A BICYCLE ADVENTURE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 212, 7 September 1877, Page 4

A BICYCLE ADVENTURE.

Some day , no doubt, the history of tha bicycle will ba aa interesting from the historical point of view as the annals of the old coaching times now are ; but, in the meanwhile, very linle ia known of it. Except when a monster meeting of the two-wheeled steeds and their ridera takes place, as at Hampton Court the oth«r day, no public notice is lak-ii of the swift aad noiseless machiue_, which can easily cover 100 miles in 24* hour . Tbe praotice of keeping u bicycle is growing very common mnoDg young men of tho middle ranka and is at Jeaat as COD_D-_ndal)l_ m many of the habits of their supperiors. A youug Scotchman Who rejoices ia a very well-bred

an.tbal xtf this' description, with steal backbone and in -ple'ndid ebMUiori, recently rode to ; Dumfrieshir_ (ff-om London) on it in: a few days last mdntli.v AU went well with him till he reached his, "native heath." The English .population had everywhere- some iacquain.ahce with the animal and at ;the best only stared and uttered tha [national shibboleth ; but as iny friend ■was acseniling the last hill, with thoughts full of the beloved Tillage \at the top of it, in which he had passed ibis infancy, and murmuring some jpathetio lines from Burns, he met a Ifellow-country-tnau driving a cart with ;a Scotch horse in it. Neitbeir of thefia ihad ever seen euch a spectacle. The 5 ;man threw himself out of the; Vehicle with a _ wild reference to Auld Hornie, and fled to the mountains; the borse i» nd cart charged down; the bill smashed the bicyole tosmithereens. 'My friend is alive, and that is all. He i plaintively compares his experience with that of Mungo Park, who after exploring "Afric's wilda" in safety, broke his neck by falling over the draw-ing-roooa mat at home. His national feeling prevents him from seeing that ;bi_ own fate was in fact exaotly the reverse of M. P.'s. i •PZ-i'JU-jJILiL.-iJ-.-L-J L-Ll-l ■'■■'■ linum _■■'. ni i-ira** '*