STORY OF A MODERN BICYCLE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3121, 29 June 1881, Page 4

STORY OF A MODERN BICYCLE.

(From the Inventors' Record.)

An ingenious Chicago inventor has constructed a bicycle driven by the expansive force of a strong steel spring. When the machine is to be used the spring is wound up. The rider then leaps into his place, place, and the moment his weight presses the saddle the spring is released and the bicycle starts off at full speed, thus obviating all danger of falling. The spring is warranted to keep the bicycle in motion for an hour, and by pressing a lever placed immediately in front of the saddle the machine can be instantly stopped. Rests for the feet, unconnected with the treadles of the driving wheel, are provided, and the rider can thus journey without making the least exertion, until at the end of an hour he ia obliged to di&mount and wind up the spring. The Rev. Mr Macpherson had been for nearly a year the rector of the church in Ishkatawhunky, lowa, and together with his young and attractive wife had won the warm admiration of all but the unmarried ladies of the parish, when he became interested in bicycles. Being young and •itliletic, he soon became an excellent rider, and every afternoon after four o'clock lie was accustomed to mount his bicycle in the 4;ick yard, to ride swiftly down the carriage path to the street, and thence through the village. As his house was an isolated one, •and no curious neighbors were near, Mrs Macpherson undertook to learn to ride, and in a short time was able to mount with ease and to ride the length of the yard, where her husband would meet her and hold the machine while she dismounted. See greatly enjoyed the sport, and it may possibly have been in order to remove from her the temptation to venture to l-ide outside of the yard that her husband avoided teaching her to dismount without his help. A fortnight ago Mr Macpherson bought one of the new Chicago spring-motor velocipedes, without informing his wife of the nature of his purchase. It was delivered at his house while he was absent at the Diocesan Convention, and his wife was filled with admiration of its beauty. She was entirely ignorant that it was in any respect different from other machines, and late in the afternoon she determined to try it. Her husband not being at hand to help her mount it, she called the cook, and gave her full instructions as to how to catch the machine and hold it. Then taking the new bicycle to the extreme rear of the yard, Mrs Maepherson sprang into the saddle and wae off at a speed of fifteen miles an hour. It need hardly be said that she was terribly frightened. Scarcely less frightened was the cook as she saw her mistress sweeping down upon her at so terrific a speed. Instead of trying to stop the machine she screamed wildly and ran out of its path. The gate was open, and J Mrs Macpherson whirled into the street. She would have given worlds to stop the runaway bicycle, but she did not know the secret of the lever, and she did not dare to risk her life by jumping off. In a few minutes she found herself entering the long principal street of Ishkatawhunky, and siw that the inhabitants were flocking to the sidewalk to watch her. She was crimson with horror as she reflected that the machine was strictly designed for riders with trousers, and for a moment she almost made up her mind to throw herself to the ground regardless of consequences. Fortunately, she reflected that the results of a fall would be even more startling and extensive than those entailed by keeping her seat, and so, trying to comfort herself with the reflection that they were real Balbriggan, and unusually tasteful in colour and pattern, she rode on. She would gladly have changed places witli Mazeppa, who rode through a desert instead of a crowded street, and she envied Lady Godiva, who had induced the people of Coventry to close their windowblinds. The sensation she made as she rushed through the village, and out again upon the prairie, cannot be described, but she knew perfectly well that no possible story that she could devise would be accepted in explanation of the frightful impropriety of which she had been guilty. The runaway bicycle came to a stop ten miles out of Ishkatawhunky, and close to a railway station. Mrs Macpherson promptly took the train to Milwaukee, where her parents resided, and then telegraphed to her husband. Of course, she never returned to Ishkatawhunky, and Mr Macpheraon was requested to resign his parish on the ground that the conduct of his wife was to the last degree scandalous.