. Day of South Abington, MA, praising the warm hospitality of the Providence Bicycle Club during his attendance at the Methodist Conference there, noting that his League membership card served as an excellent letter of introduction.