close watch ahead for all kinds of breakers, there is really but one way to learn, and that is by making the most of every little item of experience gained. If a rider is fortunate enough to have companions who will help him in the process, he may learn to balance more easily by fastening a heavy leather belt about the waist, having short straps attached, one on each side. If his comrades take hold of these straps, they can easily check any impulse toward upsetting. Ordinarily, ability to maintain one's balance will come very quickly, and then the learner is ready for the road. He should select, if possible, one that is straight, level, and smooth, and should practice until he can ride without difficulty, not only keeping his position, but making the machine obey his guidance. He should become expert in this as soon as possible, for the good of his machine. Beginners often find that the bicycle is apparently quite unruly, going in the very places where they do not wish it to go. That is a fault in the management and guidance of the machine, which the rider will soon be able to correct. Having once mastered the tricks of the wheel, the rider is prepared to begin his career of active enjoyment. There is a sense of freedom and exhilaration and freshness of mind and body, a getting away from the troubles and trammels of daily life, that comes from a sharp spin in the early morning, that can find no comparison unless it be a ride in the cab of an engine, at a rate of fifty miles an hour. The exercise is at once healthful and invigorating, and tends to the formation of associations and friendships that are of the greatest pleasure and benefit. It is to be feared, however, that bicycle clubs are not all that they pretend to be, or are something more. Too often they are united by one bond only, the love of cycles and cycling. The crowds of somewhat noisy, blustering fellows, who forge along country roads at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, insisting upon their rights and much more, making day and night hideous with their calls and yells—or who congregate nightly in the club houses to talk of nothing but tires, frames, and records, do not fairly represent (we hope) the great class of people who find enjoyment and pleasure in the wheel. Very few of these evils that seem to be associated necessarily with club life would find any place in a school club. Almost every school now has enough riders in it to form a very fair-sized association; and rides for Saturday afternoons can be planned and carried out frequently. For a summer vacation, a trip of one or more weeks would quicken the perceptions to a wonderful degree. Youths are likely to have very narrow conceptions of geography in general, outside of what they have learned from their text-books; and there is no better way of teaching how wide and varied the world is, than to let them begin their explorations and investigations near their homes. The knowledge gained upon these tours is apt to be very clear and very definite-altogether different from that obtained by a railway journey. A club of three or four congenial friends could in their vacations acquire a knowledge of geography of their own State or of adjoining States, that might contribute greatly to their success in the business of life. The bicycle has opened to women a new field for exercise that promises both health and strength. Appearances would indicate that the bicycle will do much more for them. It has encouraged to a degree never before imagined to be possible the comradeship of the sexes, and it is probably the greatest agent in breaking down barriers strengthened by centuries of tradition. Give to woman a right to participate in the pleasures, exercises, and pastimes of men, and the absolute equality of the sexes is not far away. It will be admitted that the conditions of life in cities are not conducive to health or morality; that rest and recreation must be found outside; that we, as a people, are getting too far away from Nature and her teachings, and live too much in the forced atmosphere of a social hothouse. There can be no remedy so efficacious as this to get back again to Nature, to her teachings and her works. It is not to be supposed that the cyclist rides with this moral (or even physical) effect in view. He rides simply because he likes it, but any one who has ridden, and who will take the trouble to examine his feelings and the benefits derived from his exercise, will find these much as they have been described. Young riders make the mistake of trying to become "professionals" and "scorchers"; of assuming ridiculous positions, and attempting equally ridiculous feats. It is probable, however, that these mistakes will be corrected almost as soon as made; for there is so little to be gained by such a course that the mistake will correct itself. The common rule of life seems to be hurry and rush, making work (and hard work) even out of our pleasures; but in the case of bicycle trips for pleasure, no course could be more unwise. Do not attempt to make so many miles a day. Stop when you like. Enjoy all that you can in the way of natural scenery or observations of life, and thus store up a host of pleasant recollections for after years. If you are the possessor of a good wheel, remember that it also needs good care. It should be carefully wiped after a ride, so as to remove all moisture and dirt, and should be given a thorough cleaning about once a week. Any looseness should be looked after at once, as well as any unusual friction that may be detected. The wheel should be kept well oiled, but free from gum or dirt. Small particles of dirt will work into the most intricate parts of the machine, and must be gotten out or much damage may be done. The cyclist should go prepared to repair punctures in tire, and any other common accidents; but he should always remember that it is easier to avoid an accident than to repair a break after it is made. CHAPTER VII HISTORICAL RECREATIONS A Voice from Far Away. The teacher and the writer of text-books of history can enter into the feelings of the author of the Second Book of the Maccabees (in the Apocrypha of the Bible), who, two thousand years ago, thus addressed his readers: We have been careful that they that will read might have delight, and they that are desirous to commit to memory might have ease, and that all into whose hands it cometh might have profit. Therefore to us, who have taken upon us this labor of abridging, it was not easy, but a matter of sweat and watching; even as it is no ease unto him that prepareth a banquet, and seeketh the benefit of others; yet for the pleasure of many we will undertake gladly this great pains. Delight in the reading of history, ease in memorizing, and profit in both the points which this ancient historian kept in view are certainly very desirable in any treatment of history. Many and various recreations in this branch of study may be employed to these ends. Some of these are presented here. Mnemonic Rhymes. -The names of the various dynasties and of individual rulers of monarchies, in their order, are not easily learned, and generally it is not deemed worth while to memorize them. Names and dates do not constitute history in the modern view of the subject, and there is now in the educational world a strong effort to break away from the mechanical and unthinking memorizing of historical texts which in an earlier day passed for profound knowledge, Dynastic genealogies, however, are useful as a framework upon which to fasten the events of history, in order to preserve the symmetry of the whole, and to indicate the relation which certain events bear to others. Without orderly arrangement in the mind, history becomes a chaos of heterogeneous and isolated facts. For this reason, various mnemonic jingles have been utilized as a means of fixing in the minds of pupils, in regular order, the names of dynasties and sovereigns. The Kings and Queens of England. - An old rhyme, easily memorized, contains the names of the successive sovereigns of England from William the Conqueror to Queen Anne (in whose reign the title of the ruler was changed), and of the sovereigns of Great Britain and Ireland to the present day, as follows: The Normans First William the Norman, Then William his son, Henry, Stephen, The Plantagenets and Henry, And Richard and John. Then Henry the Third, Edwards one, two and three And again, after Richard, House of Lancaster Three Henrys we see. House of York Two Edwards, Third Richard, If rightly I guess; House of Tudor Two Henrys, Sixth Edward, |