WOMEN ON WHEELS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10495, 19 October 1895, Page 2

WOMEN ON WHEELS.

The Prefect of Police iv Paris is attempting to pat a stop to tho practice of women appearing in the streets attired in cycling costume on the ground that women ate prohibited from wearing male costume just ss much as men are prevented from masquerading as women. Bat itappears he has no legal right to interfere, inasmuch as a woman's cycling costume cannot be described as a man's dress. The Bois de Boulogne and all the avenues are alive with fair buycltstes, olad in what are known as the zouave knickerbockers " and ehort tunic—the Knickerbockers often in sheeny black silk, the tunic in dazzling white, so as to give ote of those lively contrasts of which our volatile neighbours' ate co fond. It the riders contented themselves with wearing their costumes ijW tbey were on taeir oieyclo Paris would not be so far in advance of London, for (aay»the correspondent of the Sydoey Morning Herald) you have not to travel far ia any of the suburban roads to moet a lady rider iv rational drets. It looks well enough if the rider is passably youog and comely, aud I have seen many knickerbocker cwtumes which it would be mere childishness to call immodest Like the very short skirts affected by some of the German and Belgian women, however, these knickerbocker costumes loofc very different off tha bicycle trom what I they do when on it, and a lady bicyclist away | trom her maohinft—as I saw oae Ihe other day, I apparently tramping in search of assistauee— cuts a rather undignified figure, especially if she tuppens to b 3 «hort and slightly inclined to embtmpemt. The Parisian Ucycliita, however, are not content with using the kaiokerbock-rs as a workiog costume. They go shopping in them, pay visits and take their ecffeo on tho' boulevards in this novel attire, co that at i«stt it has begun to bo whispered as it generally is whispered in regard to all such crezeg in i-ar.s, that the supposed practical object is only an excuse for the fashion. Woman. Who never mount a bicycle without fear of thei? Jms spend 10 minutes in a miserable ride in the Bom in order that they m»y wear tho rational dress for some hours afterwards. ■Tliir, of course, will soon bring the whale Hung into the ridicule which kills, and it «F?i J^' n?7 thete h a reaction in favour nf fvf "v a ■ V Moy l hsve nol!ced something of the kind m London, and it seems probable that; in the long run the tkirt will triumph. loe Uaulois sought the verdict of a number of actresses. Madame Sarah Bernhardt is all «> favour of the skirt. She says:-" But is not tne pith or the question tha use of bicyelettes by woman ? I think the use of the bioycletfco is transforming our manners and customs more profoundly than people generally think. All those young married women and girls who ride afcont on bicyclettes give up a considerable portion of their family life. The moral consideration should carry tha day. I am of opinion tbafc the ont-door life encouraged by tho bioyclette may have dangerous and very grave consequences. Aud since you spsak to me of "the costume, do you not find it very extraordinary that such a rage should exist ■ amotfg so many women for thai masculine and but little decorative dress ? " Madame Sererine ebneiders that the rational dreas is hideous. She "bikes," but always in a skirt. Mdlle. Brandec, or- the Comedie .Franchise, says:—"Tha fall knickerbockers or double ekirt has to me eeemsd seldom acceptable. It is a brutal garmeat, Which is often ridiculous. How cau a wom»n. sacrifice the noble bearing which a rhythmical step gives so easily to a long »kirt ? " Mdjle, Eugenee Buflet, a caf6 concert £t»r, a,£° reß the bicyelette, but rides always in a j sWrb :—" The simplest and most feminine of jjoßtumes is a white pique bodice, with I rose-culonred front, with a dark or white f>kirt._ descending to the ankles and black stockings.'■• I also sometimes ride on my bieyclette dressed in an ordinary walking dcosj, cut; a trifle shorter." Madame Melba was extremely adverse to anything like knickecbOckers for ladies :—" I abhor masculine costume for women. It is ugly, and I have even on the stage never consented to we&r it. I add, I will never wear it, without, however, blamiog other actresses who have not the sams dislike as I have for'it. That will explain to you how wounded I feel in my artistic and femiciue preferences when I see women dress themselves up as they do. Moreover, rest assured tile bieyelette, for which I confeßS I have no great liking, is simply a, pretext. It 13 much less for motives of conveniance than for more mysterious reasons that the skirt is sacrificed to tfce ample breeches." Madame Adani, ' tho well-known directress of the ?fouyelle Revue, is not quite sure whether iv donning the knickerbocker the cycle women yield, to. a. necessity or la'.isfy a fancy. She adds :-r"To tell you my candid opinion, I find the knickerbockers coming down no lower than the kbee thoroughly wanting iv modesty, and, more than that, these Dethor garments are ridiculous. What would people say of a horseWoman who walked about with the skirt of her riding habit over her arm. She would bo grotesque.. Your women in breeches are equally grotesque immediately they descend from o£f their bieydettea. If the fashion of wearing knickerbockers were to become general, it would have the mo3t dangerous consequences from a moral point of view." Countess de Marts!, or "Gyp," the authoress of "Petit Bob " and many other amusing works, said that if a woman really rode a cycle, and did not merely make a show of doing so,,the skirt is impossible.

—An astronomer calculates that if the diameter of the sun ia daily diminished by Zft, over 3000 years must elapse ere the astronomical instruments now in nae could detect the diminution.

This liquor traffic is weli known to mean m?mmnn among us, as we use the term, "thelicensed „ .. ■ N^ UE: A. f: GLL... .v v trade in alcoholic liquors/ There W « h> that JS^.^SJ r^U'^'th^/J^T •ense most certwnly "no liquor traffic" in that 8 to r «. nervous eauUibtiam. BUUBrer. *™ re