| Show ba V shores and ships and scaling wax and Ricks has CARROLL author of LEWIS lalice alice in wonderland made for himself an enviable reputation by balling up the language and injecting into his manuscript references that had nothing i whatever hat te to do with the story the caption on this column is is designed along the carroll lines but the word really stands for something roughly speaking the last census report on ricks has accounted for of the rubber tired two wheeled one passenger vehicles drawn by fleet footed coolies capable of hauling human cargo on most any kind of a thoroughfare asphaltum preferred at about thee the same rate of speed and with less noise than goes with the old fash boned horse driven cab in point of grace and luxury nothing has ever been invented that can compete with it or make a better showing along the boulevards where traffic streams lot Is not a happy one while a spectacle of this sort fills the eye it seldom drifts into ones mind that the lot of the man is not a happy one the easy loping stride of the man between the brass mounted shafts the threefoot bicycle wheels running silently on ball bearings make mercury and his machine a floating unit gliding onward apparently without effort but it never occurs to the casual observer that perhaps there is a limit to the physical endurance of the human animal swinging along with a human burden lolling under a pith helmet pulling on a good segar se gar and living the life of riley nothing so completely fits a white man for the indolent life as spending four or five hours a day in a the very construction of the device invites a half reclining posture added to which the gentle oscillations more soothing than any motion experienced from the cradle to the grave produce a relaxation matched only by insensibility A new england woman brought up to sit erect in a straight back hickory chair and hold herself like a bunker hiu ramrod thinks nothing after a week of rick of imitating cleopatra on her chaise longue eyeing mark antony A sure do break down ones resistance and makes a formal posture coincident with good manners quite a bore strut sitting down old boys who cant even get the nomination for county clerk back home look like senatorial timber after doing a stretch in an upholstered and a tin horn sport who cant even get a kind glance from a head waitress after a few spins between wheels has difficulty dispelling the rumor that he is dark clark gable this however is not the case with residents of neiping Pei ping who having passed the inflation stage are without bombast only the foreigners seem able to strut sitting down as some 0 one ne once said of an unpopular statesman and the cost is nothing comp compared areu with the sense of superiority with which the consumer is infected for the small sum of 1 mex which here in neiping means 35 cents in american a thoroughbred high stepping first class coolie boy can be hired for the day which is understood to be 12 full hours with such time for lunch as the patron i in n the fullness of his enlarged heart feels that he can surrender to his faithful foot servant this rate holds good at 7 per week beyond that the tariff falls to 20 a month mex of course which places the rick at your disposal practically when wanted the boy actually haunting your headquarters awaiting orders boys faithful A pet dog be more at your beck and call the system solves the whole question of transportation por tation throughout the city for long distance trips motor fares are comparatively low yet there ther are some who have no hesitation about u using s ing ricks up to fifteen mi miles ia es or thirty miles round trip the average daily mileage of a boy is about twelve ranging in special cases up to fifteen a day for all seasons except during snow fall brief in this latitude and hard on the boys many of whom are unable to buy blankets with which to keep out the chill after a long lope it is estimated that fifteen years is about the average a ge life of a two wheel hauler but there is no sc scarcity arcidy of men who are easily in the sixties the majority of them are under from that down to eighteen it is easy to distinguish the country from the city pullers bullers pul lers the former put on less style take a 1 longer stride and think nothing of doing thirty miles a day between town and country round trip tip and all 2 mex the owner of the vehicle to teed feed himself copyright service lc |
