The Wheelmen's Gazette, Vol 4, No 7
Articles in this issue
- A wide-ranging autobiographical essay by a correspondent called 'Jack' describes his first attempts at cycling in the 1870s, his falls and perseverance, and his philosophical reflections on hope, forgetfulness, and the role that cycling plays in liberating the mind.
- A wistful poem by Lizette Woodworth Reese recalling a hot July day riding the road through Sudbury town, its elder bushes and white flowers evoking memories of youth, and the scent of elder blooms now bringing tears at the thought of a lost love.
- A dialect humor sketch signed 'C. A. P.' in which the Central City Wheelmen's clubhouse porter, Uncle Kerlumbia, dispenses comic 'wisdom' to racing men bound for the Atlanta tournament, spinning a tall tale of racing back in the Mexican War and mocking English safety-bicycle designs and their boastful cycling papers.
- An editorial on the popularity of women's bicycle racing at Omaha's Coliseum, weighing the public feud between the Rev. Sam Small, who denounced it in the Omaha Bee, and Senator Morgan, who defended it, and arguing the racers should be pitied rather than abused and should compete in modest dress.
- A hot-weather editorial advising wheelmen against drinking their fill of beer or water on a ride, recommending instead to keep the mouth closed, breathe through the nose, and merely gargle at a cool spring or village pump to stave off worse thirst later.
- An editorial survey of illustration quality among rival cycling papers, praising Outing and Recreation, criticizing The Wheel's poor English reproductions and The Bicycling World's rough originals, and singling out The Referee's June 22 first-page illustration of the Pullman road race finish as an inaccurate botch.
- A state-by-state roundup of club meets and race results from June 15 to July 15, 1889, including F. H. Tuttle's win in the Illinois Bicycle Club's road race at Chicago, Robert Ruck's 25-mile road-race victory at Cleveland, Van Wagoner's defeat of Scott at Providence, and R. J. Mac Creedy's new Irish one-mile tricycle record, plus a note on a slight, insured fire at the Pope Mfg. Co.'s Boston building.
- A calendar of upcoming cycling fixtures from mid-July through October 1889, including the Minnesota state championship road race at Minneapolis, the Lancaster (Pa.) Bicycle Club tournament, the N. C. U. championships at Paddington, England, and the summer carnival at Hamilton, Ontario.
- A monthly digest of new American and English patents relating to cycling, reported by C. A. Snow & Co., covering velocipede, lamp, saddle, and gearing inventions such as J. Davidson's safety lamp and Walter J. Lloyd and William Priest's seat-connection patent for the Quadrant Tricycle Co.
- A short seasonal poem in two parts, 'Day' and 'Night,' evoking the sights and sounds of a July countryside — flashing cycle wheels, birdsong, moon-flooded prairies, and a whippoorwill's cry.
- A profile of P. H. Sercombe's Milwaukee Bicycle Agency at 94 Wisconsin Street, describing its ornate antique-oak fittings, statues of Mercury and Victory, French plate glass, and one of the most complete bicycle repair shops in the West.
- An editorial answering wheelmen's perennial question of what machine to buy, advising ordinaries, Star, or Eagle wheels for sandy or rutted roads and safeties for hard-surfaced roads, with fork stiffness and machine weight matched to the rider's build and habits.
- The 'Loose Spokes' humor column, reporting Will Windle's expulsion from the League for taking a manufacturer's money, Ralph Temple's departure for England, the Springfield Bicycle Mfg. Co.'s new Volant/Speedwell crank-or-lever option, Judge Blodgett's denial of Pope Mfg. Co.'s injunction against Gormully & Jeffery over the Copeland patent, and a reprinted sketch of Parisian cyclists on the Avenue de la Grande Armee.
- A report on the L. A. W.'s Tenth Annual Meet at Hagerstown, Maryland, July 2-4, 1889, covering rain-hampered runs and a handicap debate between Mr. Hodgson and Frank Prial, the July 4 parade of 438 machines, and race results including A. C. Banker's win in the one-mile L. A. W. championship, Crist's win over Wilhelm in the one-mile safety championship, and the Berkeley Athletic Club's win in the team race.
- A books-and-magazines column reviewing Celia Parker Woolley's 'A Girl Graduate,' Luther H. Bickford's 'A Hopeless Case,' and Arthur F. Aldridge's athletics anthology 'Brawn and Brain,' plus notes on Nelly Bly's account of learning to ride in the New York World and the Denver monthly The Great Divide.
- A long satirical sketch by correspondent 'Jack' imagining a late-night visit from 'Happy Ann' of the Salvation Army, ranging over decollete stage dancers versus 'immodest' lady cyclists, a defense of disqualified professional Willie Windle of Worcester, and a proposal for a Salvation Army bicycle brigade.
- A first-person travelogue by artist Joseph Pennell describing a bicycle tour with a Pall Mall Gazette correspondent along the Franco-German frontier, through Verdun, the Gravelotte battlefield, Metz, and Strasburg, undertaken to cover an 1889 war scare that never materialized into fighting.
- A romantic poem by Chris Wheeler describing a summer cycle ride along the Atlantic shore with 'Anleta,' the sand, sky, and rolling tide framing a whispered exchange between the two riders.
- A dialect poem by Capt. Jack Crawford, the frontier scout-poet, contrasting the noise and grime of city life with the pine forests, deer, and mountain streams of the Western border country 'whar the hand o' God is seen.'