THE UNIVERSAL BIKE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 10699, 22 August 1896, Page 2

THE UNIVERSAL BIKE.

The wheel is your only worship. No fetish wa* ever so univertal. Its devotte3 are of all nations. By universal consent it takes the place of honour before all other sports, pastimes, and exercises. Its race meetings threaten to eclipse the [ Derby and the Oaks. The dangers of steeplechaaing are as nothing compared to the glorious uncertainties of scorching and beating records. The streets of the world present one contiuuoqs procession lof wheelers, men and women, mostly ' women. For a time it seemed likely that the question of sex in regard to general appearance was to be one of doubt to the ordinary spectator ; but fashion has decided against the bloomer and the knickerbocker ; the artistically constructed skirt is "de rigeur." Theatres are languishing for support, concerts are are ill-attended, oven the music halls are suffering from the popularity of the bike. There are theatrical managers who try to find other reasons than the bike for closing their houses; but Messrs Pitou and Carleton, of the Grand Opera House, New. York, some little time back frankly declared to the public reporter that " on fine nights people will not patronise theatres, they prefer a quiet -spin on the bike." Said Mr Pitou "if we depended upon soma angel of a backer we might have gone on losing thousands a week, but we play with our own money and close at once to serious losing business" — and all on account of the bike. In the English provinces tho wheel flashes past the theatre with even greater persistency than in town. Meanwbilej the motor carriage is gotiing ready to dispute the roadway with both bike and horse, and the simple motor for attachment to the wheel as well as to the rudder of an ordinary boat is about to put in a serious claim to observation. But these things are only a variation of the universal fetish, which has wheels within wheelH, the financial whirligig being still an important factor of the craze.