if i am asked to explain why i learned the bicycle i should say i did it as an act of grace, if 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 impeded every footstep, i have detested walking and felt with a certain noble disdain that the conventions of life had cut me off from what in the freedom of my prairie home had been one of life’s sweetest joys. driving is not real exercise; it 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. horseback-riding, which does promise vigorous exercise, is expensive. the bicycle meets all 73the conditions and will ere long come within the reach of all. therefore, in obedience to the laws of health, i learned to ride. i also wanted to help women to a wider world, for i 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 in her fifty-third year, and one who had so many comrades in the white-ribbon army that her action would be widely influential. then there were three minor reasons:
i did it from pure natural love of adventure—a love long hampered and impeded, like a brook that runs underground, but in this enterprise bubbling up again with somewhat of its pristine freshness and taking its merry course as of old.
second, from a love of acquiring this new implement of power and literally putting it underfoot.
last, but not least, because a good many people thought i could not do it at my age.
74it is needless to say that a bicycling costume was a prerequisite. this consisted of a skirt and blouse of tweed, with belt, rolling collar, and loose cravat, the skirt three inches from the ground; a round straw hat, and walking-shoes with gaiters. it was a simple, modest suit, to which no person of common sense could take exception.
as nearly as i can make out, reducing the problem to actual figures, it took me about three months, with an average of fifteen minutes’ practice daily, to learn, first, to pedal; second, to turn; third, to dismount; and fourth, to mount independently this most mysterious animal. january 20th will always be a red-letter bicycle day, because although i had already mounted several times with no hand on the rudder, some good friend had always stood by to lend moral support; but summoning all my force, and, most forcible of all, what sir benjamin ward richardson declares to be the two essential elements—decision and precision—i mounted and started 75off alone. from that hour the spell 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 hundred minutes, or, to put it more mildly, in twenty-two hours, or, to put it most mildly of all, in less than a single day as the almanac reckons time—but practically in two days of actual practice—amid the delightful surroundings of the great outdoors, and inspired by the bird-songs, the color and fragrance of 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 upon this planet.
moral: go thou and do likewise!
