Bicycles and their somnolent Chinese riders may be a familiar curse in Shanghai but in America, the two-wheeled locomotive has been an oddity for many years. True, every boy upon achieving the age twelve or thereabouts yearns for a "bike" and sometimes gets one with which he periodically tears his, stockings and runs into the neigh-hour's flower beds for a short time until he discards it into the cellar in favour of stilts or roller-skates. This year, since numbers do not lie, there will be a revival of the bicycle, In 1909 there were only 168,824, manufactured in the United States which sold at an average price of $15. Last year *here were 307,845, bicycles turned out at an average Price of $20 apiece. Only about 6,000 of that number were exported to foreign countries, the remainder being intended for home use. There fare many reasons why there should be a general bicycle revival in America. They are cheap, they travel fast enough for the ordinary purposes, they do not require the vices of intermittent gasoline and stations, they eliminate the neces-of using street-ears, buses, taxicabs, subways, and other money eating vehicles,' and they provide exhilarating exercise. Quite often they also provide thrills, parti. cularly on the downward slope of, 'a steep hill at the bottom of which cow, or other immovable object is planted firmly in the path of danger, To date the bicycle built for two his not been revived, reither hus the loomered wearing apparel for young ladies who take up the daring. sport, but there is still hope, After, all the craze is fairly new. marooned The Seamen's Chu: eh Institute in New York has decided that the eailor ashore is apt to go astray, get drunk, cut up with the girls and the like, and thinks it is all a matter} of having too much loose time on their bands. So they opened up a school ud class started on October 1. Hereafter any sailor who is marooned ashore can fill in his spare time while waiting for a chance to get out on the bounding main, taking courses in knotting, splicing, hand: Ting life-boats, ete, The Seamen's Institute figures that not only will that give the sailor boys somching keep them occupied and out of mischief but it might make better sailors out of them. In fact, if any] Jad ig on land long enough he may] take up officer's training courses and that way learn just as much shout naval tactics as his superiors. He may even give them advice in times of strife. Furthermore times ro bad just now and in times of depression it is the wisest sailor who gets the job. All students are required to pass the examination of the Department of Commerce: and none are eligible to study in the school before pasting a physical examination test. It seems -that even the most picturesque of vocal tions, and the most adventurous, is, on the verge of becoming scholarly, efficient and practical.
Posies in Pastures 'A certain well-meaning lady in Hthe state of Oregon feels that there is a dearth of wild flora in the country and is travelling up and down the highways scattering prolific seeds to the four winds. Her motives may be picturesquely admirable but after prosaic consideration one wonders just how practical they are. After all th territory on either side of public highways usually is not public, in fact the greater part of it belongs to well-meaning, hard-working mers and the soil thereon is usually utilized for producing the potential "Staff of Life." Farmers like dandelions, sun-flowers, daisies, and marguerites in their proper places, or as table decorations, but when it comes to weeding them out of the wheat crop it is different matter. Nothing is more aggravating to the tiller of soil than the little groups of dandelions in an alfalfa field. It is seriously doubted if roses or orchids would be welcome in such environments. The seed-strewing Indy really should confine her pastoral activities to her own garden or go about distributing geranium slips gratis to also and amateur horticul-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.